Washington Redskins quarterback Colt Brennanreally loves In-N-Out. Washington Post sports editor Dan Steinberg described him as "the only player I know of who, when he found out a team employee was going to California, asked her to pass along his best to In-N-Out Burger." [Tip 'o the hat to: Tim M.]
If you don't have a costume idea for Halloween by now, you're probably staying home tonight. But if you're feeling crafty, here are some burger-related costume ideas you might be able to whip up or keep in mind for next year. (You could also take the easy way out and buy a complete costume.)
Okay, you can't actually make the mask—hopefully your local Halloween supply store sells it—but if you're a particularly hirsute man with brown hair you can probably make a crown, put on some white leggings and a brown robe, and get away with it. For more guidance, check out Costumzee.
Liz of Cincinnati-based blog Get In Mah Belly says that Terry's Turf Club makes the best burger she's ever eaten in the city. The burgers use with buttered, toasted buns and toppings including bacon, goat cheese, and...lump crab meat? (It's a "turf club" after all.) Specifically, she and a friend ordered one burger topped with lump crab meat, bacon, and béarnaise sauce, and another topped with bacon, goat cheese, grilled onions, and burgundy wine/mushroom/truffle sauce. Unsurprisingly, they were unable to finish the fries, but Liz says they were also delicious. 4618 Eastern Avenue, Cincinnati OH 45226 (map); 513-533-4222
Editor's note: If you're a regular reader here, Kenji Alt needs no introduction. But here's one anyway: He's the dude who made the awesome Blumenburger and who went on the 8-burgers-in-12-hours marathon. He also blogs on Good Eater.
I'm firmly on the "thin and griddled" side of the great grilled-griddled burger divide, but I have to admit to a bit of local Boston pride in when chef Michael Schlow of Radius. Last year at the South Beach Burger Bash, his horseradish-slathered, crispy-onion-topped creation took the prize from my main squeeze (the salty, crusty, perfect-in-its-simplicity Shackburger).
One year later, still curious as to how this upset occurred, I emailed Schlow to see if I could get a firsthand look at the burger that bested my beloved.
If you've never been to this Boston landmark, Radius is no burger joint. It's at the high end of the high-end restaurant scale, and the burger is only available at the bar (at which it accounts for more than 30 percent of sales). You come here to eat Asian-tinged fancy French food like ponzu-glazed hamachi with summer truffles or day-boat scallops with morels and yuzu. But every extravagant restaurant these days needs its signature burger, and Radius is no exception—the exception being that Radius' burger actually ain't that fancy. In fact, you can even make it at home with barely more effort than it takes to make your regular old burger. It's all in the technique.
Watch as chef Schlow takes us step-by-step through the process.
Last week on our Talk boards, Serious Eats member FoodPorncess asked about the history of the Theta Burger, a burger topped with barbecue sauce (also known as Hickory Sauce), shredded cheddar cheese, mayonnaise, and dill pickle slices. SE member holdthemayo says that the burger may have originated at the now closed Split-T in Oklahoma City.
The only information I could find about the origin of the burger's name is from this review of Johnny's Burgers & More where a commenter says it's named after the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority.
Does anyone else have more information about the Theta Burger?
The two patties are ground pumpkin flesh, blowtorched to brown; the fries, cheese and bun are unadulterated pumpkin; the bacon, pickle chips and spears, and ketchup are all pumpkin colored with food coloring; the tomato slices are sliced from a small, decorative pumpkin; also included is pumpkin juice from the guts and the flesh; the bun is pretty self explanatory with pumpkin "sesame" seeds.
The pumpkin juice is a nice touch. You can see the "making of" photos in his photostream.
According to the Colette and John Bancroft of the St. Petersburg Times,the perfect wine to go with your cheeseburger is the Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon 2006. "It's a full, soft red, with subtle blackberry and chocolate notes up front, plenty of body, easy on the tannins and a velvety, lingering finish."
Posted by Damon Gambuto, October 29, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The Hungry Cat
1535 North Vine, Hollywood CA 90028 (b/n Selma Ave and W Sunset Blvd; map); 323-462-2155; thehungrycat.com The Short Order: A foursquare, seafood eatery defies the odds and its location to deliver a great burger Cooking method: Grilled Want Fries with That? Definitely. They come with the burger and they'll leave in your belly Price: The Pug Burger $16; add a fried egg for $2 Notes: Mon. to Sat., 12 p.m. to 12 a.m.; Sun., 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Over past few years Hollywood has been undergoing a gentrification of housing bubble proportions. From my living room window I can see a huge crane looming over the rapidly changing landscape below. For a while it was sort of exhilarating—new businesses opened at a fever pitch and created the most vibrant club and restaurant scene in Los Angeles. Of course, reality soon set in as real estate developers jumped at the opportunity like bankers to a government loan.
Big dreams and easy credit have begotten that most imaginative of development ideas: the mixed-use facility, where residences and businesses are built next to each other in a city. Imagine that. And so was born the bastard child of public urban renewal efforts and the private exurban aesthetic: the new Hollywood.
At the northwest corner of Sunset Boulevard and Vine Street can be found the current centerpiece of the Sunset & Vine Business Improvement District. It’s called—wait for it—Sunset + Vine. It’s about as creative as its name. Cookie-cutter condos sit atop standard issue chain businesses. Baja Fresh, check. Borders Books and Music, check. Smoothie King, Verizon Wireless, Bed, Bath & Beyond, and on and on.
Why would I be heading to this imitative space for an authentic burger? To visit The Hungry Cat, that’s why.
If there is a tastier burger ($15 with fried potatoes) being served in New York, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting and eating it. Skeen mixes wet-aged flap beef, beef cheek, and, yes, some fatback and creates a wonderfully funky, almost gamey burger. At Resto he used hangar steak and brisket, and the result was a not-very-juicy but still flavorful burger. At Irving Mill the burger is juicy as hell and even more flavorful.
Stare into the heart of the burger with this autopsy shot, after the jump.
"Will there be lines? Yes, there will be lines. We just hope people will be as patient to try to vote as they would be in waiting for a hamburger at one of the more fancy hamburger places. I understand the lines can be up to 2 to 3 hours."
Yesterday MTV launched mtvmusic.com, a treasure trove for anyone who's old enough to actually remember when MTV used to play music. On Serious Eats, we blogged up Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" video, but I trolled the site earlier this morning and found ZZ Top's "Burger Man" joint.
It's a shame that music videos aren't as prominent in the culture as they were in the '80s and '90s. At best, they were a source of surrealist short-form entertainment—as is "Burger Man," a sort of Plan 9 from Outer Space meets Russ Meyer touched down in Texas. The video, after the jump.
Washingtonian's Best Bite Blog rates three Washington, D.C. burger joints: Good Stuff Eatery, BGR Burger Joint, and Ray's Hell-Burger. Best burger goes to Ray's Hell-Burger, although BGR Burger Joint gets props for its fries and onion rings, and Good Stuff Eatery for its milkshakes.
