Burger Boom
The reinvention of America's national sandwich continues unabated
By Virginia Gerst, Special to R&I -- Restaurants & Institutions, 9/1/2004
Americans have no beef about burgers. Fifteen percent of all working adults order one at lunch, according to the National Restaurant Association. That makes the all-American patty the second most popular noontime fare, right after salads (15.8%). And while no statistics exist for dinner preferences, it’s known that a significant number of diners chose burgers then too.
No wonder operators lavish attention on the simple—and not-so-simple—hamburger.
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Hubert Keller is one of the most recent restaurateurs to put his money on burgers. The chef-owner of San Francisco’s Fleur de Lys has opened the 140-seat Burger Bar in Las Vegas. A compact kitchen—built for efficiency—turns out an array of burgers with a wide selection of toppings. Three types of beef, lamb and turkey are among the protein options while toppings range from traditional cheese and bacon to more inventive choices such as pesto or cranberry sauce and seared foie gras and black truffles.
Special burgers served with skinny fries include the surf ’n’ turf Black Angus, layered with a grilled half lobster and grilled green asparagus on a plain bun, and the Rossini Burger, crafted with Kobe beef, foie gras, shaved truffles and Madeira sauce on an onion bun.
Desserts continue the burger theme: Patty-shaped chocolate ganache topped with a slice of passion-fruit gel standing in for cheese arrives on a warm bun-shaped doughnut. Fresh mint and sliced strawberries are the “lettuce and tomato” garnish.
Hold the Char
If Keller’s Burger Bar is one of the newest players on
the hamburger scene, Mr. Bartley’s Burger Cottage in Cambridge,
Mass., is one of the veterans. Founded more than 40 years ago
by Joe Bartley, it still draws crowds.
“My father educated people that there was such a thing as a gourmet burger,” says Bill Bartley, Joe’s son, who supervises the 60-seat, family-run operation. “Back then, people were grinding up what was left on the bench at meat packers.”
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Bartley’s still cooks its burgers by the founder’s formula, searing very lean ground beef patties on a flat grill heated to a sizzling 575F. The burgers are “thick and round—almost like a meatball,” says Bartley. They are never charred.
“Char-broiling burgers is burning them, the way we look at it,” he explains. “We want people to taste the meat, not the char. You can eat our burgers with nothing on them. In fact, less is better.”
Don’t tell that to his customers. In addition to the basic $5.25 burger, served with chips and a pickle, Bartley’s sells premium burgers and offers 36 toppings, from chili to cheese, salsa to barbeque sauce. All can be mixed and matched at the customer’s choosing. The menu also lists 18 burgers named for political figures, sports stars and show-business celebrities. There’s the Ted Kennedy (“a plump, liberal amount of burger, with Cheddar cheese, mushrooms, coleslaw and french fries”) and the Stephen King (“a monster Muenster cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, coleslaw and french fries”).
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All burgers are tucked into standard American buns. “It’s not about the roll,” says Bartley. “We serve good-quality bread that’s not going to leak in your hands and can take some handling. A burger on focaccia is not what I want to see.”
Dream On
Burgers are about beef at the four Snuffer’s Restaurant
and Bar locations in and around Dallas. Condiments are limited
to lettuce, tomatoes, red onions and pickles, with only cheese,
bacon and chili for toppings. The restaurants sell 1 million
burgers a year.
“We use a blend of the best beef we can get a hold of,” says Pat Snuffer, who opened his first restaurant in 1978 and takes credit for introducing Cheddar fries to Dallas.
Snuffer’s burgers are Texas-sized. The original patty, still on the menu, weighs in at 8 ounces, but the double burger—one full pound of beef topped with 6 ounces of cheese—has become a sizable seller since it was introduced in February.
“If you can finish that, you’re good,” says Snuffer.
Aside from the double burger, the menu remains much the same as it was in 1978.
“After 26 years, I’m very conservative in what I do,” he explains. “People love our burgers, cheeseburgers and our Cheddar fries. That’s what we’re known for, and I don’t want to confuse the customer.”
Johnny Rockets takes a different approach at its family-friendly, American diner-style restaurants, presenting guests with almost unlimited choices.
“People come to Johnny Rockets because they can order almost anything on their burger they ever dreamed of,” says J.P. Schuerman, senior vice president of Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based Johnny Rockets Group.
The Double Rocket—two patties with Cheddar, tomatoes, lettuce and Thousand Island-like sauce—is “a huge seller,” according to Schuerman. So is the Route 66, served with grilled onions and mushrooms plus Swiss cheese and mayonnaise. Schuerman’s favorite is the chain’s Smokehouse: a third-pound ground beef patty topped with Cheddar, bacon, crisp onion rings and barbeque sauce. “If you are a burger fan, you just want to bite into it,” he says.
In the Thick of It
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Red Robin Gourmet Burgers also offers plenty of options, including 22 burgers, served with all-you-can-eat steak fries. Choices include the signature Bonsai Burger, with teriyaki sauce and pineapple; the Five Alarm Burger, with pepper Jack cheese, jalapeños, salsa and chipotle mayonnaise; and the Blue Ribbon Burger, with steak sauce, blue cheese and onion straws. In addition, customers can—and do—add and subtract toppings.
