Posted by Robyn Lee, November 19, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Learn how to properly make a burger by watching...Popeye? Burger lover/writer/documentarian George Motz mostly praises the burger-making technique of J. Wellington Wimpy in this old episode of Popeye from the 1930s:
Notice how even in cartoons back then they got it right and scooped the beef, not hand pattied it. I like the way he brushes the burger with mustard on the griddle, but unfortunately it looks like he goes overboard with the spices (chopped onion, salt, and pepper).
Posted by Robyn Lee, November 18, 2008 at 12:15 PM
"It's like Satan's in my stomach."
In order to eat the Megadeath Burger at Off the Wall Diner in Wellington Point, Australia, you have to be over 18 and you can't have heart problems, anxiety, or asthma. Why? The burger contains chili jam, chili powder, jalapenos, and habanero sauce in quantities that go way beyond what any sane person would voluntarily eat. Thankfully, a lot of people aren't sane and participate in eating competitions for the chance to be labeled as a "Death Burger Immortal" and to amuse/horrify the rest of us who would pass out at the burger's hands.
"This is a food item that should not be actually on the market," says a dietitian in the video. If the prospect of vomiting and heart palpitations doesn't stop people, I don't think anything will. Watch the video after the jump
Posted by Robyn Lee, November 17, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Award-winning, Boston-based chef Michael Schlow appeared on Nightline last week as part of their "Platelist" series with famous chefs. In this episode, he demonstrates how to make his popular Schlow Burger, a burger topped with cheddar cheese, horseradish sauce, and crispy onions. Watch the video online and read the full feature at ABC News. [via Eat Me Daily; tip 'o the hat to Dana R.]
People seem to either love or hate Burger King's Simon and Garfunkel-themed commercials for the recently released Mushroom and Swiss Steakhouse Burger. While most side with "hate," I'm on the "love it" side. My favorite one features a guy who got a tattoo of his head atop a turtle's body—a plus in my book for inexplicable reasons. You could say it's just 16 seconds of nonsensical stupidity, but I say it's 16 seconds of awesomeness that is somehow both explosive and subtle, set to a catchy mandolin-backed tune.
Whether or not this commercial would make anyone want to eat this burger is questionable, but I guess the point is just to make people aware of its existence. The consumer review blog Impulsive Buy gives it a 5 out of 10, and Fast Food Critic gives it a B- grade, but says his expectations weren't high to begin with. Doesn't sound like a winner to me. But I'm a big fan of the commercials, just as long as the Simon and Garfunkel-esque musicians don't emerge from behind a tree and try to feed me a burger. Watch the commercial after the jump.
Yesterday MTV launched mtvmusic.com, a treasure trove for anyone who's old enough to actually remember when MTV used to play music. On Serious Eats, we blogged up Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" video, but I trolled the site earlier this morning and found ZZ Top's "Burger Man" joint.
It's a shame that music videos aren't as prominent in the culture as they were in the '80s and '90s. At best, they were a source of surrealist short-form entertainment—as is "Burger Man," a sort of Plan 9 from Outer Space meets Russ Meyer touched down in Texas. The video, after the jump.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 23, 2008 at 12:30 PM
The first McDonald's TV commercial was a pretty low-budget affair. As the site TV Squad points out, Ronald has a paper cup on his nose as part of the costume, fercryinoutloud. It's also striking for how creepy Ronald looks and sounds.
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 23, 2008 at 11:15 AM
Here's a neat video made by Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky showing the Shake Shack cooking process. I like the little inset "burger cam" that appears as the patty is slapped on the griddle.
The video illuminates a process that is somewhat behind-the-scenes and reveals that the Shake Shack uses the "smash" technique. I've talked about the smashed-burger technique here, but if you missed that, it may surprise you to know that I'm in favor of this method.
