BURGERS

When it comes to food, one of the things I've always enjoyed is a Burger. I could go to any restaurant or any fast food place and I will always want to try a burger from that place especially if its somewhere I've never been to before.

Like any place that serves their own kind of Burgers, I've had my share of good burgers just as much as I've had my share of bad burgers.

To the members of GFF, there are three questions I would like to ask:

- What does it take to make good burger?

- What are some of your favorite places (fast food and restaurants) that have some of your favorite burgers?

- What have been some of the worse burgers you have ever tasted?

1.) I wouldn't really know what it takes to make a good homemade burger for the simple fact that I am a horrible cook, and besides the ready to cook burgers you buy at the grocery store are probably the only burgers in which I could probably muster the competence to cook. My dad on the other hand can make really good homemade burgers, but I think my favorite burger that he makes is he uses grounded moose meat to make a really awesome burger.

2.) To this day in terms of fast food that are only three fast food places that serve burgers that don't make me sick and out of those three A & W is my favorite place to go when it comes to getting a hamburger especially their grandpa burger with bacon and cheese. That is my favorite place to go if I ever get a fast food craving. The other two fast food places are Dairy Queen (Flamethrower Burger) & Burger King (Double Whooper w/ cheese).

In terms of restaurants, I've always enjoyed the burger they serve at Swiss Chalet. One of the best burgers I've ever had in any restaurant is a place called Jungle Jim's. It is a franchise of restaurants that is more commonly found in Atlantic Canada. One of their burgers they have is called the Hungry Hippo Burger and it is absolutely delicious.

3.) The worse burgers I've had is Wendy's, my stomach can't handle any of the shit that they serve. The only burger I've only ever remotely liked at that fast food place is their spicy chicken burger. I just find their burgers really greasy compared to every other fast food place I've ever been to and just because of all the bad tasting burgers I've had at that place, its been a really long time since I've been to that fast food place.

In closing, if I ever get a chance to go down to the States, I would to try some of the burgers at places such as White Castle, Jack in the Box, and many others as well since I've never had burgers from any of those places before. If anybody could recommend some places down in the states or even in Canada that have some awesome burgers I would greatly appreciate it.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The best burger I've ever had while touring the old U.S. of A. was in Carl's JR. It beat the pants off Burger King, which in turn was loads better than McDonald's.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Jack-in-a-Box has very greasy burgers...
I agree with Zergrinch with Carl's Junior serving good burgers. In-N-Out doesn't have bad burgers either.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I tend to go to Burger King since they're the closest to my apartment, but Backyard Burger is my favorite place for a good burger. Mine is only a drive-thru, but I've been to others that had seating like other fast food places. Their patties are nice and thick compared to other fast food burgers, and they have a really good grilled taste.

Jack in the Box burgers are greasy, but also so damn good. One of them opened up near my hometown not long before I moved away. I was wary of trying them at first since the only time I'd heard the name was in reference to their E. Coli outbreak in the early 90's that killed some kids, but their burgers are good enough to risk being poisoned.

I should try Dairy Queen's burgers one of these days. Skills was raving about them too a few weeks ago, but I always just get a Blizzard when I go there.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I guess just about every city has quite a few places with big tasty burgers, made from quality beef, freshly made buns, et cetera...

But something that really stands out is this tiny little place owned by this Middle Eastern guy. I don't quite know what he uses to spice the beef, but it's so extraordinary delicious on the taste buds, there's really no way for me to describe it.
It's almost, but not quite entirely unlike some of the seasoning you experience in stuff like kebab.

Like Angel I love to try out the burger at any new place. The care put into the making of a simple meal, the burger, I often found reflects the general quality of the place.


EDIT: What's the name of that most disgusting, greasiest, cholesterol bomb of a McDonald's burger that you have in the US? I read about it in a journal some time back. It should be fairly hard to eat just one without having a stroke. (I think it might have the M on the top bun?)

I was speaking idiomatically.

I don't get burger king.

Motherfuckers make a delicious angry whopper.

But then they proceed to be all AW HELL NAW and cancel it.

Look you assholes, that stuff's the shit when it comes to shitty cardboard fast food burgs. STOP GETTING RID OF IT.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

1. My godfather taught me an amazing burger recipe. Which was get some good quality ground beef/buffalo, whatever and separate it into two pieces. Then, flatten out the 2 halves. Cut up some garlic, onion, green chilis and some cheese and put those in the center of one patty. Put the other one over the top. Cooking it can be a challenge, but if you can get it to stay nice and together...delicious stuffed burger. Whack some guac and bacon and top and you're good to go.