Alison Cook of the Houston Chroniclereviews burgers every Friday in her food blog, Cook's Tour. She points out the good, the bad, the prices, the meat quality, and the overall experiences of each burger joint, accompanied by plenty of photos. Houstoners should have no problem finding a good burger with six months of posts to sift through.
Cook's latest review awards Sparkle's Hamburger Spot with an "A" grade for its cheap, well-seasoned, made-to-order burgers, steak fries, wide-cut onion rings, and thick milkshakes. She points out the chili cheeseburger, describing it as "nothing short of awesome." [Tip 'o the hat to: Preston C.]
Posted by Nick Solares, October 28, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Father's Office
1018 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403 (b/n 10th Street and 11th Street; map); 310-393-2337; fathersoffice.com The Short Order: Fancy pants hamburger using premium ingredients that strays so far from the archetype that it is difficult for purists to even classify it as a hamburger Cooking method: Flame grilled Want Fries with That? Yes, they are very good, well worth the extra $2 Price: The Office Burger $12, with fries or sweet potato fries add $2 (prices include sales tax) Notes: Mon. - Thurs., 5:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.; Fri., 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.; Sat., 12:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m.; Sun., 12:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m
21 and over only
It is a hot day in Los Angeles, at least compared to what is going on back home in New York where my friends tell me the weather is quite inclement. I have a plane to catch in a scant two and a half hours, yet I am heading in the opposite direction from both my hotel and the airport. I am on a mission to eat what has been widely lauded as the best burger in L.A.
I arrive a quarter hour before opening. The sun beats down mercilessly on me as I stand in the street waiting for the clock to strike 5 p.m. and the doors of Father's Office to open. I am not alone—huddled parties of twos and threes lurk by the entrance, their eyes expectantly darting in the direction of the shuttered door at the slightest stirring behind it. When it finally swings open—an agonizing two minutes later than expected—there is a passive-aggressive stampede as the disparate parties conglomerate in an effort to funnel through the entrance first without appearing rude or pushy.
We spill out into the long, narrow confines of a room that is ensconced, floorboard to ceiling, in blond wood paneling and rush for the bar to place our orders. I have a distinct advantage here: I may not have arrived first, but since I know what I want, there's no need to peruse the printed menu or the chalk boards. I hasten to order the Office burger. The fact that "no substitutions, modifications, alterations, or deletions" are permitted leaves only two question. "Fries?" Yes please. When queried on my drink preference I instinctively order the most familiar label amongst the seemingly endless number of beers on tap and request Old Speckled Hen, betraying my English upbringing.
Marvo of hilarious product review blog The Impulsive Buy recommends the Guacamole Bacon Burger from Carl's Jr. and, in true, uniquely TIB-style, compares it to Ghostbusters:
This avocado lovin’ burger reminded me of the movie Ghostbusters because the guacamole is the same color as the ectoplasmic goo that made up the green gluttonous ghost, Slimer, and just like the ectoplasmic goo, the guacamole is messy and ends up everywhere.
It also reminds him of Christmas "because of its excessive use of red and green ingredients."
Of course, he also describes the taste of the burger. Overall, he praises Carl's Jr. for using ingredients most other fast food places wouldn't.
Burger People, you should check Peter’s Drive-In in Calgary for "best burger in Canada" consideration. They also have about 60 varieties of incredible shakes. Albertan beef is up there with Argentine beef and this place takes a firm, straight-forward approach to the burger; none of this nonsense with pickled leeks or champagne-marinated onions or raspberry-infused tomato sauce. And being a drive-in burger has got to count for something.
Earlier this week we mentioned the cheeseburger doughnut from Donna's Donuts in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, but now we have real photos of the doughnut courtesy of the bakery. The chocolate honey-dipped "patty" looks exceptionally beefy. Burger autopsy shot, after the jump.
"Despite a pungent smell, lackluster service, and a confusing set up, Who's Who Burgers shows much potential," says Andoni Vossos of South Methodist University in his review of Dallas's Who's Who Burgers. While he likes the flagship Kobe beef burger, overall most of the food is mundane and the staff is impersonal. And then there's the Porta Potty smell.
Restaurant owner Scott McDonald of Scooter's Grill in Plainville, Connecticut, emailed us to say that his restaurant caught on fire last Tuesday morning, causing extensive heat and smoke damage. For fans of Scooter's—home of "Burgers As Big As Your Head"—the reopening date is not yet known, but it will be closed for at least the next few months. Good luck to McDonald and his staff; we hope Plainville gets its burger joint back soon and the consumption of four-pound burgers can recommence.
This question came up in a comment recently, but it's worth breaking out into a separate post. I have it on good authority that the essential mixture of the Shake Shack's burger meat is a 50:25:25 ratio of sirloin:chuck:brisket. All 80:20 meat-to-fat.
Editor's note: J. Kenji Alt is a serious, possibly crazy (in a good way) burger fiend, having attempted to make a Blumenburger and successfully eaten 12 burgers in eight hours. Now you can read his report about two of the most popular fast food burgers in Colombia and how they compare to their American counterparts. Learn more about Kenji in his Grilled interview or check out his blog, Goodeater.org.
I was recently down in Colombia killing ducks and going to my fiancée’s sister’s wedding and took the opportunity to research a story for the Boston Globe on Colombian street food. Being the hardcore burgervore that I am, I also wanted to use the opportunity to do a comparison of Colombian burgers vs. American burgers. But knowing all too well that there’s such a wide variance in opinion on what makes a great burger (and already holding a bias against your average Colombian restaurant burger because they almost always mix onions and spices into the meat—a big no-no for me), I was at a dilemma.
Colombia doesn’t have the types of restaurants or burger styles we consider normal in America. There’s no pubs serving 9-ounce flame-grilled patties, no ice-cream stands griddling up 4-ounce beach burgers, no diners steaming sliders. Instead, you’ve got big hacienda-esque restaurants with Italian-themed burgers with mozzarella and marinara, or small family-owned restaurants with menus consisting of arepas, mojarra, rice fried with soy sauce (arroz tai), alongside handmade meatloaf burgers.
I’m not saying I couldn’t find good burgers amongst all the other incredible food Colombia has to offer; all I’m saying is that I couldn’t think of a good benchmark to compare them to the American burger experience.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 23, 2008 at 12:30 PM
The first McDonald's TV commercial was a pretty low-budget affair. As the site TV Squad points out, Ronald has a paper cup on his nose as part of the costume, fercryinoutloud. It's also striking for how creepy Ronald looks and sounds.
It's not on the menu, but on Friday nights you can order a burger at contemporary American restaurant Vie in Western Springs, Illinois. Sky Full of Bacon reviews the burger, made with "bits of the whole steer they dry-aged at Eickman's in Seward, Illinois." The burger comes with fries, pickled onions, ramps, and homemade ketchup. [via Gaper's Block]
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 23, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Here's a neat video made by Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky showing the Shake Shack cooking process. I like the little inset "burger cam" that appears as the patty is slapped on the griddle.
