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Preston Parker, owner of Morty's Café, which recently opened a Syracuse location.

Valerie Phillips, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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The spicy-sweet Hawaiian Burger at Morty's Café features pepper jack cheese, bacon, jalapenos, pineapple jalapeno relish and Korean barbecue sauce.

Valerie Phillips, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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Scone fries at Morty's Café are deep-fried strips of scone dough, dusted with powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar.

Valerie Phillips, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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The Glenn's Delight breakfast sandwich at Morty's Café in Syracuse.

Valerie Phillips, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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The Morty's Burrito at Morty's Café in Syracuse.

Valerie Phillips, Special to the Standard-Examiner

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Although Morty’s Café is a Logan icon, its newest location in Syracuse is a homecoming of sorts for owner Preston Parker.

He grew up just a few miles away in Clinton and graduated from Clearfield High School. Now a professor at Utah State University, Parker co-founded the first Morty’s in 2014 next to USU’s campus and has expanded the burger-and-breakfast restaurant into St. George and Providence locations.

“I always wanted to have a Morty’s in Davis County where I grew up,” said Parker, whose parents still live in Clinton. “So this is nostalgic and emotional for me.”

The Syracuse Morty’s grand opening is planned for Saturday with a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. All day, patrons can get the restaurant’s classic Iconic Burger with fries for $5 — a savings of $6.50.

Parker said the location, across the street from Syracuse High School at 1863 W. 700 South, is ideal.

“We like places next to a college or high school campus,” he said. “Our price point is a little high for a high school student, but the school is a community hub. There’s soccer, football, baseball and other community events at the school, so there’s visibility.”

Morty’s has a compact menu that covers the bases — six burgers, four sandwiches, three vegetarian burger/sandwich options, three quinoa-based salads and seven types of breakfast sandwiches/burritos.

For the sweet tooth, there are shakes and “scone fries,” deep-fried strips of scone dough dusted with powdered sugar and served with honey butter or cheesecake dip.

Morty’s is best known for its burgers, having annually won the “Best Burger” title from several different Cache Valley awards entities since opening in 2014.

Breakfast remains one of the restaurant’s best-kept secrets. “People don’t think of it as a breakfast place, but the sandwiches and burritos are so good,” Parker said.

Also, Syracuse’s general manager Hannah Gemar has noticed that the Syracuse spot gets more orders for Reuben sandwiches than any other Morty’s location. It’s made with pastrami, sauerkraut, provolone, Swiss and house-made spicy Russian dressing on marbled rye bread.

Parker is a communications professor, not a chef. One of his students, Ty Mortensen, came to him with an idea to put a small restaurant on the corner of Darwin Avenue and 700 North in Logan next to the USU campus.

Intrigued, Parker did what professors do — research. He found that a burger place would do well.

“The data showed that the area already had a pizza place and access to Mexican and Italian food,” he said. “What they wanted was a higher-quality burger and quinoa salads — something of better quality and a higher price point than fast food. We decided to do burgers inspired from around the world.”

So, there’s a sweet-and-spicy Hawaiian burger with pepper jack cheese, bacon, lettuce, pineapple jalapeno relish, jalapenos, Korean barbecue sauce and chipotle mayo.

The Yucatan burger features pepper jack cheese, avocado, lettuce, tomato, red onions, jalapenos and chipotle mayo. The Italian uses provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, grilled onion, roasted cremini mushrooms and pesto mayo. All the sauces are house-made.

The restaurant’s top seller is the Iconic burger, a classic cheeseburger. On Thank You Thursdays (every Thursday), people can get an Iconic burger with fries for $7.

Initially, Morty’s opened at 10 a.m. “But people were asking us to open earlier,” Parker said. “So we came up with breakfast sandwiches and burritos.”

Morty’s now opens at 8 a.m. and serves items like the Glenn’s Delight sandwich, which has two eggs, bacon, tomatoes, spinach, cheddar and honey mustard and is grilled on multi-grain bread.

The Morty’s Burrito is stuffed with two scrambled eggs, bacon, french fries and American cheese and is laced with ketchup and sriracha hot sauce.

In 2017, Parker casually began looking at the possibility of opening a St. George location after several of his restaurant friends successfully opened places there.

“We found a spot on St. George Boulevard and University Avenue — an old Maverik gas station. It came together very well, and it’s thrived. People appreciate higher quality food there,” Parker said.

In fact, the St. George location has better sales than the longer-established Logan spot. Two years ago, Parker bought out Mortensen’s share of the business. He also recently opened up Morty’s to franchising, “So, if anyone wants to franchise, we’re actively looking for interested people,” he said.

The menu is the same at all the Morty’s Cafés.

Along with the regular menu, there are themed seasonal specials that change every six to eight weeks. Currently, it’s German cuisine, starring Das Frik’n Burger, a riff on German Frikadellen meatballs that are half pork, half beef. The burger comes with rotkohl (sweet red cabbage). Parker said this is his current menu favorite, partly because he likes the sound of a “frik’n” burger.

The next seasonal special will be “Morty-Gras,” with Mardi Gras-inspired food, including a King Cake shake.

IF YOU GO

Morty’s Café

Location: 1863 W. 700 South, Syracuse

Contact: Mortyscafe.com and 801-820-5521

Hours: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily (the Syracuse location is the only one open on Sunday)

Prices: Average entrée, $8-$10