hamburgers

From A Hamburger Today

[Photographs: Zim&Zou]

The current issue of architecture and design magazine Icon features this intricate neon papercraft burger on its cover, made by French design studio Zim&Zou. See more photos of the burger at Behance.

[via Everything Burger]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

[Photo: Robyn Lee]

A mix of hospital workers, students, the well-to-do and remnants of the area's immigrant past, Yorkville is far more diverse than the howling hoots and hollers of its local meatheads would imply. There are Irish pubs, British pubs, German beer bars, hookah bars and Hungarian pastry shops-cum-restaurants. Despite all this, the Upper East Side is still fancy-pants burger territory—at least until a certain hour. After other restaurants have donned their wagyu nightcaps and snuffed their truffled candles, the funkier burgers around town let their hair down.

[Photo: Nick Solares]

Until New Yorkers get the In-N-Out we so desperately crave, Blue 9 Burger is a stellar substitute. Greater burger minds than I (Solares, Kuban) have tackled the fresh-ground offerings at this mini-chain, but it remains one of the better fast food-style burgers in the city, even more so because of its late closing time (we're looking at you, Shake Shack). In the fashion of In-N-Out's famed "Animal style", the Blue 9 Burger ($5.80) done "medieval style" finds two griddle-smooched patties cooked in mustard and onions bolstered by fresh lettuce, tomato and snap-crisp pickles. Bun and cheese are both pedestrian, but the deep char achieved, combined with a perfectly medium-rare interior—a rarity with patties this thin—make this a burger worth waddling for. The double meat allows the beef to really shine through its mustard coating and the provided toppings. Fries are hand-cut but sometimes pallid, but their signature mango-chili dipping sauce is a wonderful condiment which you can also have cooked into the meat as with the medieval preparation.

[Photos: Zachary Feldman]

Officially middle-aged as of this year, the 40-year-old JG Melon has racked up numerous accolades for its mighty fine cheeseburger ($9.25) since its beginnings as a watering hole for one of the city's toniest savannas. Try to snag a seat in the back room, where watermelon and other melon-accented works of art lend the space a homespun charm ("home" if you're from a family of melon fetishists). When the place gets slammed, as it inevitably does, the kitchen will occasionally overcook their patties, but most of the time they put out a burger that's worthy of the hype.

Several ounces of loosely-packed beef, ground coarse and sporting griddled crust hidden under a blanket of American cheese, the meat deeply juicy and delicate; it all but soaks its generic bun. Served open-faced with pickles and raw red onion, it needs no ketchup or mayonnaise. Instead, save the Heinz for an order of excellent bread-and-butter pickle-shaped cottage fries ($4.75), which maintain an airy interior and firm (if not completely crisp) exterior. In regards to the overcooking problem, one trick is to order a shade below your desired temperature (I ordered rare for medium rare).

Another neighborhood old-timer, Dorrian's Red Hand is an Irish pub with a complicated past. Long known as a preppy hangout for disillusioned, privileged youth and the disillusioned, privileged adults they become, the bar's saving grace from its abrasive clientele are its menu of hearty, pub-style burgers. After ties to a murder in 1986 (the killer and victim got blotto inside), the bar has since dropped the "Red Hand" part of its name, but why let them live that down?

Scandal aside, the flame-grilled options include a signature burger dressed with ham and fried onions, and something called the Ragin' Cajun ($12), a generous mound spiked with bayou spices but lacking somewhat in salt, which you realize is a good thing after observing the toppings of pepper jack cheese, jalapeno relish and a side of ranch dressing to slather as you see fit. A toasted English muffin provides the backbone for this burly sandwich, and lettuce, tomato and onion add even more height. Loosely-packed, the beef retains a steak-like chew when cooked to medium, and the razzle-dazzle accoutrements do a fine job of bolstering the meat.

Should you find yourself entrenched in the Upper East Side after dark, take comfort in knowing that a good burger is mere blocks away.

Blue 9 Burger

Open Until: 12:00 am, Sun-Thu; 4:00 am, Fri-Sat 1415 2nd Avenue, New York NY 10021 () 212-988-8171

JG Melon

Open Until: 4:00 am, 7 days 1291 3rd Avenue, New York NY 10021 () 212-650-1310

Dorrian's Red Hand

Open Until: 1:00 am, 7 days 1616 2nd Avenue, New York NY 10028 () 212-772-6660 dorrians.com

About the author: Zachary Feldman is a former debutante and current freelance writer. He makes hand-crafted, small batch bitters under the moniker Bitters, Old Men.

From A Hamburger Today

[Photographs: Ewan Macdonald]

"Give me Liberty Burger or let me starve," screams the tagline to this recently-opened North Dallas neighborhood spot. While I wouldn't go that far, my first visit would see me modify the motto to, "Give me Liberty Burger ahead of 90 percent of the other offerings in the area, but I also hope it improves a bit so that it can really live up to its potential." (Granted, that's not quite as snappy and might not fit on the flyers.) Still, here we find a burger place that could, with a few changes, be counted among the city's best.

Liberty Burger is owned by the Street siblings, Mariel, Gene Jr., and Dace, children of local favorite restauranteur Gene Street. His operations range from the French-Texas upscale III Forks to family-style Good Eats; given such a wide range, a griddled-to-order custom burger place seems like a natural step. Taking up corner space in a strip mall just off Inwood, it's a fine location, a stone's throw from both leafy North Dallas and the ever-crowded Tollway area. As such it was no surprise to see the restaurant packed with all age groups at 5 p.m. on a Friday.

Those braving the crowds will find a welcome addition to the Dallas burger scene—albeit one that needs a bit of work to join the top five. Since Liberty Burger is fairly new—about three months old—the problems can be put down to teething; as soon as they're fixed, the Streets are onto yet another winner.

One such issue is the ordering and seating system. We're all familiar with order-at-counter, food-brought-to-you restaurants, and that's how Liberty advertises itself. But upon entering you're immediately accosted by a harassed server, who asks for your party size, points out your table, and then gives you your number before moving you on. You're then thrown, in a scene reminiscent of the Arnold Schwarzenegger classic The Running Man, towards the register, giving you no time to study the beautiful electronic menu boards on the wall. If you didn't research what you wanted online before coming, you'll be face-to-face with an expectant cashier before you know it, completely unsure of what you want and by now far away from those menus. I went for the Wild West burger almost by default.

Needless to say this first encounter with Liberty Burger wasn't so much one of freedom and joy as of stress and frustration. But having ordered and sat down, the sight of fine-looking burgers making their way to the dining room was more than welcome. The buns, advertised as custom-made, looked perfect in both their white and wheat forms, and all contained within was similarly beautiful. It was slightly worrying to see our burgers emerge only to be carried back to the kitchen, but on their second journey through the restaurant the server spied our number and we were served.

Wild West burger autopsy.

First impressions of the burger were mixed. Prior to the autopsy shot both my Wild West burger and my wife's bison cheeseburger were things of beauty. But cutting into them, we found the temperatures reversed; my order of medium was in fact well done, and hers the exact opposite. Resisting the temptation to send them back—mindful of the fact that she had work in an hour and Dallas traffic isn't to be trifled with—we dug in.

Here's where things got a lot better. So delicious was my patty I didn't especially care that it was overcooked. Despite the shades of gray on the inside it remained pleasantly juicy—a near half-pound of a great beef mix will do that. Painted on the wall is the proud boast of a custom blend from a "steakhouse purveyor," consisting of chuck, brisket, and tenderloin. And what a combo that proved to be. With reference to Kenji's blend guide, there's a grassy, gamey hit from the brisket, lean, balanced flavor from the chuck, and an understated but still very much present beefiness from the tenderloin. A perfect blend.

Liberty's custom bun was slightly on the brioche-y side for my tastes, but it's sure to please those looking for something beyond the industrial white bun used almost everywhere else.

The patty stood up well to most of the toppings, too. My Wild West was topped with a sensible amount of cheddar and bacon, along with a few pieces of onion and a thin spreading of barbecue sauce. These worked together to complement rather than overpower the excellent beef. The only problem was the pickles, which were so thickly cut that in the end I had to remove them and eat them alone.

The bison burger, with cheese and mustard, was surprisingly moist and tasty for such a lean meat, and although it's pricey—understandable, given its locally-reared, all-natural provenance—I'd recommend it as a slightly healthier but still delicious burger option.

The sweet potato fries were fine examples of the genre, even if the helping was a bit miserly for $2.50. Yet the biggest let-down of all were the shoestring fries, which despite their thin cut weren't even especially crispy. It was a chore to gather enough of the floppy cuttings to dip in the fine house-made chipotle ketchup and—worse yet—the fries were already were half-cold when served.

But despite the overcooked patty and the disappointing potato products, I'm left waiting and wanting to return to Liberty Burger. It's far from perfect at this point but, like freedom itself, it's worth the struggle. With such popularity already it's set to be a neighborhood hit long into the future, and as time goes on it can hopefully iron out the kinks. Then it will truly be a force to be reckoned with. But for now, give me Liberty Burger and give me it often.

About the author: Ewan Macdonald is a soccer writer who will probably die with a hamburger in his mouth. Born in Scotland, he was lured to the Dallas area by cheap beef and a love of 100 degree evenings with 60% relative humidity.

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From A Hamburger Today

[Image: burgerking.co.uk]

Burger King UK's new Smoked Bacon and Cheddar Double Angus burger is in the news not so much for its high calorie and fat content—966 calories and 58 grams of fat—but for the National Obesity Forum's response to it. Tam Fry, spokesperson for the National Obesity Forum, told Mail Online:

This horrendous burger is a graphic illustration of where the government's obesity strategy has gone wrong. The strategy is supposed to be a Deal between the Department of Health and the food industry whereby industry pledges to be responsible in marketing its food. This burger is the height of irresponsibility and, if left unfettered, the food industry will do nothing to help stem the current obesity epidemic.

And in the US you can get a Triple Whopper with 1140 calories and 75 grams of fat...not that this is a contest or anything.

Jennifer Low, a spokesperson from the British Dietetic Association, had a more reasonable comment about the burger blasting in The Huffington Post:

If people are going to overeat they can do that on a number of things. The main point for us, as dietitians, is not that these foods are banned but that people are aware of what they are eating so they can make informed decisions.

As Business Insider points out, this probably isn't a PR problem for Burger King seeing as people don't go there for healthy food; if anything, they'll benefit from the free publicity.

Our advice would be to not eat at Burger King because we generally don't like their burgers.

[via Consumerist]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From A Hamburger Today

Eater tries out Burger King's new delivery service from a McDonald's in Arlington, Virginia. And Whoppers, they did receive (after meeting the delivery guy outside the restaurant).

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From A Hamburger Today

[Photographs: Daniel Zemans]

Long before Michael Symon became a nationally known celebrity chef, the Cleveland native was a culinary icon in his hometown. Lola, the multiple award-winning flagship restaurant in the Symon empire, has been a local favorite since it opened in 1997. In 2005, he opened the more accessible and affordable Lolita, and three years later, he opened Roast in Detroit, both of which have garnered significant praise and solidified his standing as a master of meat.

But Symon's career really became significant in 2009. No, it wasn't because that was the year he won The James Beard Foundation Award for Best Chef Great Lakes. And it wasn't because that was his first full year as an Iron Chef. 2009 was huge because that was the year he opened the first two locations of B Spot.

From the booze (more than 30 craft beers and a dozen bourbons) to the decor to the random menu items like the fried bologna sandwich (reviewed here), every little detail of B Spot is impressive. But nothing there outshines the burgers, which routinely draw hordes of Clevelanders to all three locations as well as the stand at Quicken Loans Arena that's only open when the Cavaliers are playing. And unlike a certain other former Cleveland resident, when Symon takes his talents to South Beach, he does nothing but win. Come this February, he will defend his back-to-back wins of the People's Choice Award at the SoBe Wine & Food Festival.

There are 14 different burgers on the menu at B Spot, all but one of which (the double cheeseburger) are under $10. The burgers range from the very simple Plain Jane that comes with with lettuce, tomato, and onion ($6) to the elaborate Red Hot, which is topped with pulled pork, pickled tomato, hot peppers, pepper jack cheese, and sriracha mayo ($9). There's something for every burger lover on the menu, which makes the rule prohibiting changes or substitutions easy to take (subtractions are allowed), especially given the need for efficiency in the kitchen of the perpetually packed restaurant.

Every burger at B Spot starts with a six-ounce patty custom blended for Symon by New York's famed Pat LaFrieda. The sourcing issue might raise a few eyebrows among those of us who prefer local ingredients. And I agree with those who have grown tired of the near deification of LaFrieda in a world where loads of farmers sell exquisite beef directly restaurants that turn it into magnificent burgers. But here's the thing: The patties at B Spot are outstanding. The densely packed circles of beef are bursting with flavor from nothing other than a proprietary blend of fresh beef, salt, and pepper.

Even though many of the burgers come piled with flavorful toppings, these patties can stand up to just about anything. Exhibit A is the Shroomage, which includes a topped with a portabella mushroom, blue cheese, Lola steak sauce, and griddled onions. The rich, umami, tangy, and lightly sweet combination of toppings would actually make a mean sandwich on its own. But in this case, they are just a delicious supporting cast that help elevate a superstar patty.

To help eliminate problems that can often arise due to different people's understanding of what phrases like "medium rare" mean, B Spot offers clear definitions of each burger temperature on its menu and on tabletop signs. Medium means reddish/pink with a warm center. And as you can see from the picture, the kitchen absolutely nailed my request. The interior of the patty was warm and juicy and it was surrounded by a beautiful crust.

The bacon cheeseburger is one of the more straightforward menu options and is proof that B Spot can deliver outstanding burgers without relying on elaborate toppings. This lovely burger included lettuce, tomato, onion, a choice of cheese (cheddar in my case), and a mess of bacon. The smoky, salty, chewy bacon was great, but like the toppings on the Shroomage, was secondary to a delicious patty.

I returned to my roots with the bacon cheeseburger and went for rare, which, according to house rules means blood red and with a cold/cool center. Once again, the house delivered precisely what I asked for. There was, naturally, not nearly as much of a crust on this one, but what the patty lost in texture it more than made up for in straight beefy flavor. And I was pleased to discover that despite the juiciness of the burger, the soft toasted bun was up to the task of holding everything together.

As much as I loved the Shroomage, I actually enjoyed the bacon cheeseburger more for the simple reason that it gave me the freedom to make full use of the pickle bar. Yes, you read that right: pickle bar. Everyone who enters B Spot has free reign to go wild eating eight different pickled treats: banana peppers, dill pickles, Tony Packo's sweet hots, pickled red onions, pickled jalapeños, garlic pickles, pickled green tomatoes, and red pepper relish. I tried every pickle except for the red pepper relish and thought the red onions and the supremely acidic green tomatoes were both particularly excellent. Admittedly I'm biased due to my deep love of pickles, but this bar shot B Spot into my upper echelon of burger restaurants.

Fries do not come with burgers at B Spot, which surely helps explain the very reasonable burger prices. But to go to B Spot and not get some of their spuds would be a grave error. These crisp, pillowy spuds are fried in lard and send a clear message to everyone who tries them: lard is better than any oil made from a vegetable. The regular fries at B Spot are seasoned with sea salt and rosemary. I skipped those in favor of the Porky Fries, which come topped with pulled pork, Cheez Whiz, and pickled chilis. The pulled pork was too wet and devoid of smoke flavor, making it the sole ingredient I had at B Spot I didn't like. Fortunately, Cheez Whiz and pickled chilis make a great combination on their own, especially when combined with top-notch fried potatoes.

