To say that La Frieda Meats and the crap economy are behind this force is to willfully ignore anything that has happened in the burger world outside of New York City and before 2008.
Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky, author of Meat Me in Manhattan and The Hamburger: A History and editor of The-Feedbag, took a thoroughly entertaining spin on Nightline last night (video here). The premise of the segment, hosted by John Berman, was that the burger is the perfect food to eat in a crap economy. While I think the market-in-the-toilet is a driving factor in the burger boom, I do take some issues with Berman and Ozersky's theory.
Berman: "Everything seems to be failing in America right now, except the burger, which is booming."
Ozersky: "That's right. And it always will boom. Because the burger is omnipotent and irresistible. It can never be weakened. It can never be slowed down. It can never stop its ever-increasing growth in popularity. It's the single most powerful force in the food universe.... The hamburger is a way that people can experience everything that's great about eating beef—the flavor, the tenderness, and everything—in a way that's a affordable."
And that's just one example of Ozersky's charming hamburger hyperbole. (He also makes a passing reference to Mordor in a bit about how describing a hamburger should be part of the U.S. citizenship test.) You have to hand it to him—he makes some good points in a humorous way, sounding like a college professor who teaches an advanced course on hamburger theory. As a friend said, "Josh really puts the ham in hamburger."
George Motz is reporting on Hamburger AmericaBusinessWeek staff writer Stacy Perman has written a book on the history of In-N-Out Burger. It's due out on April 9. Sounds like it's something only rabid In-N-Out fans would dig, but there are a lot of rabid In-N-Out fans out there.
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. Eat up!
Nestled in the rolling farm country of western Oregon, a short distance from Portland but a world away, sits a restaurant and bar that amazingly turns out over one thousand burgers on a busy Saturday. The restaurant is the comfortable Helvetia Tavern (pronounced Hel-VAY-sha) and is way out in the country. Regardless of how far it is from anything, burger lovers gladly make the trek to Helvetia for their signature Jumbo Burger and great selection of microbrews on tap.
The Jumbo is just that—two quarter-pound thin patties of fresh ground beef are cooked on a large flattop griddle and served on a toasted six-inch bun with bacon, cheese, lettuce, onion, tomato, and the ubiquitous and tasty Pacific Northwest condiment Goop. The bun is larger than the patties, but are arranged slightly overlapping so the burger is presented wider not taller. "That's the way we've always done it," Mike explained. "The single patty is served on a smaller bun." As a finishing touch, the Jumbo is stabbed in the center and delivered with a plastic knife, as Mike explained, "to keep the contents from sliding around."
If there's no breaking news or random changes in programming, you can invite Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky into your living room tonight when he appears on Nightline: "The Hamburger Effect—Nightline correspondent John Berman reports from The Spotted Pig, Shake Shack UWS, City Burger, and Pat La Frieda Wholesale Meats with hamburger expert and eater Josh Ozersky on the economics of the hamburger." Check your local listings for channel and time.
In the continuing saga of Burger King's questionable marketing campaigns, Burger King is now offering a free Whopper if you unfriend 10 people on Facebook. Use the WHOPPER® Sacrifice application on Facebook to get started. Maybe you have 10 Facebook friends you don't care about. Or join forces with other random Whopper lovers and use each other just to get a coupon for a free Whopper.
