Dallas, TX
Side Hustle is Dallas’ latest invisible burger joint
Soon, Dallasites can order smashburgers from Side Hustle, a new burger joint.
Side Hustle’s invisible headquarters are inside Thunderbird Pies, the Detroit-style pizza joint in East Dallas. Side Hustle is a ghost kitchen, like Thunderbird Pies once was: a restaurant-within-a-restaurant that allows owner Jay Jerrier and his team to test the burger menu via delivery and catering without committing to a lease.
“We’ve wanted to expand our catering options beyond pizza for quite a while,” says chief marketing officer Jeff Amador. Their company owns Neapolitan pizza joint Cane Rosso, which has restaurants in Deep Ellum, East Dallas, North Dallas, Carrollton, Frisco, Arlington and Fort Worth; Zoli’s New York-style pizza in Addison and Fort Worth; and Thunderbird Pies in East Dallas.
They’re frank about why Side Hustle exists. “This summer has been painfully slow at almost all of our restaurants,” Amador says. Thunderbird Pies was the hardest hit. (Maybe people don’t want to eat thick and hearty pizza in 105-degree heat?)
The hope is that adding Side Hustle to Thunderbird Pies will “inject some life (and revenue) into that location after a slow first part of the year.”
Side Hustle’s 11 burgers, one chicken sandwich and three sides will become available via DoorDash delivery by the end of September 2023. Delivery zones will be within 5 to 7 miles of Thunderbird Pies, at 7328 Gaston Ave. in Dallas, and all burgers will be made in that East Dallas kitchen. The plan is to deliver burgers in East Dallas, Deep Ellum, Uptown, downtown, Knox-Henderson and parts of Lake Highlands.
We’re just hoping the delivery drivers dress like this.
Side Hustle will also do parties and catering gigs. The first time customers will be able to try Side Hustle’s smashburgers is Friday, Sept. 22, 2023 from 5-8 p.m. at Rollertown Beerworks in Celina.
Burger enthusiasts won’t be shocked at this new menu idea. Zoli’s, a pizza joint, famously sells one of the best burgers in Dallas. Amador notes that Side Hustle’s burgers — griddled till they’re crispy — aren’t a copy of those at their other restaurants.
Side Hustle’s original smashburger ($11) comes with griddled onions on top and a squirt of “amped-up jalapeño thousand island” as its burger sauce.
As an ode to sibling restaurant Cane Rosso’s beloved Honey Bastard pizza — plus a nod to a certain Texas-born chain restaurant — the Whatabastard ($11) is topped with provolone, hot soppressata, bacon marmalade and habanero honey. The Wolfpack ($16) sounds like a hangover helper, with cheddar, hash browns, egg, bacon and avo. The Messy Jessy ($11) — give ‘em 10 gold stars for a great name — is a play on a Sloppy Joe.
Many restaurants with slim menus keep the sides simple. (Raising Cane’s comes to mind.) At Side Hustle, the only option for fries is a curly variety, with Cajun seasoning ($6). Big Ole Onion Rings ($6) come with a side of ranch. The third side is charred onion dip with potato chips ($6). And that’s it.
They love onions here. Hope you’re not on a date!
Dallas has plenty of burger joints already, and it has even more non-burger joints that sell one good burger on the menu. Few of them are Dallas-born delivery- and catering-only models, however.
If Side Hustle works, the company might find it a permanent home. For now, it’s a side hustle.
Learn when Side Hustle’s delivery launches at sidehustleburgers.com. The first Side Hustle event is 5-8 p.m. Sept. 22, 2023 at Rollertown Beerworks, 412 N. Oklahoma St., Celina, during the brewery’s second weekend of Oktoberfest events.