Over-the-top burgers with a story
photos by Paul Newton and Sara Schafer
There’s no definitive path for finding your footing as a rural restaurant. Some go to culinary school, others rely on family recipes and more lean on their business acumen. The path for David and Kim Orahoske and their burger joint is a bit more winding. It includes a hand-built cabana, ice cream, Hillbilly Fair, George Foreman grills, dog park and hayrides through the Enchanted Village of Lights.
The Orahoskes serve over-the-top burgers and sandwiches alongside pasta, hot dogs and ice cream at Taboo Gourmet Burgers and Ice Cream in downtown Laurie. Located on the west side of Lake of the Ozarks, Taboo specializes in fresh, hand-pattied burgers — and the stories behind them — that are stacked with toppings and sauces.
David and Kim are members of Co-Mo Connect and are mid-Missouri transplants who had good careers. They were looking for a little extra income on the weekends. “We decided there were a few festivals coming up and we could sell ice cream,” David says. “I didn’t want to do something that looked thrown together. So I built a cabana to sell the ice cream.”
They sold at the Apple Festival in Versailles and the Hillbilly Fair in Laurie. “We didn’t get rich, but it was worth doing,” David says. “The mayor of Laurie asked us if we’d open an ice cream shop downtown.”
In January 2017, Taboo Ice Cream and Deli opened serving Central Dairy products inside an A-frame building on Main Street. As Kim helped customers inside the 600-square-foot shop, David got antsy in the back. He eventually got a George Foreman grill, thinking he could sell a few burgers.
“The first ticket came in and I thought it was so cool, then the next one had two burgers,” he says. “And then we start getting these orders for like six burgers at a time and I’m pressing out burgers on this Foreman grill with this tiny little grease tray. Within a month we did enough burgers to afford a full-size grill and hood.”
Burgers and sandwiches soon became the main attraction at Taboo with three dozen options. David and Kim are self-described food fanatics and the expansive menu mirrors their travels over the years.
While serving in the Marines in Huntington Beach, California, David would frequent Wimpi’s Drive-Thru and get the MOP Burger with mustard, onions and pickles. At Taboo, their Wimpy Burger is served with one-half pound of beef and MOP.
The Goober Burger with peanut butter, pickles, onion, lettuce and bacon came from visits to the now-shuttered Wheel Inn, the birthplace of the burger in Sedalia.
“I want this place to be a getaway,” David says. “I want you to relax, try something different and forget about whatever problems you might have going on.”
Go with the Fair Dinkum if you show up hungry for a classic burger taste — and a lot of it. The name comes from a trip David took to Australia to visit his son. He learned the term fair dinkum, as in a strong affirmative or more than you’d expect. The Fair Dinkum is definitely more than you expect with 1 pound of meat split between two patties, four slices of American cheese, ketchup, mustard, onions and pickles. “When you bite the sandwich, you get the soft warm top of the bun before the bottom is crispy,” he says. “Then cool toppings before the melted cheese and two patties. It all melds together.”
If you’re craving more, go for the Quad Dinkum with 2 pounds of meat and eight slices of cheese. All sandwiches are served with a bag of chips, housemade Hawaiian macaroni salad — with fluffy noodles, carrots, onions and freshly ground pepper in a cream sauce — or applesauce.
The Big Chief Burger is an homage to a trip to Duggan’s Irish Pub — a restaurant overlooking the main drag that runs through Detroit. “It’s this two-story restaurant where you can overlook Woodward Avenue and you see all these classic and muscle cars cruising,” David says.
It features a pair of quarter-pound, hand-formed patties, American cheese, a light drizzle of Thousand Island dressing, pickles and lettuce. “It’s one of those burgers where you don’t need too much sauce to overpower everything and it’s gooey in your mouth,” David says.
Just like the Fair Dinkum, order a Quad Chief to double the size. Your taste buds are only limited to your imagination at Taboo. Feel like breakfast with your burger? Order the Tropic Thunder with two quarter-pound patties, hash browns, sausage gravy and Swiss cheese. The Nightmare burger is not for the faint of heart. A half pound of beef is topped with onion rings, salsa, Swiss cheese and Wildside sauce — Taboo’s housemade, not-so-secret hot sauce.
The Orahoskes offer more than a dozen sandwich options including a French dip, BLT and Banana PB&J. Taboo also offers a pair of pasta options for those not wanting to eat with their hands. Their burger meat is used to make the meat sauce for their spaghetti dinner and the sauce in their fettuccine Alfredo is housemade.
The menu is rounded out with their Chicago-style hot dog. A butterflied Nathan’s beef dog is grilled and topped with tomatoes, banana peppers, onions, relish, black pepper and mustard. If you’re visiting with your kids or grandkids who eat with their eyes more than their mouths, order the OctoDog. A hot dog is cut about three-quarters vertically into slices mimicking the look of an octopus’ legs. Condiments finish off the face before it’s sent to the dining room. “I wanted to create a hot dog that wasn’t boring,” David says with a smile. “I’m always sure to tell them these are fresh caught.”
Sticking to their cabana roots, Taboo uses Central Dairy ice cream to create classics such as milkshakes, malts and banana splits and unique items such as the Mountain Dew Milkshake. If you took on the 2-pound Quad Dinkum and still have room for more, you must order the Silverback featuring all nine flavors of ice cream and all the toppings.
The Orahoskes have ingrained themselves in the community through events such as scavenger hunts, motorcycle cruises, Jeep jamborees and their annual holiday hayrides. Their cozy dining room opens up out back to ample patio space, including a dog park.
“Owning the restaurant has given us the freedom to do things we maybe couldn’t before,” Kim says. “I love doing all the community stuff. This started with us visiting with people at a festival and now we’re not just serving them burgers.”
David says he wants their restaurant to stand out from the moment you walk in the door. “We want to be taboo; we want to be something a little different,” David says. “That’s why we add these different ingredients we’ve picked up from our travels or modify classic burgers. I want you to try something you don’t get at other places.”
Taboo Gourmet Burgers and Ice Cream
Specialties: Burgers including the Big Chief Burger, Fair Dinkum, Wimpy and Tropic Thunder. Sandwiches including the grilled Spam, French dip and BLT. Hot including the Chicago-style dog and OctoDog.
Price: Burgers from $7 to $22. Sandwiches and dogs from $6 to $11. Ice cream from $3 to $10.
Details: Open Monday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Sunday. Nonsmoking. Located at 200 N. Main St. in Laurie. Contact at 573-207-5202 and on Facebook.