"They lined us all up in front of a hundred yards of prime rib—magnificent meat, beautifully marbled. Then they started throwing it in these big cauldrons, all of it—boiling. I looked in, an' it was turning gray.... I couldn't f****** believe that one...."
Ted's Restaurant
1044 Broad Street, Meriden CT 06450; map); 203-237-6660; steamedcheeseburger.com The Short Order: The cheeseburgers are steamed here. Yes, steamed. In little trays in a custom-made cabinet. Unfortunately, the novelty doesn't make up for the dry beef, as all the juice are poured out of the tray and discarded Want Fries with That? Yes. The homefries here are amazing ($1.75) Price: Steamed cheeseburger, $4.25; steamed hamburger, $3.25
Fans of Francis Ford Coppola's seminal 1979 film Apocalypse Now will recognize the quote above from the character Chef (Frederic Forrest) as he explains to Willard (Martin Sheen) why he quit working in the Army mess hall.
I had a similar experience walking in to Ted's. I couldn't believe what they were doing to their beef.
Ted's is a famed burger stand that I want to love, but I simply cannot overcome my aversion to their specialty. Said specialty is the steamed cheeseburger, a culinary curiosity that is indigenous and exclusive to central Connecticut. Although Ted's is not the creator of the steamed "cheeseburg," as they are known locally (that honor goes to the now defunct Jack's Lunch in nearby Middletown), they have been serving them since 1959.
Upon entering the diminutive roadside burger shop, you see a long counter, behind which you see huge piles of fresh ground chuck with a beautiful red hue and what looks like a generous flecking of fat. A burly counterman scoops up beef and loosely packs it into small trays so that it remains somewhat flaky. He fills separate trays with generous slabs of a pale-white cheese and then slides them all into custom-made breadbox-size contraption: the steam cabinet.
Editor's note: As we rocket toward the Fourth of July, what better way to celebrate what's essentially America's national dish than with a visit to where it all supposedly began—Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. Leave it to Nick "Beef Aficionado" Solares to cover the joint the way it needs to be covered. —The Mgmt.
Louis' Lunch
261-263 Crown Street, New Haven CT 06510 (map); 203-562-5507; louislunch.com Short Order: One of the nation's most important hamburger institutions, Louis' Lunch lays claim to having invented the dish we love so much. Cooked in a unique vertical broiler, the lean mix of beef is flavorful if not particularly juicy. In fact, the burger here is known more for its isn'ts than anything else. It isn't served on a bun but on slices of Pepperidge Farm white bread. It isn't served with condiments. It isn't going to bend to newfangled burgerworld whims. It is, however, a unique contribution to America's national cuisine Want Fries with That? Fries? There are no fries here, fool. You can get chips, though. Other items on offer are homemade pies, potato salad, and soup. Drink a Foxon Park soda with it; the root beer is amazing Price: $4.50
Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, has been making its hamburger sandwich since 1900, making it the longest continuously operating hamburger restaurant in America and claimant to be the creator of the venerable sandwich.
And while the world has largely adopted the plain white bun as the bread of choice for a burger, Louis' Lunch continues to serve them in its own distinct manner, vertically broiled, served on white bread, and sliced in half with the only permissible additions being onion, tomato and a cheese spread. The spread is necessary because the unique vertical broilers that Louis' Lunch uses would not be able to accommodate regular cheese.
Don't even think about putting ketchup on a burger at Louis'; there is a sign admonishing against even asking for it, because as Jeff Lassen, fourth-generation owner, says, "We want you to taste the meat."
Let's examine the recipe and its origins. The claim regarding the creation of the first burger is that one day in 1900, founder Louis Lassen had some leftover meat that he had ground up when a customer in a hurry rushed up to what was then a tiny lunch wagon and demanded something quick and delicious. According to legend, Louis formed the ground beef into a patty, cooked it, sandwiched it between two slices of bread, and sent the customer on his way.
The seasonal hamburger has become virtually obsolete, at least in my neck of the woods—the Tri-State Area (New York, New Jersey, Connecticut). That's why I was so excited a couple of weeks ago to make my first visit to Clamp's, a seasonal burger stand near my friends Sam and Arietta's house in northwestern Connecticut.
Sam had been raving about Clamp's for years, but he was concerned that it had gone downhill since the great-nephew of departed founder Edwin Clamp took it over. We arrived at Clamp's around 2:15 p.m. two Saturdays ago. It was shut up tight. I wandered up to the sign leaning against Clamp's exterior. The sign told the story.
