Table of Contents
For my children, Ruby and Mac, and my wife,
Casey, who is no longer a vegetarian.
FOREWORD
There is no delicate way to put this: George Motz is nuts.
Who in his right mind would spend years traveling the country, clogging his arteries, parting with his hard-earned money, and suffering culinary indignities and belt-busting insults, all in pursuit of the perfect burger, something even he admits might not exist?
I first met George when he came to Chicago to visit that subterranean tavern know as the Billy Goat. Being a New Yorker, he knew little of the legend of this venerable spot; I dont think he realized that the Saturday Night Live cheezborger, cheezborger skits were inspired by this place and its shouting Greek chefs; and hed never heard of Mike Royko and the other journalists who called the place home.
There have been, by my rough calculation, 4,540,762 burgers served at the Billy Goat since it opened on Hubbard Street in 1964, but none was more significant than the one grilled at 12:14 p.m. on April 19, 2003, and consumed seconds later by George.
The Goats burgers are griddled, but Motz has eaten them deep-fried, steamed, broiled, baked, and raw; eaten them on buns, rolls, and bread; eaten them plain and covered with butter, bacon, chili, peanut butter, pimentos, pastrami, and almost any other topping that can be concocted by a cooks imagination and whatever might be lying around the kitchen.
He did this initially to create the film Hamburger America. The documentary gained a robust cult following. It made George proud but it did not make him stop. Rather, the film became the inspiration for and foundation of this book, for Georges search for the best hamburgers in the country.
The great television journalist Charles Kuralt once observed, You can find your way across this country using burger joints the way a navigator uses stars. And George set out to prove him right.
What you hold in your hands is the labor of his travelsa gathering of meat, if you will, but also a celebration of burgers and the people who make them.
Yes, George Motz is nuts.
As nutty as Columbus, or Lewis and Clark, but in his quest to find the best burgers in America, George has found something more important. He has discovered, in the mom-and-pop grills and out-of-the-way diners, an America that most of us probably thought had already vanished, a country of individuality and inventiveness, of people willing to rage, rage against the homogenizing of the land. You should enjoy that as much as what arrives on your plate. Its not just about the meat but the people you will meet.
INTRODUCTION
TO THE COMPLETELY REVISEDHAMBURGER AMERICA
They came at me from every angle and thankfully none of them were angry. The minute the first version of this book hit the shelves, hamburger enthusiasts thumbed through looking for their favorite burger joints. Most found what they were looking for. Others were not so lucky and were kind enough to let me know what I had missed. For those that let me in on where to find their favorite burgers Im forever grateful.
You see, this book is not really meant to be a Best Of by any means. It is only meant to function as a guide to finding great burger experiences in America. There are thousands and thousands of burger joints in this country and theres a good chance that your small town secret is not here. Im getting a little bit closer, however, as I present to you 52 additions to the Hamburger America family of approved burger joints.
The original book profiled 100 great burger places to visit coast-to-coast. Sadly, since the publication of that book weve lost two hamburger greats, the Yankee Doodle in New Haven and Tookies in Seabrook, Texas. When I had learned of their demise I did everything to save them but it was not to be. Tookies suffered a devastating blow from Hurricane Ike and the Doodle had irreparable financial woes. We have bid farewell to the Double Doodle and the Squealer and are now left only with our memories. The downfall of these two seemingly invincible titans of the All-American hamburger only strengthened my resolve.
In a turn of events befitting a Hollywood survival story, amazingly one of Americas great hamburger treasures came back to life. The Wheel Inn Drive-In of Sedalia, Missouri suffered a major setback when it needed to be demolished to make way for highway expansion. The owner had no interest in carrying on at a new location and shut the doors. Soon after, a former employee of the 65-year-old burger destination chose to take on the Herculean task of refiring the engines, and the Wheel Inn was resurrected just a few short blocks from its original location. It returned because the people wanted it to.
One of the questions Im asked almost on a daily basis now is, Arent you sick of burgers? In all honesty, no, and my appreciation of the hamburger grows exponentially with each new burger experience. The deeper I go into Hamburger America, the better it gets, and I still feel as though Ive only scratched the surface.
While gathering new information about hamburger joints for the revised edition of the book the most famous vegetarian in the burger world, my wife, Casey, decided after 17 years of avoiding meat that shed like to have a burger. I was overjoyed, and scared. I chose the Bobcat Bite in Santa Fe to be her first, mostly because its a great burger, she loves spicy foods, and I knew John Eckre would be sensitive to the task at hand. Upon taking her first bite, with the entire restaurant watching, someone yelled out, What do you think?? She replied, Whats not to love?! But the best part was that someone sitting next to her at the counter blurted out, Did you think your husband was making this stuff up? Needless to say, Im really enjoying having Casey as a burger companion and, not surprisingly, our tastes are similar.
Speaking of tastes, here again is the all-important list of criteria for being included in Hamburger America. To make the list, the burger had to be made from fresh-ground beef (chuck, sirloin, rumpsomething good from a cow) and never frozen. In most cases age, provenance, and historical context played a factor in deciding what was most relevant for this book. For example, Louis Lunch in New Haven may or may not have invented the hamburger, but its safe to say that it is, without argument, the oldest continually operating burger joint in America (at well over 100 years), run by the same family for four generations, and they still make a tasty hamburger. And naturally, the burger had to excite and satisfy this experts taste buds. Many of the burgers in this book fall into the under $5 category, and I avoided most of the supersized forty-seven-pound burgers and bloated, overthe-top wallet-bustersbigger is not always better, and Kobe beef should be enjoyed in Japan as a steak. Furthermore, I chose places youd want to visit, and should, before the wrecking ball comes down and replaces all of these wonderful bits of Americana with a Wal-Mart parking lot, or worse, a McDonalds.
