Guest Post: Bulubeef: It’s Personal
We have watched on in horror as they hit: soulless, zombie restaurants with identical menus and cocktail lists, even their names, brands, and interiors all exhibit little by way of variation.
These sad hell holes aren’t interested in food.
Instead they care whether they are ‘Instagramable’.
But when dining stops being about making good food and becomes subject to the whims of food fashions, some basic part of what we love about eating dies.
You might think that nothing interesting could be happening at a Maltese burger joint.
But something IS happening at Bulubeef – the new burger bar being headlined by Chef Nicholas Diacono.
In summary: he’s back.
The NYB Story
This is not Diacono’s first try at flipping burgers and dunking things into fryers.
I’d be amiss in not pointing out that Nick was the creative culinary mind behind disruptor burger joint New York Best, which he shared with his brother Tommy.
Nick’s NYB kitchen was famed for introducing delicious pink patties to a landscape that thought the apex of burgers was frying frozen disks of grey meat.
Nick’s punk rock cooking and Tommy’s guérilla marketing stunts made for a formidable team.
But just as its rise dazzled, its end was painful to watch.
Perhaps spread too thin – the now-infamous NYB had gone from one outlet to 3 in just a few short years.
Or maybe it was just downright mismanaged.
Either way, I know I am one of many who miss it.
Focus on quality
In the weeks leading up to Bulubeef’s recent launch, I texted Nick and asked him what he was doing with this new greasy spoon.
“Focus on quality” was his only reply.
Big words to live by.
But they did not ring hollow.
Because Diacono has done the grind.
He has spent his entire life in the kitchen.
He has opened a burger joint, seen it crash, and decided to do it all over again.
There are questions I would have asked him about Bulubeef.
‘What beef are you using?’
‘How are you sourcing your buns?’
But at around 10 pm on a Saturday, Diacono wasn’t there.
Instead it was being manned almost entirely by South American kitchen staff – something increasingly common in Maltese restaurants today.
A perfect opportunity then, to see what Bulubeef can produce when left to its own devices.
As the sound system blared out Latino pop, there was something of the smell of sizzling beef and bacon grease that reminded me of the takeaways of my childhood.
It’s a special nostalgia for me: devouring a burger in the backseat of my father’s beat-up Skoda as he toured the island as a salesman.
These are memories that stay with us our entire lives.
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Bulubeef is a toqba takeaway in Ta Xbiex.
It has no tables.
It has a sticky plastic laminated menu stuck up on the wall.
The aesthetic isn’t finished, but the ideas behind the food are.
Bulubeef’s fryers are filled, not with soya bean or peanut oil, but with tallow – a rendered beef suet.
The fries it produces aren’t bimbos. They have a deep and rich personality.
My only gripe is that there could have been more of them for my grease-slicked fingers to pick at.
Next, the bacon cheeseburger.
It is exactly what you want it to be.
A lot was being said about the bacon cheeseburger- and yes, it is solid.
The bun was soft with a smattering of sesame seeds.
The patty, about an inch tall, is not a smash burger but has the seared Maillard crust of one with a juicy pink centre that sauces the buns.
There are other things on the menu.
I’m happy to report that chicken scraps are back – a New York Best staple.
In fact an entire section of fried chicken sandwiches.
And Diacono has introduced deep-fried Gbejna and battered Enoki mushrooms (an excuse to return).
But I was more interested in the weird kid at the back.
The malcontent child of this broken culinary home.
Or what Diacono has called ‘The Paisano’.
To me, this stood out.
The same beef patty, seasoned with Gozo sea salt, but tucked into a thick duvet of melted sweet provolone and joyous grilled mortadella.
I don’t know if Diacono was remembering his own childhood with this.
If he too sat in the car with his dad after another sales meeting.
“There’s always the next chance to make a sale – that’s life, ibni,” I can still hear my own father saying.
Perhaps his too?
I don’t know. Because I don’t know Nick. Not really. Not in that way.
But eating that burger, I felt like I understood something about him. Like he was sharing a part of himself.
Bulubeef exists, not because of fashion or trends.
It exists because Diacono exists – with his wins and his losses, his memories, and his story, which he continues to write.
In this way, I suppose it is a personal place, in what can so often feel like such an impersonal world.
And that is something worth writing about.
Ivan Martin is the founder and CEO of Prss Wrks – They are a Strategic Communications and Public Relations Agency that partners with businesses, organisations, and individuals to evolve, protect, and enhance their brands, stories, and reputations.
Lovin Malta is open to interesting, compelling guest posts from third parties. These opinion pieces do not necessarily reflect the views of the company. Submit your piece at [email protected]