News Attack of the Clone:A Utah burger joint is in the doghouse with In-N-Out: "The company in question is Chadder's, an American Fo1rk burger restaurant that opened in May with a menu that is so similar to In-N-Out that some customers have contacted the Orange County chain to inquire if the two brands were related, according to the suit." [via FoAHT Karen N.]
It must be expected that basic food prices must double in the next five to ten years. This would take them back to half their historic average. It must also be expected that some key foodstuffs will become temporarily unavailable. Both events are easy to foresee, and both will be 'huge surprises.' Consider the staple food of fat northern hemisphere dwellers—the humble hamburger; the bun is grain and the meat is simply an inefficient method of grain conversion on legs. Our forecasts of both much higher food prices and shortages will lead to a significant price increase in the hamburger.
Fred says, "You know what that means: Wolf down as many burgers as you can while you can still afford it!"
Shanghai surprise: The blog Shanghaist is putting on a Fourth of July party (on July 1—because it's a Sunday) that will feature a "Best Burger in Shanghai" competition in which attendees can taste and vote on the entrants. Related: The Best Burger in Shanghai
Reviews Robb Walsh hits Blake's BBQ and Burgers in Houston: "The third hamburger I got at Blake's BBQ and Burgers on Jeanetta was just about perfect. When I bit into it, the juicy meat, melted American cheese and white bread of the bun all melded together in my mouth in a delightfully sticky mass. It was sort of like a grilled cheese sandwich with a hamburger in the middle." 2916 Jeanetta
Houston TX 77063; 713-266-6860
If you haven't heard of [Pat] LaFrieda, it may be because you don't own one of Manhattan's better restaurants. He's the third Pat LaFrieda to work at LaFrieda Wholesale Meats (his father, Pat LaFrieda, Jr., still runs the day shift), the supplier for Babbo, Momofuku, BLT Steak, A Voce, the Union Square Cafe, and another 200 establishments. He also grinds the meat for the city's most celebrated hamburgers: Stand, BLT Burger, Shake Shack, and the Spotted Pig all use custom LaFrieda blends that start with chuck and then might (or might not) include sirloin, brisket, boneless short rib, shank, skirt, flat iron, and even hanger. (Brgr's hamburger is ground in Montana.) Each blend is a closely guarded secret, tailored to the techniques and demands of a particular restaurant: Will it be a thin or thick patty? Griddle or grill? Medium or high heat?
After the jump, a breakdown of different burger joints' recipes.
Recipes
Our friends in the Great White North (that'd be Canada) offer some burger recipes for grilling season, including an outré Cheese-Stuffed Burger Dog concoction: Split a smokie lengthwise like a book, stuff it with a mozzarella cheese string, fold it back over the cheese, then mold ground beef around it. Crazy? Or crazy like a fox?
Speaking of stuffed burgers, here's Stuffed Burgers 101 from Maine's Bangor Daily News
Gluttony
At Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a new record—four ten-patty burgers in three hours: "The first one just flew by," [James] Rocker said. "It was like not even an effort. The second one was pretty much the same. By the third one, things got kind of blurry. After that I became really cautious, really aware that my bite rate was slowing down."
Friend of AHT Tien Mao loves Krazy Jim's: "It's excellent! If you're ever in Ann Arbor, you should go."
My friend and I both opted for the Yummy Burger ($15) – a Peking duck and beef chuck burger, topped with a panko onion ring and wasabi slaw on a sesame bun. It was tremendously rich, perfectly prepared and mouth-wateringly delicious. And it really looked good on the plate – great presentation. Actually, everything coming out of the kitchen was looking really appetizing.
Also adding to the experience for Taste T.O. blogger Jessica McLaughlin was that celeb chef Susur Lee was sitting nearby.
The Chain Gang
Under pressure from investors, burger chain Wendy's may consider sale.
Applebee's wants yourblueprint for a "burger masterpiece." You can win $5,000. Good luck. That's like giving Bush-Era FEMA the plans to build the Taj Mahal in New Orleans.
The story describes Mooyah, a recently opened burger joint in Plano, Texas, that clearly has aspirations of becoming a franchise-based empire. What gets me is this passage: "[David Tessier is] enjoying a higher class of burger—made from fresh (not frozen) patties, with premium toppings such as grilled onions—and paying about twice the price."
Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a "gourmet burger." That is, plain and simple, a good hamburger. If you subscribe to the notion that a "gourmet" hamburger exists (and they do—Daniel Boulud's truffle, foie gras, and braised short rib stuffed burger is an example, albeit a ridiculous one), then a burger whose patty is fresh-not-frozen and that's topped with good-quality ingredients is merely the base upon which a "gourmet" burger is built.
The U.S. is a country whose national cuisine might as well be the hamburger. How pathetic is it then that such a specimen made with fresh beef and grilled onions is considered "gourmet"?
The Jucy Lucy itself is supremely satisfying -- not the best I've had, but several notches above average. It comes on a soft, undusted roll, and the cheese and attendant oils squirt out much like the juice of a fresh Shanghai soup dumpling; if you bite hearty, and most do, the cheese's trajectory and velocity can easily scald your boothmate's face. My only regret: I had lunch too early to wash it down with a Grain Belt Premium beer. Or five.
What I really want to know about, however (and, no, it's not burger related, but bear with me), is a place this story mentions in passing, Lou's Fish, "which features the very unlikely combination of smokehouse and motel."
OK, folks. We have the winners in last week's Hamburgers & Fries contest. They've just been notified via email, but let's trot them out here, along with their picks.
J. SCOTT, whose favorite local burger joint is either Pie 'n' Burger in Pasadena, California, or Kirk's Steakburger in Campbell, California. Let me just say that J. Scott did not win because s/he gave two picks. Winners were chosen at random from among 61 eligible entries.
DAVID P., who says, "D.C. has its share of good burgers (from the chain Five Guys to the haute Cafe Burger at Cafe Atlantico to the legendary at Ben's Chili Bowl), and I've eaten my share of them all. But my current favorite is Cheff Geoff's D.C. burger. It's a simple affair, just bacon, cheddar, pickles, a chipotle mayo and soft buttery bun, but it is heaven. And it's $5 at happy hour!"
PHOX says, "Tessaro's in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Yum. As a kid my oral surgeon (who I had to see on a regular basis) was right next to Tessaro's—I looked forward to the oral surgeon. Come on, that's a good burger!"
That must be a great burger, Phox! Did you eat it before or after your appointment?
MIKE HENKEL, who says, "My favorite burger is right around the corner from me. Mike's at the Crossroads in Cotati, California."
Any chance you really like this place, Mike, because it shares your name?
And last but not least ..
SEBASTIEN L., who says, "'Burger Joint' in the The Parker Meridien Hotel in New York City beats J. G. Melon and Shake Shack for two major reasons: consistency and price."
That's a strong argument, Sebastien. The Shack is often spotty, and J. G. Melon is pretty spendy.
Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Your suggestions were meatastic! You five are superwinners, but we're all winners armed with this new list to go by.
But it wasn't all burnt grills and onion dust. One of the perks was eating sliders during our breaks. To mix things up, I'd invent off-menu items: double cheeseburgers with the middle bun removed, double fish, fish and chicken, triples and so on. After years of topping my burgers with onion rings such improvisation was the next logical step.
He may have gotten two stars from the New York Times for his cooking, but he gets a big goose egg from AHT for this attack, which appeared on Restaurant Girl:
What trend do you wish would die already? Sliders.
The burgers are not ranked, but each is an exemplar of its own uniquely named genre, like the sandwich from Rouge, which LaBan dubs "The Show-Off" for its ostentatious proportions: "The enormous 13-ounce patties, topped with Gruyere, hydroponic Boston bibb, and butter-toasted brioche buns, are tailor-made for turning heads at a cafe that's all about being seen."
The list also includes, but is not limited to: Charlie's Hamburgers, Snow White, Barclay Prime, and Good Dog Bar & Restaurant, whose blue-cheese-stuffed burgers inspired LaBan to write a brilliant little song, "Cheeseburger, I Hold," the lyrics of which appear after the jump. (Here's the video for "Cheeseburger, I Hold.")
Related: Philly is well represented on Alan Richman's seminal top-twenty burger list ("The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die"), with Rouge placing No. 4 and the Kobe sliders at Barclay Prime at No. 5.
When the griddle is clicking on all cylinders, the Shackburger attains a modicum of flavor and a reasonable compromise between tender and chewy.
FALSE!When the griddle, grillmen and grillwomen, cashiers, and expediters are all firing on all cylinders, the Shack attains more than a modicum of flavor—it is downright delicious. The burger is moist (if not gushing with juices) with a crunchy, crusty, salty exterior and a great bun-to-meat ratio. Unfortunately, when you go at peak hours, it's a rare occurrence that all the meatslinging machinery's in tune. Burgers too often come out overcooked and lukewarm.
It’s not like the food is remotely good enough to justify a standard, one- to two-hour wait. For me that day, it was one hour, 15 minutes - 45 minutes on the ordering line and 30 minutes more at the pickup station.
TRUE! See the photo above, people. If you wait in a line any longer than that indicated, you're an idiot. First, it's questionable that any burger is worth an hour-plus wait in line. Second, if the line is that long, you're probably going to get a subpar Shackburger.
The beef is ground at Meyer’s Eleven Madison Park across the street - gilt by association with one of the city’s finest restaurants. Cooked only one way - medium, which too often means medium-well - it’s topped with cheap American cheese, a mayo-based sauce, lettuce and insipid tomato slices inside a lightly-grilled bun.
TRUE and FALSE!
True: When it's cooked to medium, it's a great burger—but Cuozzo's right, at peak hours, the things get overcooked.
False: He is wrong, however, about the cheese; American "cheese" is the perfect cheesestuff for a burger of this type.
True: The tomato slices blow, but that's true of tomato slices at most burger joints. I almost never order mine with tomatoes. I think the standard Shackburger is vastly inferior to a standard cheeseburger with pickles and onions.
Left Unsaid: Cuozzo should have added that the Shack sauce is a tired old mayo-ketchup-based concoction that adds almost nothing to the burger.
As all you Meatheads out there know, Memorial Day is pretty much the unofficial official start of summer grilling season. And, May is National Hamburger Month. And, today we just Grilled one of our favorite burgermeisters, John T. Edge.
With all these burger stars aligning, AHT thought it was high time we had a book giveaway contest here. So, if you'd like, you can enter to win one of five (5) copies of Mr. Edge's Hamburgers & Fries: An American Story.
What I like about Hamburgers & Fries is that it's really a "little black book" of America's best regional burgers in all their delicious varieties. So, all you have to do to win is name your favorite hometown burger joint. No chains! (Or, should I say, no major chains—we all wanna hear about regional gems that too often go overlooked.)
Leave your answer in the comments, and we'll choose five winners at random. Be sure to leave your email address with your comment so we can get in touch with you. (We hate spam, too, so won't do anything nefarious with it.) The comments will be open till 9 p.m. PDT Friday. Good luck!
Before I founded AHT and really started exploring Burgerworld, I was like most home cooks when it comes to this most delicious and iconic American dish.
Yes, I bought the ground chuck in the grocery store, thinking it was perfectly adequate for grilling or throwing into the cast-iron skillet.
AHT reader and newcomer to the foodblogging scene "Beef Aficionado" Nick tips us to the fact that yet another Goodburger is opening in Midtown, this one at 45th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue. (Nick also hipped us to the impending opening of the Union Square Goodburger late last month.)
This brings the rapidly expanding Manhattan minichain to four stores since the first one opened in October 2005. Is it expanding too fast, though? Says Nick, "Can they possibly maintain quality as they expand? We shall see."
Closer to home—my home, anyway—here's a roundup of burgerness going down around the Big Apple.
I'll have a burger with a side of hyperbole. New York magazine's Underground Gourmet column declares the meatwich at Resto the "Best Burger in New York":
Would it be demeaning to Skeen and Resto to lavish the most praise on the burger? Maybe. But this one is world-class, a loosely packed, modestly sized house-ground masterpiece of beef cheek, hanger steak, and fatback, nicely accessorized with onion, pickle, mayo, and slightly pungent Timberdoodle cheese from Vermont, all on a squishy white bun from Rockland Bakery. It might be the best burger in New York, including Shake Shack’s.
Best burger until next week, burgerfans.
Water Taxi Beach soft-opened for the season last weekend. Once Memorial Day rolls around, WTB will once again be making one of my favorite burgers—the Motz Burger, four ounces of coarsely ground, loose-packed beef, cooked on a severely hot griddle that imparts a deliciously crunchy crust. Though technically the Motz Burger is specced out without cheese (its namesake and creator, George "Hamburger America" Motz prefers it that way), I recommend ordering it topped with a slice of easy-melting American. (Until Memorial Day, WTB will only be serving beer and hot dogs.)
More best burgers. This time in the Borough of Kings. 1 Stop Over in Brooklyn's Jon Cronin rounds up his list of the Best Burgers in Brooklyn. The usual suspects (Schnäck, DuMont, Hope & Anchor), along with some otherwise unchampioned names (Salonike, Pit Stop, Chicory, Ceol, White Castle), and some headscratchers (McDonald's, White Castle).
They tasted good though. Not great. They certainly would benefit from better bread or a basic bun. The thin slices of bread did have the effect of highlighting the quality of the meat, but a small, soft sesame seed bun would have had the same effect and tasted much better. Still, I’m not going to tell them to stop serving burgers on toast if that’s how they’ve been doing it for a century and a decade. You gotta respect that.
I do not respect, on the other hand, that schmuck behind the counter. Although he was a man a few words (all of which came in a nasty tone of voice) with us, he had plenty to say to his coworkers. While Melissa and I tried to enjoy our burgers on toast, we had to listen to this man spew forth the vilest lies and obscenities about the Yankees I’d ever heard. We were on our way to Boston, and I’d been there many times before, but I’d never heard Bostonians say anything close to what this man was spitting up.
From the Central Park Boathouse, a burger. The New York Post reports: "This year, chef Anthony Walton has added an awesome new fast-food area to the Boathouse, with a new outdoor seating area. 'It’s the sort of thing we want people to use like their corner deli,' says Walton, whose menu includes coffee, croissants and muffins for early morning dog-walkers and bird-watchers, as well as a lunch menu of house-ground burgers ($5), hot dogs ($3.25).... "
AHT reader Nick alerted me to this video here, saying, "David Hasselhoff celebrates national hamburger month."
Heh, heh. That's pretty funny.
But, as Elvis Presley once sang, "Don't be cruel to a heart that's true." And who but Michael Knight has a truer heart? Therefore, instead of embedding the video right here in this entry, I am making you click the link above to view Mr. Hasselhoff, a man who has battled alcoholism, eating a hamburger as he falls off the wagon. (It's not like you haven't seen it already, though.)
As a fan of Hasselhoff (Knight Rider was brilliant), I would like to believe that this statement was made with all sincerity:
Because of my honest and positive relationship with my daughters, who were concerned for my well-being, there was a tape made that night to show me what I was like. I have seen the tape. I have learned from it and I am back on my game.
I would also like to know where that hamburger came from.
On April 30, this website published info in its sporadically occurring Openings column regarding Prime Burger. We must apologize to you, dear readers. Placing Prime Burger into the Openings column would somehow indicate that it is a new restaurant when it is not. It's simply a stupid marketing gimmick: sidewalk seating as "new restaurant." From Eater ...
In our universe, a.k.a. reality, this is known as sidewalk seating: a bunch of tables, chairs, and other assorted mood elements set up on the sidewalk, especially during the warmer months. In the alternate reality in which Old Homestead and their PR, The Hall Company, roll, this is grounds to announce a brand new restaurant, "opening May 7th." (By the by, it's fully open now, today, this very moment.)
Says AHT reader Dave, in the comments of the previous post: "I actually had one of these last week during a vacation in Paris. It's pretty good for a fast food novelty item. It is definitely fromage-d out. For some reason the Coca-Cola in France is tastier as well."