The video illuminates a process that is somewhat behind-the-scenes and reveals that the Shake Shack uses the "smash" technique. I've talked about the smashed-burger technique here, but if you missed that, it may surprise you to know that I'm in favor of this method.
Editor's note: This is one of the weirdest emails/posts we've ever received. But it's pretty awesome. Here's the full email from William Wonka Bitters of The Big Candy Apple in which he pleads for the acceptance of cheeseburger and non-cheeseburger unions. Read and be amazed.
Your glaring oversight of the introduction of the Cheeseburger variety of Combos snacks is just the latest transgression in a series of bad decisions to aggravate our already rocky relationship. It smacks of the high-minded elitist rhetoric that toppled the once mighty Democratic Party, but includes none of the populist hypocrisy that sustains the Republicans. And frankly, that Kennedy-esque picture of Ed Levine in the "About" section is condescending—we all know he's a beautiful man, enough already.
Without further ado: Should you ever wish to see Mayor McCheese again—who I'm sure you've noticed has gone missing—you must post the following review of aforementioned hamburger-inspired snacks on AHT no later than yesterday. Your failure to do so will result in the slow but thorough disassembly of the universally loved politician, his disparate limbs and organs to be blended up smoothie-thick and sold back to McDonald's as "Extra" Special Sauce.
The winner of Rachael Ray's Burger Bash at the NYC Wine & Food Festival talks to Yumsugar:
I don't really understand the critics. The burger patty makes it a burger. There were no rules or guidelines that said the burger had to be a specific way or on a specific type of bread. I don't think it was that avant-garde. It's pretty funny because there were a lot more inventive and creative burgers being made, so I don't know why mine caused the controversy!
Actually a lot of the Internet controversy bugged me.People in the food world wanted to be so crappy about it, but that's not what food is about. To me food is about bringing people together, not criticizing each other. It's really getting almost as bad as the fashion industry! I mean at the end of the day, it's just a hamburger.
Joel will defend her burger at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival in late February 2009.
Burger chain Wannaburger in Edinburgh, Scotland, tried a "sandwich amnesty" promotion where customers could throw out their unwanted sandwiches in return for free burgers, but the response was not pretty: Environmental leaders criticized it for being wasteful and creating litter. Wannaburger says that people don't have to throw out their sandwich to get a free burger, and discarded sandwiches will be composted.
Today is the 60th anniversary of the legendary In-N-Out Burger. As we posted about earlier this month, the rumors about a special price rollback today are false. Repeat: The In-N-Out rumors are a hoax! So don't be bum-rushin' the place for dinner tonight.
Posted by Damon Gambuto, October 22, 2008 at 3:45 PM
Editor's Note: Please welcome the newest member to the AHT family, Damon Gambuto! He'll report with a Los Angeles-area review every Wednesday. Learn more about him in his Grilled interview or read on for his first review.
Bill's Hamburgers
14742 Oxnard Street, Van Nuys CA 91411 (b/n Kester Ave and Cedros Ave; map);
818-785-4086 The Short Order: Two 2.7-ounce griddled patties stacked for maximum enjoyment Want Fries with That? They don't serve fries Price: double cheeseburger $4.45 Notes: Mon. - Fri., 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
When pondering which Los Angeles burger destination I would make the subject of this, my inaugural post, I took a moment to contemplate the vastness of the landscape of my adopted home.
The borders of this metropolis stretch to almost five hundred square miles. It is the only city in the U.S. that is bisected by a mountain range. There are over two hundred languages spoken here. Neighborhood hopping can feel like a transnational adventure. The car culture and traffic further fragment the population. If cities make you think of tall buildings, imagine being in one in which you can drive for miles and not see a structure over four stories tall. And drive we do.
Millions of us making our way past one another with nary a turn signal to acknowledge our shared space. It often feels like a bunch of small cities got together and decided to marry for the money. If we don’t keep our eyes trained on the road ahead, we’ll find that the life(style) we agreed to is a city that traffics in decisions that turn into accidents.
A City United by Hamburgers
Perhaps you’ve figured out what I am driving at. What unites this city full of people in cars? It’s where we stop, park, and eat. Together. We get out of our cars to do what humans have always done, usually together: eat. Eating here in Los Angeles is often all that gets us out of our cars and next to our neighbors. Privately owned restaurants are our public spaces. It’s how we get to know our city’s other residents. For this reason, eating is always more than an exercise in existing; it lurches into the existential. It’s a food experience.
Editor's note: One of the first emails we received in response to our call for a Los Angeles correspondent was from Damon Gambuto with the subject, "My Burger Destiny." His credentials and enthusiasm proved that being AHT's designated Los Angeles burger eater was, indeed, part of his beef patty-filled destiny. Expect to read his first review later today and a new review every Wednesday.
Name: Damon Gambuto Location: Los Angeles, CA Occupation: writer, producer
How often do you eat burgers? Frequently to quite frequently.
Where did you eat your most recent one? Bill’s Burgers. It’s 44 years old and counting, but I needn’t go into details here because you’ll read my post about it later today. Right? Right.
Cheese: American, cheddar, other? Um, yes please. I really like cheese. I like it on burgers, on breads, in salads, with fruit and all by itself. Though I’ve grown up a bit and find myself ordering a cheese-less burger more than I did in my youth.
Ketchup or mustard? You know what? Ketchup. Deal with it. Ketchup is sweet and tangy and delicious on burgers. I’m tired of the backlash that rebukes ketchup. You know what else is tiresome? Not letting me have ketchup on my burger even if I have the fortitude to endure the ridicule that may come with asking for it. (I’m looking at you, upscale eatery, that thinks putting a burger on the menu is "playful," but won’t serve me ketchup.)
In honor of their new 40-day dry-aged hamburger,Primehouse in Chicago is selling the normally $15 burger for only $5 this week. Phil Vettel of Chicago Tribune's food blog The Stew reports that the "seriously good" half-pound burger is topped with garlic spinach and fried onions on a potato bun with smoked-bacon mayonnaise. The burger is only available at lunch (11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.) until Friday, so Chicagoans, get your burger now!
Primehouse
616 North Rush Street, Chicago IL 60611 (b/n East Ontario Street and East Ohio Street; map)
(312) 660-6000
Donna's Donuts in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, is offering a cheeseburger doughnut. There's no burger or cheese involved; it just looks like a cheeseburger:
...A chocolate honey-dipped (the "burger") is put inside the shell of a jelly donut (the bun) and slathered with Bavarian cream (the cheese) to create a sweet cheeseburger-lookalike.
Doughnut sandwich with two kinds of cream-smothered doughnut in every bite? Bring it on. It looks like Donuts with a Difference in Medford, Massachusetts, also makes a cheeseburger doughnut, as seen in this photo.