That's right. Clamp's closes every day of its season (late April to Labor Day) between 2 and 3:30 p.m. I railed against the hamburger gods to no avail. Sam was undaunted. "Don't worry, Eddie. We'll come back tomorrow. For now, we can go grab a burger at the Gooseboro Drive-In. It's really close."
Subject: Counter Burger Coming to West Hartford CT
Just talked to the northeast franchisee, and he said, permits standing, it will open in Blue Back Square in West Hartford, Connecticut, at the end of May. It is the first East Coast operation to be open. Just thought you might be interested.
When news came in recently that New Haven, Connecticut's Yankee Doodle Dinerclosed, I was a bit dismayed. I'd long heard that this was "one of the most important hamburger spots in America," as burger expert George Motz put it but I've yet to visit.
Yippee ki-ay, burgerlovers! It's time for another burger-link roundup! Enjoy, pardners!
Give me your burgers! Arrrrrgh!
Remember Total Recall? And how the Governator's character is looking for some Martian mutant resistance leader named Kuato? And how, at the end, it's revealed that Kuato is really some weirdass person-in-a-person?
Well, the former Burger Chef chain is kinda like that. In 1982, Burger Chef was bought out by the corporate parent of Hardee's and most Burger Chefs morphed in to Hardee's. But now, the stunted little Burger Chef that has long been a hidden part of Hardee's corporeal mass is getting its (limited) time in the sun. Hardee's locations in certain Midwestern cities are bringing back Burger Chef's signature burger, the Big Shef. If you live in the Indiana cities of Indianapolis, Terre Haute, Fort Wayne, or South Bend or in Dayton, Ohio, you'll be able to eat your way down memory lane.
The Big Shef, served in the '70s and '80s, was a quarter-pound burger with two charbroiled patties, American cheese, shredded lettuce, and special Big Chef sauce. Doesn't seem so special these days, but I suppose it might be like Proust's madelines to Midwest burger lovers of a certain age.
Is original bad-boy chef Marco Pierre White coming to America? If so, will he go downmarket? Grub Street's Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky grills the onetime mentor to Mario Batali and Anthony Bourdain. Says White: "America doesn’t need any more great chefs. It’s about me taking my knowledge from the three-star world and taking it down to the level of a three-star burger or a three-star steak. I’d want to take a concept you could roll out across the country. One that’s easy for the family.
Do you dig fast-food burgers? Then you're ugly and dumb. But, hey, there's some good news: "A paper published in the May issue of Appetite, a scientific journal, concludes that unhealthy eaters are viewed as 'less physically attractive, less warm, less intelligent, and less studious' than their carrotmunching peers. On the upside, fast-food lovers are perceived as easygoing and more sociable."
An In-N-Out opened in Tucson, Arizona, last week. It's the easternmost outpost of the well-regarded chain yet. Not eastern enough for many folks' taste, however. Note to In-N-Out: Go national! Says ScrippsNews.com: "By noon, more than 100 people were waiting outside and the drive-thru line was at least 100 vehicles deep. The wait to simply place an order took as long as an hour." Pent-up In-N-Out cravings in parts farther east would make the Tucson lines look tame.
The Wendy's chain might be up for sale. Shares rose on the news. Not that fun, but I thought you might like to know.
Nobody disputes that Louis' has served its hamburgers longer than any other restaurant. The oldest continuously published newspaper in America thereby declares the oldest continuing hamburger joint in America the authentic one. So there.
Wassup?!? Adam here. So I've mentioned it before, and blah blah blah, but A Hamburger Today is now part of SeriousEats.com, where I'm working as managing editor. No reason to worry that this site will change in any really funky way, etc., or that we're going to get stuffy around here, what with the word serious thrown in there. What it DOES mean is that we have access to some cool new resources and new friends. Among them are Jane and Michael Stern of Roadfood.com.
Over at Serious Eats, we've been producing a series of short videos starring the couple, in which they travel to some seriously quirky and seriously good food destinations. Anyway, one of our recent Roadfood episodes is on Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. You might know it from experience or from themanyposts we've done on the place recently. Well, if you want to get to know it a little better, click the image below to go watch our short video. Even if you don't agree that Louis' Lunch is the burger's birthplace, you've got to admire the characters who staff the joint—and you'll dig their cool method of cooking the patties.
Burger expert Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky rears his head in the Los Angeles Times with an op-ed piece on the recent kerfuffle about the burger's birthing grounds. Mr. Ozersky's comments are borne of the research he's doing for an upcoming scholarly tome (to be published by Yale University Press) on the history of the hamburger.
