January 28, 2012

Burger Thing: Neon Papercraft Burger

20120127-icon-mag-cover.jpg

20120127-icon-mag-burger-cover-animation.gif

[Photographs: Zim&Zou]

The current issue of architecture and design magazine Icon features this intricate neon papercraft burger on its cover, made by French design studio Zim&Zou. See more photos of the burger at Behance.

[via Everything Burger]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From Serious Eats: New York

Midnight Snack: 3 Great Burgers in Manhattan's Yorkville

20110222-jg-melon-burger.jpg

[Photo: Robyn Lee]

A mix of hospital workers, students, the well-to-do and remnants of the area's immigrant past, Yorkville is far more diverse than the howling hoots and hollers of its local meatheads would imply. There are Irish pubs, British pubs, German beer bars, hookah bars and Hungarian pastry shops-cum-restaurants. Despite all this, the Upper East Side is still fancy-pants burger territory—at least until a certain hour. After other restaurants have donned their wagyu nightcaps and snuffed their truffled candles, the funkier burgers around town let their hair down.

Continue reading »

From Photograzing

The latest hamburger photos from Photograzing, our photo sharing site. Add yours today!

Talk!

Dobleta - The Best Sandwich Wendy's Never Made

Dallas: A Revolution Worth Fighting For at Liberty Burger

20120118-liberty-burger-intro.jpg

[Photographs: Ewan Macdonald]

Liberty Burger

5211 Forest Lane, Dallas TX 75244 (map); 972-239-2100; givemelibertyburger.com
Cooking Method: Griddled
Short Order: Superb beef blend and wide array of toppings suggests great promise at this new startup
Want Fries with That? Putting the 'string' in shoestring, they're delicious only when hot. Sweet potato fries a better option
Price: Wild West burger, $7; bison cheeseburger, $9; skinny fries, $2; sweet potato fries, $2.50; soft drinks, $2
Notes: Brand new restaurant, owned by a famous Dallas food family. Bizarre seating/ordering system. Takeout available.

"Give me Liberty Burger or let me starve," screams the tagline to this recently-opened North Dallas neighborhood spot. While I wouldn't go that far, my first visit would see me modify the motto to, "Give me Liberty Burger ahead of 90 percent of the other offerings in the area, but I also hope it improves a bit so that it can really live up to its potential." (Granted, that's not quite as snappy and might not fit on the flyers.) Still, here we find a burger place that could, with a few changes, be counted among the city's best.

Liberty Burger is owned by the Street siblings, Mariel, Gene Jr., and Dace, children of local favorite restauranteur Gene Street. His operations range from the French-Texas upscale III Forks to family-style Good Eats; given such a wide range, a griddled-to-order custom burger place seems like a natural step. Taking up corner space in a strip mall just off Inwood, it's a fine location, a stone's throw from both leafy North Dallas and the ever-crowded Tollway area. As such it was no surprise to see the restaurant packed with all age groups at 5 p.m. on a Friday.

Those braving the crowds will find a welcome addition to the Dallas burger scene—albeit one that needs a bit of work to join the top five. Since Liberty Burger is fairly new—about three months old—the problems can be put down to teething; as soon as they're fixed, the Streets are onto yet another winner.

Continue reading »

Burger King UK's 966-calorie Burger Called 'The Height of Irresponsibility'

20120126-bk-bacon-cheddar-angus-burger.jpg

[Image: burgerking.co.uk]

Burger King UK's new Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Double Angus burger is in the news not so much for its high calorie and fat content—966 calories and 58 grams of fat—but for the National Obesity Forum's response to it. Tam Fry, spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum, told Mail Online:

This horrendous burger is a graphic illustration of where the government's obesity strategy has gone wrong. The strategy is supposed to be a Deal between the Department of Health and the food industry whereby industry pledges to be responsible in marketing its food. This burger is the height of irresponsibility and, if left unfettered, the food industry will do nothing to help stem the current obesity epidemic.

And in the US you can get a Triple Whopper with 1140 calories and 75 grams of fat...not that this is a contest or anything.

Jennifer Low, a spokesperson from the British Dietetic Association, had a more reasonable comment about the burger blasting in The Huffington Post:

If people are going to overeat they can do that on a number of things. The main point for us, as dietitians, is not that these foods are banned but that people are aware of what they are eating so they can make informed decisions.

As Business Insider points out, this probably isn't a PR problem for Burger King seeing as people don't go there for healthy food; if anything, they'll benefit from the free publicity.

Our advice would be to not eat at Burger King because we generally don't like their burgers.

[via Consumerist]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Talk!

