Back in the USA After a Burger-Less Vacation

Posted by Nick Solares, August 31, 2009 at 3:45 PM

Seen on the side of a food cart in Rome

After three weeks of eating my way through Italy, I am back in the good ol' US of A. While I had many, many fine meals there, I did not eat a single hamburger during that time—the longest I have gone without burgers since I can remember. I would liked to have tried at least one, but I had a hard time finding burgers on the menus of any place other than a handful of Irish pubs in Rome that cater to English speakers and the numerous McDonald's that I encountered during my travels. I was interested in seeing if there was a local interpretation of America's favorite sandwich, something to compare to America's interpretation of Italian pizza.

The closest I came to finding that interpretation was a place in Rome called The Perfect Bun, but they were unfortunately closed until September (like most of the country).

Despite seeing quite a bit of hamburger imagery, none of the places displaying it—such as sandwich shops and the food carts that line up outside the Colosseum—actually served burgers. I did recognize the photograph used on the side of one shop in Rome (pictured on the left above); it is the same one that is used on the menu at Joe Jr., my local diner in New York City.

Speaking of Joe Jr., I ate there for breakfast the day after flying back home. I ordered a rare hamburger and asked for the bun to be toasted on the griddle top (Joe Jr. usually warms the buns under a broiler). It was simply sensational.

I must admit that I was tempted to eat McDonald's when in Italy, something I would only do in the States as a prank—if I had stayed there much longer I probably would have. As much as I may disparage them, McDonald's hamburgers are better than no burgers at all.

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Tags: Italy, Joe Jr., McDonald's