A Hamburger Today
Town Topic: Kansas City, Missouri
Address: 2121 Broadway Street, Kansas City MO 64108 and1900 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City MO 64108
Short Order: Smallish burgers with a salty crust and grilled onions embedded in the meat. A single is a snack; get a double if you're hungry.
Want Fries With That? I've never really gotten fries at Town Topic. Do they even have them?
KC Barbecue Marathon, blogged to AHT from the Flickr photostream of Slice
Went to one of my favorite burger joints in Kansas City over my Christmas trip back home.
Town Topic makes some seriously good little burgers. Fresh-not-frozen beef, coarse grind, and salted just enough. They start with a fairly small meatball (looked to be about 3 ounces, so I'd recommend getting a double burger) which they place on the grill and smash down with the spatula. After salting the patty, they throw some sliced onions on top, smash those in a bit, and let it sit a while.
After a couple minutes, it's flip and press, to embed the onion in a bit further. Yeah, yeah, I know. Smashing is bad. Supposedly. But it sure yields a nice crisp crust.
The burger is served on a nice squishy bun with plenty of cool, crisp pickles. Pictured is a cheeseburger, with American, of course. (You have no other choice -- as it should be!)