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.
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."
"This burger is a wonder. It's thick, it's perfectly cooked, juicy and covered in cheese and bacon. If eating a burger is a sin, this burger is like going to Vegas with a hooker who you kill, stuff in your trunk, and push off into a canyon."—The Amateur Gourmet
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.
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."
Five Guys Address: 132-01 14th Avenue, Queens NY 11356 [map] Phone: 718-767-6500; fax: 718-767-6502 Getting there: LIRR to Flushing Main Street, Q20B bus to 14th Ave. and 130th Street. But really, if you don't live in College Point or have a car, it's a pain. The short order: D.C. chain's first store in NYC opens in Queens, makes crunchy-crusted burgers that rival Shake Shack's. Want fries with that? Yes! A resounding yes. As longtime AHT readers know, I'm not the biggest fry guy, but these are definitely worth getting. Freshly cut and twice-fried, they're crisp with a nice, mealy interior. Don't bother getting the "regular" size. Five Guys's M.O. is to put your burger and cup of fries in the bag and then throw in a heaping handful of extra fries on top. The "Cajun" spiced fries are overspiced.
"If your burger blogging crew ever makes it down to the nation's capital, you've GOTTA try Five Guys."
Over the weeks, months, and, now, years that I've been plugging away at AHT, I've probably gotten more emails like this than for any other burger chain. And in all those months, I've never had the occasion to truck down to D.C. Instead, I've watched as the red states on the Five Guys locator map (right) grew in number and up the East Coast. At one point months and months ago, New York lit up red, but that first Empire State Five Guys was in Schenectady—upstate and still not easily accessible for a nondriving city-dwelling burger dude.
So when news hit that a 5G would open in Brooklyn Heights on Montague Street, I was jazzed. Finally, a Five Guys branch I could try that would involve only a quick subway ride. (Word is that the Montague Street Five Guys will open June 2.)
But did you know there's already a Five Guys in New York City? On Wednesday, I consulted the chain's store locator map for the Montague Street number and saw a Queens location. WTF!?! When did THAT open?
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).... "
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.
Even though this has been up on Serious Eats for a few weeks now, I haven't shared it here on AHT yet. It's a short video we at Serious Eats commissioned from our friend George "Hamburger America" Motz, and it chronicles a trip to the butcher to get some burger meat. Instead of buying the prepackaged stuff from the grocery, consider going the the extra yard by visiting your own reputable local butcher. You'll be happy you did, especially with grilling season (Memorial Day is the official unofficial kick-off) upon us.
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.
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.
Yesterday, I posted a phone message from Grubstreet editor Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky regarding the mystery burger pictured above. It exists somewhere in the "greater New York area."
Cutlets delivers, and more. He's willing to join me in taking one of you out to grab one of these burgers. Just be the first person to comment here with the correct answer and the burger is on us.
It should be noted that I still don't know where this is. Cutlets was willing to spill, but I thought it would be fun to be kept in the dark until one of you all guessed it. My initial guess was Hinsch's in Bay Ridge, but looking at my own photos of Hinsch's, the counter and glassware don't match.
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.
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.
[Five Guys] N.Y.C. prognosis: High-five! The first city location will open in College Point, Queens, next month, with stores to follow in Manhattan within two years.
[Fatburger] N.Y.C. prognosis: Fatties rejoice! The chain plans to open three stores in Manhattan in the next 12 months. One in Greenwich Village, one in Harlem and one in Midtown. Rapper Pharrell Williams (inset) is a partner in the venture.
The big question is whether these companies, as good as they are elsewhere, can maintain their high quality in New York City. With a few exceptions, fast food chains in the Big Apple tend to devolve to dirtiness and surliness pretty quickly.
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.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 23, 2007 at 12:09 AM
Dear AHT,
There is a place on Oahu near the base of Diamondhead that makes one of the best burgers I've ever had. Its called Teddys Bigger Burger and its almost worth a flight to hawaii just to eat there. You should check this place out as it is on par with places like Tommys, The Counter and Fatburger. I suggest the spudburger with garlic fries.
—Vanessa J.
Dear Vanessa,
Talk about cheeseburger in paradise. Sounds good. I'll try as soon as you're willing to underwrite the airfare and lodging. ;)
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 22, 2007 at 4:26 PM
Yesterday I showed you a series of photos, taken by my friend Listmaker, of my friend Marc as Marc had his first couple bites of the exotic Krispy Kreme Bacon Cheeseburger at an independent league baseball game last year. At the time the photos were taken, I told him, "Marc: I want a write-up of your experience for AHT. Stat!" Well, it only took seven months, but I guess yesterday's post was all the kick in the pants he needed.
