Larry Olmsted

Special to USA TODAY

The scene: GoldBurgers occupies a storefront on the charming main street in the heart of downtown Newington, Connecticut, a little slice of quaintness hidden just minutes off some of the busiest highways in the nation, I-95, I-84 and the Merritt Parkway. Millions of motorists pass within takeout range of GoldBurgers every week without knowing it is there, but locals have passionately embraced the creative burger spot since it opened in 2009.

It has a basic fast-food floor plan, with a few tables in front along with stools at a ledge in the front window, with elaborate menu boards hung behind the counter where you order. The quirkiness comes in the form of custom commissioned burger art hanging throughout; aspiring burger-loving artists also have been encouraged to do drawings on the brown paper napkins and hang them on one of the boards. Because of the funky food and youngish staff, there is a hipster undercurrent, and the service is friendly, which is especially important since most first-timers have lots of questions and need some explanations.

Reason to visit: MacPatty burger, chili topping, Mac Squares, your ultimate customization

The food: Burgers, dogs and sides are the stars here, and the place has the underlying DNA of the many classic roadside burger and dog stands that once proliferated in southern New England, some of which still exist and have been visited by this column (Blackie’s Hot Dogs, Ted’s, Danny’s Drive-In). But while those places are stuck in time, GoldBurgers is the 21st-century version, with creative toppings and a focus on the local or curated sourcing and from-scratch cooking Great American Bites loves. Meats and veggies come from local purveyors like Bogner Quality Meats and Eddy Farm, beef and chicken for the patties is ground fresh daily at a local butcher, and the extensive array of sauces are made in-house. All of this adds up to a better burger – even the buns are standout, large, tender and topped with sesame seeds.

What really sets GoldBurgers apart is the insane variety its menu offers. Most of the specialty burgers come standard as doubles with two patties, but all of them can be downsized to singles, and likewise, the singles can be upsized. There are 26 optional toppings, all at no extra cost, and these run the gamut from basics like lettuce, tomato and onion to sport peppers, cherry pepper mayo, tahini ranch, cucumber dill sauce and more. The house specialty, GoldBurger sauce, is tomato-based, a sort of fancified ketchup with relish and spices, quite good. There are also many more surcharge toppings, from pastrami to hummus to half a dozen cheeses.

The "simplest" way to go is to start with one of the signatures. The bestsellers include the Twice Roasted with bacon, provolone, roasted red peppers and roasted garlic; the Southern, a single patty topped with coleslaw, cheddar and pulled pork barbecue; and the standout, the MacPatty, a single with a “patty” of macaroni and cheese, nacho cheese, pepperjack cheese, jalapenos and mac sauce. It’s almost too cheesy but the mac patty itself is exceptional, a big fried disc of mac and cheese done in a crab cake style. It’s bigger than the burger patty, and the result is more of a fried mac and cheese sandwich topped with a burger plus all the other stuff. Several signature burgers come with chips on them for extra crunch, a nice textural touch. The standard GoldBurger is a classic double with American cheese, lettuce, onion, pickle and the signature sauce, and is also available as a mini slider version.

There are myriad other specialty burgers that feature everything from a runny egg to blue cheese, Buffalo hot wing sauce to fried onion straws, whole onion rings to grilled mushrooms, even honey. It’s really hard to choose.

It gets harder when you add in the chicken burger variations (five more elaborate specialties), the sausage sandwiches (three creative versions), the veggie burgers (made in-house), the falafel, and especially the second signature section of the menu, hot dogs. Southern Connecticut is the hot dog epicenter of the United States, and GoldBurgers keeps pace with an extensive slate of both classic (a pretty authentic Chicago dog with tomato, pickles, sport peppers, relish, onion, mustard and the all-important celery salt) to wacky takes like “Crouching Hot Dog, Hidden Jalapeno" with cheddar, sauerkraut, spicy jalapenos and GoldBurger sauce. The hot dog itself is just so-so, but the toppings are so good they overwhelm it anyway, and the totality is a winner. I especially liked the chili here, one of the best I’ve tried as a topping – it tastes much fresher and more homemade than the thin saucy stuff you usually get on dogs. It comes on both the very similar New England dog and the Detroit-style Coney dog, the main differences being celery salt on the former and nacho cheese on the latter. You get a choice of skinless all-beef frank or beef and pork combo with natural casing.

Finally, there are the sides, nearly as confusing as the main events. You have every riff on potatoes – regular fries, waffle fries, sweet potato fries, chips, cheese fries and fully loaded nacho-style fries – plus onion rings, but one really nice twist is the half-and-half option where you can combine two styles, and the portions are so large that a small is enough for two to share. They do a great job with the fryer here, and all are well above average, but I especially liked the onion rings and sweet potato fries.

Last but not least is the signature side dish, the Mac Squares. GoldBurgers is justifiably proud of its creative use of mac and cheese, and these are delicious, very similar to the disc on the MacPatty burger but cut into squares, breaded and deep-fried.

The burgers and dogs are good, but at the end of the day it is the toppings and sauces and creativity that makes GoldBurgers worth a detour. It doesn’t hurt that the prices are quite reasonable.

Pilgrimage-worthy?: No, but justifies a detour for burger and hot dog fans.

Rating: Yum! (Scale: Blah, OK, Mmmm, Yum!, OMG!)

Price: $-$$ ($ cheap, $$ moderate, $$$ expensive)

Details: 1096 Main Street, Newington; 860-665-0478; goldburgers.com