“A hallmark of our brand is that people can customize anything,” says Dwayne Chambers, vice president of marketing for Denver-based Red Robin. “The vast majority of our orders are somehow customized.”
Customers at Islands restaurants can tailor their burgers by selecting sauces and toppings. Sandwiches have a surfing theme, a nod to the corporation’s Southern California headquarters, and are named for great surfing breaks, such as the Pipeline (chili, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and mustard), and islands, including Maui (guacamole, lettuce, tomato, Swiss cheese and mayonnaise).
“They are the best hamburgers on the planet,” boasts Tim Perreira, director of food and beverage for the Carlsbad, Calif.-based chain. “We use a proprietary blend of fresh meat, and our equipment grinds and processes it so that it has a texture we are looking for.” That texture, he says, is denser than the average burger and “more like steak.”
Thickburgers are specialties at St. Louis-based Hardee’s units. Made with 100% Angus beef, they’re offered in third-, half- and two-thirds-pound sizes and are served on traditional buns.
The menu lists nine varieties including the original Thickburger, with lettuce, tomatoes, American cheese and ketchup; the Mushroom Swiss Thickburger, topped with cheese and sautéed and fresh sliced mushrooms; and the Bacon Cheese Thickburger. The lettuce-wrapped Low Carb Thickburger responds to special diets.
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“The size and quality of the burger are more like you would find in a sit-down restaurant,” says Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Corp., which owns the Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. concepts.
At Carl’s Jr., diners can order an Angus Six Dollar Burger—for $3.95. “We want to position it in people’s mind as an item they would pay $6 for in a sit-down restaurant, but they are getting it for less at Carl’s Jr.,” says Haley.
Introduced in 2001, the Six Dollar Burger, which has the same build as the Hardee’s original Thickburger, is still on the menu for $3.95, but diners now have the choice of six other Six Dollar Burgers, including the popular Western bacon version and a 1-pound Double Six Dollar Burger that sells for $5.49.
“The fast-food industry has evolved from the 1950s to 1970s when people predominately bought small patties,” Haley explains. “Customers have gotten used to bigger.
“Chains today combine the quality of sit down and the convenience of fast food.”
“21” Burger
Executive Chef Erik Blauberg, “21” Club,
New York City
Yield: 1 serving
| Top sirloin and sirloin strip, ground | 12 oz. |
| Herb-and-spice blend (including rosemary, parsley and thyme) | pinch |
| Egg | 1 |
| Minced onion | 1 Tbsp. |
| Rendered duck fat | 1/2 tsp. |
| Canola oil | 1 tsp. |
| Sourdough roll | 1 |
Combine ground beef, herb-and-spice blend, egg, onion and duck fat and form into patty. Brush burger with canola oil before placing on grill. Grill to desired doneness.
Note: “21” serves its burger with sides of oven-dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, sautéed green beans and choice of potato (potatoes soufflé and french fries are the most popular).
Regions to Celebrate
Some hamburgers are territorial—they
get their kick from regional flavors.
At the Owl Cafe in San Antonio, N.M., diners are hot for the green-chile cheeseburger—a quarter-pounder mounded with green chile, American cheese, onions, tomatoes, a pickle and lettuce.
The Owl Cafe grinds 120 pounds of beef each weekday—double that on weekends—and prepares its own green chile from roasted peppers supplied by local farmers.
“We peel them, chop them and boil them in water with fresh garlic,” says Rowena Baca, whose family has owned the Owl for 59 years. “The secret of good green chile is to let it simmer. We start it at 6 a.m., and it’s ready by noon.”
Baca describes the Owl Cafe as “an old-fashioned place” that boasts a mahogany bar that once belonged to a local saloonkeeper named Gus Hilton, Conrad’s father. It’s been selling green-chile cheeseburgers since Baca’s father, the late Frank Chavez, cooked up the idea in 1948.
“Everybody loves them,” says Baca. “I’ve had kids 6 years old eating them. The chile is a little hot; it’s not the canned stuff. But people here are used to it.”
Wisconsin is the Dairy State and Solly’s Grille in Milwaukee heralds the fact with the Cheesehead, two one-third-pound patties of ground sirloin separated by a slice of raw onion and topped with stewed onions, melted Swiss and American cheeses and sautéed mushrooms.
The Cheesehead is “a great seller” according to Glenn Fieber, whose father founded Solly’s in 1936. Diners order their Cheeseheads on a bun, hard roll or French bread, which regulars call “pillows,” as in “a Cheesehead between two pillows.”
Whatever the bread, it is slathered with a sizable dollop of butter. The kitchen adds butter at the last minute to all hamburger buns, breads and rolls.
“The taste of real Wisconsin butter marries so well with the sirloin,” says Fieber. “It’s a great old-fashioned taste.”
Solly’s customers consume 130 to 150 pounds of butter on their burgers each week. “We keep the cows in business,” he says.
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