PrintThe Sad State of American Burgers
Or, "When Doing What's Right Is Called 'Gourmet' "
So this kinda gets my hackles up. A story in the Dallas Morning News headlined "Burgers go gourmet" takes on the issue of restaurants and burger chains that "take the humble hamburger to the next gastronomic level."
Throughout the story, the word "gourmet" is used as a kind of shorthand for a burger concept we're seeing more and more of these days. In response to the opening of Mooyah, a burger joint in Plano, Texas, that's described as making "a higher class of burger—made from fresh (not frozen) patties, with premium toppings such as grilled onions," the publisher of a restaurant trade magazine refers to the idea as a "gourmet burger experience."
Ladies and gentlemen, that is not a "gourmet burger." That is, plain and simple, a good hamburger. If you subscribe to the notion that a "gourmet" hamburger exists (and they do—Daniel Boulud's truffle, foie gras, and braised short rib stuffed burger is an example, albeit a ridiculous one), then a burger whose patty is fresh-not-frozen and that's topped with good-quality ingredients is merely the base upon which a "gourmet" burger is built.
The U.S. is a country whose national cuisine might as well be the hamburger. How pathetic is it then that such a specimen made with fresh beef and grilled onions is considered "gourmet"?
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10 Comments:
You're damn right, Adam. As Americans, I think its our God-given right to be able to get good hamburgers at just about any independently-owned fast food restaurant, no matter where you go. Unfortunately, that's not the case, with so many places using frozen, pre-formed patties, bad produce, and bad buns.
I had a perfect example of a "goog hamburger" over the weekend -- it was actually at a Hot Dog joint in Northern NJ, Hot Dog Heaven.
http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/06/18/nj-dining-hot-dog-heaven/
It was made exactly as you describe it should be made --- from fresh ground beef (in this case, Angus), cooked correctly, on a proper squishy bun with melted American Cheese and cooked onions. It was excellent. No need to wait on an hour long line, no exorbitant price. It was ready for me in five minutes.
40 or 50 years ago, maybe even 20, it might have been possible to get this sort of hamburger at any decent diner or greasy spoon. But that's becoming increasingly difficult nowadays.
jperlow at 3:34PM on 06/18/07
Adam, you are once again, goring "sacred oxen", as in the main-stream media types who are simply trying to salvage their sinking revenues by posting non-sensical BS such as that which you referenced.
The Dallas Morning News unfortunately pays good salaries to imbeciles such as "KAREN ROBINSON-JACOBS" . . . hell, she/he/it cannot even decide what her/his/its' last name is.
You and I, Adam, and millions of other self-assured folks in this country know what a good burger is all about.
We DO NOT need some desperate freshman writer, fresh out of journalism school (assigned to the task of "saving" their sinking ship), to insult our intelligence by writing and publishing this tripe.
Let it rest, my good man!
The likes of the "Zagats" and of the "Dallas Morning News" are NOT worthy of your concern.
The Internet, and forums such as "Serious Eats", will prevail. We will learn to live without such crap as that in the Dallas Morning news.
DocChuck at 4:15PM on 06/18/07
We can't all be so lucky to live in wonderful places, and each person has different ideas about what makes a town/city/suburb a a great place to live, and for some I am sure Plano is great, and I realize it is pretentious of me to criticize as a native Austinite whose only exposure to Plano was soccer tournaments...BUT in college at UT I met many young people from Plano, many who would only return to visit family but never spend the night, and many others whose terrified me in their behaviors that defined excess in every sense of the word (some of whom might be dead and some others who have returned to Plano)...to me this burger place represents Plano in all its sad, sad glory.
Be not dismayed Adam, I once feared that Plano was a microcosm of America and railed against it, and although I take Mr. Perlow's comment to heart (and from reading his blog regularly, we would all be wise to do so), these places like Mooyeh (what kind of name is that I ask you?) cannot thrive but in places like Plano and we can each make our own choices about whether we want to visit them or not, even if we, for whatever reason, choose to or have to live in places like Plano.