First on Texas's claim:
My research assistant, Andrea Murphy, and I have painstakingly looked through the Tribune's archives and can safely say that this report does not exist. Furthermore, there is no Fletcher Davis on the fair's concession list. In fact, we found no documentary evidence for Texas' claim at all.
Then on Louis' Lunch's claim:
... the next hamburger Louis' Lunch serves will be its first. The restaurant makes a broiled ground-beef patty that is served on toast. Such a sandwich is, historically and semiotically speaking, not a hamburger. The hamburger as a recognized entity is a ground-beef patty on some form of yeast bun. Can Louis' really claim that nobody ever put ground beef on two slices of bread before? The Earl of Sandwich himself might have done that. In fact, an 1894 article in the Los Angeles Times described a late-night food vendor who sold tamales to drunks — along with "trotters, ham, egg and hamburger steak sandwiches" —one year before Louis' Lunch was founded.
And, to fan the fire, A Hamburger Today has some additional material from lexicographer Barry Popik that we will publish soon....
A state legislator there is embroiled in a burger battle with Louis' Lunch of New Haven, Connecticut, over which state can claim to be the birthplace of the hamburger.
Louis' Lunch, which opened in 1895, claims to have come up with the marvelous idea in 1900, when a hurried customer requested something he could eat on the run. Republican state representative Betty Brown, however, has proposed a resolution in the Texas legislature declaring Athens, Texas, as rightful birthing ground, noting that Fletcher Davis sold burgers from a luncheonette there in the late 1800s.
Things have gotten heated. Says New Haven mayor John DeStefano Jr.:
"It's a well-known and established fact that New Haven is the home of the hamburger. In fact, New Haven's claim to the hamburger is even supported and documented in the Library of Congress."
In our own research (admittedly web-based), we found yet another city calling itself the home of the burger: Seymour, Wisconsin. There, in 1895, it's said that "Hamburger" Charlie Nagreen started selling the mighty meaty sandwich. (Here's AHT's History of the Hamburger post.) If it came down to it, AHT would put its money on "Hamburger Charlie," if only because Wisconsin happens to be the birthplace of this site's founder.
This is a debate that will never be resolved, we think, only because there seems to be scant hard evidence as to who and when invented the burger as we know it.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 18, 2006 at 11:55 AM
After a brief hiatus, ladies and gentlemen, Grilled is back. This week's installment is Peter Meehan, who has discovered and relayed the news of some of New York's finest burgers in the pages of the New York Times. Because he wishes to retain his anonymity for the purposes of his reviews, we do not have a photograph—apologies to those of you who enjoy rating the relative hotness of each new Grilled subject as compared with my sister. Without further ado, let's get Grillin'! —The Mgmt.
Name: Peter Meehan Occupation: "$25 and Under" columnist for the New York Times Location: New York City
How often do you eat burgers?
Once or twice a week at most. Back before I was reviewing restaurants, I probably ate three or four burgers a week.
Where did you eat your most recent one?
BLT Burger. I’ve taken a short burger break after bingeing at BLT.
Cheese: American, cheddar, other?
American, I guess. Seems like the patriotic answer. But I am open to almost any melty cheese on a burger. I have more specific feelings about what cheese choices I object to: I love blue cheese and mozzarella, but I don’t think either belongs on a hamburger; and I don’t like burgers blanketed in any outré or overly pedigreed cheese.
Ketchup or mustard?
Mustard on the burger, ketchup on the side. I think a truly great burger needs no ketchup. (But I have a very strong affinity for ketchup, so there’s a good chance I’m still going to eat at least part of that truly great burger with it.)
Sesame-seed or plain?
That’s tough. Sesame-seed buns do seem like the platonic ideal of hamburger bun-ness. But there are many seedless buns on burgers I like. Seedless potato rolls are perfect for the Shake Shack burger. The choice of ciabatta for the smaller burger at DuMont burger is inspired. The English muffin as a burger bracket has always struck me as a pointless East Coast affectation, but it serves Gabrielle Hamilton’s lamburger [at Prune] well. Before eating at Royale, I would have said “absolutely no brioche” because every hamburger I’d eaten on a brioche bun up to that point was way too rich. Not theirs. Plus it had sesame seeds. So I’m waffling, but ultimately going sesame. Final answer.
Grilled, griddled, or broiled?
