This new Toronto burger restaurant is already selling out. It’s no surprise given who’s behind it

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.

Why charbroiled burgers this time?

From the start, Mardirosian’s motto for Burger’s Priest was “Redeeming the burger, one at a time.” Now, as he embarks on a new burger venture, it appears that Mardirosian is seeking to redeem himself in the process.

It’s “unfinished business,” he says. “If you look back when I started Burger’s Priest, I said that charbroiled burgers were the problem. I was wrong. It wasn’t the (grill), it was the technique.” 

As a kid, Mardirosian wavered between fast food places that cooked their burgers on a flat top and those that used an open flame. The goal of Burger’s Priest was to put his spin on griddle-cooked burgers. With Elijah’s Automatic, he wanted to give the smoky taste of charbroiled burgers another chance with his version of flame-grilled patties.

“We’re grinding AA Canadian (beef) and adding dry-aged ribeye fat that gives the most flavour,” he says. “When flame broiling, the drops of fat that hit the coals and rise up, that smoke flavours the beef in a different way from the griddle. It’s drawing out, and it’s weird to say, the prehistoric roots of cooking over the fire.

“We do two, three-ounce patties rather than one six-ounce patty so you get more layers of char. The patties are made in a walk-in cooler here. The second you do it outside, the fat melts and the meat gets a sausage-like consistency.”

The basic Automatic burger comes in a shiny, slightly sweet brioche bun instead of the default potato bun most burger joints opt for. The patties are topped with American cheese, ketchup, mustard, sliced pickles and chopped onions. (You can also ask for charred onions, that’s the one secret menu item). Mardirosian says lettuce and tomatoes add too much water to the burger and take away the beef flavour.

To go with the burger, the thin-cut fries are fried in beef fat. The restaurant also makes its own soft serve for chocolate, vanilla and strawberry shakes and floats.

A veggie burger is still in the works, as he’s trying to come up with one that will also benefit from the charred flavour. It’s why the chicken sandwich is grilled rather than fried, and yes, that comes with lettuce. 

Toronto’s burger scene ‘1,000 times better’

Mardirosian attended seminary school before opening the first Burger’s Priest in the Beach in 2010. Seven years and several locations later he sold his share to the company behind Swiss Chalet and Harvey’s after losing interest in expanding a franchise and wanting to go back to creating new concepts.

In the years since, the Los Angeles native started other ventures with the goal of eventually creating a quartet of that city’s best culinary offerings: pizza, doughnuts, burgers and tacos.

He is currently serving pies at the Fourth Man in the Fire Pizzeria in Trinity Bellwoods. During the pandemic when dining rooms were closed, he launched the Harry and Heels Donuts operation out of the pizzeria, a nod to the story of Jacob and Esau in the Book of Genesis. These doughnuts are available at the pizzeria, Farm Boy grocers and at Elijah’s.

The remaining piece is tacos, though Mardirosian said it will be at least another year before he starts thinking about that.

For now he’s focused on his latest venture, building off lessons learned from his last foray into burgers. 

While the gourmet burger trend that we know now first swept the city from the early 2000s into the 2010s, with creations like Bymark’s burger with truffle oil and Marben’s short-rib stuffed burger, when Burger’s Priest arrived on scene it kept the menu simple, and diners made repeat visits each time they learned of a secret menu item.

“The burger scene is 1,000 times better than it was in 2010,” Mardirosian said. “I’ve always wanted to promote cultural change and elevate my little corner ... to make that corner you’re in charge of just a little bit better, and that’s all I care about.”