Massive Line for Day 1 at Bobby's Burger Palace Virginia

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• Bobby Flay supervises opening day at Bobby's Burger Palace at Potomac Mills.
• Bobby Flay at Opening Day for Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Massive line for opening day at Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Derrick Wood of Divine BBQ in Motion challenges Flay to a throwdown in line.
• Flay supervises the burger production.
• Decor at Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Counter at Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Flay shoots a promo for the College Park Bobby's Burger Palace.
• Flay explains his philosophy on burgers.
• Flay explains why a flat top is the best way to cook a burger.
• Flay talks burgers.
• Bobby's Blue Burger.

Virginia residents are not afraid to stand in line to get crunchified — or to stalk Bobby Flay. The Food Network star was in town Tuesday for opening day at the Potomac Mills location of Bobby's Burger Palace in Woodbridge, the third to open in the greater D.C. area. Lines for the lunchtime opening stretched down the street and around the block.

The Virginia location won't be the last. A Bethesda location is about to start construction, Flay said, with a Towson location planned for 2014. No other leases for the burger chain are signed beyond that, but Flay said he wouldn't rule out additional locations — or the possibility of bringing one of his sit-down restaurants, such as Mesa Grill, to D.C. "It's always a possibility — for the high-end places, it's a possibility for sure," said Flay. "It comes down to the question of real estate; the right location, the right physical space, and the right kind of real estate deal."

There are 15 locations of Bobby's Burger Palace nationwide at this point, and they all share a similar menu, though some of the burgers vary slightly by location (there's no official D.C. burger at any of the local joints, though Flay has toyed with the idea before). Burgers are named after a particular region of the country, and feature ingredients popularized in that area: the Santa Fe, burger, for example, is topped queso sauce, pickled jalapenos and blue corn chips. Patties can be 80/20 Angus beef, turkey or a chicken breast; any burger can be "crunchified," or topped with potato chips the way Flay remembers doing so as a child. The Virginia location has room for 70 seats.

10 flavors of shakes (there's a whopping 11 oz of ice cream per shake), along with fries, onion rings and sweet potato fries, round out the menu. Sorry, vegetarians — you can order a salad or a grilled cheese, but there are no plans to add a veggie burger to the menu. "I have yet to ever taste a veggie burger that I think is great," said Flay.
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