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A plain white sign. An orange-striped awning. No patio, no dining room, no seats at all. That’s Atomic Burger at 245 Greenwood Ave. If you walked past it without knowing what was inside, you’d keep walking. Most people in Leslieville did exactly that when it opened last year.
They’re not walking past anymore.
The 30-day burger
Gene Carpenter and Linda Jong run Elsie’s in the Junction, the record shop with a sandwich counter that built a quiet following among locals who care about their bread. Atomic Burger is their second act, and they brought the same obsessiveness with them.
Every patty here is butchered and ground in-house, then dry-aged for a minimum of 30 days before it hits the griddle. Thirty days. For a burger. That’s steakhouse-level commitment at a price point under $13.
The dry-aging concentrates the beef flavour and makes the meat more tender. When it hits the griddle, it develops this seared crust that a regular fresh-ground patty just doesn’t get. You notice it on the first bite, and it’s the reason people keep showing up.
What to order
The menu is small on purpose. Everything has a space name, which tracks with the retro-futuristic theme.
The Atomic Dry-Aged Burger ($12.99) is the one to get first. Five-ounce dry-aged patty, melted aged cheddar, shredded lettuce, thick tomato, house pickles, chopped white onions, and their “mission-classified” atomic sauce on a wheat bun. The combo ($17.98) adds fries.
The Space Cadet ($9.90) is for the double-stack crowd. Two three-ounce patties with double cheddar, pickles, onions, and atomic sauce. Messier. Also great.
If you’re not going beef, there’s Neptune’s Shrimp Burger ($8.99) and the Martian Burger ($8.99), which is a fried falafel patty.
Sides include Asteroid Fries, Saturn’s Onion Rings, and Chicken Rocket Tenders. The Galaxy Shake ($7.30) is ube, sweet potato, and coconut blended together, and honestly more interesting than anything on the drinks menu at most burger spots in this city.
There’s also an Atomic Pie for dessert. Sweet potato, coconut, cinnamon. Under five bucks and better than it has any right to be.
Grab it and go to the park
There’s nowhere to sit inside. This is a grab-and-walk operation. But Greenwood Park is a two-minute walk northeast, and on a warm day, there’s no better lunch setup in Leslieville than a dry-aged burger on a park bench.
You can order delivery through DoorDash and Uber Eats, but the burgers are better fresh off the griddle. Make the trip.
Important details
Hours: Wednesday to Sunday, noon to 8 p.m. Closed Monday and Tuesday.
Address: 245 Greenwood Ave, Leslieville, just northeast of Greenwood Park.
Phone: (416) 466-2422
Why you probably haven’t heard of it yet
Toronto is lousy with burger options. Smash burger chains, pub burgers, gourmet burgers, fast food, all of it. But almost nobody else in the city is dry-aging their beef for 30 days and grinding it fresh for a burger you can buy for under $13.
Carpenter and Jong don’t have a fancy dining room or a PR strategy. They have a tiny takeout counter with an orange awning and a process they clearly believe in. Same approach as Elsie’s: care a lot about the ingredient, keep everything else simple, let people figure it out.
Toronto foodies are figuring it out. If you haven’t been yet, fix that. Bring cash and a calorie deficit for the Galaxy Shake!
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