DINING FEATURE Nest Burger
BY KAREN CHANEY
‘Hole-in-the-wall’ burger joint in Plano o ers food that surprises new customers from their rst bite D ipesh Pandey had been in the restaurant industry for more than 10 years when he pur- chased Nest Burger in October 2019.
“I decided to give [that food] away to people who needed it,” he said. “We had 250 burgers served that day to a lot of hospital workers, re ght- ers [and] police [o cers]. I gave away every burger.” Pandey said many of those guests returned and helped build his business. Pandey said, for the most part, Nest Burger is a scratch kitchen. The restaurant’s sta marinates the chicken for 24 hours, fresh ground beef. Recently, because he realized there is a large Muslim community in the area, Pandey has begun to serve only halal meat. “I’m just a regular guy running a regular burger joint, [but] I just made it more inclusive by serving halal meat,” Pandey said. “By no means am I exclusive to a certain demo- graphic. It’s just a regular American restaurant.” One of Pandey’s favorite elements of owning this business is surprising rst-time customers. “I love watching people try my food,” he said. “I watch them take their rst bite; they are genuinely surprised. They didn’t think it would be so great from a hole-in-the-wall place.” and the burgers are made from
“I walked in ... and ordered two burgers,” Pandey said of when he began thinking about purchasing the restaurant. “I wanted to see how they did it, so I sat here and watched the whole process. I took the burger home and said, ‘This can be better.’” When he negotiated the deal decided he wanted to buy it. He then streamlined the menu to just burg- ers, chicken and wings, and changed all the recipes. “Every avor you taste now, I came up with the recipes,” Pandey said. One of the reasons Pandey was interested in buying the business was because the space was a manageable size. He said he believed the restau- rant was sustainable for the rst ve to six months, and it would not cause him to over-extend himself. “A few months later—bam! There’s COVID[-19],” Pandey said. “I have no job, [as] I left my consulting gig, [and] with the former owners, Pandey told them he liked the concept and all I’m left with is this restaurant.” The restaurant also had the inven- tory he purchased prelockdown, Pandey said.
1
PHOTOS BY KAREN CHANEY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
MUST TRY MENU ITEMS 1 The Big Ole Plano Burger ($9) is a half pound of beef topped with cheddar cheese, an onion ring, and sweet or spicy barbecue sauce on a brioche bun. 2 The pecan-crusted chicken sandwich ($8) features chicken marinated in a savory sauce made in-house and then battered in a our, seasoning and pecan mixture. It is served with housemade Nest sauce. 3 Wings ($12.99 for 10) come in the customer’s choice of classic hot, garlic parmesan, sweet barbecue, burn sauce and Nashville hot avors.
2
“I WATCH THEM TAKE THEIR FIRST BITE; THEY ARE GENUINELY SURPRISED. THEY DIDN’T THINK IT WOULD BE SO GREAT FROM A HOLE IN THE WALL PLACE.” DIPESH PANDEY, OWNER
3
Dipesh Pandey bought Nest Burger in 2019 and revamped its menu.
Nest Burger 2540 E. Plano Parkway, Ste. 114 972-881-5272 | www.nestburgers.com Hours: Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Sun. closed
PLANO PKWY.
PGBT TOLL
N
22
COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook