Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Great for remembering Pete's Famous, the kind of hot dog place that should go on forever. Will miss it and Gus.

@HawkKrall Jake's Sandwich Board, 122 S. 12th, just south of Sansom in CC They call their steaks "rib eye sandwiches" and gunk them up some.

Sarcones Deli would be near the top of my list - but I pretty much stick to basic Italian Hoagies when comparing. I rate Chickie's and Sarcone's equal - pretty much an "on any given Sunday" sort of thing. My most memorable hoagie came from Silvio's in Hatfield, north of Phila. They bake there own bread and, luck of the draw, one visit my hoagie was built on bread still warm from the oven. I requested the same next time and the nice lady said "not available." Only happens when a) they have just baked bread, b) they are out of earlier baked bread and c) when Jupiter aligns with Mars.

Gastropub burgers are often the Cadillacs of the hamburgers. Solid substance spoiled by garish chrome.

It would be sad if, because of the few negative comments here, people passed by Red's Eats and missed a legendarily great lobster roll, maybe the best lobster roll in Maine, certainly in the top two or three.

That Yogi Berra-like logic, "Don't go there, the place is packed with tourists," is such a knee-jerk and inaccurate disservice to many great roadfood places. Who says tourists don't know good eating? When you eat away from your home turf, you are a tourist. Ninety miles from home you suddenly become a blind lemming who no longer recognizes something special?

Red's specifically - I've been to Red's Eats many times pre and post summer season. The lines are still there, just not as long. That is when the locals hit Red's. Off season, shorter waits.

Even when the lines are long and most in line are visitors to Maine - talk to people. Find out how many are first timers and how many more have made Red's a special traditional stop every summer for the past ten or twenty years.

Maybe it is because people experience so many places that muck up lobster rolls - add lettuce or celery or lemon juice - don't use a New England hot dog roll or don't butter and toast the bun - chop the lobster tuna-salad small - that some don't appreciate the pure simplicity of a Red's lobster roll. Large, identifiable chunks of chilled lobster heaped inside a warmed, toasted buttered roll. Sides of mayo or butter. Nothing more. Anything else - an unnecessary embellishment.

Other excellent lobster roll - I'll second Johnny Ads, though I have a hard time getting past their fried clams. Mabel's Lobster Claw in Kennebunkport does an upscale version. Cape Porpoise Lobster Company also builds a great lobster roll.

Closing line of article, "What are your favorite lobster rolls? Which would you like to see added to the line-up? "

"For the love of God," didn't y'all ask for our favorites and which ones are missing from the list?

One of my better investments - a Garland commercial gas range complete with salamander. Beautifully broiled ribeyes - fat flareups from the top, firing back down to the steak. Broils a perfect medium rare, though occasionally my inner caveman demands Pittsburgh charring - easily accomplished with a salamander. Broiling room temperature steaks work best.

Sad but true, with the closing of Harry Ochs in the Reading Terminal market it is impossible in Philadelphia to find dry aged steaks cut from sides of beef.

I worked New Products for McDonald's during the development of the Big Mac, including helping to develop the sauce and the operational procedures, writing the initial operations manual and scheduling the Big Mac's national introduction.

Back then the fresh, not frozen patties were grilled on a gas grill - one side at a time. The beef was fresh ground every morning and delivered to stores. Fresh off the grill the patties had a good, beefy flavor. At the time all McDonald's grilled hamburger patties were seared and ended up with brown "freckles" from the searing.

Fresh cut onions, cut a few times a day with a Prince Castle variation on a french fry cutter, went on the patties after flipping. I still hold the McDonld's grillmen in awe - laying down batches of 48 patties, 12 at a time in two rows of six and, a spatula in each hand, flipping them three at a time with each spatula - flipping 48 patties in a few seconds. The great grillmen could handle 72 patties at a time, during heavy rushes.

The crown and heel of the bun were caramelized on the grill. Caramelizartion gave the surface of the bun a minimal seal. The center section was air-toasted on a conveyor toaster. The Big Mac was built upside down in a paper collar.

It's the small things that were important and distinguished the Big Mac from all the other double deck hamburgers. The air-toasting of the center section prevented it from collapsing and pretty much disappearing between the two patties. The paper collars they were built in and subsequently wrapped in kept everything lined up perfectly and, prevented the finished Big Macs from being crushed during wrapping.

The sauce was developed by Conway, who also made the tartar sauce mayonnaise base and separate pickle mix. They would bring twenty or so samples to our R&D lab. Three or four of us would taste the various approaches and pick the most promising. Conway would come back with variations on those. The sauce determination process took a number of months. Conway and, perhaps the McDonald's legal department knew the recipe. We didn't. We were pretty sure the original sauce contained chutney but I doubt that is now the case.

The Big Mac fresh off the grill was far better than the cook-and-hold version served today. I'm not sure if the original Big Mac could match up to Kenji's, but I'm not sure it wouldn't - especially if Kenji was turning out two hundred Big Macs an hour.

"20/80" (proper fat/lean percentage)

Amen to hoagie rolls for hoagies and not dogs. Chicago hot dogs prove a regular hot dog bun (with poppy seeds) can hold all the ingredients one could wish for without overpowering the hot dog.

Why hide a great dog with a lot of bread?

Nice dog. Another ring bologna variation - with warm German potato salad. Having lived in Wisconsin for two very long and often below zero years, I'm a fan of Usingers. Still sometimes add a ring bologna to a wiener and fresh brat order.

For the record, Charlie's Pool Room in Alpha NJ must be on such a list. Hawk knows better. I blame Rachel Ray for such a glaring omission.

From the opening paragraph, "Motz's Burgers best Louis' (Louis Lunch, New Haven) in one significant way: they actually taste good."

Cute phrasing, but baseless. Louis Lunch serves a great hamburger. An example where a cheap shot places the writer's overall credibility in doubt.