Superiority Burger is taking over Odessa space

Sean Furtado

Brooks Headley has been operating the very popular vegetarian spot Superiority Burger out of the same tiny E. 9th St space since it opened in 2015. It seated six in non pandemic times -- most people took their food to go -- but now Superiority Burger is moving on up, and around the corner, and taking over the space that was until recently the home of East Village landmark Odessa Diner.

Talking to Grub Street, Headley says that Superiority Burger has needed bigger digs since almost the moment they opened (they expanded to a second kitchen across the street earlier this year for more takeout) and that Odessa's owners wanted a new tenant with ties to the community and a proven track record. “Odessa has always kinda been my dream space,” Headley tells Grub Street. "What’s so dreamy about it is that besides being big, it comes completely furnished and ready to go. “It’s not old and dusty and gross and needing upgrades. I find it completely beautiful — the soda counter, the satellite bar, the cash register station. I don’t plan to change it at all.”

You can expect the same kind of food Superiority Burger has been dishing out, but with more things like their great daily specials. “There’s all sorts of things we could never do in-house, like vegan buns, and there’s stuff we could do only one time a week, like focaccia, that we can do all the time now,” says Headley. “Maybe I will even have fries. Do I even know how to operate a deep fryer?”

As a former four-star pastry chef at Del Posto (and former punk rock drummer), Headley also plans on making good use out of the soda fountain counter, expanding their line of sorbets and ice creams. He also plans on serving breakfast. Even though he plans on keeping the Odessa space as close to as-is as possible -- and he's going to hold onto the original SB space too, but use it for other things -- renovations will still take a while, so don't expect the new sit-down Superiority Burger to open before the first of the year.

This is exciting news. Stay tuned.