Meh. If I want to assemble my own burger, I’ll make it myself, better than the fudd. I go to restaurants to get THEIR interpretation of the food in question.
And I was referring to this Barney’s. I wasn’t aware it was such a small chain.
I’ve never call the Big Mac number one. I hesitate to even call it a burger. Nevertheless, about once a year I want one, and nothing else will do. After I’ve had it, I feel disappointed it seems to mostly be bread and shredded lettuce, I don’t like thousand island dressing, and I should have gotten something more satisfying.
I like my homemade burgers. I get creative with mixing things right into the meat before cooking. Most often, it’s minced hot pepper of some kind.
I’ve been a fan of theirs since I lived in WDC back in '92. I don’t think you can classify them as a fast food joint, since the meat is fresh and so are the potatoes. I hear they’ve opened a franchise in Portland, OR though, and Michelle Obama took friends to one of the WDC/VA storefronts not long ago. Happy day!
I still maintain there’s something evil in Big Macs. Whenever I eat one, and I haven’t for many years, I get a tight pain in my chest that feels like my heart’s ready to lay down and die. I don’t get that from any other burger. In fact, because of this thread I just wolfed down a single and a double cheeseburger (that I cooked myself, thank you) and I feel great. So I eye Big Macs with a certain learned wariness.
Steak n Shake is my favorite place to eat in the cheap/24 hours/burger joint category. Great burgers, cincinatti chili, awesome shakes. I’d trade all this stuff I got when I moved out west (in n out, sonic, fatburger, jack in the box) for a steak n shake.
Where did you live that had Steak-n-Shake but not Sonic or Jack-in-the-Box? Where I grew up in NC, we had all 3 (though we didn’t get Jack in the Box until the late-'90s’ish.)
I prefer home-cooked burgers, too. I use ground chuck, which has, I believe, the right lean-to-fat ratio. I think it’s also the most flavorful ground beef that’s readily available. Ground sirloin is much too lean, BTW. The burger tastes best if it’s grilled outside over a fire with at least some mesquite in it. Yeah, I know mesquite’s out of fashion now, but I still love it.
There’s a local restaurant that does a pretty good burger and fries, but the problem is, I just can’t eat that much, and seeing all those fries left over offends my soul.
Every fast food burger that I’ve had in the last decade or so has been flavorless and greasy. I rather expect the burgers to be greasy, but I do want flavor. Otherwise, what’s the point?
I thoroughly dislike Big Macs. Burger King is much better. But I have to say I’ve never had a better burger than what Whataburger served up. It’s literally been decades since I’ve had one, but I sure do remember them.
This is how I kinda feel. I love fast food burgers, but I wouldn’t neccessarily try to compare them to hamburgers from other places.
Fuddruckers probably has my favorite burger ever, regardless of restaurant or fast food.
Fatburger is probably my least favorite. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it bad, just hideously bland and boring. Gets bad when you throw in the high price, though.
Among fast food, I love the Sourdough Jack and Wendy’s doubles.
Of the ones you picked, I’d only go for Fatburger. In and Out Burger makes a decent burger. Now, I’ll eat any of those if I’m hungry, but anyone I know can make a better burger by simply procuring fresh produce.
My local McDonald’s has a Thursday special: two Big Macs for $3. I have been going there every Thursday for almost a month, including today. I love Big Macs, but homemade is the best.
Fast food burgers can really hit the spot sometimes, but I can’t say that they’re anywhere near the best. The beef is just too flavorless, so you need a lot of toppings on them. When I make burgers at home, all I really need is a slice of cheese and some spicy mustard.
I do think fast food can stand up with mid-range restaurants, though. Someone above really put their finger on it with the size of the buns. I will always associate Bennigans with decent burgers completely drowned out by bread.