[a friend and colleague made a documentary about Plano and the unusually high number of heroin overdoses in their teenagers, a trailer of which can be seen here:
http://www.southernloveprod.com/video/plano.htm
I myself relished a Cook-Out tray on my way back to NC from Ohio this past weekend: fresh ground beef (although I do think the patties are a little too thick, and ,alas, always med-well), grilled onions (for free upon request), proper cheese, great bun, and appropriately cheap for my sorry overly employed/underpaid ass.
I will let Mooyah and Plano be, and let those who like it live it, and think of it only occasionally, but with sadness, and bite into my Cook-Out cheeseburger with joy.
intheyearofthepig at 4:20PM on 06/18/07
AMEN!
Living in Atlanta, I've been privvy to one of the best burgers at Ann's Snack Bar. Fantastic burgers - the wait can be a bit irksome sometimes, but to see Miss Ann make the burgers and to see it sizzle and then come to you with a faint sheen of glisten (ok ok - grease) ... mmm ... called the "Ghetto Burger", though I'm not sure why, it's two patties, cheese if you want, and bacon.
It's a must try for anyone visiting who is a burger fan!
rbryants at 4:21PM on 06/18/07
@intheyearofthepig: Wait! I wasn't attacking Plano or Mooyah. The burger joint there sounds like it's doing a good thing—making burgers we'd all want to eat. My point was that it's a sad state when a place like Mooyah is the exception and not the norm and when its burgers are lauded by others as "gourmet" when in fact the hopeful upstart is just making burgers the way every burger should be made in an ideal world.
@DocChuck: I have no beef with "mainstream media," the Dallas Morning News, or Ms. Robinson-Jacobs in particular. I got my start in, and continue to have respect for, the profession. I don't think that the story insults anyone's intelligence; she's simply reporting on the fact that these types of burger places are prospering (and rightly so) in a world where McDonald's and Burger King's offerings are increasingly seen as lackluster by discerning food-lovers. It might not be news to people who follow burger trends (how many people out there do?), but it's probably news to the vast majority of Americans. What's the harm in that?
Adam Kuban at 4:37PM on 06/18/07
@Adam:
As usual, you are right on the mark and I don't spend enough time reading.
I actually didn't think you were attacking Plano, that was me, in an unfair passive-aggressive kind of way, but watch that trailer if you find a spare moment and you might get a bit of my perspective (I did kind of think you were attacking Mooyah, at least for the price of the food, but now I see it was a quote from the article talking about the price).
Thanks for the clarification and a gentle reminder by example (something again that many of us could learn from you and Mr. Perlow) that appreciating and reporting on good food does not require snobbery.
So may the ideas behind Mooyah flourish, but at a price that's a bit more reasonable maybe hopefully. Although that statement seems to be a microcosm of American thinking, "give me the best, but make it cheap, by exploiting others or natural resources."
intheyearofthepig at 4:59PM on 06/18/07
@intheyear: I re-read my post and realized I didn't connect the dots myself. I think I made a couple extra leaps in my head that didn't make it on screen here. Must go back and make some tweaks to make things a bit more clear.
Adam Kuban at 5:12PM on 06/18/07
America chose convenience over quality years ago. That's why crappy burgers are so prevalent and why you can buy frozen peanut butter and jelly (and grilled cheese) sandwiches and microwavable hot dog already in a bun.
nickb at 6:00PM on 06/18/07
Their definition of "gourmet" means that In-n-Out burgers are gourmet..... Fresh patties, grilled onions. Hmmmmm.
KateC at 6:05PM on 06/18/07
@nickb: So true. That's the heart of what I'm getting at. Sad that so many foods are considered "gourmet" or "upscale" simply for being fresh or of high quality. We are a sad lot, indeed.
Adam Kuban at 6:09PM on 06/18/07