Given Michael Symon's proficiency in all things meat, I was not at all surprised to find that B Spot puts out a great patty. But B Spot doesn't rely on just great beef and the star chef's name—I really loved everything about this place. From the relaxed, incredibly friendly vibe to the impressive menu to—yes I'll say it again—the pickle bar, it seems that every single detail about the place was carefully considered and the right decisions were made. I'm not sure when I'll get back to Cleveland, but I know a return the B Spot will be in the cards when I do. About the author: Daniel Zemans is so devoted to Chicago that he covers pizza for Slice and burgers for A Hamburger Today. When he's not focusing on expanding his waistline, he works as a lawyer on behalf of employees and tenants.

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From A Hamburger Today

[Photographs: Adam Lindsley]

There are few ways to get me to review a burger joint in my fair city faster than when someone makes a "best-of" list and includes a place I haven't tried. That was the case when The Oregonian released its list of the top 10 classic burgers in the Portland area, prompting the realization that I had never eaten at (or even heard of) Dea's In & Out in neighboring Gresham.

News to me, Dea's In & Out has been around for over 50 years. Not quite as old as that other In-N-Out, but by Portland measurements, that's ancient. Judging by the clientele I saw over my half-hour visit, Dea's boasts a steady stream of loyal fans from multiple generations.

Dea's gimmick, and the star of this rodeo, is its Longburger. With a patty stretched to an imprecise rectangle six inches long, it's no larger than a normal-sized burger and somehow feels a little smaller, just shy of a quarter pound (although this could very well be an illusion of the abnormal shape). I loved how the griddle got the patty crispy around the edges, although for some reason the rest of the burger didn't develop much of a crust. The two patties on my Double Longburger were decently seasoned and had a nice loose texture that shows the meat wasn't overhandled or too compressed.

There really isn't much else to the Longburger: a squishy and delicate (very delicate—see my thumb imprint in the shot above?) housemade bun toasted on one side, pickles, minced onions, and a judicious application of the tangy house sauce consisting of mayonnaise, relish, and a little ketchup. What I didn't discover until later was that if you want tomatoes and lettuce on your longburger, you must request them at the counter, but the burger didn't need them. The house sauce does a fine job cutting the richness of the beef and cheese by itself. Altogether, it's a wholly decent "drive-in style" cheeseburger, with a flavor vaguely reminiscent of the burgers from the Burgermaster chain in Seattle.

While Dea's In & Out's longburger might score some points for novelty, their sides are a snoozefest. The best of the lot are the tater tots, which are exactly like every tater tot you've ever eaten: a salty, golden, crispy exterior hiding steaming-hot innards. I think you get a little screwed on the serving size, though. For $2.25, I would expect more than just over a baker's dozen, but maybe I'm being unrealistic?

The fries are nothing to write home about, although they do deliver a nice hit of salt. Unlike the burger, these weren't greasy at all, and they stayed crisp even after they cooled. The pale white color doesn't exactly get your mouth watering, though. For a quarter you can get a side of their fry sauce, which tastes much like the house sauce on the burger, but with even more mayonnaise. While I thought it was a key component of the burger, I didn't think it improved the fries at all. Canada-like levels of mayo here.

The most boring of the three sides I ordered, the onion rings, have a lot going for them, but with a fatal lack of salt they're not worth the effort. While the fries aren't cut in-house, the onion rings are made entirely on the premises. Texturally, they're exactly what I look for in a good onion ring: a good crunch that isn't too thick. Unfortunately, they don't get salted directly after their escape from the hot oil like they should, so shake some on liberally as soon as you get them back to your table before they cool.

It has to be said that the chocolate malt I ordered was an unmitigated disaster. Soupy, bubbly, and disturbingly dark, with a grossly disproportionate chocolate syrup-to-ice cream ratio, there was nothing appetizing about it whatsoever. Also: no trace of the malt. Dea's shakes get a lot of praise from the locals, so it's quite possible this was an off day for whoever made mine (a really off day).

Dea's In & Out can't compare in any respect to the California-based In-N-Out, but it really isn't trying to, and never has. This is food cooked the same way it was half a century ago, and unlike many longtime Portland institutions, this one holds up somewhat. It can't be called great, but for a cheap, greasy, fast-food burger that blows McDonald's and Burger King out of the water, you could do a lot worse.

About the author: Adam Lindsley is a Pacific Northwest-based writer, musician, and the author of the pizza blog, This Is Pizza. You can follow him at @ThisIsPizza on Twitter. As a contributor for both Slice and A Hamburger Today, he is contractually obligated to say he loves pizza and burgers in equal amounts. Which is to say he is a polygamist.

Burger King Executive Chef John Koch

Burger King is rethinking and revising its menu. Branded Cinnabon cinnamon rolls are now available in some markets (at $1.99 apiece or two for $3.29, three for $5.99); it has introduced the $5 Chef’s Choice and $1.99 BK Toppers burgers; and it has recently upgraded its fries and bacon. The bacon-and-oyster Hangtown Fry isn’t on the menu, but John Koch, Executive Chef and Director of Product Innovation for Culinary Research & Development, says he’d love to give it a shot. Koch (pronounced “cook”) talked to BurgerBusiness.com about the process of creating new menu items.

BurgerBusiness.com: Talk a little about the development of the Chef’s Choice burger you brought out in October. It seems like an important shift toward a more “artisan” culinary style for Burger King Chef John Koch: Well, we set out by asking, “How can we make the most premium burger in the category? What would it look like to have a bacon-topped cheeseburger where every element is as good as we can make it?” So we put together a 100% ground chuck patty that’s seasoned, of course, with thick-cut hardwood-smoked bacon and thick cut cheese, romaine lettuce, red onion and a sauce we designed just for that sandwich.

How many sauce variations do you think you tried before you hit one you thought was completely right? We probably went through at least a dozen before we settled on the one that’s on there today.

What was the toughest element of the sandwich to get right? You know, I think the toughest was the bun. I bet we looked at 50 variations and then tweaked the final variation over and over again before we got the bun we were completely happy with.

If the bun was that important, does that mean you’ll look at improved buns for future burgers and sandwiches?

BK's new Chef's Choice burger

We’re always looking to make improvements in our core products or introduce new items. But absolutely, buns will be part of our consideration.

When you’re developing a new menu item, you have so many variables to consider: food cost, menu price point, ease of execution by crew, etc. How do you juggle or prioritize those elements? I’ve been a restaurant owner and operator myself, so it’s pretty easy for me to think about what’s important on the front line [of a kitchen line]. I just approach it by thinking of the people who will have to serve that burger each and every day, and asking how I can put it together in a way that will work for the people on that line

Beef prices have gone up significantly in the past year. Are you creating items with a certain menu-price point in mind? We always have to be cognizant of what an item may sell for, but as with the Chef’s Choice, if a product is at a premium price and people really like it, then it’s a good value. Then it works.

Are you looking at developing new items for the value-price end of the spectrum as well? Sure. We have to look at the entire [price] spectrum and ask how we can offer something that will be delicious and interesting regardless of price.

I know you’re a BurgerBusiness.com subscriber, but how else do you keep up with burger trends? Personally, I like to go out and experience a lot of burgers personally! I look at a number of sites and industry publications. But checking out independent restaurants is a great way to find out what’s happening.

Do you have a favorite food that you wish you could adapt to the Burger King menu but you just haven’t found a way to do it? I do have a favorite food, but I haven’t thought of putting it on the Burger King menu. It’s a Hangtown Fry. You might not be familiar with it, but it’s a West Coast dish from the 1800s. It’s scrambled eggs, fresh oysters and crispy bacon, and it is to die for.

OK, that might not be ready for the BK menu. But if not oysters, have you been looking more closely at other proteins: chicken, turkey, pork? Those are always under consideration. If they resonate with consumers, you’ll see us do more things [beyond beef].

How do you explain the continuing popularity of burgers? I think they’re just satisfying on a visceral level. They’re convenient and they put everything you want right there. You get bread, that satisfaction from cooked meat and all the flavor complexity: salty and savory and even acidic if you have a sauce. It’s really everything that your body craves all at once. I don’t know anything else that’s quite that satisfying.

Except maybe bacon? Well, a burger with bacon. Then you’re really there.

They’re not as good as a burger but nice infographics can be very satisfying. Consider, for example, this timely “state of the union” creation from the Johnny Rockets chain. To kick off its new blog, called The Original Hamburger, the chain compiled a variety of data on consumer dining behavior for this work of info art.

Note that 93% of those surveyed say they eat at one burger a month, with 61% enjoying about one a week. When people dine at Johnny Rockets, the Bacon Cheddar Double is the favorite in the West; the Smoke House Single scores big in the South; Midwesterners like the Route 66; and the Original is the top pick in the Southeast and Northeast. [Can't see the whole graphic? Click it and expand it.]

From A Hamburger Today

[From @McDonalds]

Last Wednesday McDonald's used the hashtag #McDStories two times during a Twitter campaign promoting McDonald's suppliers with the intention of getting people on Twitter to share their feel good McDonald's stories.

Of course, it didn't turn out that way—the hashtag encouraged people to post negative tweets about McDonald's. A few examples:

McDonald's only used the hashtag twice after realizing their campaign wasn't going as planned. Instead, they focused on the hashtag #meetthefarmers, which, while not free of criticism, didn't go nearly as badly as #McDStories.

In a statement about the campaign, McDonald's social media director Rick Wion points out, "There were 72,788 mentions of McDonald's overall that day so the traction of #McDStories was a tiny percentage (2%) of that." ...And that 2 percent was probably the most memorable. A week later, people continue to use the hashtag, although now it seems to mostly refer to links to articles about the campaign-gone-wrong.

The Next Web analyzes McDonald's "too vague and naïve" campaign and shares some lessons for successful social media marketing learned from McDonald's mistakes.

Here's a video from McDonald's campaign profiling one of their beef suppliers:

[via paidContent, Daily Mail, Telegraph]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From A Hamburger Today

[Photographs: @BarrioChino_; 1, 2]

Yesterday In-N-Out appeared in Sydney for the first time at a pop-up event at Mexican restaurant Barrio Chino (sorry we didn't find out earlier so we could tell you guys to actually go to the event). Similar to the In-N-Out pop-up in Shanghai last month, this event also illustrated some not so secret menu items, specifically Animal Style and Protein Style burgers. Prices were a bit higher than in the US: Double-Double for AU $5 (US $5.23), cheeseburger for AU $4 (US $4.18), and hamburger for AU $3 (US $3.14).

According to this Facebook post, they ran out of burgers in less than an hour. Also in that post, a message from In-N-Out about their expansion plans to Australia (or lack of):

We have done events like this before in other countries and they are just one part of our efforts to promote and expand our brand as well as determine the best way to continue reaching out to customers around the world. We do not have any immediate plans to open a permanent restaurant there but this special event will help us make future decisions.

You can see more photos from the event at Gizmodo Australia and Tighttigers.

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

“The headline is, ‘We’re staying on the move in 2012,’ ” McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner told analysts today in announcing Q4 and full-year 2011 sales results. But if that was the headline, the subhed was “So operators should stop squawking.”

Chicken McBites were rolled out nationally this week.

Skinner and other McDonald’s executives were addressing Wall Street analysts in their conference call, but their remarks also functioned as a response to those McDonald’s franchisees who complained recently about its menu pricing. A survey of operators by Janney Montgomery Scott analyst Mark Kalinowski found some franchisees dissatisfied with the Dollar Menu especially. “Dollar Menu is a dinosaur,” said one operator. “We are close to hitting the wall on this issue. We need to accept diminishing profits or do something about the Dollar Menu,” said another.

But the Dollar Menu, as Skinner said of Ronald McDonald recently, isn’t going anywhere. The Plan to Win strategy is working, he insisted, and he has the numbers to back that up. The Q4 and full-year 2011 results (read the financial results here) were far better than any other QSR competitor’s. McDonald’s Q4 global comp sales rose 7.5%, with the U.S. up 7.1%, Europe up 7.3% and Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa up 6.9% (comp sales for China alone were up 15.6%). Skinner emphasized that the U.S. comp-sales increase was the best since 2006. Skinner singled out the Breakfast Dollar Menu as a reason U.S. sales have been strong.

Premium-price wraps, like these tried in Austria, could come to McDonald's in the U.S. this year.

Further proof that the corporate strategy is working comes in McDonald’s .5% gain in it’s the U.S. QSR market share, which now stands at 12.5%. Globally, McDonald’s has increased to 68 million from 64 million the number of people it serves daily. In other word, the headline is, “Settle down, the strategy is working.”

But McDonald’s President-COO Don Thompson also gave its franchises a “We feel your pain” acknowledgement by conceding that the chain needs to balance its menu, with higher-margin premium-price food items offsetting the value-price items. Thompson said the U.S. operation has not done as well as Europe on developing premium-price sandwiches and wraps. Some of these (including the 1955 Burger?) likely will be imported to the U.S. menu, he said, as the U.S. continues to export its breakfast and smoothie/frappe items globally.

McDonald’s menu prices rose 3% in 2011, including a less-than-1% bump in November. EVP-CFO Peter Bensen said the chain will “offset some but not all” of expected commodity-cost increases (projected at 4.5% to 5.5% this year) with careful menu-price adjustments this year that do not exceed the inflation rate for food away from home.

Chicken McBites were rolled out nationally yesterday, supported by new TV advertising. Coming later this year are a new Cherry Berry Chiller for McCafé and a Blueberry Banana Nut extension of its breakfast oatmeal. Skinner stressed that McDonald’s still has opportunities to expand its morning menu and sales, now at about 25% of the total.

From A Hamburger Today

Editor's note: Please welcome Hawk Krall to A Hamburger Today! You may recognize Hawk from his regular Hot Dog of the Week column on Serious Eats (featuring his awesome art). Now he'll be bringing regular Philadelphia burger coverage as well. If you have suggestions, let him know!

[Photographs: Hawk Krall and Tim Gough]

Gino's is a regional fast food chain that had a huge following in the '60s and '70s in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. Named after Gino Marchetti, former running back of the Baltimore Colts, Gino's was one of the first burger chains to offer burgers made from fresh ground beef and hand cut fries, and their Gino's Giant burger competed with (and was introduced before) the similar Big Mac. The chain disappeared in 1982, until the brand was revived in 2010.

I passed this place a few times and didn't think much of it until my recent search for a half-decent fast food-style burger in Philadelphia. Sure, we have lots of grass-fed beef four-inch thick burgers drowned in truffle butter on brioche buns, but outside of Five Guys and the not-yet opened Philadelphia branch of Shake Shack, finding a delicious thin-patty fast food-style burger that doesn't start life in the freezer is almost impossible here. Gino's isn't even that close to the city, but the drive out to the suburbs is totally worth it.

The restaurant looks like your standard fast food set-up—counter, drink station, tables, and booths—although it's a nice touch that they bring your food out to you when it's ready (and even clean the tables when you leave). Gino's lays it on pretty thick with the '60s retro nostalgia, with old photos of the chain plastered everywhere and giant flat screen TVs blaring extra-crazy old Gino's commercials and jingles.

Burger options include the Gino's Giant—double patty with shredded lettuce, tomato, onion, and "special sauce"—or your choice of a single or double burger topped with anything from the long list of free stuff (grilled onions, mushrooms, jalepeños, chipotle mayonnaise).

The medium well dual burger patties—no temps taken here—were well seasoned and still juicy with a nice crust and flowing with molten American cheese. A lightly toasted Big Marty's soft sesame bun managed to hold everything together, and all of the toppings were well balanced and fresh. Really just a beautiful burger—think Five Guys minus the peanuts and smashed bun, with a lot more care put into your food.

Bacon is another good choice here. Go for it.

The skin-on fries are decent—not sure if they are really hand cut or "hand cut-style," but either way they're worth getting. They're not super crispy but not soggy or greasy either. What really makes the fries sing is the crazy french fry toppings bar where you can bury your fries under malt vinegar, chipotle basil salt, or Gino's own "crab seasoning" for some Crab Fries, aka Old Bay Fries, quite possibly the only culinary tradition that Philadelphia and Baltimore share.

My friend and burger eating assistant (and owner of the iPhone 4S that took these awesome pictures—I don't believe it either) actually compared Gino's to In-N-Out Burger. I don't know about all that, but it might be the closest thing within 20 miles of Philadelphia.

I'm not sure if the suburbs have fully embraced what some are calling "high prices"—I guess in comparison with McDonalds or Burger King. In the city you'll pay $10 or $12 for a mediocre pub burger; if they opened a Gino's in center city I bet people would line up to pay $6 for a Gino's Giant, and give the upcoming Shake Shack invasion some homegrown competition.

About the author: Hawk Krall is a Philadelphia-based illustrator who has a serious thing for hot dogs. Dig his dog drawings? Many of the illustrations he has created for Hot Dog of the Week are available for sale: hawkkrall.net/prints/. Or check out more Philadelphia food adventures at Drawing For Food.

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Bacon Cheeseburger with Hard-Boiled Eggs and Horseradish Mustard Sauce

Keeping things interesting, we’re heading to Estonia now.  The Republic of Estonia is located in Eastern Europe between Latvia and Russia and across the Gulf of Finland from, well, Finland of course!  It’s a small country with a population a little less than 1.3 million.  But Estonians take their history and their culture seriously.  Despite having been occupied/ruled by Denmark, Sweden, Russia, USSR and Germany, Estonians have held on to their culture and heritage and even their unusual language.  And through it all, they’ve built up a strong economy with an emphasis on modern technology.  In fact Skype was created by Estonians – pretty cool.

courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Courtesy of CIA World Factbook

Before we move on, I highly recommend you do a Google image search on Tallinn – go ahead, I’ll wait…Tallinn is (according to several sources) one of the most intact medieval cities in Europe.  The Old Town of Tallinn is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  The original layout of the city is unchanged, many of the houses and major buildings are intact and restored consistent with the original designs from the 13^th and 14^th centuries.  It is beautiful, picturesque, quaint, just pick and adjective.  I’m a fan of any group of people who keep their old buildings and maintain them, so I’m now officially an Estonia fan.

So…cool town center, interesting history and funky language – now how about the food?  Traditional Estonian cuisine is based on seasonal foods (aren’t most traditional cuisines?).  Because their growing season isn’t all that long, Estonians have become fans of pickling as a way to preserve vegetables for the long winter.  So far, I was with them – I love pickled stuff.  Then I discover that in addition to pickled veggies, they like to eat pickled herring and pickled eel.  Now, I’ve never had either, but I’ve smelled pickled herring and that was reason enough to never eat it.  I know, there will be comments extolling the virtues of pickled herring, but you can forget about me incorporating it into a recipe.  At the end of the day, there won’t be a single recipe in this collection that I can’t honestly say I enjoyed eating.  They may not all be burgers that I crave, but they’ll all be burgers I like, and so far many of them are burgers I love.  So no pickled fish.

What about meats?  A classic favorite in Estonia is blood sausage.  I have tried blood sausage (in Cologne on a rather dreadful business trip – imagine hanging out in Germany with a bunch of drunk co-workers while you’re allergic to beer and it’s 90 degrees, not fun), and I’m not a fan.  I also don’t have a local source for blood sausage (Americans are a little squeamish about their food, so it isn’t a popular item here).  So regrettably, no blood sausage.

There’s also a traditional Estonian dish that involves boiling down pork bones and making a jelled substance out of it – can we just say yuck and move on?  I have to admit, I was beginning to despair at this point.  So far I had a pretty gross list of possible ingredients.  But, never one to give up hope, I kept researching.  Luckily Estonians like pork, so do I, they like horseradish sauces, so do I, they like bacon, dark rye bread and hard boiled eggs…wait a minute, hard boiled eggs?  That’s right folks, hard-boiled eggs.  What a riot, I thought that the eggs were kind of gimmicky, but man they made a really nice counterpoint for the pickles and pickled beets.  I also finally conquered my inability to make perfect hard-boiled eggs.  I always over cook my eggs and end up with that green-ish color to the egg yolk.  This time I put four eggs into cold water, enough to have an extra inch of water above the eggs.  I turned on the heat and got it to boiling, then boiled for 6 minutes, let sit in the hot water for 4 minutes, then I immersed the eggs in ice water until they were completely cooled.  It worked like a charm.

