Hungry Travels

(photo courtesy of Roadfood.com)

The picture above is of a burger from Louis’ Lunch in New Haven.  My friend Veronica and I were emailing yesterday about what else, food.  Veronica used to live in Philadelphia (before my Philly road trip a few months ago she gave me an incredible and vast list of dining suggestions — she’s a walking Philly Zagat Guide).  She lives in New Haven now, and asked when I was coming up to sample the city’s famous pizza. That led to this exchange:

Veronica: “And if you want you can also try the oldest hamburger in America which is TERRIBLE. The place is called Louis’ Lunch and it sucks… no seasoning, no toppings, no ketchup and the meat is terribly undercooked.”

Me:  ”Um, I don’t think I want to try a place that’s “terrible”.  You really didn’t sell it too well.”

Veronica:  ”Well, the place sucks, but a lot of people who come here want to try it.”

That got me thinking (and hurriedly googling Louis’ Lunch): Why would a place that’s serving crap food continue to draw steady crowds?  

The answer might be as simple as this: Louis’ Lunch has history. (To be fair, many of the reviewers did also rave about its burgers.) It’s the oldest hamburger restaurant in the U.S., operating out of New Haven since 1895.   The burgers are still prepared in the original way, in the same antique gas stoves.   Kind of cool.  In our disposable culture the rarity of an establishment with a story, where you can actually say “This is the same way they did it 100 years ago!”… well, I understand the appeal.

Is Nathan’s Famous really worth a pilgrimage to Coney Island?   Do Walter’s hot dogs justify waiting in a 20-deep line?  Maybe, maybe not.   Maybe we’re all suckers and these landmarks are capitalizing on our sentimentality; in a sense, we’re paying for the nostalgia.  

So despite Veronica’s not-so-ringing endorsement of Louis’ Lunch, I probably will give it a shot the next time I’m in New Haven.  Am I expecting to enjoy it?  Not really.  The burger looks pretty nasty in that pic.  But that’s okay — at least I’ll be able to say I’ve eaten at the oldest burger joint in America.

Louis’ Lunch
263 Crown St.
New Haven, CT
203-562-5507 

Related posts

• The Burger Stands Alone (1)
• On Burgers and Rare Bar & Grill (1)
• First Stop on the New Haven Pizza Tour (0)
• Ethiopian in New Haven and Michael Phelps (0)
• Burgers, Shakes & Fries, Oh My (0)

If you were stranded on a desert island and could only have five foods, what would they be? That’s a question I’d have to think long and hard about, but without a doubt, the humble burger would make the cut.  I was horrified by Fast Food Nation’s revelations about the American meat processing industry, the thought of mad cow disease and E. coli gives me the willies, and for general health reasons I don’t make burgers a frequent part of my diet, but it would take a minor miracle for me to give them up for the rest of my life.  They’re too good.   

As a Westchester resident and burger lover, I’m embarrassed to admit I’ve yet to eat at the consensus best burger joints in the area: Piper’s Kilt, Blazer Pub and AJ’s.   Lame!  I suppose that makes me less a burger lover, and more a burger poser.  I’m like one of those annoying people who says he’s a huge fan of a sports team, but can’t name a single player on the team except for a guy who was traded three years ago.  This situation must be rectified.  

Not sure how it’s happened, but somehow I’ve eaten at Rare Bar & Grill in Manhattan’s Murray Hill four times in the past year. In my burger poser opinion, their burgers are top notch: enormous, beefy, juicy, nicely charred, and piled high with quality toppings.  It’s a vertical burger that you have to squeeze down on with both hands to fit it into your mouth. 

Moki and I met at Rare last night for beer (Boddingtons) and burgers; my M&M burger with caramelized shallots, cheddar cheese and meaty apple smoked bacon was a model of messy deliciousness (as evidenced by the juice dripping down my arm and ketchup on the front of my shirt).

The awesome burger would have been enough, but the massive Gus’s pickle was also one of the best pickles I’ve ever had.  I’m not sure we needed two orders of shoestring sweet potato fries though:

Think we should have gotten one and shared?  

I don’t know where Rare’s burgers rate on the grand scale of great burgers, but I love ‘em and would definitely take them with me to a desert island.   In the immortal words of LeVar Burton, “But you don’t have to take my word for it.”  I am a burger poser, after all.  

Rare Bar & Grill
303 Lexington Ave. @ 37th St.
New York, NY  10016
212-481-1999 ext. 9 

Related posts

• The Burger Stands Alone (1)
• Food and the Nostalgia Factor (0)
• Burgers, Shakes & Fries, Oh My (0)

A recap of our drive home from Philly on Sunday night:

7:10 pm-  Driving up I-95, mild hunger sets in.  No problem, there’ll be plenty of rest stops along the way.

7:45 pm-  Hmm, now I’m starting to get hungry.  I wonder where the next rest stop is.

