Only Doubles burger pop-up expanding to its own brick-and-mortar restaurant

Naples resident Kyle Cravo is a dreamer who creates dream burgers. 

This fall, Cravo’s dreams will come true when he parlays his Only Doubles pop-up into a brick-and-mortar sit-down restaurant in East Naples. After more than four years of smashing burgers at a variety of pop-up venues in the region, the local fan favorite is putting down roots in the original spot of Saigon to Paris at 3915 Arnold Ave. on the northern edge of the industrial park behind Tamiami Ford on Airport-Pulling Road. 

If everything goes as planned, Cravo hopes to launch his 26-seat Only Doubles restaurant in September or October. Until then, he will retain his regular pop-up schedule, which includes Wednesday and Friday nights at Brookside Market on Davis Boulevard in East Naples. 

“I just hope people are ready for something new and different,” said Cravo, who has been able to attract people of all walks and parts of the community to his sizzling flattop grill under an orange tent. “I’ve been very blessed. I found a way to make it happen and it’s been working.” 

Cravo’s first pop-up was in May 2022 at a Bonita Springs brewery. Since then, his grilled creations have been popping up atop lists of the area’s best burgers. Only Doubles is known for its ODB smashburgers featuring grilled onions smashed into two Wagyu patties and topped with cheese and drizzles of OD mayo-based signature sauce on a potato bun. 

“Only Doubles was and currently still is like a pop-up. That’s what I was calling it; that’s what it was modeled after,” Cravo said. “Back when I was working at Arthrex, I would travel. You go to L.A. or something and there’d be these pop-up tents and people serving food out of them. So, that’s where I got the inspiration. That’s where it started from. I was a man on a budget, and I’m still a man on a budget.” 

New digs 

Cravo has been designing his self-financed restaurant in his head for four years. 

“We’re really trying to make it like a fun, cool space where people are coming out and it’s a destination,” he said. “I’m really putting an emphasis on lighting and seating and design.” 

Cravo is busy tackling details and he already has a staff in place. 

“It’s all coming together,” he said. “It’s really exciting, but extremely nerve-wracking at the same time. It’s so much work. I applaud every single person who has ever opened up a restaurant.” 

In an area with an abundance of restaurant competition, Cravo feels Naples needs a dining option like Only Doubles. 

“I think we need more places to come and hang out and just vibe rather than like come in and spend money and be seen,” he said. “It’s cool because my food is approachable and is a good price point where everybody can come.” 

The Only Doubles restaurant will include a communal table and a bar licensed for beer and wine. Cravo plans to expand his fulltime menu with the Mac Double — his version of the Big Mac — fries and maybe a hot dog. 

“Then, everything is going to be special based,” he said. “So, like what I do now with the Peanut Butter Bacon [burger] or the Elote and all that stuff. It’s all going to be specials. We haven’t figured if it’s going to be weekly or monthly.” 

Cravo wants to build on the smashing success of his burgers. He creates a true smashburger — a hamburger patty pressed thin onto a heated griddle until its crispy but still juicy — in a world where “smashburger” is overused or often incorrectly used, so he wants to distance himself from that label. 

“Although I do a smashburger, I don’t want Only Doubles to be known as a smashburger restaurant, because I feel like that would box me in in the long run,” he said. “We’ll always do smashburgers, but I want to offer different burgers or different thicknesses or every day different renditions, just because doing the same thing every day is kind of boring.” 

Humble beginnings 

Cravo is a self-proclaimed foodie who cooked for himself and his friends, but never professionally. 

“I’ve been obsessed with food and restaurants my whole life,” he said. 

Cravo worked at Campiello Ristorante in downtown Naples when Vincenzo Betulia was a sous chef there. He also briefly worked with Brian Roland when Roland was a chef at M Waterfront Grille in Naples. 

In his 20s, the 2003 Naples High grad had a local skate shop, Street One BMX and Skate, from 2008 to 2011. At 37, he was fired from Naples-based Arthrex after nearly 10 years in what became a do-or-die moment. 

“I said, ‘If I don’t do something now, I’ll be miserable for the rest of my life,’” Cravo said. “I started planning it all out. I sold some Michael Jordan sneakers for my flattop, and they say the rest is history.” 

Cravo ultimately was inspired by Au Cheval in Chicago, where he waited in line to experience the elevated diner’s “absolutely fantastic” signature cheeseburger. 

“That’s kind of like where the obsession really started to take over,” he said. “Wow, this is so good. What else is out there?” 

Cravo’s original idea was to do baos, Chinese-style steamed soft buns, but he didn’t know how he could make that work remotely. Burgers ultimately were easier to implement. 

“I’ve just been wanting to do this for a really long time and nobody was doing a real smashburger,” he said. 

Cravo remains humble regarding the growing success of Only Doubles. 

“I think a lot of this has been luck and care and really hard work,” he said. “I think that’s what’s gotten me to this point — just caring and working my butt off.”