Sweet baby Jesus, yes. That's what I thought when I first watched this video of a burger/meaty sandwich bomb being made at a street cart in Caracas, Venezuela, and I didn't even know exactly what was being put on it. After getting the translation from AHT reader Pilar M., I still kind of wanted it, even though I thought it might kill me.
Here are the contents of the burger, appropriately named "La Diabla," or The Devilish: ketchup, mayo, mustard, onions, cabbage, shoestring potatoes, more ketchup, mayo and mustard, avocado, tomato, burger patty, chorizo, chicken, eggs and bacon, and a mountain of shredded Roquefort cheese. I know what I'm getting on my first trip to Venezuela. The video contains one utterance of "f**k" but is otherwise inoffensive, unless you're freaked out by excessively unhealthy burgers. Watch the video after the jump.
Washington Post food critic Tom Sietsema features Ray's Hell Burger in his burger recommendations for his 2008 Fall Dining Guide. He also recommends Palena, Central Michel Richard, BGR: The Burger Joint, Elevation Burger, and Good Stuff Eatery.
Washington Post follows owner Michael Landrum in this "behind the scenes" video of Ray's Hell Burger. Get a closer look at the burger-making process, after the jump.
Posted by Allison Hemler, September 30, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Did you catch How I Met Your Mother last night? We did—and we loved it. In "The Best Burger in New York" episode, an unemployed Marshall sets out to find a burger he had in New York eight years ago with only two details he remembers about the restaurant: a red neon sign reading "BURGER" and a green door. He makes fun of a few burger joints in New York, namely Corner Bistro, Paul's Da Burger Joint, and The 21 Club. With the help of his friends (and Regis Philbin), they set out to find that dream burger, which in a monologue, he describes as "God." At one point, Neil Patrick Harris says his burger is so good, "I want to get this burger pregnant."
By the end of the episode they find the unnamed burger joint, which is somewhere near 106th Street and Manhattan Avenue. As it turns out, a bank—also Marshall's new job—has opened an ATM in the original's place. They end up paying a guy $100 to tell them the new location, which is never named. After taking that first bite of "The Burger," Marshall finds himself again. We love TV shows with inspirational messages—and of course mentions of "delicious burger babies."
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 29, 2008 at 5:00 PM
On tonight's episode of How I Met Your Mother, Doogie Howser's character meets Regis Philbin at his gym, and they somehow get to talking about the best burger in New York City:
It was the best burger I ever had. I still have dreams about this burger. Beautiful, haunting dreams. I wake up at night screaming, 'Get out of my head, burger! Get out!"
"That's the one Mr. Philbin! Do you remember where it is?"
"No. I never wrote it down. But not a day goes by that I don't regret it. Why? Why? Do you know where it is? And if you tell me it's the Corner Bistro, I'm gonna smack you right in the face!"
Obviously, Regis doesn't read A Hamburger Today. We would have helped him find that burger.
The episode it titled "The Best Burger in New York" and airs on CBS tonight at 8:30 ET/PT. Doublecheck your local listings. [Tip o' the hat to: Raphael and Preston C.]
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 26, 2008 at 2:00 PM
The Big City Slider Station, a device that cooks five slider patties at once, may have a grating infomercial full of Billy May's overenthusiastic shouting, but according to burger expert George Motz, it actually works. Enticed by the device's use of the "scoop and smash" method, he tested the slider station with mostly good results. (The non-stick surface wasn't quite as non-stick as advertised.)
You haven't fulled lived until you've watched the infomercial in all its hyperactive slider-loving glory. Watch the video after the jump.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 7, 2008 at 4:00 PM
This great show is "A tasty, colorful tour of the Los Angeles burger and drive-in scene that also traces its Americana roots from post World War II through the 1990s."