Donna's Donuts
2106 Main Street, Tewksbury, MA 01876 (map)
978-988-0010
There are many ways to carve a pumpkin, but I've never seen a hamburger pumpkin before. The pumpkin seed "sesame seeds" are a nice touch. Check out more Halloween pumpkins at About.com.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 21, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The Original Pantry Cafe
877 South Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA (at W 9th Street; map); 213-972-9279; pantrycafe.com The Short Order: Eight-ounce griddle-cooked burger with great beef but on the wrong bread Want Fries with That? Comes with excellent, crispy, skin-on fries Price: The Pantry Burger $10.95
The Pantry is technically called The Original Pantry Cafe, but I refuse to call it that as I have yet to find another Pantry that is older than this one, which dates back to 1924.
Located in a rather dodgy part of downtown Los Angeles, The Pantry is the quintessential greasy spoon. Remarkably, it has never closed, remaining open every hour of every day since 1924. Even when they moved to their current location back in 1950 they stayed open by serving lunch at the old restaurant and dinner in the new one. There are no locks on The Pantry doors. My waitress told me that once during a blackout following an earthquake they continued to serve patrons by candle light—it was probably the closest any meal here came to being romantic.
Always Open and Never Changing
Being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for over 80 years has its benefits and and its drawbacks. Certainly the restaurant's longevity is an indication that they must be doing something right, whether that is offering good value, good food, or a combination of both. A late night visit on a random weekday invariably finds the restaurant more than half full, and early on weekend mornings for brunch, a line forms down James M. Wood Boulevard.
But one of the downsides of never closing is that it becomes difficult to actually change either the decor or the menu much. The metal kitchen counters, which must have once gleamed with optimism, now bare only a dull sheen, betraying decades of wear and tear. So do the necessarily broad tables that line the dinning room—"necessarily broad" because the food portions at The Pantry are simply enormous, spilling off the plates and on to the tired, yellowing Formica. Even before you order your food, a loaf of bread so large that it could possibly feed the 5,000 is deposited on your table.
Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, started offering a 15-pound burger (actually 20.2 pounds with the bun and toppings) three years ago, but only now has one person successfully finished the whole thing. 21-year old chef Brad Sciullofinished the burger in 4 hours and 39 minutes, although he notes that, "About three hours into it, things got tough." For finishing the burger in under five hours, he won $400, three t-shirts, and a certificate. [Tip o' the hat to: Matthew M.]
Although the Shake Shack on the Upper West Side was scheduled to open today, it already opened during the weekend. Its owners, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, had been a bit coy about announcements, one assumes in the hopes of a) not giving any one journalist a jump on the story and b) generating as much excitement as possible.
The powers that be gave me a walk-through of the new Shack last week. Well before it took place, we continued our "Why do you serve frozen french fries when you know fresh are better?" debate. When I saw Danny Meyer at a book party last week he gave me his best "I'm a smoother politician than Barack Obama" answer; he said, "Because people love our french fries."
While it is true that people love just about any french fries except for the ones made with potato particles, that's not the point. The Union Square Hospitality Group would never sell frozen french fries at the Union Square Cafe. Why? Because the ultra-classy organization knows deep down in their food soul that fresh french fries are way better. They have very high standards and they know what good is, but they've obviously made a business decision I don't happen to agree with.
The debate continues at my walk-through after the jump. But even at this point I want to know: Do you agree with me that the Shake Shack french fries should be fresh and not frozen?
Because nothing brings me more joy than showing you cute burger-related accessories that you don't need, here's a burger and soda pop sleep mask, with a burger and soda cup applique on one side and "happy junk food"-printed fabric on the other. You'll have such happy burger dreams! The appliques also come on a pouch. Check out more many cute food-related fabric-based gear in Ity-Bity Bags on Etsy.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 17, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Woo! Reader E. C. Stephens (aka Mamacita13) sent in these photos from earlier this evening, saying, "Hey, Shake Shake UWS had a soft opening tonight!"
Apparently this was a friends and family thing, so there's no guarantee that the new location is going to officially open early this weekend, as hinted at in this email from SS officialdom. After the jump, more photos of the joint.
From an email from Theresa Mullen, marketing manager for Union Square Hospitality Group:
We told you we'd share opening day news the second we knew, and here we are: Our official opening day for the Upper West Side Shake Shack is this Monday, 10/20. Shack’s hours on the Upper West Side will be in flux for the first few weeks (11:00 AM - 9:00 PM), but once the Shack is really shakin’, it will be open seven days a week from 11 AM - 11 PM. Our site will keep tabs on any hour changes.
Depending on how practice sessions go, Shack may open it's doors to the neighborhood a little sooner than Monday. But the official (read: definite) opening is Monday at 11:00 AM. Our full release will follow later this afternoon. Thanks for taking the time this week to come by and check out our new digs!
Yours in Shack, Theresa Mullen
Shake Shack UWS
366 Columbus Avenue, New York NY 10024 (at 77th Street; map)
Every few weeks, some joker comes along and proclaims he has just eaten "New York City's best new burger." This time it's Andrew Knowlton, of Bon Appétit magazine [emphasis, mine]:
[Bobo chef Patrick] Connolly takes D'Artagnan ground beef (80/20 ratio of lean to fat) mixes it with salt and pepper, minced shallots, and a bit of olive oil. The burger is first seared on the griddle and then finished in the oven. To the bottom half of a Balthazar bun, he layers leeks pickled in Champagne vinegar and simple syrup. Gruyere cheese is melted on the burger and fried leeks are piled on top.
AHT says: NO. No, this isn't NYC's best burger.
Call me cranky, but after a Rachael Ray Burger Bash full of gussied-up fancy-pants burgers that proved to be utterly disappointing, I just can't imagine that anything with Champagne vinegar and simple syrup pickling is going to be THE BEST IN NYC.
We will, of course, be trying it.
Bobo
181 West 10th Street, New York NY 10014 (b/n Seventh Avenue South and West 4th Street; map)
212-488-2626 bobonyc.com
In honor of their new Steakhouse Burger, Burger King in Canada has launched Meat Haiku, where you can submit a poem to possibly win a $25 BK Crown Card.
Micrograph taken by Jordi Liobet and Laura Barrachina
This micorgraph titled "Nano Burgers with Lettuce" won first place at the 34th International Conference on Micro and Nano Engineering. The description reads: "These vertical test structures, built with 3 metal layers, have turned into delicious hamburgers." Delicious hamburgers you can only see under a microscope, but still—that's pretty awesome.
This sounds like a headline from The Onion:Four-pound burger challenge ends in disappointment. My favorite quote from Katie Quattrini, who tried to eat the monstrous burger from Grandma Max's in Urbandale, Iowa: "There's no way. There's just no way. [...] I hate my life."
AHT reader Brendan M. emailed us to recommend the burger from Stanley's in Rhode Island, with two locations in Central Falls (the original) and Providence (the newer location). It was voted for having the best burgers and fries in Rhode Island Monthly's 2007 Best of Rhode Island Reader's Picks, and was awarded five grease stains ("Outstanding") by cheap eats-loving Holly Moore of Holly Eats. There's a better photo of the burger on Flickr by user kaszeta, who describes the burger as, "a grease-fest [...] that was both juicy and crispy at the same time."
Has anyone else been to Stanley's? What do you think of it?