Checkers Prime Rib Burger

Video: Ordering Burger King at McDonald's

Eater tries out Burger King's new delivery service from a McDonald's in Arlington, Virginia. And Whoppers, they did receive (after meeting the delivery guy outside the restaurant).

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Cleveland: If Michael Symon Weren't Already a Celebrity, B Spot Would Make Him a Star

20120126-b-spot-intro.jpg

[Photographs: Daniel Zemans]

B Spot

18066 Royalton Road, Strongsville OH 44136 (map) and 3 other locations; 440-572-9600; bspotburgers.com
Cooking Method: Grilled
Short Order: Fast casual deliciousness from Iron Chef Michael Symon
Want Fries With That? These reminders of the power of lard are definitely worth it
Price: Burgers range from $6 to $11
Notes: No reservations, can get crowded

Long before Michael Symon became a nationally known celebrity chef, the Cleveland native was a culinary icon in his hometown. Lola, the multiple award-winning flagship restaurant in the Symon empire, has been a local favorite since it opened in 1997. In 2005, he opened the more accessible and affordable Lolita, and three years later, he opened Roast in Detroit, both of which have garnered significant praise and solidified his standing as a master of meat.

But Symon's career really became significant in 2009. No, it wasn't because that was the year he won The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Great Lakes. And it wasn't because that was his first full year as an Iron Chef. 2009 was huge because that was the year he opened the first two locations of B Spot.

From the booze (more than 30 craft beers and a dozen bourbons) to the decor to the random menu items like the fried bologna sandwich (reviewed here), every little detail of B Spot is impressive. But nothing there outshines the burgers, which routinely draw hordes of Clevelanders to all three locations as well as the stand at Quicken Loans Arena that's only open when the Cavaliers are playing. And unlike a certain other former Cleveland resident, when Symon takes his talents to South Beach, he does nothing but win. Come this February, he will defend his back-to-back wins of the People's Choice Award at the SoBe Wine & Food Festival.

Continue reading »

Talk!

The perfect burger bun

Gresham, OR: Longburgers at Dea's In & Out

20120117-188197-deas-in-and-out-longburger-int-ext.jpg

[Photographs: Adam Lindsley]

Dea's In & Out

755 Northeast Burnside Road, Gresham, OR 97030 (map); 503-665-3439; facebook.com/DeasInandOut
Cooking Method: Griddled
Short Order: Slightly above-average fast-food burgers with a gimmick: The patties are stretched out instead of round
Want Fries with That? They're not horrendous, but they're clearly middling. Better to go for the reliable tator tots.
Prices: approx. 1/4-pound Longburger, $3; Double Longburger w/cheese: $4.50

There are few ways to get me to review a burger joint in my fair city faster than when someone makes a "best-of" list and includes a place I haven't tried. That was the case when The Oregonian released its list of the top 10 classic burgers in the Portland area, prompting the realization that I had never eaten at (or even heard of) Dea's In & Out in neighboring Gresham.

News to me, Dea's In & Out has been around for over 50 years. Not quite as old as that other In-N-Out, but by Portland measurements, that's ancient. Judging by the clientele I saw over my half-hour visit, Dea's boasts a steady stream of loyal fans from multiple generations.

Continue reading »

McDonald's #McDStories Twitter Campaign Gone Wrong

20120124-mcdstories-mcd-twitter.jpg

[From @McDonalds]

Last Wednesday McDonald's used the hashtag #McDStories two times during a Twitter campaign promoting McDonald's suppliers with the intention of getting people on Twitter to share their feel good McDonald's stories.

Of course, it didn't turn out that way—the hashtag encouraged people to post negative tweets about McDonald's. A few examples:

20120124-mcdstories-examples.jpg

McDonald's only used the hashtag twice after realizing their campaign wasn't going as planned. Instead, they focused on the hashtag #meetthefarmers, which, while not free of criticism, didn't go nearly as badly as #McDStories.

In a statement about the campaign, McDonald's social media director Rick Wion points out, "There were 72,788 mentions of McDonald's overall that day so the traction of #McDStories was a tiny percentage (2%) of that." ...And that 2 percent was probably the most memorable. A week later, people continue to use the hashtag, although now it seems to mostly refer to links to articles about the campaign-gone-wrong.

The Next Web analyzes McDonald's "too vague and naïve" campaign and shares some lessons for successful social media marketing learned from McDonald's mistakes.

Here's a video from McDonald's campaign profiling one of their beef suppliers:

[via paidContent, Daily Mail, Telegraph]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

Burger by Location

Browse the Archives


AHT ON FLICKR