All of the above. Didn’t George Motz teach us that burgers can be steamed and deep-fried, too? Is there even a verb for what they do to the burgers at Louis’ Lunch in New Haven? I find grilling and broiling to be the surest approaches to properly cooked patties, but I have no allegiance to any one style.
And how would you like that done, sir?
Medium-rare. Bonus points if the thing gets a chance to rest for a few minutes before it’s served, though I can’t think of a single restaurant where that happens.
Oh no. We totally missed this the other week. Sad, sad burger news:
MIDDLETOWN [CONNECTICUT] -- A diner that became a landmark over the decades was severely damaged by fire on Thursday [August 31], and its owner is unsure whether it will reopen.
The fire at O'Rourke's Diner on Main Street may have been caused by a steamer that was left on overnight, fire officials told WFSB-TV. The eatery - a small railroad car diner - was not insured.
The steamer in question cooked the burgers at O'Rourke's.
Steamed burgers, you say? Yes. Connecticut is rife with little joints that prepare burgers in little steam chambers.
This is not the type of news we like to report on AHT.
Foxwoods Executive Sous Chef Scott Ferguson made the world's largest commercially available hamburger Thursday -- weighing 29.6 pounds and costing $250 -- for the Fuddruckers restaurant in the casino. Guinness World Records verified the result. The burger is 18.5 inches wide and 8 inches tall.
Yes, there have been bigger burgers (see our Megaburgers Archive), but this is the first commercially available burger—meaning it's not a one-off and you can actually buy (and, um, try to eat) one.
The Norwich Bulletin reports how to get one:
The burger will be about 25 pounds including bun and toppings. The customer can select any toppings Fuddruckers offers.
Fuddruckerswill only serve the burger well done.
The burger must be ordered at least 48 hours in advance and costs $250. Call 1-800-FOXWOODS and ask for Fuddruckers.
Forget the gravy train, you've booked a ticket on the Burger Express. Next stop: Listburg, where the populace is obsessed with notations and rank. The latest resident to settle in our sleepy hamlet is Jason Perlow (left), founder of eGullet.com and publisher of Off the Broiler, where this list is also available. Mr. Perlow's list, he tells us, is in no particular order. Beefy thanks to Jason! —The Management
MY TOP BURGER LIST | Words and Photos by Jason Perlow
White Manna, Hackensack, New Jersey Got to have it as a double with grilled onions and cheese with extra pickle. Your stomach is going to rumble big time after eating four or five of these, but the indigestion and heartburn is well worth it. They look unattractive, lopsided and smooshed up. But they'll kick the crap out of you if you disrespect them. Kind of like most people from Jersey.
Louis Lunch, New Haven, Connecticut They got weird rules, the burger is bizarre, both in preparation and in presentation. It doesn't matter, it makes sense, in an almost proto-evolutionary way. Its like eating the missing link in burger anthropology.
O'Rourke's Diner Steamed Cheeseburger, Middletown, Connecticut Connecticut is home to the strange burgers. While Ted's in Meriden is the steamed cheeseburger everyone has heard about, O'Rourke's really is the original. Make this place part of your lifetime burger pilgrimage.
NationWide Meats, Sacramento, California Sacramento is hot as hell, but its also got one of the best burgers anywhere. The beef they use here is top quality, there's plenty of it, their burger dressing is outstanding and their super thick-cut fries are magnificent.
Burger Joint, San Francisco The menu is minimalist. The neighborhood is weird. Don't miss this place.
Blue Smoke Jazz Standard Burger, New York City Before there was Shake Shack, there was the Blue Smoke Burger. Can't think of a better burger to have when listening to Jazz and having a cold beer.
Shake Shack, Madison Square Park, New York City
Yes, the place is hyped beyond belief and the lines are infuriating. Doesn't matter. Go, go, go. Even if you have to camp outside overnight to get a place in line the next day.
McSorley's Burger, Greenwich Village, New York City
It's cheap, but its beefy, topped with raw onion, and it's the perfect accompaniment to some of the best beers in town, in the oldest, surliest Irish Bar in the city.
Johnny Rocket's #12 Burger, various locations
Something about the Red sauce they put on this thing, combined with the thin-style burger with crispy edges makes this one unique and worthy of mention, edging out the other Micro-chains.
White Castle Double Cheeseburger, various locations
Perhaps I have saved my favorite for last. Before there was Harold and Kumar, college students have been making late night inebriated treks to the Castle for over six decades. Its the ultimate working class burger, which proudly features grease as an ingredient. Don't forget the extra pickle, it brings everything into Zen-like balance.
