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There’s multiple strategy to construct a burger. It may be deep-fried in 100-year-old grease or slow-grilled over hickory embers. Filled with molten cheese, topped with a bacon patty, or made solely from lentils and mushrooms. Some come on white toast. Others arrive with housemade chili paste and pickled taro stems. Wherever you discover it, a very good burger says one thing about the place you’re.
A few of the spots on this checklist are old-school — the sort that haven’t modified their patties or course of in a long time. Others are newer builds with daring taste and a transparent standpoint. However none of them try to be every thing to everybody. What ties them collectively isn’t dimension or model. It’s readability.
These 10 burger spots stretch from Brooklyn to San Antonio, Seattle to New Haven. They’re layered, native, and unapologetically themselves.
Au Cheval (Chicago)
Fashion: diner-style burger
Don’t let the identify idiot you — Au Cheval’s “single” is something however. The Single Cheeseburger arrives as a double by default, and is constructed with skinny, crisp-edged patties, American cheese, home dijonnaise, and thick-cut pickles on a comfortable, toasted bun.
Non-compulsory add-ons like a fried egg or thick-cut bacon push it even additional, although the unique construct already leans wealthy. Regardless of the identify, the only comes stacked with two patties, and the double brings three — turning a diner basic into one thing extra indulgent, however no much less deliberate. It’s the type of burger that doesn’t rush, and doesn’t maintain again.
Bar Audrey (Nashville, Tennessee)
Fashion: Hickory-Smoked Burger (Mondays solely)
At Bar Audrey in Nashville, chef Sean Brock’s Monday-only Hickory-Smoked Burger is greater than a weekly particular — it’s a showcase of Southern approach and layered taste. Constructed with an 8-ounce mix of Bear Creek beef and hickory-smoked bacon, the patty is grilled over open embers and served on a benne-seed buttermilk brioche bun.
Colby Jack, Vidalia onion, and ripe tomato reduce by way of the richness. In distinction, a trio of home sauces: hickory-nut oil mayo, tomato focus, and beef garum, provides complexity with out overwhelming the meat. Paired with beef-fat fries, it’s not only a meal — it’s a second constructed round hearth, fats, and intention.
Chris Madrid’s (San Antonio, Texas)
Fashion: tostada burger
Since 1977, Chris Madrid’s has been serving up one among San Antonio’s most recognizable burgers: the Tostada Burger, stacked with Mama Madrid’s home made refried beans, diced onions, crumbled tortilla chips, and a thick unfold of melted cheddar that spills simply over the edges.
The inspiration of this burger is a thick beef patty and served on a comfortable, barely flattened bun, it’s as messy as it’s satisfying — crunchy, tacky, and unmistakably Texan. Simply add a aspect of salsa and a chilly Shiner, and also you’ve bought a burger that’s greater than a meal, it’s an area ritual.
Dyer’s Burgers (Memphis, Tennessee)
Fashion: deep-fried burger
The magic of a deep-fried burger at Dyer’s in Memphis — and now, Dyer’s Cafe in Collierville — isn’t in a secret sauce; it’s within the grease. Since 1912, this native landmark has been deep-frying its patties in the identical strained and seasoned beef tallow, carried ahead from the unique cast-iron skillet. The result’s a burger with a crisp, golden sear and unmistakable depth of taste.
Every burger begins as a 3-inch ball of floor beef. It’s flattened on a worn marble slab utilizing a custom-made spatula and a picket mallet — instruments the restaurant nonetheless makes use of greater than a century. Subsequent, the patty is then flash-fried in a cast-iron skillet stuffed with beef tallow that’s been strained and carried ahead because the restaurant’s earliest days. The Dyer’s Cheeseburger, topped with American cheese, mustard, onions, and pickles, delivers a crisp-edged, deeply savory chunk that leans all the way in which into its signature course of. Name it an OG smashburger — or simply Memphis doing what it does greatest.
Hodad’s (San Diego)
Fashion: bacon cheeseburger
At Hodad’s in San Diego’s Ocean Seaside, the Bacon Cheeseburger comes absolutely loaded — after which some. As an alternative of utilizing bacon strips, the kitchen presses chopped bacon into its personal patty, grills it till crisp, and stacks it on high of a beef patty already cloaked in melted American cheese.
Lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles spherical out the construct, all tucked right into a sesame seed bun that hardly holds it collectively. The late Byron “Hodad” Hardin opened the unique location within the Sixties, and the vibe nonetheless feels equal elements surf shack and native establishment. It’s large, messy, and precisely what a seashore burger must be.
