Update: Burger Revolution fan support gives restaurant national TV exposure

Gourmet burger restaurant Burger Revolution at 300 North Front St., Belleville. Photo by Erin Stewart

By Erin Stewart

BELLEVILLE – North Front Street restaurant Burger Revolution is going to be featured on the Food Network’s You Gotta Eat Here television series.

The gourmet burger restaurant was selected for the show because of fans writing in and recommending it.

Burger Revolution, run by husband-and-wife team Jeffrey and Rayling Camacho, has been open at 300 North Front St. for about a year and a half.

The couple are classically trained chefs who came to Belleville four and a half years ago. They worked in fine dining in Toronto, Niagara-on-the-Lake and the United States before choosing to settle down in Belleville, a city that they felt was missing a gourmet burger restaurant.

Jeffrey Camacho says Burger Revolution was a complete success from day one.

“The first day we opened we sold out of everything. If that was a judgment about how business was going to be, we took it from there. We had to stop because there was no way I could open the next day,” he said.

Husband-and-wife duo Jeffrey and Rayling Camacho are the owners and chefs of Burger Revolution. Photo by Erin Stewart

Burger Revolution sources its products locally. Beef comes from the Enright Cattle Company in Tweed, potatoes from Grimson Farms in Frankford and Simpson Produce in Stouffville, and cheese curds from the Wilton Cheese Factory in Odessa.

Camacho says he is thrilled at Burger Revolution being chosen to be on the Food Network.

“In all of Canada we got picked to be showcased. That in itself is crazy. Who would have thought this would happen?”

Rachel Horvath, the supervising producer of You Gotta Eat Here, says it’s a long process to select the 78 restaurants that are featured on the series’ 28 episodes a season.

“We have a research team that is dedicated to finding all of the locations that we shoot at. They spend about five months researching. They get tips through Facebook and our Gmail tips address, and also they just dig through any restaurant review and travel guide – anything they can find to find some great places to visit,” Horvath said.

“We shoot across the country so we are always looking to get to new areas that we haven’t been to yet. Once they find something that they think is good they do an in-depth interview with the owner to get a really good idea of the story of the restaurant and also to ascertain that everything is fresh, homemade, and it is not just a bunch of stuff that comes out of packages and jars.”

Burger Revolution was chosen thanks to its fans’ recommendations, Horvath said.

“It was a combination of things. Certainly we did get tips about Burger Revolution. They have a lot of fans who let us know about how great the restaurant was, so that was a good starting place for us. So from there the research team dug further to make sure it was a good location,” she said.

“At this point a burger place has to be great to stand out, because we have seen a lot of burgers. And Burger Revolution is doing just a great job of making really fresh, yummy food at great prices in a place that I think doesn’t have a big identity food wise. So I think people are really excited about the location, and that’s why we wanted to be there.”

Camacho said he hopes that Burger Revolution being featured on You Gotta Eat Here will bring more business and people to Belleville.

“It’s good because it adds more things to bring people to Belleville. We want to give back to Belleville. It’s a great place and we want to show that there is another reason to come,” he said.

Filming for the series is taking place at the restaurant on Thursday and Friday. Four popular burgers will be featured.

“One of them is a secret-menu burger that has been kind of underground for a while,” Camacho said. “When (the show’s makers) heard about it they wanted to let it come out of hiding and see what it is and what it is all about. That burger we are really excited about because it is a really, really good burger.

‘The combination is weird – it doesn’t sound like it works, but when you bite into it, it totally works.

But what exactly is that combination? Camacho refused to reveal the secret to QNet News.

The restaurant is closed Thursday because of the filming, but people can go in to place takeout orders on Friday and have the chance to be on camera.

“I just want to say thank you to everyone, the fans who wrote in for us, and come out on Friday if you can,” Camacho said.

The new season of You Gotta Eat Here airs in the spring of 2014. A specific date for Burger Revolution’s episode is not yet known.