If you think you can quietly snip away at your friend's list without anyone noticing, Burger King is one step ahead of you. Platforms Optional points out that Burger King's application will send notifications to the people being unfriended, unlike Facebook's normal unfriending process. Have fun eating your free Whopper of Facebook friend betrayal! [via So Good]
2520 Hyperion Avenue Silverlake, CA 90027 (map); 323-661-8494; thefixburger.com Cooking Method: Griddled Short Order: A friendly, affordable neighborhood joint that offers good (not great) burgers that won't compromise your environmentalist credibility Want Fries with That? Yes. They are a solid choice, but onion rings are a special treat Prices: 1/2-pound hamburger, $7.45; 1/4-pound Mini Fix with cheese, $6.45 Notes: Open daily 11 a.m. - 9 p.m. Plenty of non-beef burger options make this a good choice if you want your meat and happened to burdened with meat-averse dining partner
The east side of Los Angeles has is a huge swath of land running from the iconically dangerous edge communities of downtown ("The boyz n the hood are always hard") north to the posh suburban landscape that has itself become a movie star though its job is to dissimulate its identity. (In the movies, many a quaint street in Anytown, USA, is really just one of these Los Angeles byways). Of course, "the east side" is distinct from what most people mean when they say "Eastside." The latter is a catchall for a group of communities (Silverlake, Echo Park, and Los Feliz) that has become a destination for young urbanites looking for a cheap residences and, more recently, skinny jeans. It’s full of hipsters and artists and wannabes like me. (Of course, I can’t wear anything with the word "skinny" in its description.) It also has broad immigrant and first generation communities. It’s my favorite part of town and is now where I live.
You see, I’ve recently moved. Even as I write this the crush of moving still lives and breathes in the mess of boxes and furniture that are piled up around me. There is nothing pleasant about moving—one can only find redemption in that abstract foreknowledge of what transition brings. Waiting on the other side of all of this is something more: something bigger and someone better. It’s a new home, a new life, a new love. Of course, there must be a new burger waiting for me nearby as well.
I decided to take a ride down to one of Silverlake’s main drags, Hyperion Avenue, where a new spot called The Fix Burger has opened. It’s not more than a five-minute drive from my front door, which is perfect for my impatient appetite.
In his latest New York City restaurant review, Ed Levine reviews the burger from Daddy-O. He says:
I ordered my cheddar burger as always medium-rare. Alas, there wasn't a hint of pink to be found, much less red. It still tasted reasonably juicy and moist and beefy, but there was no burger greatness to be found, at least in our burger. The tater tots that came with the burger were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, just as they should be.
Washingtonian: "For $99, you can party with the chef on while you nosh eight handcrafted mini burgers, mini hand-cut French fries, mini milkshakes, and salads. Beer and wine is included, and there will be vegetarian options available." I'd like to see how many mini burgers $99 would buy me at White Castle.
Even at $0.64 for a burger I feel like I got ripped off. Calling the meat rubbery is an insult to perfectly good rubber. I actually don’t mind the onions, but that burger really needed a pickle. The Jalapeño cheeseburger didn’t have any spice that I could detect either.
The pickle complaint is a valid one. But calling White Castle the "worst fast food ever" in the title of his post is so patently wrong that the author has already discredited himself before we even get to the meat of his argument.
White Castle is awesome. To use the Truth Hammer in this case would be like using a bazooka to swat a fly.
Yesterday Burger King released the Angry Whopper in the US, a version of the Whopper topped with spicy crispy onions, jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, bacon, tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, and spicy Angry Sauce. Visit the burger's official site Angry-Gram to send the subject of your anger a personalized message screamed forth from an animated Angry Whopper.
Although the marketing campaign behind the Angry Whopper gives the impression that eating it will result in your tongue being burned off, Marvo of product review blog (and AHT favorite) The Impulsive Buy says, "The only anger I get from the Angry Whopper is the anger I feel for it not being spicy enough." On a angry scale of one to ten, he gives it a paltry three. Despite the lack of its namesake spiciness though, Marvo still says its tasty and recommends trying it.
The Angry Whopper will be available until March 30, 2009 for $3.69. Double and triple patty versions are also available. The Angry Whopper is also sold in Europe, Canada, and Australia. [via Snackosaurus Rex]
1410 Broadway, New York NY 10018; map); 212 997-7770; cityburgerny.com Cooking Method: Griddle Short Order: Griddles replace grills at the revamped City Burger and while the regular burger is very good, the Black Label is the best burger out there for the steak lover on a budget Want Fries with That? Go for the rings instead; the fries are serviceable but frozen Price: Black Label Burger, $10.95 (cheese + $.0.95); cheeseburger, $5.95; fries, $2.75; rings, $3.35 Notes: Mon. to Fri., 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.; Sat. 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Closed Sun.