Louis’ Lunch (New Haven, Connecticut)
Fashion: authentic hamburger sandwich
Custom runs deep at Louis’ Lunch, the place 4 generations of the Lassen household nonetheless run one of many oldest family-owned eating places within the nation. Whereas a number of cities lay declare to the invention of the hamburger, Louis’ Lunch is cited by the Library of Congress as the house of the hamburger sandwich. The store is thought for doing issues a technique — and just one manner.
Their signature order, The Authentic Burger, is made with a proprietary mix of 5 fresh-ground beef cuts, cooked vertically in authentic cast-iron grills relationship again to 1898. It’s served on toasted white bread with tomato, onion, and cheese unfold as “the one acceptable garnish,” in accordance with the household. The foundations are easy: no ketchup, and no {custom} orders. Pair your burger sandwich with an area Foxon Park soda, and also you’ve bought a burger that hasn’t modified in over a century.
Matt’s Bar (Minneapolis)
Courtesy of Kris Turner of Star Picture Images
Fashion: Jucy Lucy (cheese-stuffed burger)
Matt’s Bar & Grill, a Minneapolis staple since 1954, is the birthplace of the Jucy Lucy — a molten cheese–stuffed burger with severe endurance. The story goes {that a} native buyer requested for 2 patties with cheese within the center, took one chunk, and declared it “one juicy Lucy.” The spelling caught, and so did the burger.
Every Jucy Lucy continues to be handmade with recent beef and sealed round a slice of American cheese that melts from the within out. There are not any toppings — simply grilled onions and pickles on a toasted bun. Let it cool earlier than you dig in: the cheese middle stays lava-hot, and that’s a part of the purpose.
NADC Burger (Chicago)
Courtesy of NADC Burger
Fashion: Wagyu cheeseburger
NADC, quick for Not a Rattling Probability, began as a ardour mission between Michelin-starred chef Phillip Frankland Lee {and professional} skateboarder Neen Williams, who bonded over skate classes and a shared purpose: to construct the proper cheeseburger. The result’s a single-item menu centered on their signature burger — made with a 1/3-pound patty of 100% American Wagyu, American cheese, secret sauce, onions, pickles, and tamed jalapeños.
Each factor, from the cheese to the peppers, was examined to steadiness the richness of the meat with simply sufficient acidity and crunch. It’s a throwback-style burger with a severe culinary pedigree, served quick, with nothing further wanted.
Ox Burger (Seattle)
Courtesy of Nate Watters for Ox Burger
Fashion: Lao-style burger
Ox Burger, positioned in Seattle’s Hillman Metropolis neighborhood, brings Lao flavors to the smashburger format in a manner that feels each grounded and new. Chef Pattanan Phetluangsy attracts on household recipes for the Lao Burger, a stacked construct that includes double smashed beef patties, house-cured pork stomach, provolone, and a beneficiant swipe of housemade jaew bong mayo — a spicy Lao chili aioli.
Pickled crimson onions, taro stem, recent cilantro, and a spoonful of tomato jaew add brightness, texture, and tang. It’s a burger formed by its environment — layered, assertive, and absolutely rooted within the Pacific Northwest.
Toad Fashion (New York Metropolis)
Courtesy of Heather Willensky for Toad Fashion
Fashion: vegan veggie burger
The Vegan Cheeseburger at Toad Fashion in Brooklyn’s Mattress-Stuy neighborhood doesn’t attempt to go for meat, and doesn’t must. The patty, made in-house from lentils, mushrooms, and oats, is crisp-edged and deeply savory, layered with vegan cheese, arugula, avocado, and candy chili mustard on a pretzel bun.
Even the ketchup, pickles, and cheese are produced from scratch, giving the burger a totally DIY really feel that’s earned it a loyal native following. It’s a staple for Brooklyn vegans — and for Manhattanites, Superiority Burger within the East Village presents a grain-and-bean patty that takes a unique path to the identical consequence: flavor-first, no meat required.
To uncover the perfect foods and drinks experiences for vacationers, Meals & Wine polled over 400 cooks, journey specialists, meals and journey writers, and wine professionals from throughout the globe for his or her high culinary journey experiences. We then turned the outcomes over to our World Advisory Board, who ranked the highest nominees in every class. For the total checklist of all 165 winners, go to foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers.
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