At Aftermath, the burger is king

If you visit Aftermath Bar & Kitchen in the 16th Street and Bethany Home quadrant of hot restaurants, don’t miss the award-winning Aftermath burger. And don’t be put off when you see Velveeta among the ingredients.

Here’s how Executive Chef Austin Finley describes it: “It’s a double smash patty with our house sauce, reminiscent of the secret sauce on a Big Mac – tangy, creamy with pickles and horseradish – adorned with house pickles, red onion and melted Velveeta on a Noble onion bun with toasted onions.

“Velveeta can be kind of controversial,” he concedes, “but with a lot of cheeses, the emulsion will break. Velveeta is made so it’s stable, creamy and velvety.”

Aftermath founder Charles Barber agrees. “Nothing melts better or tastes better. We always had it in the house when I grew up.”

While that may be a matter of individual taste, there’s no denying that the combination works. The burger has made numerous “best” lists, and it’s on the menu of all the restaurants in Barber’s group.

Come this spring, when its Rosewood restaurant opens in Gilbert, the group will have opened five locations in five years, including Aftermath, its sister restaurants Born & Bred by Aftermath in Scottsdale and Chandler, and Hayden House in Tempe.

Finley is the culinary director for them all.

“I have a great team of super capable chefs,” he said. “I spend a lot of my time here at Aftermath; it’s kind of the baby of the group.”

The food at Aftermath is upscale new American.

“The name Bar & Kitchen kind of hints to it – elevated American fare,” Finley said. “I like to pull from different cuisines, with a lot of Mexican-influenced dishes. I like to play around with Southeast Asian flavors, Southern food and Spanish influences.

“I was trained in French techniques, so that’s the backbone. I don’t think about specific dishes or recipes, I think about how I can highlight and manipulate ingredients to make them sing.”

Finley is from San Antonio and grew up in his mom’s barbecue restaurants. After studying at the Cordon Bleu in Austin, he cooked Southeast Asian street fare in a food truck before moving on to fine dining restaurants in the area. He moved to Phoenix in 2023 and was executive chef at Prime in Wildhorse Pass. He left there last year to join Aftermath.

“I wanted to be in a smaller, family-owned business and have a little bit more fun with the food,” he said.

Barber, a fifth-generation native Arizonan, took a different track in his culinary career.

“I worked back of the house when I was a kid, doing easy line cook jobs, nothing to brag about,” he said. “I started going more toward the front of the house when I was in high school. I was beverage director and manager at Zinc Bistro, then decided to take a jump and opened up Hush in North Scottsdale in 2019. I sold my portion to my partner and opened up Aftermath.

“This Bethany Home location was where Hush was originally supposed to go.”

The purchase of the former garage hit roadblocks until four years ago, when Barber and his partners were able to buy the property and convert it.

There’s a patio in front, with a high wall to muffle the noise of the busy street. Inside, guests first see a large brick wall, painted white and simply decorated with mirrors, artwork and tiers of bottles of mixers and spirits. The décor is simple and comfy, in tones of dark tan and black.

And in pride of place near the entry is a large portrait of the late chef and television personality Anthony Bourdain.

“We grew up watching Bourdain,” Barber said. “He’s in every one of our restaurants. And guess what his favorite meal is? A burger.”

Menu favorites – aside from that burger – include a beautifully presented burrata, with heirloom tomatoes marinated in sherry vinaigrette with toasted almonds and shaved prosciutto.

“It reflects my thoughts on building a dish,” Finley said. “With techniques and ingredients, everything has to have a reason. Otherwise, you’re just throwing everything against the wall and see if it sticks.”

The half-chicken, newest on the menu, is another popular dish, Finley said. It’s marinated in a take on al pastor flavors, with a healthy kick of sweet and spice from Gochujang, Korean red chili paste, grilled and served with tortillas.

The crudo is another – Hamachi paired with a Leche de Tigre-style sauce made with coconut milk, Fresno chiles, ginger, garlic, fish sauce, citrus and turmeric and served with pineapple, snap peas and crispy shallots.

“Those three – Hamachi, burrata and chicken – highlight most of what I think about making food,” Finley said. “The Hamachi is kind of global, the chicken links to my Texas roots and our Mexican influences, and the burrata is a perfect example of the way I think about blending flavors.”

To top it off, there’s the bread pudding, topped with bacon “snow” – rendered bacon fat mixed with a thickener that turns it to powder. “Just a little dusting on top,” Finley said. “We call it ‘snow’ because it’s super white.”

And you can’t pass up the drinks.

“We have a great cocktail program,” Barber said. “It’s our spin on classics. There are enough innovators in the world who have seven hours to prep. The right ingredients and proportions never get old. We just want to do great classics like our old fashioned.”

Aftermath Bar & Kitchen, 1534 E. Bethany Home Road, is open for lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday; for dinner 4 to 10 p.m. daily; and for brunch 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. For information, call 602-607-5240 or visit www.aftermathphoenix.com.

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