# Best hamburger --- ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 26, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634 "2014-03-26T21:02:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/1 "2014-03-26T21:02:42Z")
It is honestly the best burger I have ever found in my entire life. And I am not a young man. The kicker is…You can’t get there. It is Penny’s Diner in Sharon Springs, Kansas. Google Map it. Adak, Alaska gets more people to it than Sharon Springs…It has to. I was lost and stumbled across this place about eight months ago and have drive about 100 miles out of my way to drop by there twice since. I have no affiliation with this place. It’s like some sort of Twilight Zone thing - The best burger in the middle of no where. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/2 "2014-03-26T21:19:07Z")
100 miles out of your way for a burger? hmm…I am intrigued. What do you think makes it special? ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/3 "2014-03-26T21:29:06Z")
The best burger is the Dee Snyder burger on the Grill 'Em ALL food truck. [http://grillemalltruck.com/](http://grillemalltruck.com/) The Dee Snyder has Peanut butter, Strawberry Jam, Bacon, Sriracha and is a thing of wonder and beauty. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/4 "2014-03-26T21:34:36Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > 100 miles out of your way for a burger? hmm…I am intrigued. > > What do you think makes it special? Right amount of meat…It’s big but not one of those huge things, cooked just right, a little grease, but not greasy. I don’t even ask how they do it because I’m half afraid that by telling me it will spoil it. I will mention that they are not that far (seven or so miles) from a feedyard. That may have something to do with it. I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/5 "2014-03-26T21:37:47Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > The best burger is the Dee Snyder burger on the Grill 'Em ALL food truck. > > [http://grillemalltruck.com/](http://grillemalltruck.com/) > > The Dee Snyder has Peanut butter, Strawberry Jam, Bacon, Sriracha and is a thing of wonder and beauty. That’s just stuff…that’s not the burger…This one is…is…incredible. You’re talking a frozen patty mass produced sent out each day and stuff put on it…This is a burger. ---
**Author:** ![randompattern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7993a0/32.png) [@randompattern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randompattern)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/6 "2014-03-26T21:38:28Z")
I was thinking about what to make for dinner tonight. I’ve gotta have burgers now. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/7 "2014-03-26T21:54:43Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > I don’t even ask how they do it because I’m half afraid that by telling me it will spoil it. You don’t get it: if you ask, the diner, the whole town and maybe even YOU may disappear into another dimension–and the burgers with it! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/8 "2014-03-26T22:05:25Z")
The best burgers I ever had was in an English-style pub in, of all places, a very run-down neighborhood of Joliet, IL. (As I recall, it was in an old red-brick building surrounded by vacant lots.) They were thick, juicy, charred on the outside, placed inside Kaiser rolls, and served in baskets with delicious deep-fried potatoes (probably cooked in lard). This was back in 1965 or '66, so I highly doubt the place is there anymore, but I sure would like to go back sometime if it were. :o ---
**Author:** ![jimbuff314](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c57346/32.png) [@jimbuff314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimbuff314)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/9 "2014-03-26T22:08:07Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > The best burger is the Dee Snyder burger on the Grill 'Em ALL food truck. … Oh yeah! Now we got a thread! I mean, a “The best burger is” thread without dissenting opinions? Also, indicated the omission of the description of the Dee Snyder burger because, good god. That’s a burger? (Sorry, **Typo Negative**.) Otherwise, I don’t have a burger to grill here. (Also, post # 102. That’s right! A 3-digit poster after only six and a half years. Suck it, losers!) :^) ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/10 "2014-03-26T22:12:52Z")
The best burger I’ve ever eaten (and I’ve eaten well over 100 different kinds from different stores as well as all the BBQs I’ve been to) was at a hospital when I was visiting someone who was sick and didn’t want their meal. That was incredible. They got better too, but the hamburger was great. Second favorite, either orange julius back when they sold them or this store on the beach where I sometimes went camping. ---