Stanley's
371 Richmond Street, Providence, RI 02903 (map)
535 Dexter Street, Central Falls RI 02863 (map)
401-270-9292; 401-726-9689
Sweet baby Jesus, yes. That's what I thought when I first watched this video of a burger/meaty sandwich bomb being made at a street cart in Caracas, Venezuela, and I didn't even know exactly what was being put on it. After getting the translation from AHT reader Pilar M., I still kind of wanted it, even though I thought it might kill me.
Here are the contents of the burger, appropriately named "La Diabla," or The Devilish: ketchup, mayo, mustard, onions, cabbage, shoestring potatoes, more ketchup, mayo and mustard, avocado, tomato, burger patty, chorizo, chicken, eggs and bacon, and a mountain of shredded Roquefort cheese. I know what I'm getting on my first trip to Venezuela. The video contains one utterance of "f**k" but is otherwise inoffensive, unless you're freaked out by excessively unhealthy burgers. Watch the video after the jump.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 16, 2008 at 10:00 AM
I love my mom. When I visited home last week, one of the first things she did was retrieve two cans of Pringles Restaurant Cravers from the pantry. "Check these out," she said. "I thought you'd like these. You can write about them on your burger website."
I have no idea what "restaurant" they're referring to. A cheeseburger could come from one of thousands of restaurants worldwide (or your own kitchen)—though the "Onion Blossom" flavor is a nod, of course, to the trademarked Bloomin' Onion at Outback Steakhouse or the "onion blossoms" found at other fast-casual joints.
In the end, what can you really say about items in the food-flavored salty-snack category other than that they exist? The Cheeseburger flavor did and didn't taste like a cheeseburger, and the Onion Blossom chip tasted like a ranch-dressing-tinged sour cream and onion chip.
I liked that my mom picked the two to go together. Somehow this pairing made sense. (And, Mom, if you're reading this, I couldn't take those chips in my carry on, so they're back in the pantry; do with them what you will.)
AHT/Serious Eats's own Robyn Lee took this photo. It's the most beautiful photo of a Veselka cheeseburger I've ever seen. It's one of the most beautiful photos of any burger I've ever seen.
Ever see Weird Science? I want to hook up some electrodes and jumper cables to my computer and make this thing a reality IN MY HOUSE NOW.
Clockwise from top left: Spotted Pig, Shake Shack, Five Guys, and Corner Bistro.
Vice Magazine gives their picks for best burgers in New York City. Except for Lever House, we've reviewed all of their favorite burgers on AHT. Here's how they stack up:
Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema features Ray's Hell Burger in his burger recommendations for his 2008 Fall Dining Guide. He also recommends Palena, Central Michel Richard, BGR: The Burger Joint, Elevation Burger, and Good Stuff Eatery.
Washington Post follows owner Michael Landrum in this "behind the scenes" video of Ray's Hell Burger. Get a closer look at the burger-making process, after the jump.
Ozzy Osbourne says that the bat's head he chewed off at a concert in 1982 tasted like a fast food burger. "It tasted all crunchy and warm... like a Ronald McDonald's."
Editor's note: Burgermeisters! Here's another excerpt from George Motz's book Hamburger America. George and his publisher were kind enough to allow us to run them here, along with George's beautiful photos. We'll be running one every other week. Eat up!
Zarzour’s burgers are not on the menu. Local lunch patron Blythe Bailey told me “I came here a few times before I realized they even made burgers.” I asked Shannon Fuller, Zarzour’s family member and grill chef/master of ceremonies, why the burgers were not advertised. “Because I hate making them!” she said laughing hard, “just kidding! But in the summertime it gets real hot in here because of the burgers.”
It couldn’t be a friendlier place. Everyone knows one another and some descendant of Zarour is always in the restaurant either eating or working. “They come here to eat and I put every damn one of them to work,” Shirley Fuller told me.
New York City-based chef Ryan Skeen, known for his burger at Resto, is now at Irving Mill serving a flap-meat burger, named after the patty's inclusion of bavette steak, also known as flap meat. According to Rob Patronite and Robin Raisfeld of New York Magazine's Grub Street, the combination of beef cheek, pork fatback, and flap meat results in a patty that's richer and fattier than his Resto burger and is "about as juicy and flavorful as an August peach."
Baker Bounce is a Japanese-run restaurant with two locations in Tokyo featuring American-style burgers and sandwiches. In a feature on Nikkei Net Interactive, owner Takahiro Watanabe says his inspiration came from eating at nearly 100 diners in America and watching American Graffiti in junior high school. Burger toppings range from the basic lettuce, onion, tomato, and pickles (about $9.70 for a 5.5-ounce burger), to bacon, cheese, and fried eggs (about $15.50 for a double-patty, 11-ounce burger). The burgers look promising from these Flickr photos, although I feel like for the price, the burgers should come with more than just four or five potato wedges.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 14, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Primehouse
381 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016 (at 27th Street; map); 212-824-2600; brguestrestaurants.com The Short Order: Huge ten-ounce grilled burger in the classic steakhouse model Want Fries with That? Comes with superb steak fries Price: classic cheeseburger $12, steakhouse burger, bacon and blue cheese burger $14 Notes: The burger menu is available in the bar room from 11:30 a.m until closing (10 p.m. Sunday, 11 p.m. Monday-Wednesday, 12 a.m. Thursday-Saturday) and in the main dinning room during lunch and brunch (11:30 a.m to 4 p.m., 7 days a week)
When Primehouse opened a year ago on the first of this month (happy belated birthday, Primehouse) I questioned whether we really needed another steakhouse in New York City. The three years preceding Primehouse's debut had seen an explosion of new steakhouse openings with the Zagat listings seemingly doubling during that time frame. Its not that I don't love steakhouses (far from it), but how many tired iterations of the same menu—porterhouse for two, creamed spinach, hash browns—does one town really need?
Fortunately and refreshingly, Primehouse managed to differentiate itself from its competitors both by virtue of a bold, contemporary decor and, more importantly, by offering some exceptional cuts of Creek Stone Farms beef from their unique Himalayan salt-lined dry aging room. In fact, Primehouse has quickly become one of my favorite steakhouses in the city.
A Ten-Ounce Bargain Burger
I don't usually consider a burger that costs over $10—let alone $14—a good value, but the one at Primehouse is actually a veritable bargain considering that it is a full ten ounces of beef and comes with what seems like two large potatoes worth of fries, plus a generous helping of very fresh lettuce, onion, and tomato. In a pound-for-pound comparison, a similar amount of food would cost more at Shake Shack because you would need to order two burgers and two fries to equal the mountain of food that Primehouse serves. Although I am sure it would not be appreciated, you could share this with someone and both leave satisfied.
The Eater blog has its knickers in a knot about the new Shake Shack location on the Upper West Side, with not onebut two posts giving readers a "walk-through" of the almost-completed space. Thanks, but call us when the burgers actually start coming off the griddle.
