My M.O. for Road Tips is that I'll visit a restaurant and then write about it a few weeks later. Every once in awhile, I've been burned to find out that the restaurant closed down from the time I visited to the time I was getting ready to write about the place. (And, more often than not, I wasn't going to give that now-closed restaurant a great review.) So, in late May of this year, I had to go out to see clients in Indianapolis and stayed the night in the northeast suburb of Fishers. Near where one of my accounts had their store was a burger place that had always intrigued me - Flamme Burger. I went there that one evening, but in doing research for this place, I found that they had closed the Fishers location and had moved into the Keystone Commons complex on the north side of Indianapolis in June of this year. I thought, "Well, they're still open, but at a couple of other locations, and they still have the same burgers." What the heck? I'll still tell you about my visit to Flamme Burger.
Henri Najem has the restaurant business in his blood. He was born into a family where his parents owned a number of restaurants and bars around the Indianapolis area. When he was 12 years old, Henri was helping out in the kitchen at his uncle's Italian restaurant on the west side of Indianapolis. So, it was no surprise that Henri opened his first restaurant - Bella Vita, a lakeside restaurant on the Geist Reservoir north and east of Indianapolis - in his early 20's. Henri, along with his wife, Shelley, ran the restaurant for 17 years before selling it in 2014.
The Najem's saw the boom in quality burger places, not only in Indianapolis, but around the rest of the country. They designed a place that would have wood-fired 100% natural blended Angus beef burgers, and pair the burgers with fresh, high-quality, locally grown produce and other ingredients. They wanted to have an open kitchen and make the place a fast-casual restaurant with a good selection of local craft beers. In 2015, the couple opened their first Flamme Burger in downtown Fishers.
Pictured at right - Henri and Shelley Najem. Photo courtesy Carmel Current.
The success of the Fishers location led to a second Flamme Burger in the small - but rapidly growing - town of Whitestown on the far northwest side of Indianapolis in 2017. However, with the growth in restaurants and other entertainment venues in the downtown Fishers area over the past couple of years, the Najem's customers found that parking was getting tough to find on some evenings. Less than a month after I was there, they decided to shut down their original Flamme Burger in Fishers and they relocated to the their new spot along 86th Street across from The Fashion Mall at Keystone on Indianapolis' north side. (see map)
My account in Fishers is literally just down the street from the original Flamme Burger and I parked in a parking garage behind my account and walked through a walkway that took me to E. 116th Street, the main east-west street through the downtown area of Fishers. I walked into Flamme Burger and found a contemporary-looking restaurant with sort of an orange hue throughout. Murals of flames danced along one wall of the place with large windows up front letting in a lot of natural light into the place.
I ended up seated at the bar that featured loops coming out from the open kitchen area. I was greeted by one of the bartenders, given a food menu, and I ordered up a Railsplitter IPA from the Triton Brewing Company in Indianapolis. It was somewhat hoppy, but had a smooth finish.
The burgers at Flamme Burger start out as a ground blend of beef brisket, short rib and sirloin, then they're cooked over an open flame from Indiana oak and apple wood on a grill designed by Henri Najem. They feature a dozen signature burgers on the menu at Flamme Burger including a cheddar cheese and applewood -smoked bacon burger with a chipotle mayo, a Maytag Blue cheese and peppered bacon burger that is finished with a blue cheese spread, and a burger topped with bourbon sautéed mushrooms and onions and jalapeño jack cheese. Flamme Burger makes over 20 different types of sauces that they use on not only many of their burgers, but on grilled chicken sandwiches and seafood they have on the menu.
They also have a "make-your-own" burger on the menu and that's what I did that evening. For toppings on the burger, I got onion straws (that I pulled off when I got the burger), sautéed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and applewood-smoked bacon on a brioche bun. It was served on a small wooden butcher board with fries on the side. Housemade ketchup also came with the burger.
The burger at Flamme Burger was very good. The beef was juicy with a great rich flavor. The Swiss cheese was slathered over the top of the beef patty with the mushrooms and bacon on top of that. The beef was so good that I could get the flavor of the meat with each bite and it wasn't masked by the cheese, mushrooms and bacon that complemented the burger more than hindered the taste. The brioche bun was light and spongy, but held together very well. This was a top notch burger.
The onion straws that I pulled off were very good, as well. I probably could have gotten the onion straws on the side instead of the fries, but the amount that they put on top of the burger were just enough for me to try and enjoy.
I decided to try some of the fries and they were surprisingly very good. They had a crunchy shell on the outside and a great flaky potato texture inside. Along with the housemade ketchup, the fries were a great compliment to the excellent burger.
The Flamme Burger location in Fishers may be gone, but there are two other locations around the Indianapolis area that serve their great burgers. I was very happy with the burger I had, as well as the onion straws and the fries. They have a good selection of craft brews at Flamme Burger and the atmosphere was casual and laid back. I'm sure there are people around the Fishers area who are upset that Flamme Burger moved, but at least they didn't go out of business.
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