Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

No Steak and Shake? I know they are not everywhere, but either is Carl's Jr. We have Checker's, but in other places they are called Sonic. Then there's Hardee's. I know, I'm being a picky whiner. I guess I'm saying that places like Carl's Jr. and Krystal should be in another category--regional, maybe? But that might result in smaller chains, etc. I haven't been to any of these lately, but as I remember it from 8-10 years ago, Chili's wasn't that bad.

Culver's = diarrhea

The pastrami burger that Lexalpha mentioned has been refined to perfection in the Salt Lake City area, where one-off restaurants and local chains started by Greek immigrants have made it their signature specialty. No hamburger aficionado has truly lived until he/she has experienced a Crown Burger.

Excuse my ignorance, but the agencies who came up with these... did they develop the recipe, or do the restaurants bring them the recipe and tell them to promote it? How does this work, exactly?

Now that was by far one of my favorite burger posts I've seen! Way to get them all in one blog.

@everyone: Thanks for the kudos! This was a lot of fun to put together, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if it made you hungry, but dems da breaks!

@KingT: What would you say makes a '30s-style burger? Given what I've read about burger history, I'd guess it would either be a slider (since White Castle all but revolutionized burgerdom in the late '20s and up to WWII) or a slider-style burger (a little larger but cooked in a similar fashion).

@shanella: I'm only responsible for the first photo; the rest are Flickr Creative Commons–licensed or used with permission of the photographer. I know that any of Nick Solares's or Robyn Lee's are dSLRs (Nikon D300 and Canon 20D, respectively). For any of the others that link to Flickr, you can click through and look to see if the photographer has EXIF data for the photo. That should tell you camera make/model.

What about the 30's style? did I miss that?

Very educational for us foodies Adam. Thanks for pointing out the difference between a slider and a mini burger...i always thought they were the same. I like the part about the fast food burger! lol! I think you're right about the kobe burger cause i enjoy the slight rubberiness of the minced meat against the soft bread in a regular burger...the kobe has enough brilliance to stand on it's own! What they call pimento cheese in the U.S. is what we call cheese paste in caribbean, and is often a combination of grated cheddar, mayo, grated onion, diced peppers and hot sauce, and is usually slathered between sandwich slices, cut into cute bite size triangles and served at parties.

I realise that this is about American burgers, but just for interest: in Australia it's an "Aussie" burger if it has sliced beetroot on it (and probably onions too, though possibly raw). However, the essential ingredient to make a pizza an "Aussie pizza" is egg cracked over the top just before it's put in the oven.

We're a weird bunch.

I thought the hot dogs were pretty bad. Walked around the stadium but could not find something that would appeal to me. The worst part was not the food. It was the offensive padding down "frisk" that a male guard did to my body at the entrance. I should have said to him, "Keep your hands off of me you stinking dirty ape!" How offensive to Met fans. They actually put there hands on you and feel you up to see if they find "something". I'll probably not return again! Not because I find the hot dogs not so good, but because they are offending Met fans by "feeling up" their bodies. Jerks!

I love this place and so sad that there are none in North Jersey where I have moved.....was in Philly the other day and planned a stop on the way home....got the tuna, no cheese, pickles - L&T and HOT PEPPERS.....also bought 2 jars of the peppers to bring home. A few weeks ago I had to eat with a co-worker at a Quizno's and made them toast the tuna with no cheese and they asked 3 times and even had the manager come to verify what I had requested. Sadly that wasn't even close to having a Potbelly sandwich. After I ate the other day, I regretted not getting the large - I contemplated ordering a 2nd regular but thought the staff might think I have an eating disorder - the only disorder is that I don't have a Potbelly near me!

There are vegetarian/vegan marsh recipe's out there...

My first EVER date was at McDonalds. I was in 5th grade though so it was all i could afford.