At 47 minutes, it's quite a bit longer than most videos we highlight on this site, so we're running it here this weekend, when you've got plenty of time to watch it. Grab a burger, sink in, hit play, and enjoy! Take a tour of Burgertown after the jump. [via Philip]
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 2, 2008 at 2:00 PM
More L.A. burgerage for you. A Hamburger Today reader Mike Makis just dropped us an email: "Those that are not college football fans may have missed last night's segment on ESPN of the Apple Pan. Todd Blackledge covers a 'Taste of the Town' for every week's prime time college football game, and since last night's overtime showdown was at the Rose Bowl, he ended up at the Apple Pan."
Be careful the next time you leave a head of lettuce near a hamburger. At least, a hungry head of lettuce. This video from Meatatrians Unite captures the rare sighting of a carnivorous vegetable during feeding time. That poor burger didn't stand a chance. Watch the video after the jump.
NBC 25 in Hagerstown, Maryland, has a great story about a guy who's really serious about his cheeseburgers. Justin Clarambeau of Washington County, Maryland, listened as his coworker hyped the cheeseburger at the Battleview Market in Sharpsburg, Maryland. It sounded pretty darn good to him, but there was one problem. Dude doesn't drive.
He calls the restaurant, asks them to deliver. They won't. But they struck up a deal. If he'd walk the 12 miles to the restaurant, they'd give him his cheeseburger meal free.
What the article doesn't mention is how long it took him. With average walking speed considered to be 2 to 3 mph, it must have taken him anywhere between four and six hours.After the jump, the video. But first, a question for you, serious eaters: Is there any food item you would walk 12 miles for? What is it?
In 1980s video game BurgerTime, you're chef who must make hamburgers before anthropomorphic, man-eating foodstuffs make a hamburger out of you. It's every hamburger-lover's nightmare. As for why hot dogs, fried eggs, and pickles were chosen as the enemies, I have no idea—maybe they were the foods that could be best recognized in boxy, pixelated video game-form. Watch some old Burger Time commercials after the jump.
OK. She's not really a burger waitress. She'll just be playing one on TV. The New York Daily News has photos of the starlet on location in Long Island City, Queens, shooting a scene for an episode of Ugly Betty. And there's a continuity issue. Check it:
Is it Flushing Burgers or Flushing Burger? The show told the Daily News that the fake restaurant is "Flushing Burgers." Flushing is, of course, the neighborhood in Queens where the fictional ugster lives.
This isn't the first time that burgers have played an incidental role in Ugly Betty. In the episode "Swag," Betty arranges a very important dinner for a very important designer—at White Tassel, a stand in for White Castle. Video, after the jump.
The Today show featured 12-year old Joey Yarwick and his gourmet burger, the Au Brie Burger a la Francais, which won the grand prize for Red Robin's The Next Gourmet Burger Kids' Recipe Contest. Cubes of Brie are sandwiched between two sirloin patties, then topped with a generous dollop of potatoes au gratin, all on a croissant. As Joey himself says: "It's a burger like no other and each bite is a trip to France." The kid outshines the burger, though: little Joey manages to disarm Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb with his, er, precocious mock-French accent (I'm not sure if "endearing" is quite the right word for it...). Maybe his cheekiness could help him land him a plum cooking reality show gig in the future. Watch the video after the jump.
You might have just caught Stephen Colbert mention the $175 burger in New York on Monday's Colbert Report. He is, of course, talking about the foie-gras-and-gold-leaf-topped Kobe burger from The Wall Street Burger Shoppe.
It's a headline that writes itself. On May 11 in New Orleans, a man dressed in drag climbed through the drive-thru window of a Burger King with a gun and held up the store. "The burglar had a revealing bustline and a barrette in his hair as he demanded money and drove off into the night." I love how they analyze this tape and conclude that the thief is indeed a cross-dresser and not just wearing a disguise, "because his necklace matched the dress, his nails appeared to be painted, and the wig was not a dime-store wig." Says the expert analyst: "He was bein' pretty." The tale of the tape, after the jump.
Hamburger lovers have long debated whether ketchup or mustard is the correct condiment to grace their beloved sandwich. Last night while watching television, I caught the latest A1 steak sauce commercial extolling the virtues of putting the brown sauce on burgers.