Well, there's Mr. Perlow's list. Dig it? Got a beef with it? Leave a comment. Better yet, submit your own list and take up residency in Listburg.
Here's a killer list we've mentioned on AHT but have never elaborated on. It's Alan Richman's top 20 from his July 2005 story "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die" in GQ. Do click through to read the entire piece; it quickly made its way onto the Required Reading list at AHT HQ. Bon appétit! ...
1. Sirloin Burger, Le Tub
1100 N Ocean Dr., Hollywood FL 33019 [map]
16. Hamburger & Fries, Burger Joint
700 Haight St., San Francisco CA 94117 [map]
17. Double Bacon Deluxe with Cheese, Red Mill Burgers
Phinney Ridge, 312 N 67th St., Seattle WA 98103 [map]
Interbay, 1613 W Dravus St., Seattle WA 98119 [map]
18. Hamburger, Poag Mahone's Carvery and Ale House
333 S Wells St., Chicago IL 60604 (in the 175 West Jackson Building) [map]
19. Our Famous Burger, Sidetrack Bar and Grill
56 E Cross St., Ypsilanti MI 48198 [map]
When you look into the history of hamburgers in the U.S., you'll find sources proclaiming the inventor to be (from left) Louis Lassen, "Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen, or the Menches Brothers.
The history of the hamburger is truly a story that has been run through the meat grinder. Some sources say it began with the Mongols, who stashed raw beef under their saddles as they waged their campaign to conquer the known world. After time spent sandwiched between the asses of man and beast, the beef became tender enough to eat raw—certainly a boon to swift-moving riders not keen to dismount.
It is said, then, that the Mongols, under Kublai Khan later brought it to Russia, which turned it into the dish we know as steak tartare.
Several years later, as global trade picked up, seafarers brought this idea back to the port city of Hamburg, Germany, where the Deutschvolk decided to mold it into a steak shape and add heat to the equation, making something that, outside of Hamburg, was referred to as "Hamburg steak."
Of course, as it's been pointed out on the comments on this site and in John T. Edge's book Hamburgers & Fries, that's wishful thinking. As Mr. Edge writes, "The history of proletarian dishes like hamburgers is rarely explained by a linear progression of events."
But enough fishing in European and Asian waters; let's cut bait here. Somehow ground beef gets to America. Somehow it's put on a bun. But by whom? Surely the historical record becomes more clear once we cross to these shores.
It doesn't. There are currently three major claims staked on the confusing and contradictory map of American hamburger history. Each has its adherents and detractors. They are:
Louis' Lunch: This New Haven, Connecticut, burger joint claims to have invented our favorite lunchtime (and dinnertime) meal in 1900. From its website: "One day in the year 1900 a man dashed into a small New Haven luncheonette and asked for a quick meal that he could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, the establishment's owner, hurriedly sandwiched a broiled beef patty between two slices of bread and sen the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America's first hamburger."
"Hamburger Charlie" Nagreen: It's said that he started selling meatballs at the age of 15 at the summer fair in Seymour, Wisconsin. But, homeofthehamburger.org says, "Charlie was a resourceful young man with an outgoing personality. After not experiencing much success selling the meatballs, he had an idea and located some bread. He realized people could take this meal with them if he simply smashed the meat together between two pieces of bread. He called it a "hamburger" and yes, in 1885 the burger was born at the fair in Seymour, Wisconsin."
Menches Brothers: The brothers' descendents, who now operate a small chain in Ohio called, not surprisingly, Menches Bros. claim that their great-grandfather and his brother (Charles and Frank, respectively) invented the dish at an 1885 fair in Hamburg, New York. The brothers originally sold sausages but ran out and were forced to use ground beef, which at the time was considered declassé. John Menches, in a Businessweek story, says, "Faced with nothing to sell at all, they fried [the ground beef] up, but it was too bland. My grandfather decided to put coffee, brown sugar, and some other household ingredients in it and cooked up the sandwich. My great-uncle Frank served the first sandwich, a gentleman tasted it and said, 'What do you call it?' Uncle Frank didn't really know what to call it, so he looked up and saw the banner for the Hamburg fair and said, 'This is the hamburger.' "
So who invented the hamburger? Take your pick. We're too ground down at this point to choose.
Today, our BFF, the hamburger, turns 105 years old. It was on July 28th, 1900 that Louis Lassen—proprietor of Louis' Lunch—first put a hamburg steak between two pieces of bread. Truth be told, it's unlikely that this was the very first burger, but the Library of Congress records this as the official birth of our favorite sandwich. Both Hamburger & Fries and What's Cooking America give much more thorough histories of the burger.
