With Pig & Prince grabbing so many of the local foodie headlines, everyone missed the other major porcine news: Elevation Burger introduced Organic Bacon!

Elevation Burger holds a special place on our palates because their motto “Ingredients Matter” isn’t just a slick slogan created by an ad agency, it actually has some meat behind it - literally! We’ve written about the organic grass fed beef at Elevation Burger before, but now the company is taking the objective of sustainability in an expanded direction with the introduction of organic bacon.

When a  sit down restaurant offers locally sourced or sustainable food on their menu they can usually source it from a local, or almost local, farm. It’s more work than visiting the local Piggly Wiggly, but it’s very doable. There are lots of restaurants in and around the area that have locally sourced items on their menu including Pig and Prince and the eggs at Raymond’s. It gets complicated when a nationally franchised restaurant like Elevation Burger wants to make a step towards sustainability.

We already know that organic grass fed beef is on the menu, and its ground right on premises ensuring the freshest, bestest burger ever. Bacon is a little more complicated as it not only involves raising pork but has an entire curing process that needs to be factored in. In the case of Elevation Burger, a farm was found that could meet the company’s requirements for the health and welfare of the animals, as well as guaranteeing that the pork and the feed are organic (no pesticide, no growth hormones, no antibiotics). The local thing doesn’t work well (yet) because the company is spread out, but the bacon is organic and that’s a huge step from what the fast food companies do.

Elevation Burger Montclair just marked its third year on Bloomfield Avenue and if you haven’t been there yet the Bacon is a great reason to see why ingredients matter. Sure, you can add a zillion toppings on your burger but to test drive the Mushrooms and Organic Bacon I went for a basic Cheeseburger with just those toppings. Yummo!

The bacon at the big chains tastes like that shelf stable stuff they sell in the big supermarket whose parking lot is a geriatric demolition derby (not naming names but you can figure it out.) At Elevation Burger the bacon is cooked in batches several times a day so it will be at the ready along with the other fresh ingredients. It’s the same sort of bacon Mom used to make on Sunday mornings.

Elevation Burger is open all weekend, so why stop your Labor Day celebration to cook? Do an Elevation run on Monday!

It’s not just ingredients that matter, here the community matters as well. From time to time Elevation Burger Montclair has special nights in which a percentage of sales from that evening go to a local group or cause. Save the date : on Monday September 17^th from 5 – 9pm a percentage of sales will go to the Montclair YMCA Swim Team.

Elevation Burger is on Bloomfield Avenue at the corner of North Willow. There is a free lot behind the building (right next to Ah Pizz).