Oh god, you’ll get them arguing about Chicago vs New York pizza, and how the US invented pizza anyway. 
Not the same thing at all. I’ve had pizza in Italy, but if it’s not what you’re expecting. . .well, it’s just not. Italian pizza is generally just tomato sauce and a bit of cheese. Also, I was living in Germany, Belgium and Portugal, not Italy. I traveled in Europe for a living and can tell you that you could NOT find a good burger or pizza, Italy notwithstanding. Even Pizza Hut was way off from what you may be used to. “Pepperoni” in Europe is a long, mild pepper, not a spicy sausage. Unsurprisingly, they cater to European tastes, not American.
As I said: nothing wrong with the food; it’s just not what an American would expect it to be. Luckily, I was happy with the local cuisines: give me a wiener schnitzel or a pepper steak with frites or a bowl of moules provencale any day over a burger or pizza.
I don’t remember the burgers of the early 80s, but the mid-90s to early-00s, I couldn’t believe how bad the burgers could be. Or maybe not “bad,” but not what I’m used to as an American. I remember Wimpy’s, and some other random burgers I’d get from street-side vendors in the UK (Wolverhampton, specifically), and they were awful. McDonald’s was actually fine. Tasted pretty much just like McD’s back home.
The weirdest for me was in Budapest, around 1999. There was an American-themed diner, full of '57 Chevy, Elvis, jukebox-type memorabilia. It might even have been called “The American Diner.” So I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. What I got was something closer to an open-faced meatloaf sandwich. I mean, seriously. An open-faced burger? WTF? And it’s not like the hamburger is unknown there. This is a place where there was one intersection (Oktagon) that had a Wendy’s, a McDonald’s, and a Burger King on three of its four corners, so it’s not like there wasn’t a frame of reference. (And, besides, in general there were plenty of McDonald’s and BK’s scattered across the city.) I really could not figure out what the fuck they were thinking.
A hamburger is not rocket science–it’s about as simple a preparation of ground beef as you can get. Yet it’s (or at least it was) nearly impossible to find a simple American-style hamburger outside of US chains out there. It’s like everybody thought there must be something more to it, so started including various spices and fillers in the meat, not realizing that, really, it’s just ground chuck (or similar, e.g. short rib, brisket, etc.) loosely packed, salt and peppered, and cooked properly. It boggles my mind.
As for the pizza, I loved most styles of European pizza. Some of the best damned pizzas I’ve ever had were in Slovenia and Kosovo, of all places. I don’t recall Pizza Hut actually being all that different than in the US, but I don’t like Pizza Hut, so it’s hard for me to compare. But they weren’t like Italian style pizzas, and were actually quite generous on the cheese and meat toppings. (Sure, you couldn’t find “pepperoni,” but you could get spicy salami, which is essentially the same thing. That said, I’m not a fan of pepperoni, anyway.)
Having lived in Wolverhampton for a number of years, I suspect the street food you refer to there is the appalling “Mr Sizzle”, without a doubt the most appalling burger of all time, rolled out down the football ground and late at night to catch the unsuspecting drunk.
Wimpy is largely gone in the uk (I am surprised someone mentioned seeing one in Berlin, I only ever saw Wendys for a long time in Europe, McD’s took until late 90’s to make it over there), it didn’t go out of business, it got bought out by Burger King. It went out of fashion (and Burger King in the UK has too, that has all but disappeared from the high street and is a motorway service station/train station chain). I personally think the Wimpy Quarter pounder (it still exists in some places) with cheese is the best chain burger in the uk, far superior to the McD’s effort and the pressed thin pate cardboard of BK. However, here a burger is far less about the food and far more about the toys for the children, and in that sense BK also lost out a long time ago
And yes, I’ve ate Burgers in the US, Vegas, NY, LA and SF. Though yet to try that In and Out place, seems a shame to use a chain over there…
It has probably improved now. Having visited Budapest about 10 times now, I’d say I’ve never been tempted to try a burger in many places apart from that one I tried in that “English Bar” (I think it was called Bulldog or something) by the Danube. I’d be on the goulash or the other massive chunks of meat they serve in their restaurants.
