Big Wheel Burger's Nashville Hawt Chickpea burger paired with Buffalo fries is a shot of hot and a great veggie burger option. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

HOT HAWT

Signature Dish: Big Wheel Burger’s Nashville Hawt Chickpea Burger

Apr 23, 2021 | 1:44 PM

NANAIMO — Big Wheel Burger is more than a cheeseburger chain.

Big Wheel’s popular Nashville hawt chickpea burger paired with Buffalo fries brings the heat and filling satisfaction of a plant-based burger.

“It had the best feedback, it was just a good option, we threw it on the menu and its been going really well since,” Jason Ducklow, executive chef and operations manager for Big Wheel Burger said.

Ducklow said the burger was so popular during a feature trial it found a full-time home on their menu.

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The built-from-scratch vegan optional Nashville hawt chickpea burger features chickpeas, rice and veggies topped with chipotle aoli and brushed in Nashville hot oil.

The burger is finished with crunchy slaw, lettuce and a bakery made bun.

Ducklow’s own spin on Buffalo Fries are coated in Frank’s Red Hot sauce, blue cheese and balanced by a house-made buttermilk ranch sauce.

“I think that comes from my background where I just love spicy food and the who mentality of it. The whole meal is about a medium.”

Quality ingredients sourced in an environmentally responsible way are hallmarks of the emerging Big Wheel Burger brand.

Big Wheel offers hormone free Alberta beef is ground-up fresh daily in-store. Vegetable fixings are sourced as locally as possible to reduce Big Wheel’s carbon foot print.

Big Wheel Burger is dubbed Canada’s first carbon neutral fast food restaurant.

“One of the biggest things that we tried to build right from the beginning is we try to be a sustainable business…Everything that anybody is getting in store right now is compostable, it’ll break down in a home compost within 30 days,” Ducklow said.

Big Wheel Burger opened i’s Nanaimo location in the heart of the Harewood Neighbouhood on Bruce Ave at Fifth St. during the first wave of the pandemic.

Big Wheel has four other Victoria-area locations. There are plans to open a store in Courtenay.

“Even during COVID we’ve had great customer support, so everything just been going really well. We’re not going to stop now, we’re going to try to hit the Mainland some time soon and keep growing on the island at the same time,” Ducklow said.

Dine-in, online and phone-in ordering and curbside pickup options are all available at Big Wheel Burger in Nanaimo.

Their restaurant at 601 Bruce Ave. is open seven days a week from 11:30 am to 8:30 p.m.

Big Wheel Burger in Nanaimo can be reached at 250-591-8922, while its online menu is available here.

Signature Dish is brought to you by Island Savings – A Division of First West Credit Union, learn more at https://www.islandsavings.ca/.

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