A list of excellent hamburgers to be found in NYC. For more on NYC burgers, check out A Hamburger Today. I still maintain that NYC isn't a burger town, although with all the recent activity, it may be one soon.
So we asked him: What's the word these days, Jason?
His reply:
Maybe. It's hard to think of NYC as a [fill-in-the-blank] town for things other than media, fashion, and finance. Oh, and pizza. Maybe it's the pizza thing; like you can't have one city being known primarily for two different foods.
That said, the Shack Burger is and may always be my favorite hamburger on earth, so I'm glad I live only 11 blocks away from it.
In last week's Washington, D.C. City Guide on Serious Eats, Washington Post food writer Jane Black named Ray's Hell Burger as having the best burger in D.C.:
For $6.95, you get a 10-ounce burger made of hand-trimmed prime beef (including juicy scraps from nearby Ray’s the Steaks), corn on the cob, and a slice of watermelon. There are only a few seats and no fries here. But who needs 'em?
She also recommends Palena "for a more civilized experience."
The Boston Globereviews Franky N the Boys, a 1950s-style burger joint in Brookline, Massachusetts. Praise is given to the burgers and shakes, but the fries and "veggie bun" need improvement.
It spit in our face. Here on this site, and on other sites where it was blogged about, all we heard was, "Where's the bacon?"
Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth. I went through several iterations of the sandwich, trying different breads and different patty sizes, to find the proper beef-to-bun ratio—to create a burger you could actually fit in your mouth and one that a glutton of normal proportions might actually make.
But I guess with something like this, more is more, and so I heeded the call of the internets, and decided to make a second version of this burger with what you all said was the missing ingredient. What you are looking at above, ladies and gents, is the new, improved Bacon Hamburger Fatty Melt. Here's the smack on this meat stack. From top to bottom:
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun top
Bacon
Cheese
Four-ounce beef patty
Bacon-stuffed grilled cheese sandwich as bun bottom
Happy now? No? Then get a load of what follows , after the jump.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 11, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Rachael Ray's Burger Bash, part of the NYC Wine & Food Festival, took place last night, and for once the pimple-faced, grease-stained burger geeks became the beautiful people. While Ed and I had full tickets to the event, Adam came along last-minute and got in on a 20-minute press pass, complete with an escort.
From left: Tom Colicchio of Top Chef fame, burgers from New York City's Market Table restaurant.
Luckily, Ed managed to eventually pull a few strings (AHT is, after all, America's favorite hamburger weblog and anticipated, and indeed helped foster, this veritable burger renaissance that we are enjoying at the moment), and Adam was allowed to stay for the duration of the event, which was fortunate because there was a lot of ground to cover, with almost as many burgers to try as the number of minutes he was originally allotted.
I am sure you will read numerous accounts about all the celebrities who were at the event, but for me the real stars of the show were a handful of burgers and the minds behind them. Meet the burgers, and the burgermeisters, after the jump.
The Slowburger at Slow Bar in Portland, Oregon, made the cover of Portland Monthly back in June (hey, better late than never) as one of the 25 best meals for under $25.
The Slowburger, which will only set you back $9, consists of a griddled eight-ounce patty of Strawberry Mountain natural beef, gruyère, two onion rings, butter lettuce, and pickle relish in a brioche bun. How do you eat such an insanely tall burger? Portland Monthlyrecommends taking out an onion ring and eating it separately; "Leave the second ring in the burger to provide crunchy texture and sweet flavor to the peerless ensemble." [Tip 'o the hat to: Larry Fire]
Men's Fitness has just published its list of the ten best burgers in the country. Only it's not their list—it's a Zagat-driven list. So the sub-head of the piece is totally misleading:
"We searched high and low for the country's 10 most mouthwatering burgers." That, serious eaters, is complete bull (no pun intended, partner). They confined their search to Zagat's entries.
Why do magazines publish best-of lists that include places that no one at the magazine has tried? I guess they think that people love these top ten lists so much they won't care how they're compiled.
Now's the time to catch up on your knowledge of regional American fast food chains specializing in miniature burgers. Scott Beale of Laughing Squid gives a brief overview (accompanied by nice photos) of White Castle and Krystal, two chains that specialize in tiny square burgers/sliders with White Castle mostly dominating the Midwest and some of the Northeast of the U.S. and Krystal, the South.
That's no burger—that's a whoopie pie disguised as a burger! Helen Rosner of ReadySteadyGo found these whoopie pies at Whole Foods. Not just any whoopie pie, but "a MINIATURE MAPLE-PUMPKIN WHOOPIE PIE that has been DECORATED TO LOOK LIKE A HAMBURGER." I totally want one—or five, considering that each one is only one and a half inches in diameter.
AHT reader Ben Kessler tipped us off to the Windsor Burger at the recently opened Pub & Kitchen, calling it the best burger in Philadelphia. The burger is topped with melted cheese, three strips of bacon, bibb lettuce, caramelized onions, and tomato. Kessler says:
The first bite reveals a flawlessly crafted patty, moist and fluffy and literally dripping with juices. ...Add the perfect crunch and saltiness of the pork belly, sweetness of the caramelized onions and soft, gooey cheddar and you will realize two bites in that this IS the best burger in Philly.
He adds that the onion rings are "some of the best I’ve ever tried," although there's nothing special about the fries. Has anyone else tried the Windsor Burger? What'd you think of it?
What kind of burger can you get for 180,000 South Korean won, or about $130? Joe McPherson of South Korea-based food blog ZenKimchi eats at the W Seoul Walkerhill Hotel with Jennifer Flinn of Fat Man Seoul to find out. (Better yet, they find out for free, thus is a perk of being a food blogger.) The burger platter made by executive chef Ciaran Hickey consists of:
Australian Wagyu beef topped with seared foie gras and shaved black truffles on a brioche bun
Tomato, grilled red onion, fresh asparagus, wild pine mushrooms, and a lobster tail
Watercress and shaved fennel salad
Sauce selection of brunoise tomato salsa, dark red wine truffle sauce, and truffle aioli
Thick-cut fries and ketchup
I think that's more like a three-course meal than a burger—a three-course meal that you're supposed to mash together in one mind blowing sandwich. Don't be scared of eating a burger topped with foie gras and lobster; according to McPherson, "The salad rescues the burger from being too heavy," and everything balances out. Seems like he's saving up to eat the burger again in the future.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 9, 2008 at 11:45 AM
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a tasting of the new "Black Label" burger blend from Pat La Frieda organized by The Feedbag, Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky's triumphant return to daily blogging.
The Black Label blend is aimed at high-end restaurants and features an intoxicating mix of skirt, brisket, short rib, and a secret cut that is actually dry aged! It has an extremely generous 70/30 meat-to-fat ratio, making for an ethereally succulent burger.
The blend will be sold in numbered batches, to restaurants only, for a premium price: $11.99 per pound, says La Frieda's Mark Pastore. Expect the price of a burger from this blend to be north of $20, probably well north.