2. Best franchise burger I've had so far is Good Times. Don't know where they're based out of but thinking about it now is giving me serious cravings...stupid England.

3. I'm really not a huge fan of burger king burgers...I'll have them if I'm desperate for food (airports) but otherwise, leave me out.

FELIPE NO

Malmer, you're thinking of the McGriddle which is actually a breakfast sandwich.

Originally Posted by wikipedia

The "standard" McGriddles sandwich consists of bacon, egg and American cheese served on a small pancake injected with maple flavoring deep inside its griddle folds. Both the top and bottom griddle cakes are embossed with the McDonald's logo.

I like Red Robin quite a bit, moving away from fast food joints. It's a little overpriced for what it is, and the locations are cheesy as hell with employees singing birthday songs and memorbilia crap plastered over every inch inside, but, goddamn, how can you argue with this?

Have mercy. The A1 peppercorn burger and bleu cheese burgers are two of my other favorites.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

McGriddle might be it, it surely looks like it from what I can remember.
Can't seem to find the entry for confirmation though. It's probably before that whole .org thing.

Dammit, I'd like to try and choke on one of those things.
Sadly they're not around, and probably aren't ever going to be.

EDIT: Germany has them. Imma grab one next time I'm down there.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I remember there used to be a map of all the Mcdonalds in the US that had the Micgriddle sandwich but I couldn't find it. I did however find:

This

Oh no...

There's nowhere I can't reach.

I've wanted to try an In-n-Out for a while, but alas! Canada. Despite that though, we do have some pretty awesome burgers if you seek 'em out. I've got some different tastes than AoL though, actually...

I don't know what it is about A&W, but I don't really like their burgers. I find them dry and overseasoned. If I had to pick a favourite, I'd have to say I like the burgers at Harvey's [with cheese and bacon! They actually use REAL bacon and not that precooked shit] the most.

A couple less-than-fast food places though... East Side Mario's [a chain that I think is pretty much Ontario to the East Coast] makes a mean bacon cheeseburger too. I also had one at one of the Hard Rock Cafes in Toronto a couple months ago that was delicious. One of their specialty burgers, but I forget which one.

As for home-made... Of course I'd prefer that over anything else. Aside from the tedium of mixing the ingredients and cooking them [as it's much easier to just go out and buy one] it pays off though.

Speaking of McDonalds, anyone remember their pizza? And oh, those little boxes of cookies! Those were delicious.

How ya doing, buddy?

I think pizza and McDonalds is/was a Canadian thing.

Anyway, for fast food burgers, I like Wendy's, although sometimes I get a craving for Burger King. I probably eat Five Guys more than any other burger, because they're the only fast food burger place (besides McDonald's, meh) close to my office. Five Guys is alright, but they're overrated burger-wise. They have awesome fresh cut fries, but the burgers are on the small side.

If I want a really good burger, I go to Red Robin or Fuddruckers. I like Red Robin a bit better, but I'm also a cheapskate, and I don't have to tip anyone at Fuddruckers.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Huh, nutty. Just looked into the pizza thing, and it WAS primarily a Canada thing. Go figure.

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm probably not the norm here, but to me all you need to make a good burger is bread, meat, and cheese, along with some type of sauce/condiment to keep it from being dry. I don't do all the fixins like lettuce, tomatoes, onions, etc., because I just don't like that stuff in general (the exception is pickles, but I'll still pick them off and eat them separately rather than eat them with the burger). There are of course other things that can make the burger better, but as a starting point as long as a burger has though things I'll probably eat it.

As for restaurants, again, as long as it follows the above criteria, I'll eat it, so needless to say I'm not to choosy about which one I eat at. Thus, with the abundance of fast food places near me (there's probably at least one location of every major fast food chain that's in my town within about a mile of my house), I just get whatever I'm in the mood for. As for non-fast food places, I honestly don't go to those that often, but again, I'm not that hard to please.

And I have tried McDonald's pizza before (this was years ago (had to be back around 1998 or so), and it was only at a McDonald's inside of Wal-Mart), but it wasn't anything special. I can see why it never caught on (here, anyway).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

There is definitely a market for people who like no-frills burgers. McDonald's has the Quarter Pounder, though I don't often get a chance to eat there, Hardees has several burgers that are just meat, cheese and one other thing (bacon, mushrooms, etc.)

