Is There Such a Thing as Healthy Fast Food?

  

Elevation Burger and fries

Elevation Burger, a new fast food chain opening locations across the country, claims to be the nation's first organic hamburger chain, serving "elevated" fast food. This is fast food for people who care about where their food comes from.

The chain, which opened its first outlet in 2005, serves 100% organic, grass-fed, free-range beef ground on the premises. They also offer two kinds of veggie burgers, lettuce-wrapped burgers, non-processed 6-month aged cheddar cheese, and cookies made with organic butter and eggs.

They have also patented their "fresh fries" which are made from low-sugar potatoes and are cooked in olive oil, a heart-healthy fat with omega-3s—as opposed to traditional fries that are laden with unhealthy trans fats.

The chain was started by a husband and wife team in Northern Virginia in 2005, when owner Hans Hess couldn't find the burger of his dreams on the East Coast after leaving California.

The company's website says that its ingredients are fresh, sustainable, and "local when practical." They pride themselves on an "appropriately sized" bun that doesn't "compeat with the meat," meat that actually has flavor (as opposed to the frozen hockey pucks served at most fast food chains) and a mission to put people before profits.

Of course, this is still a burger joint, and no amount of grass-fed goodness is going to make up for the calories inherent in stacks of beef and cheese. The standard Elevation Burger is double meat, double cheese, though you can order the "Half the Guilt" burger and get only a single patty. And rumor has it there is an off-menu option for those in the know—much like the cult menu for In 'N Out Burger—called the Vertigo, which starts with three patties and goes up to as many as 10, plus cheese, of course.

But for those times you want to indulge (and don't feel like making your own) Elevation Burger may be a foodie's new best friend.

Written by Lacy Boggs Renner