Today, he responds: "You've gone and posted my mug all over your hamburger website. That means I finally looked over the draft of the Grizzlie Burger review. I fixed it up a bit. Sorry I didn't send this to you last summer!"
No problem, Marc. The important thing is that we have your story now, to warm our hearts on a cold winter day. Burgermeisters, dig in!
In March of last year, A Hamburger Today referenced a press release from the Gateway Grizzlies, an independent league baseball team from Sauget, Illinois. The team had created the Grizzlie Burger (known elsewhere as the Luther Burger). I couldn't help but refer to it as "that Krispy Kreme burger." It's a bacon cheeseburger served on a glazed Krispy Kreme doughnut instead of a traditional bun.
Later, in summer of last year, a friend and I took a baseball road trip through the Midwest. When I realized the Gateway Grizzlies played a few miles southeast of the Saint Louis Cardinals, one of the teams we'd included on our trek, I insisted that GCS Ballpark be included on the itinerary. It soon became the one destination that couldn't be altered. On the evening of Sunday, July 2, 2006, Listmaker and I walked into the Grizzlies' stadium at the start of the second inning—thankfully not too late to try the burger I hadn't stopped talking about during the previous month. [He really was talking about this burger a lot at the time.—Ed.]
I'd visited my parents. Me: A friend and I are going on a baseball trip to major, minor, and independent league games, and we're going to... Mom (interrupting): "Are you going to try that hamburger I saw on the news? The one with the Krispy Kreme bun?" Me: "Of course! You heard about that? Wow!"
I'd asked for time off at work. Me: I'm going to try a bacon cheeseburger with a sliced-open Krispy Kreme doughnut serving as the bun. Co-worker (visibly disturbed at the thought): Eww, gross. Wait: You don't eat cheeseburgers. Me: I know. I might make an exception. Or, maybe they'll serve it without cheese. I hope they serve it without cheese. [Marc likes cheese, and he likes burgers. He doesn't like cheese on his burgers, however. Go figure. —Ed.]
Basically, I had mentioned this burger to everyone I knew. It's a food item you can't resist talking about. How is it prepared? What does it taste like? Beef and sugar? Together? Is that sane? Is that possible?
Friend of AHT Fred Schwarz emailed us with this heads-up. —The Mgmt.
Here’s the opening paragraph from an interview with Norah Jones in the March issue of Blender (not available online as far as I can tell):
Norah Jones could really go for a hamburger. Nestled in an armchair in a downtown Manhattan recording studio on a wintry afternoon, she has a craving no mere soy substitute can satisfy. "I’ve been on a health kick lately," she says, patting her tummy. "Right now I’m trying to make tofu taste good. But I love me some burgers. I used to live over by this place Corner Bistro, in the West Village? Man, that’s a damn good burger. I’d end up there at four in the morning, really, really drunk. You don’t even remember it till you wake up the next morning—like, why do I smell like onions?”
As a bonus, Mr. Schwarz wrote us a little Norah Jones–burger limerick:
There once was a singer named Norah
Who said, "I could surely go for a
Yummy burger. Bean curd
Tastes completely absurd
And I'm so tired of vegetable pakora.
Thanks, Fred!
CORNER BISTRO Address: 331 West 4th Street, New York City [map] Phone: 212-242-9502 Website: cornerbistro.citysearch.com
Robert Sietsema in last week's Village Voice does a survey of the increasing number of increasingly upscale burger joints in New York City.
Brgr: " ... the griddle cooks commit the unpardonable sin of smashing the patty down with the spatula as it sizzles, evacuating all the tasty juices, resulting in a dry crumbly 'brgr.'..." (287 Seventh Avenue, New York NY 10001; 212-488-7500)
BLT Burger (pictured): " ... even the lush toppings can't disguise the meat's fundamental flavorlessness...." (470 Sixth Avenue, New York NY 10011; 212-243-8226)
67 Burger: "There is something refreshingly unpretentious about 67 Burger...." (67 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn NY 11217; 718-797-7150)
Brooklyn Burger Bar: " ... burgers arrive overcooked, and the so-called Brooklyn burger—topped with sun-dried tomatoes and mozzarella—represents the borough about as well as Marty Markowitz." [Ouch! But that's what you get for supporting the Ratner project, Marty. —The Mgmt.] (444 9th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215; 718-832-5500)
Stand: " ... 90 percent ground chuck and an assortment of other cuts, and the specimens we examined were all cooked to the desired level of doneness.... " (24 East 12th Street, New York NY 10003; 212-488-5900)
Though we at A Hamburger Today think that In-N-Out is great but often overrated, we think some students at the University of Arizona need to spend some time at burger college. When discussing the possibility of an In-N-Out replacing an on-campus McDonald's whose contract is up, here's what a couple said:
"I think Sonic should be there, or Burger King," said James Roberts, a molecular and cellular biology sophomore. "Any place that serves better fries." ...
