Atomic Burger (3934 Veterans Memorial Blvd., Metairie, 504-309-7474; www.theatomicburger.com) joins the New Orleans area's growing stable of restaurants offering fast food with a focus on fresh, local ingredients.

Atomic follows a national trend of restaurants — including California's In-N-Out Burger (www.in-n-out.com), New York's Shake Shack (www.shakeshack.com), and of course New Orleans own Company Burger (4600 Freret St., 504-267-0320; www.thecompanyburger.com) — serving hamburgers, fries and other fast food favorites while still paying attention to quality sourcing and preparation.

"Our philosophy is to create good, honest food that customers can trust," says Joe Spitale, co-owner of Atomic Burger. "All meat is ground in-house daily, fries are hand-cut from real potatoes, along with locally baked bread, fresh vegetables and a homemade ice cream base for the Atomic Freeze milkshakes,"

The menu features classic burgers, fries and shakes, and sides of edamame beans are both a welcome and puzzling addition. Atomic also offers hot dogs, turkey burgers and portobello sandwiches. There also are milkshakes, which are flash frozen using super-cold liquid nitrogen.

"The result is a smoother, more luscious milkshake," Spitale says. The shakes are available in 12 flavors including apple pie, peanut butter-chocolate chip, salted caramel, wedding cake and blueberry cheesecake.