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.
The burgers are large. How large? Shannon made an air patty with her hands “about this big” and burst out laughing. “And the large burger is this big!”and she made a bigger air patty. Each burger is pattied to order. Shannon scoops ground chuck out of a Tupperware dish next to the grill, hand forms a patty and places it on the small, flattop griddle in the front part of the restaurant, surrounded by customers. No burger is the same, though she gets pretty close.
From the outside, Zarzour’s doesn’t look like much. Look for the small, painted brick structure with heavily fortified windows. The only warmth to the exterior is the red-check curtain hanging in the window of the front door. Inside you’ll find just the opposite—a warm country café with tables of all sizes covered with the same red-check fabric and a capacity crowd happy to be there.
Zarzour’s Cafe
1627 Rossville Avenue, Chattanooga TN 37408 (map)
423-266-0424
Mon.-Fri., 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Sat. and Sun.
Hamburger America is available at Amazon and comes with a DVD of George's movie of the same title.
Zarzour's hamburger is superb! How Shannon does it is anyone's guess. I recommend this straightforward, delicious, no-frills burger to everyone.
(Nikki's burgers don't compare, but their onion rings are world class.)
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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.”
2 Comments:
Too bad you didn't try Nikki's on Cherokee Blvd. Those hamburgers are even better! Try the onion rings too!
MapRef41n93w at 7:19PM on 10/15/08
Zarzour's hamburger is superb! How Shannon does it is anyone's guess. I recommend this straightforward, delicious, no-frills burger to everyone.
(Nikki's burgers don't compare, but their onion rings are world class.)
MellowRoast at 6:31PM on 05/09/09