Me, I like toppings, and love to try new/strange toppings. The Bacon Guacamole Burger is my regular order at Red Robin, but I've tried their burger with egg on top too. I'm also partial to the Big Jack Daddy Burger at Buffalo Wild Wings, which is a burger, pulled pork, giant fried onion rings and BBQ sauce. When I'm making my own burger, I use honey mustard in addition to the ketchup, pickle, onion, tomato, and lettuce (lettuce isn't vital).

FELIPE NO

My local Mickey-D's still offers the McGriddle. I tried it recently and wasn't impressed. The maple flavoring was so artificial it made me queasy, and even if it didn't, the portion was so tiny it wasn't even worth chewing.

I'm slowly losing interest in commercialized burgers. The employees don't give two shits about the quality of the preparation, and the corporation doesn't particularly care about the quality of the ingredients anymore. I've found brown lettuce and bruised tomatos on my burgers more often than I can count, and when I complain, I get stared at like I asked if I could pick the cashier's nose. Burger King has been the biggest offender in this category, while McDonald's earns the gold in "Most Squished and Deformed Burger." Wendy's is the front-runner in "Greasiest Stack" and Fuddrucker's is the not-so-proud recipient of the "So Dry It's Like Chewing Sawdust" title.

I once ate at a place called "Val's" in the San Francisco Valley area. I ordered the double bacon burger and it was pretty good, earning an A- from me. I've only been there once, however, and the likelihood that I'll find myself there again is slim now that I'm no longer with my ex. But if you're in that region, look for it. The burgers are worth the visit and the milkshakes are thick, like a milkshake should be.

In this area, we have a restaurant called Cheeburger Cheeburger. I suspect it's a smaller chain since the decor is too slick to be a privately owned store. I'm under the impression that it's named after the old SNL skit with John Belushi in which he plays a short-order cook and shouts out orders like "cheeburger cheeburger!" The whole place has the typical 50's diner motif, but it's at least well done and doesn't look slapped together like others.

Anyhow, their burgers are absolutely outstanding. Their patties are hand-pressed and blended with seasoning before going down on the grill. You can request it cooked to any degree, and the list of available toppings is beyond plentiful. You can get guacamole, feta cheese, coleslaw, parmesiano regiano, genoa salami, garlic butter, several kind of lettuce, habanero sauce, etc. And the burgers come in sizes ranging from 1/4 pound to the 2-pound patty, which if consumed on the premises, earns you a themed teddy bear and a hat. They are a tad expensive but for the quality they offer, Cheeburger Cheeburger is totally worth dropping a twenty-spot for the 3/4 pounder, an order of hand-dipped onion rings and a large milkshake (60 flavors!).

If you don't have this place near you, you have earned my pity. You have absolutely no idea what you're missing.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

There are several Cheeburger Cheeburgers near me, and I've been disappointed both times I've eaten at one. The milkshakes are fantastic, and really the only reason I'd go back, but the burgers were incredibly dry, and served on a bun that was much larger than the burger (a pet peeve of mine). The selection of toppings was a nice touch, but it didn't make up for the fact that the meat was mediocre.

This is kind of a picky complaint, but they don't really cater to the single guy as far as the fries go. The smallest order of fries is still way more than I can eat, aren't that great, and I feel bad about leaving so much food on my plate. Plus it's a small restaurant, and really attracts the families with screaming kids.

If they could get another decent restaurant in that restaurant park (used to be an Atlanta Bread Company, but it closed), I'd get a milkshake from Cheeburger Cheeburger and my food somewhere else.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm a fan of In-N-Out and Sonic, which unfortunately is not found here in BC. However, there are numerous local burger shacks that I dig otherwise; Vera's and Burger Heaven comes to mind.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Has anyone else ever gotten the Slamburger at Denny's? It's a burger with hash browns, an egg (I get scrambled), and cheese sauce. My girlfriend typically gets a breakfast type thing there, so she'll get bacon and give it to me to make it possibly the best burger available at a chain restaurant. Unfortunately, it's now only available on their late-night menu (and it was something like only $6, making it one of the cheapest things on the menu). Sometimes if you have a nice waitress you can get it at other parts of the day, but otherwise .

Carl's Jr probably has my next favorite mass produced burger with their Western Bacon Cheeseburger. Nice big burger, onion rings, bacon, big slice of cheese, and bbq sauce slopped all over the top. I'll usually just get the burger and a cup of water for dinner because it's plenty enough food.