For your own knowledge, the earliest days of the burger began with Ghengis Kahn. What's Cooking America recounts the beginnings of the hamburger:
Genghis Khan (1167-1227), crowned the "emperor of all emperors," and his army of fierce Mongol horsemen, known as the "Golden Horde," conquered two thirds of the then known world. The Mongols were a fast-moving, cavalry-based army that rode small sturdy ponies. They stayed in their saddles for long period of time, sometimes days without ever dismounting. They had little opportunity to stop and build a fire for their meal. The entire village would follow behind the army on great wheeled carts they called "yurts," leading huge herds of sheep, goats, oxen, and horses. As the army needed food that could be carried on their mounts and eaten easily with one hand while they rode, ground meat was the perfect choice. They would use scrapings of lamb or mutton which were formed into flat patties. They softened the meat by placing them under the saddles of their horses while riding into battle. When it was time to eat, the meat would be eaten raw, having been tenderized by the saddle and the back of the horse.
Of course, the next big step was in Hamburg, Germany, hence the name, but we'll not go there. Both options listed above can give you the whole story.
Although the day is almost over for those of us on the East Coast, might we suggest you head out to your favorite burger joint and grab a burger. If not tonight, then this weekend. And when you're there, be sure to geek out, take some photos and post them on flickr so we can live through you vicariously.
The picture at the top is of Louis Lassen manning the grill at Louis' Lunch.
I first heard about burger biopic Hamburger America in a January 26 story in the New York Times. I promptly filed the info away in my mind and hard drive for what was then a castle-in-the-air burger blog—and then promptly forgot about it.
It wasn't until reading this story that my memory was jogged and I was prompted to order the DVD for review.
Hamburger America is delicious. Brooklyn filmmaker George Motz has captured eight unique family-run burger joints in this sweet little 54-minute paean to the patty. From Connecticut to Chicago to Santa Fe, we meet some of the most unpretentious yet serious burger artisans this country has to offer.
There's Ted's Restaurant in Meriden, Connecticut, where the burgers are steamed, thereby cutting the fat while retaining juiciness. Head out west a bit for a 180 on the fat philosophy at Solly's Grille. There, just outside Milwaukee, the specialty is the "butter burger," whose top bun is slathered with an insane amount of the namesake dairy product before gracing the patty. The butter then melts and oozes down the sides of the burger and onto the plate. (Yes, that's a butter burger on the DVD cover above.)
Perhaps the most endearing burgermeister in the film is Joe Maranto, owner of the Meers Store in Meers, Oklahoma. Mr. Maranto raises his own grass-fed Texas longhorn cattle for the restaurant's beef. It's actually quite touching to watch Mr. Maranto talk to one of his cattle, stroke it under its muzzle, and make kissing sounds to it while telling the camera that the animal is "the future of the Meers Store." With his respect for the animals he'll soon be feeding customers and his connection to the land and knowledge of its history, there's no doubting that the Meers Store turns out some lovingly crafted burgers.
You'll also meet the Sianis family, owners of the Billy Goat Tavern, the Chicago eatery made nationally famous as the inspiration for the well-known John Belushi "cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger" skit on Saturday Night Live. (And yes, it's the same family that also spawned the Curse of the Billy Goat.)
Other hamburger joints featured are: The Wheel Inn (Sedalia, Missouri), Dyer's (Memphis), Louis' Lunch (New Haven, Connecticut), and the Bobcat Bite (Santa Fe).
HAMBURGER AMERICA Website:hamburgeramerica.com Cost: $16 + $2 S/H via Mr. Motz's site or $19.99 + S/H via Amazon. (We recommend buying it via Motz's site; as he probably gets a bigger cut of the money that way.)
Give me your burgers! Arrrrrgh! 
Remember Total Recall? And how the Governator's character is looking for some Martian mutant resistance leader named Kuato? And how, at the end, it's revealed that Kuato is really some weirdass person-in-a-person?
Forget the gravy train, you've booked a ticket on the Burger Express. Next stop: Listburg, where the populace is obsessed with notations and rank. The latest resident to settle in our sleepy hamlet is Jason Perlow (left), founder of 
The history of the hamburger is truly a story that has been run through the meat grinder. 
Today, our BFF, the hamburger, turns 105 years old. It was on July 28th, 1900 that Louis Lassen—proprietor of 