Unlike other fancy-pants burgers, the price of this one may actually be justified. As tasting attendee Brett Reichler of restaurant group B.R. Guest noted "Hey, it’s dry-aged steak at half the price. In this day and age that’s not a bad thing."
Indeed, when I got to the event, George "Hamburger America" Motz suggested I smell the patty. The funky, earthy, mineral-rich tang of dry-aged beef was unmistakable. And it translated into the finished product, the taste of which evoked nothing less than prime steak.
You can read Ozersky's full account over at The Feedbag
Everything about Molly's seems wrong. The service is slow. When the cheeseburger hits your table, you're worried they've cooked it way beyond the medium-rare you've ordered, because the patty is black and glistening with grease. In fact, it looks like an oily, oversized hockey puck.
But, oh, is Molly's oh so right.
The exterior of the gigantic (10-ounce) patty has a crunchy-chewy char that complements the juicy yielding interior cooked perfectly to order. Though the Molly's burger could be a bit more flavorful (I still prefer nearby Shake Shack for its brisket-sirloin mix), add some bacon to this thing, and you've got a damn satisfying sandwich.
The coarsely ground and loosely packed beef comes served on a perfectly toasted white sesame seed bun. If you order a cheeseburger, that patty is topped with an appropriate helping of cheese—two slices of gooey American in my case (Swiss, mozzarella, and blue cheese are also options).
At $10, the cheeseburger comes with choice of fries, potato salad, mashed potatoes, or onion rings. This is one place where I'd opt for fries over rings. (The onion rings are greasy and have too much breading.) So basically, as my dining companion put it, you're paying a dollar an ounce for meat and getting some bread and sides for free. And you get to eat it in a sawdust-on-the-floor classic Irish pub setting, where the bartender greets you with a thick Irish brogue. You can't beat that.
Molly's Shebeen
287 Third Avenue, New York NY 10010 (b/n 22nd and 23rd; map)
212-889-3361
Burger King is planning to open its first Whopper Bar next spring at Universal Citywalk in Orlando, Florida. The Whopper Bar is "a condensed and more contemporary version of the typical Burger King restaurant" whose menu will include variations of the Whopper.
One look at our sandwiches and you’ll be powerless to resist one. At Sobelman’s we use certified Black Angus beef patties—fresh, not frozen—on freshly baked country butter rolls baked exclusively for Sobelman’s. Each burger patty is positioned just right on its soft, golden bun. Then, from flavorful onions to jalapeños to bacon, cheese and other top-quality ingredients, we carefully place (or melt) each item perfectly on our burgers and sandwiches to make yours incredibly eye pleasing and mouth watering.
And in case you crave a Bloody Mary with your burger, OnMilwaukee.com points out that Sobelman's Bloody Marys get rave reviews.
The OnMilwaukee.com editor's choice for best burger went to Kopp's, which came in at number three in the reader's poll.
What's a shamburger?According toBrocabulary: The New Man-i-festo of Dude Talk by Grub Street editor Daniel Maurer, it's a "veggie burger that also qualifies as a ma’amburger because chicks are the only ones who’d order it."
Posted by Carey Jones, October 8, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Photo courtesy of RachaelRay.com
This Friday night at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, Food Network fixture Rachael Ray will be hosting a "Burger Bash," pitting sixteen of the city's best burger-flippers against each other, as the New York Postreports. But the juiciest tidbit to come from this article? Ray plans to open her own burger joint, right in Midtown, some time next year.
Does Rachael know her burgers? Given the 46 different recipe renditions offered on her website, one might hope so. (Her reported favorite? A sirloin-pork blend with garlic, fennel, hot pepper and Worcestershire, topped with Provolone and an EVOO-heavy tapenade.) Contrary to her super-casual home chef image, she's going for "fine dining in ground form"—a place that caters to a high-class lunch crowd looking for martinis with their sliders and white tablecloths under their plates of fries. No word yet on whether they'll be in and out in under 30 minutes.
That's either a very tiny burger or a giant woman. From Burger Club NY.
If you're tired of monstrously huge burgers, how about trying a one-bite burger? Burger Club NY posts about "the downsized burger" spotted at a catered party on Wall Street in New York City. The meatball-sized burger—topped with lettuce, plum or cherry tomato, and blue cheese—was fantastic, according to blogger Bex, and earned the rating of five out of five cows. She doesn't say how many you have to eat to feel full, but she downed at least ten of them.
October 22 is In-N-Out's 60th anniversary, and there's been an email making the rounds talking about price rollbacks at the legendary California-based chain. But something sounded "off" about this offer. Sure enough. In-N-Out's site says:
You may be aware of a rumor about our menu prices being lowered for our anniversary on October 22nd. This rumor is untrue.
We’ve always tried to keep our prices as low as possible in order to give our customers the greatest value. One of the ways we accomplish this is by not discounting and our anniversary is no exception. We’re sorry if this rumor has caused any confusion.
Robb Walsh of the Houston Pressslams burger chain Fatburger, describing their King Burger as "one of the worst 'gourmet burgers' I have ever sampled." Failure came in the form of lean, flavorless meat and a cottony bun.
I've heard this question a number of times from AHT readers without a Sonic in their area and from friends and coworkers here in New York City, where the nearest Sonic is 60 miles away (Waretown, New Jersey).
Over the weekend, I ran into one of the writers behind the two-folks-in-a-car Sonic commercials and asked him if he knew.
He said that it's basically a better deal for Sonic to buy ad packages on a national basis on cable TV, which is why all you Sonic-less folks see them anyway. An added benefit, he said, was that this strategy has coincidentally built up hype for the drive-in burger chain whenever it enters a new market.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 7, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Delicatessen
54 Prince Street, New York NY 10012 (at Lafayette Street; map); 212-226-0211; www.delicatessennyc.com The Short Order: A potentially decent burger completely ruined by a sugary brioche bun Want Fries with That? Comes with fries but they are not very good Price: cheeseburger $10 Notes: Open seven days a week, 7:30 a.m. to 1 a.m.
Almost everything about Delicatessen is a facade, starting with the name. Delicatessen is not a delicatessen at all. Aside from paying lip service to the name via the inclusion of a few traditional deli items—a riff on the Ruben sandwich and a Matzo ball soup—the bulk of the menu is self described as "international comfort food" and features such diverse items as fried chicken, fish and chips and, for our purposes, a hamburger.
The service is far from hospitable. The hosts, ostensibly the people who welcome and seat you, don't do much hosting. They mostly ignore you until you press them, at which point they'll give you a vague answer that a table will be available in ten minutes despite that almost half the restaurant is empty (or half full depending on your level of optimism). It's only when you express an intent on dining elsewhere that a seat will miraculously open up. The waiters are also misnamed: They don't wait on you, you wait on them. And wait and wait. Even the busboys need to be asked to actually clear your table.
But it doesn't matter—no one goes to Delicatessen because they're looking for an authentic New York deli or service that is mediocre at best. In fact, I doubt anyone goes to Delicatessen for the food at all; the principle draw here comes down to two factors: location and avocation.
