Gotham Burger Social Club threw open the doors of its new Williamsburg restaurant last Wednesday, marking its second Brooklyn address and its first with a full liquor license. The 1,500-square-foot spot at 216 Grand Street celebrated its grand opening on September 23 by handing free Single burgers to the first 100 people in line, according to Pulsd.
The opening caps a long runway for founder Mike Puma, whose burger-reviewing hobby began in 2013, as Forbes reported. That pandemic-era pop-up eventually grew into the Gotham Burger Social Club brand, which as WhatNow notes has landed on the World's 101 Best Burgers list and among Food Network's top 10 burgers in the country.
From a Greenpoint Pop-Up to a Permanent North Brooklyn Home
Before settling on Grand Street, the brand tested Brooklyn appetites with a pop-up residency inside Threes Brewing at 113 Franklin Street in Greenpoint that ran from late 2023 until January 24, per the same account from Greenpointers. That residency, just north of Williamsburg, effectively served as a proving ground before Puma committed to a standalone lease. The new build-out lets him keep the operation in North Brooklyn while adding something the pop-up never had: a full bar program.
Gotham Burger Social Club's first permanent restaurant opened in January 2024 at 131 Essex Street on the Lower East Side, and WhatNow reports the Williamsburg location largely mirrors that original template. The new space seats 57 guests, including 10 at the bar, with hours running 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and until midnight on weekends, according to WhatNow.
Walnut Paneling, Dolly Parton, and an Oklahoma Burger
The design leans into mid-century modern and Western touches, including walnut paneling, brass accents, leather seating, and decorative nods to country music icons like Dolly Parton, according to Patch. The Western theme extends to the menu's signature item, the Gotham Smash, which takes its cue from the Oklahoma fried onion burger. That style traces back to El Reno, Oklahoma, in the 1920s and Great Depression, when cooks smashed thin-shaved onions directly into beef patties on the flat top to stretch scarce, expensive meat, per the Food Republic account of the dish's origins. Gotham's version comes loaded with American cheese, club sauce, housemade pickles, jalapeños, ketchup, and mustard, per WhatNow.
The rest of the menu spreads well beyond the smash burger. WhatNow lists California Dreamin', Love Me Tenders, Cowboy Caviar, a Chopped Cheese Taco, the Gotham Dog, loaded tots, and a Veg'n-Out Smash among the offerings, alongside fries, onion rings, and frickles served with club sauce and ghost pepper ranch. On the Lower East Side, that same Chopped Cheese Taco — a riff on the classic NYC bodega sandwich stuffed into a toasted flour tortilla with jalapeños, crema, lettuce, tomatoes, and Cotija cheese — runs $6.50, according to Bite of the Best.
Weekly Specials and a New Bar Program
Beyond the core lineup, WhatNow reports the Dixi Chick appears as a weekly special on Mondays and Tuesdays, while Wednesdays and Thursdays bring Buffalo and Yellowstone Gold hot sauce wings into rotation.
The bar is the real departure from the Lower East Side flagship. Cocktails run around $15, including a Puma Spicy Margarita made with fresh jalapeño and ginger beer, and a Gotham Bloody served Saturdays and Sundays using the restaurant's house-made bloody mary mix, per WhatNow. The beer list draws heavily on North Brooklyn breweries, including Threes Brewing, KCBC, Talea Beer, Grimm, Flagship, and Brooklyn Brewery.
A Brand That's Grown Well Past Its Pop-Up Roots
The Williamsburg opening arrives as Gotham Burger Social Club keeps adding addresses. It was selected in 2025 to open a location inside John F. Kennedy International Airport's Terminal 5, part of a concession overhaul led by SSP America and JetBlue, per Meetings + Events.
That trajectory tracks with a broader shift in New York's food scene, where the smash burger format has moved from temporary market stalls and brewery pop-ups into its own brick-and-mortar category over the past several years, according to New York Eats Here. For Puma, the Williamsburg storefront represents the next step past pop-ups and food-market stalls — a full-service restaurant with its own bar, in a neighborhood he first tested from just across the border in Greenpoint.
