The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Between The Bun all about family, employees, food
It’s not often things live up to the hype.
Be it blockbuster movie letdowns or sports hero busts, it seems the more hype, the less substance.
Well, don’t tell that to local burger joint Between The Bun where the hype about being the best burger place in Lorain County actually might be an understatement.
The establishment is located at 34445 Center Ridge Road in North Ridgeville in a newly remodeled building the burger proprietors are leasing.
The building stood largely abandoned for the past 15 years when one day, future Between The Bun owners John and Lacia Rutherford said they believed they may have found the perfect location for their next venture.
“We were talking about all sorts of new ideas for our next business venture,” Lacia explained. “By this point, we’ve had our hands in a little bit of everything. We’re definitely entrepreneurs at heart. We’ve owned a resale shop, a clothing shop, we’ve flipped houses, we owned a local bar.
“We discussed possibly opening a pool hall. But the more we researched things and thought about it, hey everyone has to eat, right? Not everyone wants to play pool.
“And, what’s the number one food folks want? Burgers. We just wanted to put our own funky spin on it, and Between The Bun was born.”
Lacia explained that the building was down to the studs and had dirt floors when they made the decision to move forward.
After an extensive remodel, the burger place opened in March 2023 and is celebrating its second year in business.
Walking in, the large space has plenty of group, bar and couple seating, perfect for their push as a family friendly establishment.
Games greet visitors to the left of the entrance, while each table has old fashioned family games to enjoy.
And John has his pool table.
Also, there are numerous large screen televisions playing the latest games.
Keno is available for patrons to enjoy.
A large, fully stocked bar sits in front of the immaculately clean kitchen where everything is made fresh and made to order.
“Notice, there’s no microwave in here,” Lacia smiled.
The bar boasts a number of hard to find whiskies, smoked bourbon and offers a unique margarita flight, served on custom paddles made by a friend.
And the menu is simple, but bountiful, honoring the burger and traditional sides such as fries, tots and chips.
The “Ferg Burg” is a fan favorite, which came about when a friend of cook Justin Babinec would regularly come in and ask for this concoction.
The Rutherfords also rotate specialty, seasonal burgers on the menu, most recently their wildly popular Reuben burger.
“We just don’t cheap out when it comes to quality,” Lacia said. “The quality of our gourmet burgers is second to none, and we take great pride in crafting them and cooking them perfectly.
“The way we brand the top of the burger bun gets people talking and more often than not. They take a picture of it and post it to their social media pages, so that’s built a lot of buzz for us.
“I think folks just like to see a nice, sit down restaurant that is family-friendly, and they can get a good meal, and a good buy with real good customer service, that’s what we’re striving to do. We’re very lucky, we have outstanding employees who work their butt off and genuinely care about the food and the customer service, and our customers in general.
“Our employees’ positivity and our interaction with the customers and the community as a whole has been a big part of our success.”
The business recently hosted a fundraiser for North Ridgeville City Schools where it raised money to pay off unpaid lunch debt for students.
The organizers raised so much, that there’s money left over that will carry over into what the Rutherford’s hope will be an annual fundraiser.
The large space also has a separate event room for rent where it can hold various fundraisers and private events.
The space rents for $150. More information can be found at www.BetweenBun. com or call 440-281-8885.