Dave also passed along the link to a photo of L'Spider Homme Burger. Check it out! Its bun has a web pattern (above). Kinda reminds me of the buns made to look like soccer balls last year around World Cup time.
Mon dieu! Friend of AHT Graham Holliday sends us a tip on this Spider Man special going on in France's Quick burger chain. "You getting Spider Man burgers in NYC?" he asks.
Follow along, step-by-step, in mind-numbing detail. If that's your bag. After the jump.
The takeaway: Since I've not had a true Jucy Lucy from Matt's Bar, I can't say for sure, but making this burger at home is almost more trouble than it's worth. I mean, does it matter if the cheese is on the inside as opposed to above and below the patty? (I think a slice on the top and bottom is awesome.) Furthermore, I always end up overcooking this thing in the interest of getting a good molten core. This is the second time I've made a round of Juicy Looseys, and I always end up cooking them beyond medium-rare. The Flickr pix of the Matt's Bar Jucy Lucys look much better than mine, so perhaps this is a burger best left to the pros.
Also: I've found that my initial adaptation of John T. Edge's recipe worked better for me. In his book, the recipe uses an intact slice of American cheese. In my version, which is based on George "Hamburger America" Motz's observations during a visit to Matt's Bar, I fold the cheese in half twice to make a compact little stack that's easier to sandwich between the dual patties.
So I've been making such a big deal about this Jucy Lucy burger at Matt's Bar in Minneapolis lately, eh?
I can't help it. The thing just sounds so good—a molten core of oozing cheese sandwiched between two patties. Well, since I'm not going to be on a plane bound for the Twin Cities anytime soon, I figure I'll try to make one. For the occasion, I've adapted a recipe from John T. Edge's book Hamburger & Fries. Lemme share it with you.
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.
We just got a tip that this Friday, the Bouchon Bakery will be featuring wagyu sliders as a menu addition. They'll be slightly different from the ones that Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine blogged about earlier this month. The tomato marmalade from before will be replaced with oven-roasted roma tomatoes, and the cheese will be taleggio instead of ricotta.
We didn't get any word on what pricing will be, but the first time Ed had them, the meal was $15 for three sliders.
Bouchon Bakery Address: 3rd floor of the Time-Warner Center Mall Phone: 212-823-9366
Tommi Tómasson is the burger baron of Iceland and has "made and lost two fortunes flipping burgers in Reykjavík." He currently owns Hamborgara Tómasar in the country's capital. "We have had many celebrities come, even our President Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson and his wife Dorrit have come," Tómasar said. "Also Björk [right]. But mostly Tommi’s Burger Joint is a classless place where everyone can come and feel that he or she belongs."
Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right: "McDonald’s best-kept secret may be that it offers free Wi-Fi with every meal.... Gamers using Nintendo DS systems currently account for 25% of the Wi-Fi traffic in its restaurants."
"White Castle is inferior." So says Beverly Scott, who is among 20 people inducted into the Krystal Lovers Hall of Fame this year. I think her story, recounted here, is weak, but Krystal probably liked her stance on Whitey's. An even better story is the hall of famer who routinely flies 150 miles ten times a year to pick up a couple dozen Krystals.
UPDATE: We have a winnah! George says,"JT got it—nice job! It's a Thurman Burger from the Thurman Cafe in Columbus, Ohio. Half-pound burger of fresh beef, lettuce, tomato, mayo, grilled onion, and underneath that veil of ham and cheese are jalepeños and mushrooms. It actually tastes great."
JT: You can send me your address and T-shirt size, and I'll pass it along to George for prize fulfillment: adam@ahamburgertoday.com.
I loved Josh's attempt to stump us with his "Mystery Burger." Well, I've got one of my own, if you're interested in posting it. I'm finally releasing one photo from my upcoming book. I'm letting this one go just because I can't believe what this thing looks like. It's easily more than 7 inches tall, super-tasty, and contains more than a pound of meat. I'll give away a Hamburger America T-shirt [right] to the first person who can name the burger...
So, a new contest is afoot. Leave your guesses in the comments of this post, and George will check in periodically to see if someone has won. To sweeten the pot, I'll throw in a copy of Mr. Motz's burger biopic, Hamburger America.