I’ve had some great burgers. I don’t get them that much though since they are usually around $15. For that much, I’d usually just have a steak or something like that.
www.originaltommys.com the only fast food burger i crave hard
For all you McDonald’s lovers out there I suggest you pinch a piece off of that soggy grayish piece of meat and rub it between your fingers. Look and feel the loose, spongy, watery, meatloaf like texture of the meat. Look at the watery and greasy stuff leaking out. Pop it in your mouth and experience the wet spongy texture and the bland “school lunch steam bin” taste. I am not even going to get into the rest of it, you are some sick freakin’ people who can suggest that this is better than even a halfway decent backyard burger.
I do agree about that generally chain sitdown restaurant burgers (even burger restaurants) are not great. I do believe that every city probably has a restaurant here and there that have good burgers though, they are not all that hard to make
Love Big Macs. I eat a Whopper once in a blue moon, but dislike how they nuke the patty, bun heel, so the grease soaks in too much, and BK seems to add some kind of liquid smoke flavor to the meat to give it that “flame broiled” taste, and it seems artificial.
Love Tommy’s, In-N-Out on occasion, but they are very heavy and greasy.
When in the Pacific Northwest I enjoyed a burger from Burgerville very much, but the local berry shake was awesome!
Closer to home, we have an up and coming chain called Farmer Boys, and they cook everything to order. You have to wait, but it’s worth it. Also a fan of Carl’s Jr. Famous Star with cheese. Another awesome chain out here in La La land is Hamburger Habit. Also love to go to the Hamlet, though they are in a lot of financial trouble and are closing stores right and left, and have recently changed names to just “Hamlet” to emphasize the rest of the menu. Cassell’s on 6th street just west of Vermont in LA is also great, with home made mayo and relishes.
Fuddruckers has very bland tasting meat, like there is breading in it or something. Dry and not juicy. Don’t like. Do like Red Robin.
And don’t hate on me, but when I go back east the very first place I go to from the airport is White Castle, (although I have since learned to duplicate them EXACTLY at home, it is a huge hassle). With White Castle, you either grew up on them or you didn’t. You can’t explain it to people who aren’t from there.
The jack in the box sirloin burger has replaced IN-N-OUT as my favorite burger.
Every hamburger I eat is measured by the IN-N-OUT ratio test. If it costs more than IN-N-OUT, it has to taste better than IN-N-OUT by a margin equal to the cost difference. So if a burger costs six bucks, it better be two and a half times tastier than IN-N-OUT. So far, only the sirloin burger has passed this ratio test. Ten dollar cheesecake factory burgers, while very tasty, simply can’t cover the point spread.
There’s none here, but if you’re ever in Tucson, AZ (my hometown) you can find at least two. Phoenix might also have some.
I’ve posted some burger recipes here from time to time. I’m too lazy to link them right now, but I make a pretty damn good burger. If you think Big Macs are better, you can go back to whatever planet you came from.
For me, once I think it’s hit the spot immediately it nauseates the spot. The sauce they put on it has a lot of sugar or something. I always walk away sick to my stomach. Except Fatburger and In-‘n’-Out.
As for full-fledged restaurants serving hamburgers? Like Hamburger Hamlet? “Gourmet” hamburgers is about as silly a notion as “gourmet” tacos. Why pay so much money for someone to slap a patty on a grill?
I worked at a steakhouse that had the best burgers. The buns and the veggies were the same stuff you get at the grocery store, but the beef was steak. They cut their own steaks from the whole loin. The chef put all the silverskin and hard fat in the trash and the burger guy went through the rest of the trimmings–picking out the good meat and just enough soft fat. He ground it course using an old-fashioned, hand-cranked grinder and hand-made the patties by throwing them back and forth from hand to hand like you’re supposed to (it makes them hold together).
Most other burgers, I find, are too over-ground (I have teeth and don’t mind using them). The reason is that the low-quality trash they start with is full of stuff that needs to be ground fine so that you don’t bite down on big chunks of hard fat or have to fish out long strips of silverskin from between your teeth (although, you sometimes do anyway).
The big chains use mechanical processes to remove meat and fat and gristle from the bones that often take little chunks of bone off too. If I bite down on one little shard of bone I will never patronize that restaurant or chain again.
If more of the people who handle and process the raw materials had to actually eat the end results you’d see lots of better burgers.