If you’ve ever had a Baddie burger, you know that their recipe is simple, to the point and delicious. That’s one of the reasons why, back in July, the Banner-Herald listed it as one of the five best locally-made burgers in Athens. For most, Baddie’s Burgers & Fries is a place where great-tasting food and sensible prices are a given, but for those who know owner Joe Nedza’s flair for creativity, doing things differently is his signature.
On Sept. 16, Baddie’s introduced its spicy burger, available during and inspired by the University of Georgia Bulldogs’ 2024 season. Open in Athens at 1591 S. Lumpkin St. and in Watkinsville at 1011 Park Dr., Baddie’s serves smash-style burgers, French fries and banana pudding from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday. How spicy is the new burger? We stopped in recently to find out.
Eat Athens:Ever had “all the way” hash browns at Waffle House? Here’s how it looks and how it tastes.
Baddie’s opened its Five Points location in December 2022 with the intention of becoming the Chick-fil-A of hamburgers, meaning that their mission was to concentrate on making one thing and doing it better than anyone else. Nedza’s previous restaurant in that space had a massive menu that proved difficult to manage, so he created the streamlined Baddie’s, which was an immediate hit. The Watkinsville location opened back in May.
Simply put, the Baddie’s menu contains one burger made in one style with a specific type of dressing: caramelized onions, cheese, and house-made pickles and sauce. Guests can order the Baddie burger in single, double or triple patty sizes, and the fries are available the traditional way or sprinkled with Cajun seasoning. They also offer a variety of Nedza’s original recipe banana puddings (more on that later).
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
So what’s different about the spicy burger? As far as appearance goes, and in true Baddie’s style, it looks identical to their signature burger. There are no jalapenos and the meat isn’t some intimidating shade of red. The alterations are all in the flavor: the patty contains Cajun spices and the regular pickles are replaced with hot pickles. Will it set your face on fire? No, but Nedza told us that he’s adding a new sauce on Tuesday to turn up the heat.
Though it’s not needed to counteract the tingle of the spicy burger, the Banner-Herald recommends adding a $5 cup of the key lime banana pudding to your $11.50 spicy double burger combo, which comes with fries and a drink. Nedza’s pudding recipe is unlike any this reporter has ever tried, and the key lime is a beautiful experiment that marries the expected pie taste with the surprisingly complimentary textures of pudding and wafers.