This creation from Boston's Lower Depths Tap Room sounds ingenious:
The prospect of discovering the ultimate bacon cheeseburger is what first piqued my interest: beyond being topped with maple-smoked bacon, the steakhouse’s eight ounces of Angus chuck are actually mixed with bacon grease prior to cooking. The first thing you’ll notice, though, is the strong flavor of fresh garlic that’s also used to season the beef. Next come the combined tastes of mango salsa and habanero aïoli, which balance the garlic and charred beef with a striking mix of sweetness and heat. (Memo to UBurger: the Lower Depths really cooks burgers to order, and my medium-rare request produced a crisp exterior and a juicy, admirably pink heart.)
You had me at infused bacon grease. But what's with the garlic and the mango salsa aïoli? Gilding the lily, says me.
Last year the stadium served "The Grizzly Burger," a bacon cheeseburger served on a toasted Krispy Kreme doughnut.
This year, they're raising the bar with deep-fried White Castle sliders. Called "Baseball’s Best Sliders," they'll come two for $4. A side of cheese sauce is $1 extra.
Says Darren Rovell, the man who broke the Grizzly Burger story last year, "It’s pretty awesome when it has been sitting in the studio for an hour. I can only imagine how great it is hot out of the fryer sitting at the ballpark. I couldn’t eat too much being that I’m down a gallbladder, but it basically tastes like an onion ring burger."
On deck: Baseball road trip!
Further Reading
I'm not sure where to place this post, so read more about Megaburgers on AHT or about Tiny Hamburgers!
I received a vaguely menacing voicemail message over the weekend from one Mr. Cutlets, who edits New York magazine's Grub Street under his more prosaic birth name, Josh Ozersky:
I'm here to tell you that I now know where the best hamburger in the greater New York area is. And I'm not going to tell you. It's better than the Shake Shack. It's like the Shake Shack but better. And there's not a hamburger in Manhattan that can compare with it. This will remain a mystery—unless someone can pry it out of me. End of message.
Having steered A Hamburger Today to some phenomenal burgers in the past (Veselka, Chelsea Gallery Restaurant, and the Good Fork, to name a few), I'm sure his claim is not mere hyperbole. I only wish I could finagle the details from him.
Mr. Cutlets: Can you not write about your amazing burger discovery on Grub Street? Is it that you want to keep your discovery to yourself? For the love of burgerdom, please share!
Update: I know your weakness, Cutlets. We'll buy your intel for a White Castle Crave Case—your choice, plain or with cheese.
Update No. 2: Cutlets just gave us a photo. And now there's a contest to win a burger lunch/dinner with Cutlets and me if you can guess the place based on the photo. If you're not on the main page of AHT, click here for the photo/contest.
I don't just talk the talk when I say "Take a chill pill—it's just burgers, people!" Check me out at left here. That's a Chicago Bird Dog. I hit the Shake Shack reopening today and didn't even eat a burger there. I walk the walk, suckas.
Actually, as I've said on AHT before, I gave up red meat for Lent. So damn if I can't have a Shackburger—until Sunday, when, as I understand it, the regular Lenten rules rest for the day. (This masochistic self-deprivation may explain my earlier-than-usual onset of Shacklash this year.)
Anyway, the rest of the Serious Eats crew dug in to the salty-crusted meaty goodness. And speaking of the salty-crusted meaty goodness, if you couldn't taste it, you could certainly smell it a good 20 feet or so from the order windows. It was tempting, indeed.
The new technology that Eater first reported on, the little vibrating pagers (right), worked like a charm. As I told Gothamist earlier today, "I think the new tech things are great. They'll go a long way to alleviating the pile-up around the pick-up window. And, instead of waiting to hear your name—while secretly worrying that someone will identity-thieve your order—you now have a secure wireless burger-notification system. Bravo!"
Plus, the magic wands allowed the Serious Eats crew the luxury of staking out a table and relaxing with some chit-chat while we waited. While I posed with the burger-pager (right), Richard Coraine (to my right in the photo), partner and COO of Union Square Hospitality Group (the Shack's parent company), approached Ed and the two started talkin' burgers, fries, and dogs.
