Don Memo in Westport Introduces a Limited Happy Hour Burger

When Don Memo posted on Instagram that they’d be serving a burger during their Hora Feliz (that’s happy hour in English), their fans were pretty stoked, present company included. Show me a good happy hour AND throw in a limited cheeseburger, something Don Memo has never offered before, and I’m there.

Rewind a little bit, though. Don Memo hasn’t had a burger since the location went by a different name altogether.

“I was the sous at Jesup and I was brought into this restaurant group cooking American food,” says chef Zack Hinman. “I love that kind of food and the food at Jesup was my favorite food that I have cooked.”

Now running the kitchen at Don Memo, Hinman is proud of their happy hour that’s obviously more than just the burger we’re about to discuss, but a solid array of refreshing cocktails, chilaquiles, and a lamb merguez hot dog that I’ll surely devour next time.

“We wanted to make our happy hour different and get people in the door,” Hinman says. “I think it’s one of the best happy hour menus, and we’re not JUST tacos.”

Psst! Should you want a margarita or a paloma with your burger, you can of course do that. But…if you do it at the BAR, and ONLY at THE BAR during happy hour, you can snag a burger and a marg or paloma for $22.

One way to differentiate Don Memo’s early crowd from the rest of the Mexican restaurants around was to add a fat, creative burger that’s of course, Mexican inspired.

The “Hamburguesa Don Memo” begins with an 80-20 lean to fat prime beef blend, that’s cooked slightly pink unless otherwise specified.

But it’s the toppings that really set it apart. Hinman shares that the sweated down peppers and onions is Don Memo’s own version of rajas. Instead of using traditional poblanos, they use different green chilis, yellow bell peppers, or basically whatever peppers they have in-house that come from local farms or from Thursday hauls at the Westport Farmers Market.

The big kicker that adds some heat and creaminess is the morita chili mayo that the kitchen makes from dehydrated morita chilis (aka, a red jalapeño) that’s smoked, then rehydrated before they incorporate it into a homemade aioli.

The cheese component, because everyone wants to know about that, is pepper jack.

But that gorgeous bun that you’re marveling at? The one that holds up amidst all that juiciness? Those are the same sesame brioche buns that Don Memo uses for their Milanese de pollo cemita (FYI, this is always available), made specially by baker Simon Bowden of Leaven & Companions.

To score the Hamburguesa Don Memo, you’ll have to go on a Tuesday through Friday between Hora Feliz hours of 4:30 and 6 p.m., otherwise you’re out of luck until weekend brunch on Fridays and Saturdays from noon ‘til 3.

And if you’re wondering how the Hamburguesa Don Memo even came to be a thing in the first place, it’s simple.

“I asked one of my cooks, ‘what’s your favorite thing to cook?’” Hinman explains. “He said, ‘you know, Zack, I really love just having a burger.’”

Don’t you love a burger, too?

90 Post Road E, Westport
203.557.6198, donmemowestport.com