'How a burger joint should be'

Burger's Priest founder opens new spot in an Etobicoke house

- KARON LIU

After selling his Burger's Priest chain, Shant Mardirosian has experimented with new culinary creations. His latest is Elijah's Automatic Flame Broiled, a charbroiled burger spot in an Etobicoke house that was formerly a lawyer's office.

Elijah’s Automatic Flame Broiled, a new Etobicoke burger spot, has already been gaining fans through word of mouth. So much so that on some days in the first weeks of being open it has sold out of burgers before the dinner rush.

Located in a standalone house that was previously a lawyer’s office, the building at 821 The Queensway has its shutters drawn. Inside the dimly lit dining space that’s painted black there are stained glass windows and battery-powered candles on a shelf.

There can only be one person behind a classic burger joint with a vaguely religious motif: Shant Mardirosian. He’s perhaps best known as the founder of The Burger’s Priest — a franchise he sold in 2017 to Recipe Unlimited — and helping the now ubiquitous smash burger gain popularity in Toronto.

“I wanted a cooler standalone spot; it’s how a burger joint should be, with character,” says Mardirosian, referring to the city’s decades-old charbroil burger mainstays like Johnny’s Hamburgers, Apache and Golden Star Drive-In. Elijah’s, named after a prophet from the Old Testament, has a small menu, with the house cheeseburger as the specialty, as well as a bacon cheeseburger, chili cheeseburger, chicken sandwich, hot dogs, chili fries and shakes.