In the very first issue of Totally Stockholm Johan Jureskog was hanging from a meat hook in a slaughterhouse. In the accompanying text he spelt out what he wanted for his last meal: ”A dry-aged, really well-marbled entrecote cooked medium-rare, and a salad”. But he could just as well have said a well-crafted burger, such is his love for the patties and buns.
Long before Flippin’ Burgers initiated the craft burger craze in Stockholm, Johan Jureskog had ambitions to serve the best burger you could possibly wrap your hands around in Stockholm at his AG restaurant. Since then, he has travelled across the United States in search of the World’s Best Burger in two seasons of the TV show of the same name, and collaborated with McDonald’s where burgers under his name have sold in the gazillions.
Now, he’s opened his first restaurant under his own name. Jureskogs is a fast-food style burger-joint, serving no less than seven gourmet burgers, two of them vegetarian, made from quality produce and with sustainability in mind.
The restaurant at Jakobsbergsgatan is meant to be the first of many, with 60 planned within the first ten years according to their ambitious business plan.
“Burgers are all about meat and bread. I have, in collaboration with Sweden’s biggest butcher, come up with a dairy cow-burger. Simply because it’s the most sustainable cow you can eat. We celebrate the dairy cow. It’s necessary in Sweden. Together with Finland we use the most milk per capita in the world. Plus we need the dairy cow to graze our land,” Johan explains.
Apart from the gourmet fare, he wants his restaurant to stand out due to its focus on sustainability. It will try to limit plastic to a minimum, and will use eco-plastic when plastic must be used. The menu offers organic chicken wings, organic cheese and organic bread. “We have built our own bakery where we source the bread,” he tells me.
Despite being an acclaimed chef, Johan hasn’t got any qualms about getting into the fast food market. “Why must fast food be regarded as something dirty? We live in a society where food has to be made pretty quickly. I have always been fascinated by burgers, because they’re so good to eat with your hands. That I’ve decided to get into fast food… it comes down to the momentum I had after the World’s Best Burgers on TV and with the knowledge I had amassed. The thing I’m most proud of though is the logistics. Everything just moves so smoothly.”
Johan likes to keep his burgers simple. I try his High Five, the most adventurous offering consisting of truffle aioli, caramelised onions, roasted onions, two different cheeses and pickles. Unsurprisingly , it’s great.
“We don’t use processed American cheddar for 58 kronor per kilo, we use organic cheese from Veddö Gårdsmejeri, and that’s 300 kronor per kilo. So I don’t even view the American fast food chains as our competition. We still view ourselves as a fast food restaurant though. You order, get a receipt and can see on the screen when your order is ready. It should take six minutes, but in the midst of the lunch rush it could take up to ten.”
One area where Jureskogs doesn’t at all resemble other fast food restaurants is on the drinks side of things; an extensive wine list – Johan is sure they offer Stockholm’s best prices on the wines on offer – plus Jureskogs’ minibar. “When you order a Gin and Tonic you get a small bottle of Hendrick’s, a bottle of Fever Tree tonic, a glass with three ice cubes and a slice of cucumber and you mix your own”.
Among the selection of beers, which seems to be very Brooklyn Brewery-heavy, they have their own Brooklyn Brewery Jureskogs beer.
The next Jureskogs restaurant is opening in late summer in a city centre location, and a third could open before Christmas. All this despite the fact that there’s not exactly a shortage of burgers in Stockholm.
“And they’re all so good at what they do,” Johan says. “I love Flippin’ Burgers, I love Phil’s. I think those are the best players. If we do something equally good, but do it with a sustainable focus and with better logistics I’d be real happy.”
Jureskogs, Jakobsbergsgatan 21