Apparently I'm one of the only people here that likes Wendy's, since their Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers is possibly one of my favorite foods. I mean, two burgers, a fries, and a frosty for under $5?

The best burger I've ever had, though, was at this placed call Eleven in downtown Pittsburgh. Here's the current description of it on the website: Angus beef, braised veal, bacon, crispy onions, fries choice of cheddar, Maytag Blue, gouda, Emmenthaler Swiss, goat cheese. When I got it there was a huge stack of roast beef instead of veal. At the time it was also $8. Their fries were also pretty great.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by RacinReaver

Apparently I'm one of the only people here that likes Wendy's, since their Jr. Bacon Cheeseburgers is possibly one of my favorite foods. I mean, two burgers, a fries, and a frosty for under $5?

I like Wendy's fine. Probably my favourite of the fast food burger joints, if I have to go to one.

Easily the best burger I ever had was at this small little bistro in Montreal. Kobe beef that had been grilled with garlic/butter fried mushrooms. It was topped with a slice of apple-smoked back bacon, buffalo mozza, smoked-gouda, thinly-sliced bourbon-braised peppered-pears and the previously mentioned mushrooms. It was served on a toasted roll with sweet potato fries. Ungodly good.

Myself, when I make homemade burgers, I go with a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mixture of spiced veal, lean beef and pork. I roll this around some buffalo mozza, diced tomato and pre-toasted garlic. I wrap it with a few slices of thick cut apple bacon, quickly pan-sear them to bind the bacon and seal in the juices, then finish on the grill. Serve with a pickle and some thrice-fried fries and you're good to go.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Denicalis

I like Wendy's fine. Probably my favourite of the fast food burger joints, if I have to go to one.

Easily the best burger I ever had was at this small little bistro in Montreal. Kobe beef that had been grilled with garlic/butter fried mushrooms. It was topped with a slice of apple-smoked back bacon, buffalo mozza, smoked-gouda, thinly-sliced bourbon-braised peppered-pears and the previously mentioned mushrooms. It was served on a toasted roll with sweet potato fries. Ungodly good.

Myself, when I make homemade burgers, I go with a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mixture of spiced veal, lean beef and pork. I roll this around some buffalo mozza, diced tomato and pre-toasted garlic. I wrap it with a few slices of thick cut apple bacon, quickly pan-sear them to bind the bacon and seal in the juices, then finish on the grill. Serve with a pickle and some thrice-fried fries and you're good to go.

How much did you pay for a Kobe beef burger. Kobe beef is ridiculously expensive. Those cows drink sake and get messages!

At college, there was a bar and grille called the Feve with a pretty awesome Avacado Bacon Burger served with garlic fries and a rasberry vinigrette salad. It was a pretty delicious.

Good ingredients and thoughtful presentation usually win me over for a burger but that's a given for any food.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Seconding the call for the Backyard Burger. If you're ever on layover in Memphis, GO EAT THERE. Get your burger blackened. It's FANTASTIC. They're all 1/3 lb angus beef, and, if you go to the right place, they also have really good seasoned fries. It's pretty much it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Fast food burgers are horrible. I don't eat them unless I really have to like on a road trip. The only type of chain I'll eat at are the small ones that are city or state specific, and even then I avoid them for the most part.

A good burger to me is 8oz of ground beef, garlic and shallots finely chopped mixed into the meat. The burger is grilled and NEVER pressed to speed up the cooking process. If both sides are nice and grilled but still raw I finish it in the oven. I can do most cheeses, but my favorite is a sharp cheddar. Every other topping under the sun is good from time to time, but the important thing is the meat.

It is because I'm such a snob that I don't eat burgers that often.

FELIPE NO

My burger recipe is quite simple when I have the opportunity to cook.

----Ingredients-----
Ground Chuck or Ground Lamb or Buffalo (about handful scoops for each burger)
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Garlic Powder
Sliced Extra Cheddar Cheese (melted on)
Toasted Honey Buns

----Cook Time----
Amount it takes to sip/drink 2 beers near a grill.

Makes me wanna go home for the weekend, sucks I have to eat shitty dorm food right now...

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

^ Reminded me of this short piece in Esquire: Top Fast Food Restaurants - Chef Reviews of Best Fast Food Restaurants - Esquire

Interviewed 27 chefs on their favorite or most hated fast food joints.

Jam it back in, in the dark.