The 3 Best Burgers in the Country
This is not a democracy. It's my pronouncement after 27 years of eating more burgers than I care to count, and I expect this list will change in coming years. I also expect I'm supremely wrong, and that my reward will be learning about where even better burgers reside in the country. First, all great burgers MUST come with a bun that matches the meat properly. Without further ado:
1. Father's Office - Santa Monica, CA
This is one of the more casual gourmet burgers you'll ever find and you won't want it every night, but I'll be damned if it isn't an absolute homerun. Ask anyone from L.A. and they'll agree. Dry-aged beef, spicy arugula, caramelized onions, blue cheese, and a delicately soft roll/bun to match the delicate beef.......it's exceptional. (Side note: what kind of junk blog doesn't let me post mouth-watering pictures????)
2. 202 at Nicole Farhi - Chelsea Market, NYC, NY
Lamb burger with goat cheese, cumin seed studded tomato-raisin relish, on a brioche bun, and served with chickpea fries. You almost can't get more bourgeois than this $19 burger served in a restaurant that's strangely tucked away inside of a high-end designer boutique store. Even so, it's the perfect non-traditional burger. Drip down your elbow delicate, aticulate in its combination of unexpected flavors, yet undeniably a burger, it's the most memorable burger I've had east of the Mississippi.
3. Hinano - Venice, CA
A block from the blissful beach, not too far from Father's Office, is the champion of what I'll call American-style burgers. It's a no-frills, melt-in-your-mouth, char-grilled burger with melted cheese, your standard veggies and condiments, and a sesame seed bun. Again, be aware of the bun, burger lovers. This burger is nostalgic comfort-food at its best and it's the polar opposite from Father's Office. Relatively unknown if you're not from the area (which I'm not).
McDonald's U.S. Location Map
http://www.weathersealed.com/2009/09/22/where-the-buffalo-roamed/
The above-linked blog started the forthcoming babble that turned into this burger posting. The link is slack-jaw inducing (especially the map that's in it), forcing you to see the extent to which McDonald's has colonized America. Those $1 slider burgers admittedly go down the gullet too easily, thanks to some freakish reverse engineering they've used to know exactly how much salt and fat content our brains/tastebuds need to receive before they start acting like an excited MBA1 who just discovered how many underagers are out dancing at Rick's on a nightly basis.
September is drawing to a close, but it's still Local Food month, so go get some high quality ground meat from a local butcher or farmer's market seller. Whether you douse your ground burger meat in Worcestesire and various other ingredients (garlic powder, egg, oatmeal, etc. etc.), stuff it with a pad of butter, or like it straight up and unadulterated, I again dare you to show me that quality ingredients don't lead to better food.
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