Growing up in Gaithersburg, 30-year-old Hunter Karametos always had a love for burgers, which turned into a highly successful pop up in 2022, followed by Best Burger in the DMV accolades from the Washington Post, and then being dubbed the Mozart of Cheeseburgers by WTOP.
Steeze Burger at 12141 Darnestown Road in Gaithersburg had its grand opening on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.
And it worked marvelously. At one point Karametos’ mom reported hundreds stretched all the way out of the center and to Quince Orchard Road waiting well over an hour or more to find their fare.
An Instagram post registered over 150,000 views of the line by midafternoon and has now been seen over 236,000 times. A fly-in was provided by @dronebydro which has added another 220,000+ views.
Karametos and his team only source their beef from farms in Montgomery County. They sold over 3,000 smashburgers and virtually all of their hot dogs, fries and grill cheese options on day one. “Steeze is a term that combines style and ease and is the essence of our sauce and what we do with the burger to bring out its most genuine flavor,” remarked Karametos after reflecting on a non-stop 11-hour plus day.
The restaurant is now open on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, 11 a.m.-8 p.m. and 11 a.m.-9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Service will soon be ramped up to seven days a week.