Some nuggets from today's sojourn:
Coraine says the folks at USHG tried 32 kinds of frozen french fries before they settled on those now being served
The Shack gave out chocolate custard to the hearty folks waiting in line (right)
The steamed-and-then-griddled hot dogs (which were definitely better) were inspired by a trip to Birmingham, Alabama, that USHG's Coraine and Meyer took. While there, noted chef Frank Stitt (Highlands Bar and Grill) took them to Pete's Famous Hot Dogs downtown, where Pete's has been making hot dogs that way for since 1915
The Shack no longer has kiddie cones, so you can't even pretend to practice portion control any more when you order frozen custard
The buzzer system seemed to work
The place needs coffee or hot chocolate until the weather warms up (and will need it once it gets cold again in fall)
The fries were much better than what they were serving last year. Mr. Coraine pointed out that the Shack made the switch ahead of the trans-fat ban in New York City. These are organic, artificial-trans-fat-free fries, and they were noticeably darker, more airy, and more crisp (without being crunchy) than last year's model.
As for the burgers, lemme ask Ed ... "They were good. I wish I had ordered mine medium-rare, but they don't make them medium-rare, anyway. They had the crust, they had the salt. What more do you want? Everything else is punctuation."
Obligatory Shacklash 2007 comment: I'm so f***ing sick of the Shake Shack. ALREADY. All you people actin' like you've never seen a burger before. Jeez.
Ai yah. It hasn't even opened yet (that'll be March 21), and I'm already getting sick of the frakkin' hype surrounding the Shake Shack. First it was Megnut, and now Eater is bloggingtrainingday there.
It's enough that I might even start my yearly moratorium on Shake Shack posts on AHT early.
Well, probably not. But, jeez. It's just burgers, people.
Patties of ground beef weighing from 1 ounce to 15 pounds, often not seasoned and cooked until gray, then served as a sandwich, usually between two halves of a compressible, flavorless untoasted bun, are this nation's leading contribution to world cuisine. In their fast-food form, burgers provide quantitative evidence for the charge, more widespread than ever, that Americans are a bunch of insensitive louts.
But all across the country there are places, almost all of them locally owned operations, that cook and sell my idea of a first-rate burger. And I've been on a hunt to find the best of them. ...
His list includes but is not limited to the following:
Primanti Bros. Address: 46 18th Street, Pittsburgh PA 15222 Phone: 412-263-2142 URL: primantibros.com The Skinny: They put fries on the burger here.
Rosebud Steakhouse Address: 192 East Walton Street, Chicago IL 60611 Phone: 312-397-1000 URL: http://www.rosebudrestaurants.com/rest4.php The Skinny: Thick 12-ounce burger served on a grilled-pretzel roll. Sokolov finds the bun an "eccentric distraction."
Louis' Lunch Address: 261-263 Crown Street, New Haven CT 06510 Phone: 203-562-5507 URL: louislunch.com The Skinny: Claims to be the birthplace of the burger. The fact that its sandwich is served between two slices of toasted bread provokes endless debate among hamburger semanticists. Don't ask for ketchup here!
Dirty Martin's Kum-Bak Place Address: 2808 Guadalupe Street, Austin TX 78705 Phone: 512-477-3173 URL: dirtymartins.com The Skinny: Didn't rate high from Mr. Sokolov (he called it "thin and lackluster"), but friend of AHT and New York magazine online food editor Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky says "The burger, broader and thinner than the Shake Shack's, gives you more salty surface area and just as much juicy beef goodness."
The Shake Shack Address: Located in New York City's Madison Square Park, 23rd Street and Madison Avenue Phone: N/A URL: shakeshacknyc.com The Skinny: Open from the first day of spring to the last day of fall, the Shake Shack has become a beloved burger institution in New York in the handful of years it's been open. Unpretentious and delicious burgers with a crunchy, salty outer crust and superb blend of meats. (More on the Shack from A Hamburger Today.)