When it comes to burgers, Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky and I are on the same page. Ozersky is the erstwhile editor of Grub Street, author of The Hamburger: A History, and currently the restaurant editor at Citysearch and editor of The-Feedbag. We both like small, griddle-cooked burgers served on generic white buns with American cheese, but when it comes to steak we couldn't be more different. I like extremely moldy tasting dry aged beef served black and blue (charred exterior, cool center)—he likes his steaks cooked closer to medium, un-charred, and prefers beef that is wet aged, or at least does not taste like blue cheese. "Why even bother eating steak?" I asked him recently. He retorted that he respected my position before shoveling a burger into his mouth, the carnivore's equivalent to taking a moment with Twix.
It is thus not surprising that we diverge in our opinion of the Pat La Frieda Black Label burger, which uses dry aged USDA Prime beef. I mention Ozersky not only because it was he who announced to the world that City Burger would be the first restaurant to carry the blend, nor because he considers me the second best meat writer in New York City (I will leave it to your imagination who he considers the best), but because our diverging views illustrates the choice that burger lovers will face when confronted with the Black Label.
City Burger opened last April, somewhat improbably by the Abitinos, whose principal vocation had been running a chain of pizzerias. Perhaps with the increase in the price of flour and the continuing popularity of burgers they saw the writing on the wall and decided to diversify their portfolio. They did do one thing right from the get-go by going to Pat La Frieda for their beef.
As I noted in my recent feature on the meat wholesaler, "Using La Frieda beef does not guarantee a great burger, but it is a good start." While City Burger's initial offerings bore a striking resemblance to the burgers served at The Burger Joint and Goodburger—large flame-grilled patties, in this case eight ounces, served with "The Works" of lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mayo, ketchup, and mustard—City Burger recently underwent a drastic makeover by replacing the grills with flattops and scaling back the sizes of the patty and bun.
After reading about Damon’s experience with receiving an overcooked burger at 8 oz. Burger Bar, AHT reader Joshua S. emailed us to ask what our take is on sending a burger back if it is overcooked. "I don’t want to seem picky and waste food, but should I not get what I asked for considering I am paying for it?"
I've never sent a burger back to the kitchen for being overcooked, but that's because the thought has never entered my mind, not because I considered sending it back and decided it was easier not to. I've only had one recent experience when I asked for medium rare and got something closed to well done. Instead of asking for a new burger, I ate it and told myself I wouldn't go back. That's what I get for being insanely passive. Because of Josh's question, I'm going to keep the "send it back" option in mind.
If you have the sense that the kitchen has the ability to cook the burger right, I think it's safe to send back the offensive burger and get a new one. What would you do?
The special burger this month at Kuma's Corner in Chicago is called the #@(*&%^ Blagojevich, in honor of the Blagovich scandal, made with a 10-ounce patty, thick sliced bologna, and yellow mustard between two grilled cheese sandwiches made with American cheese and Wonder Bread. For the final touch, a large dollar sign is written on the "bun" in mustard. All this for only $10! If you try it, let us know how it is (and take a photo of it, wink-wink)—if you don't end up in a food coma. [via Chicagoist]
Kuma's Corner
2900 West Belmont Avenue, Chicago, IL 60618 (at North Francisco Ave; map)
773-604-8769
"A Cedargrove Drive resident reported that someone smeared a cheeseburger all over her 1994 Chevrolet on Dec. 29. The resident reported that similar incidents had happened two or three times a month for the past six months." [Democrat and Chronicle]
Since cookies resembling burgers tend to have a bun / filling / bunconstruction, I was surprised when I saw Michelle's flat burger cookies. They're made of chocolate and butterscotch cookies and decorated with frosting in three colors and green coconut flakes. I'm sure they went nicely with her boyfriend's burger collection.
"A Cedargrove Drive resident reported that someone smeared a cheeseburger all over her 1994 Chevrolet on Dec. 29. The resident reported that similar incidents had happened two or three times a month for the past six months." [
