Behold The “Loose Meat” Sandwich!
Have you had a “loose meat?” Well, if you live in Iowa I’m sure you have, as most of this restaurant chains location are there, with others scattered around the US!
In 1926, butcher Fred Angell loved to experiment, and as the company website notes: “he worked to get just the right combination of a special cut and grind of meat and a selected blend of spices. When a deliveryman tasted Fred’s new creation, he said, “This sandwich is made right.”
With that, the Maid-Rite was born!
With slight tongue in cheek, the company point out that “Fred was quite a sandwich maker but not much of a speller.”
Here’s what you get when you order this unique sandwich. The company’s line of seasoned loose meat sandwiches are made from 100% USDA Midwestern fresh ground beef served on a fresh steamed white or wheat bun, with your choice of ketchup, mustard, onion and pickles.
Why am I telling you this? Well, it’s because I ate my first and only “loose meat” burger when I lived in Chicago, but sadly the town didn’t warm up to the idea. Chicago’s only Maid-Rite burger closed after less than a year – but while it was open, I checked it out and wanted to share what they served!
As you can see, “loose meat” is an accurate description of this burger…they don’t serve a hamburger patty: instead the meat is crumbled, like a dry “Sloppy Joe!”!
Time For Some “LOOSE MEATS!”
I had never heard of either Maid-Rite OR “loose meats”, but when a new restaurant arrived in Chicago, I walked the four miles to the shop to check it out!
“Too good to be a patty!” With a tease like that, I was hooked, and eager to check it out for myself…each loose meat sandwich is made from the finest 100% choice beef available in Iowa, and all the beef is ground fresh every day. Here is the outside of the restaurant:
As they say on their website: “The recipe is simple: fresh ground-on-premises beef is steamed and crumbled in a cast iron cooker. Nothing is added but salt.”
So there you have it: a steamed burger with crumbled meat. And just to keep you interested, here is what it looks like when it shows up at your table:
Yes, it is ONE HOT MESS. But the question is: in a good or bad way?
I walked into Maid-Rite and was immediately greeted by several of the employees. They are EXTREMELY nice here: they check in on you often, always asking if everything is OK, offering to refill my drink for free…nice touches…
The menu is surprisingly extensive: a wide array of salads and sandwiches, but of course I wanted to get “crumbled,” so I ordered the original, with cheddar cheese, bacon, ketchup and onion…it came with fries and a drink for only $8.99…they gave me my number and I sat down to wait.
Within five minutes, this showed up:
Beautifully thin cut fries and plenty of them, and when I unwrapped the burger, this is how it looked:
As you can see, it looks like most of the “loose meat” is scattered AROUND the bun, not inside…and in fact that is true – I mean, look at the “loose meat”:
My first concern was: how do you eat this? Well, they know that as well, and every order comes with a spoon so you can scoop up the extra meat that won’t stay in the bun:
AMBROSIA! WAIT, AMBROSIA???!?!???!!!???
There is ketchup and mustard on every table, but the order also comes with a small container of Ambrosia! Yes, that classic cottage cheese, maraschino cherry thing that used to be served in the ’50’s…it is back and with a vengeance!
The Ambrosia not only HOLDS a fry well, it tastes great on one too! The fries, by the way, were light and crisp, not greasy at all, and lightly fried as you can see….they had good potato flavor – what more can you ask for?
And now onto the “loose meat” burger. First, look at the cheese on the loose meat…
It seems that add the cheese right before serving, so don’t expect it to be melted, but that was fine. Along with the cheese, there was the bacon, the onion and pickle – a traditional burger in every way except one…
After looking this burger over VERY CAREFULLY, i decided I had to try and EAT it….so I reached in and grabbed hold, and took a big bite –
First thing to note: you actually keep a lot of the meat on the bun, thanks to the cheese, which has softened and become a glue of sorts…and I found myself holding the burger very tightly, to keep the crumbles from coming out…
The Verdict!
First of all, assume that much of the burger WON’T end up in the bun – I just reached in, grabbed the bun and hoped for the best – and you know what? The cheese helps hold a lot of it, and once you grab it, the burger stays together nicely…
And as for the taste? It’s very flavorful – you can taste the beef, and the bits of onion, bacon and pickle show up nicely…
You can see the bits of bacon mixed into the meat, and I like that you will get “bursts” of bacon flavor, and I can’t imagine trying to chew bacon while having all of the crumbled meat around you…and it was all held together by the tasty flavor of the cheese…
The “loose meat” aspect of this burger is messy, unique and fun. As I said, you eat whatever has remained in the bun, helped by the holding power of cheese…and then you take advantage of that spoon and go for crumble gold…
So, at the end of the day, Maid-Rite offers a unique take on a burger that doesn’t sacrifice flavor for innovation…
Sorry to hear they didn’t survive in Chicago, but if you come across a Maid-Rite in the midwest, it’s worth checking out!
I also shared another very unique “Hamburg” – this one looking very much like a mini-meatloaf!
I had this “Steamed Cheeseburg” and if you click here you can see where it was created and how it turned out!
Hamburger America in New York has a monthly special where they highlight burgers from other great Chefs…here’s one I had a few months ago:
This “secret olive sauce” rocked! Take a look at the sauce that was trucked in from a thousand miles away!
George Motz is famous for his “grilled onion” smashburger…here’s what they look like on the grill:
I was there when the restaurant first opened its doors to the public last year and George himself cooked for me! See my review here:
These are great burgers, but not the only ones in town – have you ever tried a “gas station burger?”
While they are pumping gas outside,, inside they are making one of New York’s best smash burgers! See my review here:
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Categories: Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Eat This!, Fast Food, Food, Food Pictures, Food Travel, Recipes, Restaurants, Sliders, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
loose meat burgers are popular here in the Detroit area, at the local Coney Island places – so good
Great to hear! It’s such a regional treat that I’d never had one!
yes, and here they call it ‘loose hamburger’ or ‘loose burger’
Never tried one, but I would do if it was served
This sure does sound good. It is a shame there are not any shops in the Northeast.
It seems VERY regional…the one they opened in Chicago closed within a year