Cheeburger Opens in Downtown Easton

If you've been waiting to sample burgers from Cheeburger, Cheeburger in Easton, your wait is over.

The hamburger chain held its grand opening Wednesday afternoon, with several dozen people gathered to hear the franchisee praise the city for its help, and then invite them inside to eat.

"They've accepted us," said Frank Aversa, who runs the restaurant at 336 Northampton St. on behalf of owner John Jaindl. "I feel like we're filling a niche."

Cheeburger Cheeburger has more than 60 restaurants in 18 states, with the Easton site being its sixth in Pennsylvania.

Although it seems to take its name from the John Belushi SNL skit about a diner with a pretty limited menu, Cheeburger Cheeburger's menu is pretty extensive.

The chain says its claims to fame are its angus beef burgers with multiple toppings and its 1.2 million flavor combinations of milk shakes. There are turkey and salmon burgers for people who want to avoid red meat, and veggie burgers for diners who want to avoid meat altogether.

(Inside the Easton restaurant you'll find a "No Coke, Pepsi" wall sign, along with Belushi-as-Jake-Blues statue. Incidentally, the Chicago diner that served as inspiration to the SNL skit sued the Cheeburger chain in 2003. They ended up settling, with Cheeburger agreeing not to open any restaurants near downtown Chicago. To this date, it has no locations in Illinois.)

Cheeburger is the latest step in the renovation of the city's former Pomeroy building, which also includes upstairs lofts, an Easton Hospital clinic and the bistro Maxim's 22.

Speaking to the crowd Wednesday, Pomeroy developer Mark Mulligan talked about how when he first came to town, "they told me I was going to lose my shirt."

Now: "The basements are leased in this building."