Fox’s Pizza was a nice addition to downtown Beaver’s catalog (or is that menu?) of restaurants, but in a town full of competing pizzerias, Fox’s couldn’t handle the heat.

What’s replaced it? Hash N Smash: a breakfast/lunch restaurant that’s already serving up some pretty delicious burgers.

Signs were posted on the windows of the vacant storefront in the fall of last year, sharing that a new restaurant was coming springtime 2024.

Ahead of the anticipated April 22 grand opening was the soft opening launch weekend where anyone could dine and offer some helpful feedback for future business.

Those expecting the restaurant to retain a similar interior design to Fox’s may be pleasantly surprised to see that Hash N Smash has quite a unique style.

Plastered all over the walls are varieties of license plates from around the area and PA as a whole.

Right next to those license plates are TVs playing retro shows, movies, and bands (didn’t expect to see video of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana while eating a smash burger).

This retro esthetic carries over to other parts of the restaurant as well, noticeably the giant painted Foghorn Leghorn from Looney Toons on a back door. A jukebox also welcomes you into the restaurant and leaves itself available for you to pick out a favorite tune to play.

The functional gets the funky aesthetic treatment: on each of the tables are mismatched salt and pepper shakers: the shakers at my table were two pigs—one was standing upright and the other was laying down (little did they know they were going to be bacon soon).

Enough about the inside though, the real point of any restaurant is the food and Hash N Smash delivers.

Offerings on the morning side of the menu include usual items like omelets, breakfast sandwiches, and combination meals.

The kids’ breakfast section only has two options which are the Tom (meal including a pancake, choice of bacon, sausage or ham, and hash browns) and the Jerry (one egg, choice of bacon, sausage or ham, and hash browns). Why did I highlight the kids’ breakfast? Because even the menu has retro references like the classic Tom and Jerry cartoon characters.

Smash burgers—for those who aren’t aware—are burgers made by smashing ground round onto a grill or griddle with a spatula. You guessed it, the “Smash” in Hash N Smash stands for smash burgers.

Another local dine-in that recently opened which has these types of burgers is Smash Burger in the Beaver Valley Mall.

Some of the burgers are run of the mill burgers that you would see at other restaurants, while others will catch you by surprise like the “The Elvis” which has peanut butter, bacon, and banana on it. (Hopefully the bathroom trip after that burger is okay—RIP, Elvis.)

The burger I ordered was the “EIEIO” and was basically a breakfast smash burger with bacon, ham, an over easy egg, bacon jam, and a choice of cheese.

For being a new downtown restaurant, my meal only came out to be $15 with tip.

All the smash burgers are served with a side of horseshoe fries, and you can upgrade your drink to a milkshake to pair well with the fries.

Two Beaver Area senior work at Hash N Smash—Lauren Nesbella and Mia Woodske—and the new restaurant is looking for more employees, so if you need a summer job, there’s always a spatula waiting.

“I saw on their [Hash N Smash] Instagram story that they were looking for people, so I just reached out and here I am,” said Nesbella.

With summer break upon us, it’s the perfect time to get some hash browns and dig into a delicious smash burger at Hash N Smash!