You step off a cold, dark street into the familiar warmth of a neighborhood restaurant. There is Coca Cola merchandise on the wall and a clear view of the industrial kitchen in the back. The place smells of fresh fries and sweet vanilla milkshakes— the perfect combination after a long day and you’ve entered Market Burger.

A chef flips a burger patty behind the cashier as you place your order, ambient sounds of blenders whirring, condiments being poured into pools, and diners slurping on milkshakes. You wait — maybe a little too long, but it’s only because of how packed the place is — until your milkshake finally arrives.

This is unlike any other milkshake you have ever experienced. Vanilla is too often associated with plainness; but this milkshake is far from ordinary. 

Market Burger prides itself on fresh, local produce and burgers and fries made in-house. Ingredients such as lemonade, milk, and ice cream are supplied by local businesses like South Mountain Creamery in Maryland.

A pile of crisp, hot fries is tossed beside your sandwich and pushed onto the counter. Your name is called. The burger is steaming with heat. The fries, even hotter, are coated generously in salt, each bursting with sharp flavor. 

Market Burger’s turkey burger, paired with cheddar and bacon, snugly settled between classic fluffy brioche buns, delivers everything you want in a perfect burger. The cheese stretches as you pull a bite away, the meat practically melting into pure flavor in your mouth. The bacon, somehow still sizzling from the pan, the perfect combo of greasy and crunchy.

You throw a fry in your mouth: it’s salty, it’s crispy, it’s rich. You grab a few others and wash them down with the milkshake. By the time you finish your meal, you are both stuffed and desperate to order seconds.

Market Burger’s wide range of milkshakes and malts, customizable burgers, and classic diner fries, are completely worth the drive to their Purcellville location. The restaurant has the atmosphere of a family member’s kitchen— as long as all of your family is obsessed with soda merchandise— with friendly employees and a lively customer base. After you experience Market Burger, you’ll keep coming back.