It's not hard to spot a maverick in the wild. For example, take Casey Jovick, the owner of Jovick Brothers Burgers (4993 Loughborough Avenue, 314-390-2899), which opened in Princeton Heights on August 22.
All it takes to establish Jovick's credentials is a look at the smash burger spot's menu, specifically the "only at Jovick Bros" section that contains the house-designed combos. Right in the middle of the list is the Macklind: single cheeseburger, double bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and peanut butter.
Yes, peanut butter. It's a challenge that cannot be ignored, at least by me. So that's how I found myself last week biting into one less than 15 minutes after spotting the unusual topping on the menu.
Surprisingly, it wasn't the first thing I noticed. The burger is the clear star: It's well-seasoned and thin but is distinct from other smash burgers in its light texture. The bun is also soft, the bacon is crisp and very present upon first bite, and the veggies are all accounted for. Then, after a few bites, I noticed an extra savory note that actually harmonizes with the meat well — that's the peanut butter. Huh.
In short: It works. But how did Jovick think to go down this strange road?
To understand that, you have to know that Jovick has been around the St. Louis food scene for a while. A noted pitmaster, he cut his teeth as a butcher before making the leap to barbecue at Pappy's Smokehouse and then Sugarfire. He was working at the Macklind Deli as part of a management group poised to take over when the building was destroyed by a fire in 2018.
The peanut butter is a nod to that deli, which had a BLT on the menu that you could get Mac style, a.k.a. with peanut butter and red onions. When Jovick opened his own deli, Jovick Brothers Deli, in Westport Plaza in 2022, his menu included the M.A.D.B.L.T., featuring red onions and peanut butter.
So an iteration of the dish was a natural addition to the burger menu.
"I'm back on Macklind," he says. (Don't let the address fool you; the restaurant is at an intersection with Macklind.) "I really don't know [why it works], but it does, somehow. I was pretty skeptical of it myself when I first learned about that flavor combination. Especially with mayonnaise and peanut butter. ... I'd stuck a little peanut butter and stuck a little mayonnaise in my mouth, and I was like, 'Oh, I get it now.'"
But Jovick Brothers Burgers is not a one-trick pony. Aside from the burgers, Jovick's menu includes chicken sandwiches, glizzies (quarter-pound, all-beef hot dogs), two vegan options and a handful of sides including French fries, onion rings, tater tots and fried cheese curds.
It's a simple setup, full of crowd-pleasers fit for a quintessential neighborhood spot. Jovick says that the idea was a menu that was delicious but easy to execute and accessible. It also hearkens back to the eatery's origin story. Jovick Brothers Burgers has the same landlord as the aforementioned Macklind Avenue Deli. When CC's Vegan Spot looked unlikely to renew its lease, that landlord reached out to Jovick, who was interested but didn't have a specific concept in mind. Jovick started looking around the area and talking with residents, trying to decide what to open.
"I'm like, 'Man, this neighborhood needs a burger joint,'" Jovick says.
It was a sentiment bound to endear him to most any area, but the neighborhood's excitement got ratcheted up a notch when, during the renovations, he found black mold that needed remediation. That set the opening back a month, but it had him and his crew outside working on the building constantly.
Neighbors would stop by to chat and ask what was happening and when the restaurant would be open. And, it seems, that conviviality paid off with immediate "this is my neighborhood spot" vibes.
When I was there, Jovick and his staff greeted seeming regulars by name. The man at the next table insisted on sharing his cheese curds when he saw I'd ordered onion rings, and we discussed how they seemed to be dipped in some kind of batter before being fried. Every table outside was full and most inside were as well. Jovick himself brought my table condiments and stopped to make a few jokes.
It's like the restaurant has been there for years — instead of a few weeks.
"It's been really cool," Jovick says. "Since we opened, we've had a few people that come in either daily or every other day. ... We've just had a really warm reception."
One of those new regulars talks about how Jovick works all morning at his deli in Maryland Heights before heading to Princeton Heights to open at 4 p.m. Jovick confirms this rumor, noting that it can be a challenge to run both places. But it's worth it.
"I'm happy with what I'm doing," he says. "I hope I'm having a positive effect on the food scene in St. Louis or a positive effect on our customers."
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