The commercial in question is quite humorous in a snarky sort of way. A man is complimented for putting A1 on his burger by a diner at an adjacent table. When the diner asks if he can "borrow it," he steals the hamburger as the A1 man reaches to pass him the steak sauce.
I tried to find the commercial on You Tube, and while I was unable to do so, I did uncover evidence that A1 has been trying to convert consumers for at least three decades. A1 makes a hamburger a steakburger, after the jump.
As ElCapitan points out in an AHT comment, Bobo's Drive-In, one of my favorite burger joints, went in for the star treatment Monday night on Guy Fieri's Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives or, as it's sometimes known, DDD.
I'd been on the fence about Fieri since I started watching his show. He sometimes seems to condescend a bit to the TV audience and the folks he's profiling. But after watching him in action at Bobo's, I've come around. He really manages to convey the specialness of this old-school Topeka, Kansas, drive-in burger joint. And when he picked up on my favorite quality of Bobo's burgers—the great crisp crust seared into it on the hot flat top griddle—my reservations slipped away. After the jump, peep the vid.
After viewing the clip that follows, I can see why Steve Martin's Pink Panther movie came and went faster than greased lightning. See if you can avoid getting Inspector Clouseau's speech pattern stuck in your head as he tries to master the proper pronunciation of "I want to buy a hamburger."
Coming to the IFC Center in Manhattan: The Burger and the King: The Life and Cuisine of Elvis Presley. April 29. IFC: "Director James Marsh brings us his 1996 film exploring America from Graceland to Las Vegas through the unique perspective of Elvis' eating habits." Features a Q&A with Marsh. More info: ifccenter.com
And if you don't live in New York, you can just watch the whole damn spectacle on YouTube: Parts 1 (above), 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. [via Grub Streets]
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky, editor of New York magazine's Grub Street and author of upcoming book The Hamburger: A History, says you can find the perfect burger at Veselka, in New York City's East Village:
VESELKA
Address: 144 Second Avenue, New York NY 10003 Phone: 212-228-9682 Website:veselka.com
"Get yourself ready for a trip through McDonaldland," is the opening line of the song in the no-doubt LSD-inspired McDonald's commercial that follows. Trip being the operative word here. As the blog AdFreak put it, "Why are all old McDonald's commercials so creepy?" I couldn't agree more.
The recent cold spell here in New York City had me wondering what effect below-freezing temperatures would have on the infamously long line at the Shake Shack, which just this year began operating year-round. But if I was going to stand around and wait for a burger in bone-chilling weather—and then eat it outdoors in the park (the Shake Shack offers only outdoor seating)—I needed a strategy. I'll share it with you—along with some winter Shack observations—after the jump.
Posted by Adam Kuban, December 17, 2007 at 11:00 AM
Usually, when the major chains try to get into the whole viral video thing, the results are lame, lame, lame. But, OMG, this Burger King video is pretty damn good.
In it, they outfit a Burger King with hidden cameras, punk customers by claiming the Whopper has been discontinued, and then record the resulting freakouts. The also prank the customers by placing Wendy's and McDonald's burgers in their sacks instead of Whoppers—recording the results, of course.
One of the best quotes, from an irate drive-thru customer: "I want your manager at the window when I get there!"
To get you amped for tomorrow's burger event at Water Taxi Beach, I thought I'd dig into the Serious Eats archives and pull the following video to the front page here for insight into what makes a proper Butter Burger, one of the three regional American burgers being served tomorrow. Enjoy!
This clip is an excerpt from burger documentary Hamburger America by filmmaker and burgermeister George Motz. The complete video is available on DVD at Mr. Motz's website, HamburgerAmerica.com
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.
Learn how to properly make a burger by watching...Popeye? Burger lover/writer/documentarian George Motz mostly praises the burger-making technique of J. Wellington Wimpy in this old episode of Popeye from the 1930s:
