Shin Ha, owner and chef at Flat Top Burgers in Sanford, said his staff, which includes Chloe Livingstone and Leroy Cheney, is integral to his success.
Photo: Kat Szmit
By Kat Szmit
Shin Ha has worked as an executive chef for more than 25 years in myriad locales. But on Aug. 28, for the first time, he stepped beyond the role of chef to owner and chef at his new burger place in Sanford, Flat Top Burgers. Ha says these aren’t just any old smash burgers. He wants his to be the best.
Ha’s journey to Flat Top is peppered with culinary stints in venues from New York City to Chicago to Vermont to Maine. Locally, he worked at the Anchorage by the Sea in Ogunquit, where he served as executive chef for 15 years. But before that came a journey from South Korea to America.
In his early days in food service, Ha found himself in Chicago, where he worked alongside the mother of the owner of one of the many eateries he’s worked at. Ha grins widely when he thinks back.
“At that time, I had no English,” he said. The owner’s mother, Roux Vitale, also spoke no English, but was insistent upon teaching Ha how to cook, and cook well. “So, I don’t speak English, and she doesn’t speak English. She was pulling my ear, smacking my head, tasting my food.”
But there was more to it, Ha said.
“She was teaching me eye to eye, side by side. She was teaching everything to me,” he said.
For a year, he learned from her how to cook Italian food that Ha said was routinely dubbed “amazing.” From scampi to chicken parmesan, Ha could cook it all and is grateful for Vitale’s guidance.
And he did cook it all as executive chef at the Anchorage, where his Italian dishes were always popular. But Ha longed to see the faces of the people he was making food for. It wasn’t possible in a closed-off restaurant kitchen, but Ha knew it would be possible somewhere else.
Enter a friend who works as a realtor. Ha shared with her his dream of opening his own restaurant and around the same time, the location at 1735 Main St., formerly Village Pizza, came up for sale. Ha saw immense possibility as something he said Sanford has been longing for: a burger joint.
“I cook Italian food, but hey,” he said. “In American food, number one is a hamburger. And I want to make the best burger.”
On Aug. 28, Ha served the first of what he said has been 10,000 burgers in the months since. The more people who enjoy the Flat Top experience, the more Ha’s reputation spreads. He’s already seeing repeat customers. He gets to see them personally because he’s at the grill behind the counter, making the food and interacting with customers.
“I’m cooking for people with happy faces,” Ha said. “Everyone says, ‘The steak and cheese is number one!’ That kind of energy, I can say, ‘Oh, that’s good!’”
So, what sets Flat Top Burgers apart from other smashburgers? (For those unfamiliar, a smashburger is a burger that’s pressed, or smashed, flat on the cooktop of the grill.) Ha said it starts with fresh food. The beef is fresh, not frozen, and each burger is cooked fresh, topped with a brioche bun (or a gluten free option) and made to order. There’s even a house-made secret sauce. There are real potato fries, crispy and seasoned, as well.
“I don’t cook ahead of time,” Ha said. “When they order, we cook. Fresh beef, fresh bun, cooked right away; you can’t go wrong with that combination.”
That said, Ha admits that people who know of his background in Italian food are asking when the menu will expand to include some of that. He’s looking to slowly add new dishes, not all of them Italian. He mentioned quesadillas, some specials, and sandwiches.
Ha said his staff is a key ingredient to his success in Sanford. Leroy Cheney previously worked at Village Pizza, delivering pies when he was just 16. Now, Ha says, he’s a great cook. “He made some pasta dishes and pasta salads and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh,’” he said. “The flavors were amazing. So, I said, ‘Okay. We can create something that’s not just a burger shop.’”
But it starts, for now, with the burgers Ha hopes will become a Sanford favorite.
“I want the people of Sanford to say, ‘Oh! This is the best place to go eat something,’” Ha said. “I’m not making big money. But the name? It’s gonna be forever.”
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