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The original Cobra Burger
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After opening, Cobra Burger will introduce brunch options such as the Wake N' Snake sandwich.
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The Sting Ring burger will make its way onto the permanent Cobra Burger menu.
“I think everybody could use something a little cool these days," says Adam Musselman, co-founder of Cobra Burger.
And while “cool” may mean something a little different for everyone, for friends, metalheads and fellow co-founders Musselman, Joshua Franklin, Melville Johnson IV and Mike Epps, cool means slinging their signature smash-style burgers from their own restaurant kitchen. Aiming to open by mid-February, Cobra Burger is set to graduate from pop-up to brick-and-mortar status, taking over the shuttered Dutch & Co. space at 400 N. 27th St. in Church Hill.
“We’re very stoked to start doing this whole thing,” says Musselman, an Ohio native.
In a window of the restaurant, a black flag with the venture’s signature cobra symbol hangs proudly, a salute to days ahead. While Musselman says Dutch & Co.’s closing is certainly a loss to the local dining community, they’re happy to be bringing something new to the neighborhood.
“We wouldn’t be going into the space were it not for the pandemic — it’s kind of a silver-lining situation,” he says. “It’s a bummer Dutch [& Co.] is gone, obviously, but awesome that they reached out to us — we’re pretty honored and pretty humbled by that.”
This permanent home has been years in the making. The origins of Cobra Burger can be traced to 2017, when the men threw an informal backyard burger session for friends and family. Since then, they've hosted dozens of pop-ups at breweries and restaurants including Saison and Brenner Pass; hit the road with The Veil Brewing Co. for an event in Washington, D.C.; opened and closed a butcher shop, Cardinal State Butchers in Bon Air; learned that the food hall they were going to be a part of axed their plans; tested their business model in a residency at Hatch Cafe; seriously stepped up their merch game; and established a crew of employees lovingly dubbed “the Cobra kids.”
Now, the partners are ready to flip to the next chapter.
“A lot of the reason why we decided to kind of switch from the [butcher] shop to Cobra was it’s something we could keep going,” Musselman says.
The owners closed the doors of their Bon Air butchery in July, and while it was bittersweet, it also set the scene for Cobra Burger to flourish.
Musselman says operating inside Hatch Cafe — an eatery inside food-business incubator Hatch Kitchen where they've had a standing gig since the fall — has allowed them to grow more accustomed to working in a traditional restaurant setting and home in on logistics such as online ordering.
“We love being [at Hatch Cafe], and I know it definitely helped us get to this next step,” Musselman says. “People [already] knew who we were, but that helped a lot in reaching a wider audience.”
The opportunity also allowed them to flex their creative muscles and introduce new variations to the core burger lineup. Enter the Big Baby Butter Burger, two patties cooked in butter and topped with butter, American cheese, ketchup, mustard, Cobra pickles and minced sweet onion, all of which should be served with a fat stack of napkins, and The Sting Ring, a double dose of patties joined by pepper jack cheese, a mayo made with green Soss sauce, roasted poblano relish, pickled hot peppers and a fried egg — both creations will be permanent menu items.
At the foundation of the offerings is the namesake Cobra Burger, two Grayson Natural Farms beef patties, American cheese, Cobra bread-and-butter pickles and pickled red onions, shredded lettuce, and the signature Cobra sauce on a Martin’s potato bun. Other options include a solo patty, or “junior” size; four towering patties called The King; and the Garter Snake, a vegan option featuring Rooted Delights’ local vegan cheddar, shiitake mushroom bacon, shredded lettuce, pickled red onions and smoked tomato jam, served on a Filipino-style pandesal bun from Angie's Bakery in Virginia Beach. The partners are currently looking to source local gluten-free buns.
Musselman says Cobra Burger's meat will be ground daily, and diners can expect seasonal additions to the menu along with weekly specials. After settling in, the team plans to roll out brunch options, from the Wake N’ Snake, house-made longganisa sausage with a fried egg and smoked tomato jam served on an ube pandesal bun, to a play on a traditional breakfast sandwich called Jommy Dune’s, with a choice of house-made breakfast sausage or bacon, paired with a hash brown patty, a fried egg and cheese on an English muffin made by local bakery Fat Rabbit.
Initially, Cobra Burger will be open for takeout and delivery only, with a walk-up window to allow for easy pickup. They plan to serve beer and wine and, when they feel it is safe to open for indoor dining, liquor.
“The upside is we can take our time getting the dining room the way we want,” Musselman says. Although hours are yet to be finalized, he adds, “I know we want to be open on Mondays, the notoriously closed restaurant day.”
Besides delightfully messy smash-style burgers, at the heart of Cobra Burger is a take-it-or-leave-it approach, plenty of stoner humor and f-bombs. But the unapologetic, straightforward nature has proven successful for the venture so far. And while the partners may not take themselves too seriously, the same cannot be said for their business.
Their vision for the future of Cobra Burger: multiple locations, house-made Cobra cola on tap, and distribution of their pickled red onions and bread-and-butter pickles.
“We’ve kind of always known this is what we want to do,” Musselman says. “We don’t want to do just one. We definitely see slimmed-down versions of Cobras that are designed for speed and a couple other locations. We want to go at fast food a different way.”
