Dish of the Year: The Burger
Our pick for top dish of The Year That Was.
The burger was everywhere in 2008, and I do mean everywhere, made by anybody and everybody, by both anonymous nobodies and celebrity somebodies. Bobby Flay did it. So did Thomas Keller, and Daniel Boulud and Eric Ripert, and Tom Colicchio. And Rachael Ray announced plans to do it.
What was the most popular event at fancy-pants food and wine festivals in Miami and New York? The Burger Bash, of course.
The burger was featured on Top Chef and Iron Chef and Conan and on Letterman and Leno.
Jon Stewart loves them and so does Brian Williams. I'm sure Dr. House is devouring burgers when he's not popping pills. Even our super-healthy, mega-buff (get a load of those six-pack abs) president-elect has a professed weakness for burgers. And the man has steely discipline and steely abs.
Oh, yes, the burger is our pick for the dish of the year. It may not be surprising in the least, but it is undeniable.
Where does the burger go from here? Up (thousand-dollar burgers?), down (penny burgers?), and everywhere else in the food universe. A Hamburger Today founder Adam Kuban introduced serious burger lovers to the joys of the Fatty Melt, and I for one think he should be awarded a MacArthur genius grant for that effort. That would certainly give the burger a certain kind of legitimacy.
You can bet we'll see burgers wolfed down at the inauguration and beyond. Shouldn't there be a Secretary of Burgers in the cabinet?
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8 Comments:
LOL! Adam ~ The fatty melt was my absolute favorite for 2008. We know this because I actually talked about it for an hour with friends at dinner. You rock!!
izatryt at 5:20PM on 12/31/08
I think my favorite burger this year was the one I had at Nicky Rotten's in San Diego. Truly awesome. And BF wants to know why I'm not making the Fatty Melt right now. I've tried to point out that we're in the middle of a snow storm.
Amandarama at 5:41PM on 12/31/08
It was once said that I came out of my mother's womb grasping a burger, with cheese and guacamole, served on a toasted buttery bun. Since then, I have never put them down. I would have to agree whole-heartedly, that the burger was the ultimate dish of 2008. Let's go for a repeat in '09 and a three-peat in '10! Happy New Years all!
Food Ninja at 7:29PM on 12/31/08
The burger is the dish of every year. Of course, people say that I will be buried between two buns.
eatorama at 8:59PM on 12/31/08
For the Ultimate Burger... Oh my god - its gotta be America's JUICIEST burger - you gotta try Palm Beach Prime's KOBE Burger. 8 oz. of pure heaven... no ketchup needed - in fact no bun needed! Just use a knife and a fork and savor EVERY bite...
At only $6-7 bucks a burger - thats a fraction of the cost of what they'll cost you dining out in the trendy spots! They'll even ship it anywhere in the country via FedEx.
go to www.PalmBeachPrime.com
djs6328 at 8:42PM on 01/01/09
Burgers are one dish that I almost never order out. They're too easy to fix at home and I can put anything I like one them. And they're a lot cheaper at home to boot.
paulf at 3:07AM on 01/02/09
Back in Hard Scrabble, PA, in the 50's it was not uncommon for taverns to have a small grill behind the bar for the sole purpose of serving up a hamburger with your beer. A slice of raw onion was the only extra.
Anne Argula at 1:17PM on 01/05/09
Burgers are always gonna be a fav.
JohnnyCupcakes at 9:24PM on 01/06/09