Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I actually like the Associated Brand (it's the squishiest), but I'll go along with pretty much everything the SE team found here. The one regret I have about squishy buns -- the only one -- is that the bottom bun absorbs 100% of the burger's weigh and almost all its fat / juice flow; why is it usually 33% of the total bun then? In some of these it might be 25%. Look at the pictures. The key is to get a squishy bun and slice it 50/50. It makes a huge difference.

I like Roberta's because it's not a Naples-style pizza. The crust has heft and substance without being doughy, and it can support itself rather than just turning into a revolting mass of wet dough at the center. Also, the lunch pie at Roberta's is magnificent -- more of a bread than a pizza, but so what? It's what Co should have been like.

Liquid smoke is one of the most revolting substances known to man, and anathema to any real cook.

I think Nick needs to get to the little owl. Joey will make him the rare burger he loves this time. I'd also be interested in seeing if Bill's makes the list, either with the standard Bill's burger or the Fatcat, which I got to try yesterday and which was sort of an overwhelming experience.

This hideous, bukake-like photo doesn't begin to do justice to Schoop's. Please put one that doesn't have all that revolting garbage on top. Thanks!

Why doesn't he make some bacon or pancetta? Those muffins are for women. Make a frittata di pasta or something with some balls, at least!

I have it in the works! But you don't need to like the creamy interior...I am a lifelong scrapple enthusiast and never want any bit of it to be creamy. I press it flat in the pan and Egg should too. At the very least it should be firm throughout. Nobody wants creamy pork liver.

I am agog at the greatness of this feature. Nick may just have graduated from being a mere "Cutlet Cadet" and into a true colleague and brother in burgerdom. I hereby do admit English Nick Solares into the Brethren of Burgertude, with all rights and privilges thereunto! Great work, Nick. This is a a classic.

Stand is much better than BRGR...and Stand wasn't good enough to make the list. There are almost no grilled burgers on the ist -- although the Number One burger is a grilled one, strangely enough. I can't figure it out.

two slices is not "a pizza." Nor is three. A standard sized pizza from any NY pizzeria will set you back a good $18 or $20 or more, if you get stuff on it. I'd like to know where these $14 pizzas are -- probably in Brooklyn somewhere, and not in Manhattan, or at places like Dominos, where you're looking at $16 for a plain pie, $2 for a handful of vile floppy pepperonis, and another $2 for tax.

Adam, I agree with much of what you're saying -- I devote a chapter to the recrudscence of the burger in the early oughts in the closing chapter of my book The Hamburger: A History. I was speaking more about the current state of burger glory, which as a nationwide phenomenon, surely can't be credited to La Frieda. (On the other hand, the places George Motz celebrates in Hamburger America are by definition those ones that owe nothing to current fashions.) I believe the DB burger to have bee a false start. The Shake Shack started the current era of burger domination, and with it the La Frieda hegemony. (Or rather, hamburgemony.) Soon everyone will be using griddles on their burgers, paint scrapers, martins potato buns, and otherwise aping the shack. But if they don't use a custom blend of the very highest caliber, whether LaFrieda or otherwise, I don't think they'll ever rival its popularity.

Before I hand over my meat-writing crown of thorns, consider who told English Nick about black label, and for that matter, who told the world about it. I did enjoy this post though. A lot. I actually ate in City Burger for a Nightline segment that may air as early as tomorrow, and boy, was it good. Nick is right about it not needing cheese. Certainly it needs no condiments.

Great post! The info on the black label is wrong, though. The mix Pat told Nick about was an early version of Black Label. But it really is great. They should never have dialed back the fat; the flareup was because it was cooked on a grill instead of the griddle God intended.