Horses for courses (no, wait, that’s in France).
Or Tescos.
These all seem like gourmet prices to me, even Shake Shack who apparently charge £3.50 for fries?! I mean a Big Mac is like £2.70 .
There are places in the world where that isn’t pizza? I mean, sure, you can pile some stuff on top of it, but at its essence, a pizza is dough, sauce and cheese.
I can see that it’s pointless to discuss this with you.
Pizza to me is about the quality of the bread, toppings are incidental and should be minimal, that’s probably why I prefer European pizza (and classic Neopolitan particularyl) to American style.
However, I do agree that The USA does…in general, better burgers. The UK is catching up but the better ones end up being touted as “gourmet” with associated price hike.
Perhaps. But in a thread extolling the simplicity of a good hamburger, I don’t think I’m out of line extolling the simplicity of a good slice of pizza.
But American pizza is very different from Italian pizza - it’s not just a question of what to put on top. The dough, sauce, and cheese are all different. Look at some photos of cheese pizza as opposed to pizza Margherita (as it is commonly known here). It’s not a matter of which is better, but rather which type one prefers.
And for the record, my favourite burger is from Big Chill House.
John Bull is the place you’re thinking of.
Oh, there’s places where you can get a reasonable burger in Budapest. I lived there for a spell over five years from '98 - late '03. It was just amusing on how an American-themed diner could miss the mark so completely on the most basic item on its menu, especially since there’s plenty of typical examples of it in the city.
It’s possible that my memory of Wimpy is clouded by what appears to have been Mr Sizzle. Whatever I had there in Wolverhampton completely turned me off UK burgers at the time. That said, I did have very many lovely meals in the UK, and Wolverhampton is where I first discovered Indian/Pakistani food, and it was awesome.
I gave up trying to find a good burger in Europe well before the 90s. It wasn’t worth the frustration. I’ve been trying to get the memory of Wimpy out of my head for over 30 years!
But even within Europe there are a lot of styles of pizza. It’s not like they’re all Neapolitan. I mean, hell, Italy itself has several styles of pizza going.
Now could you find an exact replica of a New York style slice? Most likely not. But you can’t even find that here in Chicago (or so New Yorkers tell me), nor can I find a Midwestern-style thin crust (my preferred American style) in New York City.
I’m not sure that “extolling” is the same thing as “snark”, which is what your initial response was, and this bit of sidetrack is over for me. Feel free to continue.
Here’s the interior of The Apple Pan in L.A.
Although, to be fair, their burgers cost about six bucks.
I can imagine your relentless quest, storming through Europe like some kind of Blitzkrieg, in order to find a decent burger - that pinnacle of food.
The horror…the horror…
I did find one even WORSE than Wimpys once…in Berlin…a small imbiss (snack shop) was selling hamburgers so I ordered one.
They took the frozen patty, dropped it in the deep fryer for about 3 minutes, and then they yanked it out and threw it on a bun with the grease still dripping off it…voila! I paid for it and immediately dropped it in the trash. Oh well…I suppose that would be like me trying to make Chinese food for someone from Shanghai.
Beats haggis, which I contend isn’t a dish but a prank on furriners and Sassenachs. 
There’s a plan! Open up a drive through haggis restaurant in Palm Springs! I don’t think there are any there…so you found a brand new open market! We have to come up with a snappy name for it though…
God, aye, there’s loads of blah haggis, but a good haggis is tasty like a good burger is, it’s just wildly different ingredients.
I must say that a load of the burgers in the article strike me as trying way too hard. Decent beef (grass fed for preference) ground with a hint of pepper or whatever, cooked rare, in a decent bun with some onions, tomato and lettuce. How hard is that? It seems to be beyond many places, sadly.