Moncton Entrepreneurs To Open Burger Joint By The River
MONCTON – Hub City residents will have to wait just two more weeks to be seated at Don Wilson and Tara Tucker’s new burger joint on 300 Main St. The Moncton owners of Bridge Burger n’ Wings in Borden, P.E.I., will open Classic Burger on April 1.
Nakida Azevedo, the manager of the restaurant, said one of the things that will set Classic Burger apart is its gluten-free options. Each of the 18 burger items can be made gluten-free.
“We’re going to do a gluten-free poutine so that’s cool because I’m gluten-free. We’re gonna have pub-style gluten-free food, which is not common. It’s hard to find,” she said.
Classic Burger will also serve various hot dogs made from scratch, nachos and wings, soups, salads, milkshakes and ice cream. Each month, it will feature beer from a different local brewery.
“We’re privately owned, so it’s not a franchise. And we’re going to have a beer of the month special, so that would be a fun way to try local beers because we really want to support local,” Avezedo said.
The restaurant is located where Woody’s BBQ used to be, a few doors down from Chateau Moncton hotel. That’s why Avezedo said, later in the year, breakfast will be added on weekends to accommodate guests that may come from the hotel.
Classic Burger can seat 130 people indoors, including an enclosed sports lounge with seating for 40 people. With Wilson being a big Maple Leafs fan, Classic Burger has partnered with the Labatt Brewing Company to host sporting events.
In the summer, it will have a patio that can seat 30 people beside the boardwalk overlooking the Petitcodiac River. It will also have a back-window to serve as an ice cream stand “right on the boardwalk,” Azevedo said.
The idea to open in Moncton started to brew in the fall of last year.
“It’s always been something [Wilson and Tucker] wanted to do to open something in Moncton,” said Azevedo. “Probably around November, it got a little more serious.”
Azevedo is a close friend of Wilson and Tuckers’ twin daughters. As high school students, the three of them used to work at the P.E.I. take-out joint each summer. That location also included a candy and ice-cream store called Flavour Mountain.
“[Wilson and Tucker] actually just started it so they could give their girls a part-time job in the summer and then it just grew from there,” Azevedo said.
“They had a lot of success, it was great. Borden is such a nice spot in the summer, but it was only seasonal, so they wanted something to do in the winter too. They live in Moncton, so that’s why they’re opening here.”
Classic Burger has hired 11 servers and eight kitchen staff. It will be open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on weekdays, and until midnight during the weekend.