8:00 pm- Amanda spots a sign for Chick-fil-A. “Ooh, Chick-fil-A!” she says.  “I didn’t know they had them up here!” (she’s from North Carolina).  “But they’re usually closed on Sundays.”

“How come?” I ask.
“Because they’re religious.”

8:30 pm- Another Chick-fil-A sign!  Maybe in Jersey they’re open on Sundays.  After all, this isn’t the Bible Belt.   We take the exit and I inspect the sign more closely: “Chick-fil-A.  CLOSED ON SUNDAYS”.   Aargh.  God doesn’t want me to have a chicken sandwich. 

8:45 pm-  My stomach starts to eat itself.  

9:00 pm-   We’re having obsessive food thoughts.   We start playing the food game, a simultaneously enjoyable and excruciating exercise.

“You know what would be awesome right now?  Lobster with ginger and scallion.”
“Ooooh… or saag paneer.”
“Miso black cod at Morimoto.”
“Shrimp po’ boy.”
…. “Ohhhhhhh.” 

9:05 pm- Critical decision— there’s a rest stop 2 miles up ahead.  But traffic’s building up on 95 and the exit for the Garden State Parkway is only 1 mile away.  Do we hit the rest stop and take a chance on traffic, or do we get off 95?   We get off.

9:15 pm-   I spot a sign for McDonald’s and Lukoil.   Slim pickings.  There’s got to be something in Paramus.  We keep driving. 

9:40 pm-  We’re drooling like bloodhounds.   Then finally, a rest stop with a Burger King up ahead!   It’s no Chick-fil-A, but beggars can’t be choosers.   Let’s eat!

9:45 pm-  We stumble to the counter like thirsty travelers finding an oasis in the desert.   The customer ahead of us alerts us to a problem— apparently, BK’s almost completely out of food, including burgers.   Whaaaat?  BURGER King is out of burgers?!   Is this the Twilight Zone?  I’m starting to feel like Michael Douglas in Falling Down when he goes nutty because the employees at Whammy Burger won’t serve him breakfast.  Our options are a fried chicken sandwich, a fried crispy chicken sandwich or a fried fish sandwich.   We both go with fried option A and I ask pitifully,  “Do you have any burgers left?”

Lady Behind Counter: “We have one.”
“One??”
“Yes, just one.” 
“I’ll take it!”

Of course, they probably found this burger under the french fryer, dusted it off and made a bet on which sucker would actually eat it.  I don’t care, it’s mine.   Amanda and I rapturously enjoy our chicken sandwiches.   Then trembling, I open the wrapper to view my beloved burger, adorned with pickles and ketchup.  Here it is folks, 9:50 pm, the last Burger King burger at the Montvale rest stop in New Jersey…

To a hungry man, it was a thing of beauty.  

Related posts

• The Cheesesteak Capital of the World (4)
• On Burgers and Rare Bar & Grill (1)
• Food and the Nostalgia Factor (0)
• Eats of Philadelphia (0)
• Burgers, Shakes & Fries, Oh My (0)

I’m a health-conscious guy and try to eat pretty clean during the week.   But when my boss wanted to go out for lunch the other day, I had a moment of weakness and blurted out, “Let’s go to Burgers, Shakes & Fries!”   So much for a healthy Monday.  Off we went to Greenwich, CT.

I’m a sucker for a good burger and my colleague Laura has been telling me about this place.  It’s also right off I-95 and only ten minutes from where I live (lucky for me).   You can’t miss it; there’s a bright orange sign that catches your eye as you drive by.  The inside is clean, small and no frills, with a counter on one side and just a few tables on the other.   Kory, the owner, takes the orders and cheerfully checks in to make sure you’re enjoying your meal.  It feels like a friendly neighborhood joint.   I threw caution to the wind and ordered a small fries, cream soda and double burger with Swiss, tomatoes and sauteed onions.  My boss got a double burger with gorgonzola and hot peppers. Check ‘em out:

Looks good, right?  It was.  I’ll admit I felt guilty eating such a coronary-clogging lunch, but I told myself it was all for the good of the blog. The burgers were big and beefy, cooked perfectly and extremely juicy. They come on toasted bread instead of a bun — a nice variation.   My one complaint is that I like my burgers more charred on the outside, with a stronger grill flavor. The fries weren’t anything special, but hey, they’re fries; I’m just happy to eat them.

So Laura, thanks for the recommendation; I’ll definitely go back.  Maybe it wasn’t the best burger I’ve ever had, but it was very good.  You have to admire a place that knows exactly what it wants to do, and does it well. 

One note: BSF cooks all their burgers medium-rare unless told otherwise, so make sure you ask for your burger cooked the way you like it.

GRADE: B+

Burgers, Shakes & Fries
302 Delavan Ave.
Greenwich, CT 06830
203-531-7433
burgersshakesnfries.com      

Related posts

• The Burger Stands Alone (1)
• On Burgers and Rare Bar & Grill (1)
• Food and the Nostalgia Factor (0)