Serious Eats Chicago correspondent Michael Nagrant reviews three recently opened burger spots for Newcity Chicago in search of the best griddled patty: Epic Burger in the South Loop, Marc Burger in the Macy’s food court, and The Counter in Lakeview. Here are some key points of his impressions of each place, with Marc Burger being the best:
Marc Burger: "I might even say this particular burger was one of the best I’ve had in the city, though the patty was a little thin, making the ratio of beef to bun found in a Kuma’s Corner burger still supreme." Macy's, 7th Floor, 111 N State Street, Chicago IL 60602 (map); (312)781-4884
Epic Burger: "What held Epic back was the dense, extremely fine grind and thinness of the patty. While it was seasoned well and juicy, it was also grilled to well-done, with nary a shade of pinkness." 517 S State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 (map); 312-913-1373; epicburger.com
The Counter: "The burger was thick and cooked with a nice amount of pinkness, but lacked juiciness or seasoning." 666 W Diversey Parkway, Chicago IL 60614 (map); 773-935-1995; thecounterburger.com
Crunchburger from Bobby's Burger Palace. Photograph by Nick Solares
Joan Starckey of the New York Times finds out who makes better burgers in Long Island: American Roadside Burgers in Smithtown or Bobby's Burger Palace in Lake Grove? The restaurants are similar for both being opened by successful restaurateurs and requiring customers to order at a counter. After judging burgers, fries, onion rings, and milkshakes from each restaurant, American Roadside Burgers comes out as the clear winner with its superior burgers and fries.
For the burger lover who likes to keep clean, here's the soap for you. At 12 ounces (with the pickles and fries) for $13, it's one hefty burger that will last you a long time. You can't eat it, but it is vegan-friendly. Here are the scents of the individual components:
Buns: vanilla frosting with oatmeal scrub
Patty: cocoa, coffee, or both
Lettuce: spiced apple, coconut lime verbena, honeydew melon, or peppermint
Tomato: orange citrus, black cherry, grapefruit, or apple cider
Luna Pier Cook blogger Dave Liske (better known as LunaPierCook on Serious Eats) gave us a heads up about this mammoth one-pound burger found at Chateau Louise in Luna Pier, Michigan. He didn't delve into the specifics of how to get the whole thing into one's mouth, but he let us know how this ginormous meatball sandwich tastes:
The custom ground meat for the Chateau Burger gives it a distinctive flavor that's somewhat addicting. Also, with the burger itself ending up so large, "medium rare" means the inside is really more red than just pink. Imagine the inside of a large Filet Mignon that's been cooked medium rare. That's what you'll find inside this thing.
Big chunk of medium-rare meat? I like the sound of that.
Chateau Louise
4320 Luna Pier Road, Luna Pier MI 48157 (map)
734-848-4758
"I think Arctic Roadrunner is the best burger joint in Anchorage, and possibly the oldest," says AHT reader semarr about the over 40-year old restaurant. Pictured above is the Lord Baranof burger topped with bologna, salami, ham, American cheese, mozzarella cheese, and onion rings. Semarr says it was super delicious. Sounds like an animal fat-laden winner to me!
It's the meat, the meat that separates a good burger from a great burger and the folks at The Creekbank Restaurant understand this simple fact. [...] They serve up a huge chunk of fresh ground beef that never fails to satisfy. [...] You can find more expensive burgers than the Creekbank's offering, but you'd be hard-pressed—day in and day out—to find one that is consistently better.
The cheeseburger is topped with lettuce, onion, tomato, pickle, and "secret sauce," and the patty is made of 81/19 ground chuck.
The Creekbank Restaurant
Highway 43, Wagarville AL 36585 (map)
251-246-9396
In Vancouver Magazine's list of 101 Things to Eat Before You Die, the Doug Special from local chain restaurant Vera's Burger Shack comes in at #20. The burger is served open-faced with double meat, double cheese, double fried onions, and a double scoop of chili. Seems like the only thing it's missing is bacon. [Tip o the hat to: George P.]
What you are looking at, ladies and gents, is what we at A Hamburger Today are calling the Hamburger Fatty Melt. Lemme give you the smack on this meat stack. From top to bottom:
Grilled cheese sandwich as bun top
Four-ounce beef patty
Grilled cheese sandwich as bottom bun
Got that? It's a burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as its bun.
If you haven't read Nick Solares' great post about New York City's hamburger variations and inspirations, then you missed Kenny Shopsin's new Conan Burger, first mentioned in Shopsin's appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. The Conan Burger is "a cheeseburger combined with pancakes and served with real maple syrup and hot sauce." According to Nick, the combination works!
Get the best in fashionable burger jewelry from Japanese design shop Q-Pot. Their burger jewelry line allows you to customize your own burger necklace with choices of cheese, tomato, onion, and lettuce for the toppings. A full necklace set costs ¥23,100 ($219) and a burger ring will set you back ¥18,900 ($179). Both come in gold versions for a fancier touch. [via The Daily Dairy, with a tip o' the hat to Janelle G.]
David Holloway of the Press Register lists Lower Alabama's 19 burgers to eat before you die. In no particular order, here's a list of all the places, after the jump.
Editor's note: Burgermeisters! Here's another excerpt from George Motz's book Hamburger America. George and his publisher were kind enough to allow us to run them here, along with George's beautiful photos. We'll be running one every other week. Eat up!
Crabill's is very, very small. What’s amazing is that the original Crabill's was much smaller. Eight stools sit bolted to the floor at a small counter and there is barely enough room to pass behind them. "The old place was five times smaller," grill cook Andy Hiltibran told me.
The first time I visited Crabill's I sat next to a white-bearded regular named Will Yoder who, for decades, plays the annual town Santa. Will had recently had his teeth removed and was on a soft food diet. Personally, I couldn’t think of a better spot to dine on tasty, soft food. The tiny burgers at Crabill’s, with their pillowy Wonder buns and healthy dose of burger grease, actually do melt in your mouth.
According to the Colette and John Bancroft of the St. Petersburg Times, 
Marvo of hilarious product review blog The Impulsive Buy 
"Despite a pungent smell, lackluster service, and a confusing set up, Who's Who Burgers shows much potential," says Andoni Vossos of South Methodist University in 
Restaurant owner Scott McDonald of 
Burger chain 
Name: Damon Gambuto
Being open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year for over 80 years has its benefits and and its drawbacks. Certainly the restaurant's longevity is an indication that they must be doing something right, whether that is offering good value, good food, or a combination of both. A late night visit on a random weekday invariably finds the restaurant more than half full, and early on weekend mornings for brunch, a line forms down James M. Wood Boulevard. 
AHT reader Brendan M. emailed us to recommend the burger from 
Virginia-based burger chain Five Guys is 
Ozzy Osbourne says that the bat's head he chewed off at a concert in 1982 
The Slowburger at 
Last week I was fortunate enough to attend a tasting of the new "Black Label" burger blend from Pat La Frieda organized by 
For his latest movie Body of Lies, Oscar award-winning actor Russell Crowe 
In Vancouver Magazine's list of 