In-N-Out Burger Address: Various locations throughout California, Nevada, and Arizona Phone: N/A URL: in-n-out.com The Skinny: Arguably the nation's best chain hamburger, albeit a chain whose reach is cruelly limited to three Western states. High-quality meat that's fresh, never-frozen along with hand-cut fries. The chain is deservedly famous for its cleanliness, efficiency, and friendly customer service. Mr. Sokolov, however, does not particularly like In-N-Out: "unspectacular — fairly thin, cautiously seasoned"
Miller's Bar Address: 23700 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn MI 48124 Phone: 313-565-2577 URL: millersbar.com The Skinny: Serving one of Sokolov's choice burgers, Miller's sandwiches are hefty, no-nonsense affairs.
Ann's Snack Bar Address: 1615 Memorial Drive, Atlanta GA 30317 Phone: 404-687-9207 URL: N/A The Skinny: A tiny diner on a grim stretch of highway, go for the Ghetto Burger, Sokolov says.
New York magazine just dumped its "Best of New York 2007" issue, and in it the weekly's food critics name their favorite high-, mid-, and low-end burgers in the Big Apple.
Here are their picks, in descending order from high to low. Oh, and Gael Greene just managed to shoot up even more in our estimation with her low-end fave.
As is common wisdom, one thing the Catholic church excels at is instilling guilt in those raised in the faith. However lapsed I may be these days, that guilt remains.
So, while I may not attend mass as often as I should, I always try to give up something for Lent. This year, I decided I'd go really hard on myself and give up red meat. That means ... yes ... NO BURGERS!
Desperate times call for desperate measures, so I broke down and bought some Gardenburger patties, some Smart Bacon, some real cheddar cheese (I'm avoiding red meat, not dairy, after all).
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 27, 2007 at 2:16 PM
Oh, the stars. They too love the burgers. Who'd have thought "the Queen" (Helen Mirren) was up for a bit of the ol' In-N-Out? In what seems to be a Hollywood tradition, a stand providing the famous California treat was set up at the back of the Vanity Fair Oscar party.
In a stunning turn of events that may shake the very foundations of burgerological anthropology, A Hamburger Today has been presented with credible new evidence that the first burger to use a Krispy Kreme doughnut as a bun may have evolved almost two years earlier than previously thought.
AHT reader Timm just piped in in the Comments on our post about the Gateway Grizzlie Burger, the Krispy Kreme–bunned bacon cheeseburger served at the stadium of independent league baseball team the Gateway Grizzlies: "Just thought I'd throw out there that it seems the original idea for the Krispy Kreme burger can be found here and is referred to as the Fat Kreme back in 2003. Either way, that's a heart attack on a bun/doughnut!"
The Grizzlie Burger, which appeared in spring 2006, was itself a take-off of the Luther Burger, an invention of Decatur, Georgia, pub Mulligan's that dates to early 2005.
Dubbed the Fat Kreme, this early version of fusion-burger excess places the contents of a Fatburger burger onto the aforementioned sugar-glazed treat on April 6, 2003. What's more, this new evidence moves the locus of the mashup from the South to Seattle, a geographic region known more for its advances in coffee culture than for its contributions to calorie-rich deep-fried dining.
Unconfirmed reports within the blog post in question hint at an even earlier version of the KK-burger mashup, but using In-N-Out burgers instead.
Burger anthropologists in AHT's research department were puzzled as to why, like the Neanderthals, the Fat Kreme was suddenly eclipsed by a similar species. But at least one leading researcher who requested anonymity said he believed it had to do with the fact that Yukino, the blogger who invented the Fat Kreme, placed the doughnut bun facing glazed side out. The more advanced Grizzlie Burger, in contrast, has an evolutionary advantage in the fact that its toasted-doughnut bun faces glazed side inward, giving its eater a nonsticky fingerhold.
Attack of the Clone: A Utah burger joint is in the doghouse with In-N-Out: "The company in question is Chadder's, an American Fo1rk burger restaurant that opened in May with a menu that is so similar to In-N-Out that some customers have contacted the Orange County chain to inquire if the two brands were related, according to the suit." [via FoAHT Karen N.]
.
AHT reader Nick alerted me to 
Give me your burgers! Arrrrrgh! 
This burger is a cake.