So the final burger is a bit of a hot mess, lettuce, pickles, pickled beets, onion, Gruyere, egg, bacon and horseradish sauce.  It is a pain to eat, very messy, sauce and stuff dripping everywhere.  But the flavor is so worth the mess.  Somehow all of these ingredients come together in a rich, tangy scrumptious feast.  My mother suggested I make my father’s burger without pickles or beets because he generally doesn’t like those things – but that would kind of thwart the whole idea of the project don’t you think?  We all ate the burgers as is in the recipe and I wrote down my father’s comment “it isn’t spectacular” that was all he would say.  But, he ate the whole burger and didn’t pick off any of the ingredients, so I’m calling it a win!  Paul and I loved this burger and my mother did too – I hope you’ll try it out and let me know what you think.

Estonian Burger 4 slices of bacon 1 pound ground pork Kosher salt Ground black pepper ¼ cup diced onion Gruyere cheese sliced 8 slices of dark rye bread 1 clove of garlic sliced in half Olive oil Bib lettuce 1 whole dill pickle sliced into thin rounds Pickled beets 2 hard-boiled eggs sliced Horseradish Mustard Sauce (recipe below)

Cut the bacon slices in half and cook in a medium pan until crispy.  Set aside on paper towels until ready to use.  Do not clean the pan.

Form the pork into four patties.  Generously salt and pepper each side of the patty.  Heat the bacon grease over medium high heat.  Press the onions into one side of each patty and place onion side down in the hot bacon grease.  Cook until browned then flip over.  Cook until pork is almost cooked through then add slices of Gruyere and cover until cheese melts.

While the burgers are cooking, rub the garlic over one side of each piece of bread, then brush that same side with olive oil.  In a large dry pan, grill each piece of bread until lightly toasted (you’ll probably have to work in batches unless you have a large grill pan).

To assemble your burger start with a piece of grilled bread, grilled side up.  Add a piece of lettuce, slices of dill pickle, pickled beets, the cooked burger, the cooked bacon and a couple slices of hard boiled egg.  Put a nice dollop of the Horseradish Mustard Sauce on the grilled slice of the second piece of bread and serve the extra sauce on the side.  As I said in the intro, it’s a messy burger – here’s a picture of what you get when you add the sauce – YUMMY!

Horseradish Mustard Sauce ½ cup mayonnaise ¼ cup sour cream 2 teaspoons horseradish 1 teaspoon coarse mustard 4 teaspoons white wine vinegar

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk until smooth.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

©Copyright 2012 Linda Monach

http://burgershereandthere.com/?p=775

From A Hamburger Today

In this video at Yahoo!, two-time Top Chef contestant Fabio Vivani, who was ousted from Season 8 for making a subpar burger, shows what he's learned since his loss by making "the perfect hamburger" (or in his words, "the perfect boorgur") made of two beef cuts seasoned with salt and pepp—AHHH, SALTED TOO EARLY.

He serves the patty on a griddled potato bun smeared with mayo and ketchup, accompanied by lettuce, grilled onions, and melted cheddar. The finished burger looks good, but Fabio's technique of salting the beef before forming the patties goes against Kenji's recommended technique of salting the patties right before cooking. [via Max Y.]

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From A Hamburger Today

[Photograph: J. Kenji López-Alt]

If you were wondering who was first in line at the new Steak 'n Shake in New York City to take advantage of their free year of burgers giveaway, there's a nice piece in The New Yorker, "Bright Lights, Cheap Burgers," following the state of the line from the day before opening—the line started to form at 4:30 p.m.—until the next day's opening at 10 a.m. At the front of the line were four students from King's College, followed by two ultra-marathon runners.

About the author: Robyn Lee is the editor of A Hamburger Today and takes many of the photos for Serious Eats. She'll also doodle cute stuff when necessary. Read more from Robyn at her personal food blog, The Girl Who Ate Everything.

From A Hamburger Today

Comme Ça Burger [Photograph: Damon Gambuto]

Comme Ça—home to one of Damon Gambuto's favorite burgers in Los Angeles—will be holding Burger Night ever Tuesday starting tomorrow, January 24. The Burger Night menu will feature six burgers instead of just the one on their regular menu:

• Comme Ça Burger ($18): A special blend of certified Angus beef, Vermont cheddar, pomme frites
• Swiss Melt Burger ($18): Angus beef, Gruyère cheese, mushrooms, butter lettuce, crispy onion rings, french fries, garlic aioli
• Black and Blue Burger ($18): Angus beef, bleu cheese, red onion, bacon, french fries, garlic aioli
• Lamb Merguez Burger ($16): Lamb sausage, roasted peppers and caramelized onions, arugula on ciabatta bun, french fries, harissa aioli
• Breakfast Burger ($14): Housemade pork sausage, egg sunny side up, white gravy, on an English muffin, Lyonnaise potato
• CCVB (Comme Ca Veggie Burger) ($14): Cashew & pine nuts, garbanzo bean, ajuwan-tomato jam on a tofu bun, baby kale and spinach salad

[via Grub Street LA]