"Wendy's is a lot healthier, and you can have a salad instead of fries," said Melissa Revelle, a physics and astronomy junior. "Sonic is also better because it has a better variety and quality."
How can you describe a frozen patty (Sonic) as being of "better quality" than a fresh-not-frozen In-N-Out patty? Ai yah!
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 19, 2007 at 12:33 PM
Here's a fun one from the mailbag ...
Dear AHT: Dyer's Hamburgers in Memphis TN featured on Food Network cooks there hamburgers in a skillet with ancient grease. When they moved from their old location, they actually had the Memphis Police Department escort the grease in a padlocked trash can to the new location. Do a search and check it out. One day the manager looked up and saw Tami Fay Baker at the order station... —Mike, Montross, Virginia
Funny you should ask, Mike. AHT parent site Serious Eats featured a video of Dyer's excerpted from our friend George Motz's excellent burger biopic Hamburger America. I'm going to present it here. Enjoy!
TOWN TOPIC Address: 2121 Broadway Street, Kansas City MO 64108 and1900 Baltimore Avenue, Kansas City MO 64108 Short Order: Smallish burgers with a salty crust and grilled onions embedded in the meat. A single is a snack; get a double if you're hungry. Want Fries With That? I've never really gotten fries at Town Topic. Do they even have them?
Went to one of my favorite burger joints in Kansas City over my Christmas trip back home.
Town Topic makes some seriously good little burgers. Fresh-not-frozen beef, coarse grind, and salted just enough. They start with a fairly small meatball (looked to be about 3 ounces, so I'd recommend getting a double burger) which they place on the grill and smash down with the spatula. After salting the patty, they throw some sliced onions on top, smash those in a bit, and let it sit a while.
After a couple minutes, it's flip and press, to embed the onion in a bit further. Yeah, yeah, I know. Smashing is bad. Supposedly. But it sure yields a nice crisp crust.
The burger is served on a nice squishy bun with plenty of cool, crisp pickles. Pictured is a cheeseburger, with American, of course. (You have no other choice -- as it should be!)
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 21, 2006 at 4:47 PM
Hamburger Matty: Went to Stand last night. NYCSlice: cool NYCSlice: how was it? Hamburger Matty: meh NYCSlice: like what everyone is saying about Brgr Hamburger Matty: yeah. Hamburger Matty: i took photos, so i'll put a post together. Hamburger Matty: maybe not a full review. Hamburger Matty: people are afraid to use salt. Hamburger Matty: the burger was just bland. NYCSlice: i agree NYCSlice: I think they think, "Just leave the meat alone" NYCSlice: but all the best places seem to salt Hamburger Matty: yeah, you can't do that. Hamburger Matty: even if it IS a mix of chuck, short rib and brisket Hamburger Matty: oh, and the menu at Stand NYCSlice: yeah? Hamburger Matty: Every main item has a burger in it, except for one salad (there are two salads total). NYCSlice: sounds like my kinda place Hamburger Matty: but Hamburger Matty: they had a mini-burger listed as a side. Hamburger Matty: who would be like, "One burger's not enough and two burgers is too much, so i'll get a big and a mini"? NYCSlice: heh
Solly's Grille, located incongruously next to the Milwaukee Heart Hospital, is famous for the Wisconsin regional delight known as the butter burger. A liberal dollop of Dairy State butter is applied to the burger just after patty hits bun. How much butter? Dude. It's insane.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 18, 2006 at 10:31 AM
Dear AHT,
I try to eat at least one burger a week. This past week, however, the burger got the best of me. I have long been a proponent of the P.J. Clarke's burger as the indisputable best burger in Manhattan. Well a few friends decided to challenge me on this, so we went to each person's top pick, ordering medium-rare bacon cheeseburgers at each, to see if we could reach a consensus.
BLUE SMOKE | 116 East 27th Street, New York NY 10016 [map]
Actually no one thought Blue Smoke was the best burger, but we saw your review and another writeup (New York magazine, I think) and decided it was worthy of inclusion. This was the most disappointing burger by far. Meduim-rare came out medium. Not very juicy. Still, good flavor.
J. G. MELON | 1291 Third Avenue, New York NY 10021 [map]
One of us was confident this was the best. Medium-rare was almost really medium-rare, but still not quite there.
CORNER BISTRO | 331 West 4th Street, New York NY 10014 [
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.]
Give me your burgers! Arrrrrgh! 
This burger is a cake.