**Author:** ![Labrador\_Deceiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Labrador\_Deceiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labrador_Deceiver)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2014, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/11 "2014-03-26T22:31:37Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > That’s just stuff…that’s not the burger…This one is…is…incredible. You’re talking a frozen patty mass produced sent out each day and stuff put on it…This is a burger. What on earth are you talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/12 "2014-03-27T01:27:10Z")
Best burger I’ve eaten was at a place in Annapolis, MD. No idea what the name was, just stopping in before heading to the airport to leave town. It had a pile of crab salad on top of it. I don’t recall what made it so awesome, but it was perfect at the time. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/13 "2014-03-27T02:47:58Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Best burger I’ve eaten was at a place in Annapolis, MD. No idea what the name was, just stopping in before heading to the airport to leave town. It had a pile of crab salad on top of it. I don’t recall what made it so awesome, but it was perfect at the time. Maybe because it had crab salad on top??? I would have thrown away the burger, ate the crab salad. Anyway. My nomination was, back in the 70’s, we still had a White Tower downtown. Very low rent place full of street people, big flat frozen burgers cooked on a grill, sprinkled with some kind of magical seasoned salt. Best. Burgers. Ever. I can’t say why they were so special, I don’t even like hamburgers, but White Tower made the best. ---
**Author:** ![pancakes3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ba9def/32.png) [@pancakes3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pancakes3)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/14 "2014-03-27T02:51:24Z")
> [@Labrador\_Deceiver](#): > > What on earth are you talking about? He’s saying that the peanut butter, jam, siracha, and bacon are ancillary and that his burger submission wins on the merit of the meat alone without all the accoutrements. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/15 "2014-03-27T02:55:30Z")
Where can I get the one described in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged?” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/16 "2014-03-27T03:09:26Z")
> [@the\_diego](#): > > Where can I get the one described in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged?” Wyoming. A small roadside diner on Route 86, west of Cheyenne, near a small industrial settlement by the Lennox Copper Foundry. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/17 "2014-03-27T13:47:32Z")
> [@TV\_time](#): > > It is honestly the best burger I have ever found in my entire life. And I am not a young man. The kicker is…You can’t get there. It is Penny’s Diner in Sharon Springs, Kansas. Google Map it. Adak, Alaska gets more people to it than Sharon Springs…It has to. I was lost and stumbled across this place about eight months ago and have drive about 100 miles out of my way to drop by there twice since. I have no affiliation with this place. It’s like some sort of Twilight Zone thing - The best burger in the middle of no where. Isn’t Sharon Springs near where that giant sinkhole opened up last year? I should get out there and check it out before the place disappears The best burger I ever had was in a little place in Sausalito called (IIRC) “Hamburgers”. It was down near the marina. My wife and I stopped there for lunch on the way from SF to Santa Rosa. Bought a couple of burgers then went and sat by the water to eat them. It was heaven. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/18 "2014-03-27T13:54:27Z")
To my mind there’s a large difference between ‘gourmet burgers’ with lots of toppings (such as the peanut butter or crab meat ones), and just ‘burgers’. The gourmet burgers can be excellent, but not necessarily for the quality of the burger itself. An excellent burger, on the other hand, doesn’t NEED fancy toppings. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/19 "2014-03-27T13:56:40Z")
Winner, hands down: [http://weeshack.com/](http://weeshack.com/) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2014, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634/20 "2014-03-27T14:05:03Z")
> [@misling](#): > > An excellent burger, on the other hand, doesn’t NEED fancy toppings. I agree. Nothing wrong with good toppings (I do like a New Mexican green chile cheeseburger), but my standard baseline burger is a normal cheeseburger (either single or double, depending on the size of the patties), with mustard, ketchup, pickle, onion. Almost every time I visit a new burger place, that’s what I get the first time (or the closest menu item to that, if I don’t feel like going completely “build your own.” ) And after that I’ll try the specialty burgers, but typically, I just want a normal honest-to-goodness American cheeseburger. Possibly with a fried egg, if I’m feeling gluttonous. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-hamburger-ever/684634.md?page=2)