Yes, This Is A Sandwich!
America loves burgers: cheese, bacon, mushroom, impossible and more – and yes, it is a sandwich! Why am I telling you this? Because I just read a terrific history of America’s favorite sandwich – filled with great stories and trivia!
I have a lifelong love of burgers, beginning when I worked at this local hamburger chain in Seattle while in high school:
Herfy’s was a burger joint pure and simple: hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fish sandwiches, fries, milk shakes and of course, the “Hefty” burger:
These are photos I found online that captured Herfy’s back “in the day”…so, burgers are in my blood, and I have eaten them LARGE like this:
And smaller too…like one that is from an iconic hamburger chain that still is going strong in Seattle. Whenever rI am home, I always have some “Dick’s in a bag” like this:
Why am I sharing my burger past?
Because I just read a terrific history of America’s favorite sandwich!
“It’s All About The Burger!”
Sef Gonzalez, known as Burger Beast, is a well-known food blogger, writer, and influencer from Miami, Florida. He gained popularity through his blog and social media presence, where he still shares his love for burgers and comfort food of all kinds – a terrific blog to subscribe to and enjoy!
I reached out to Sef, the “Burger Beast” and asked if he’d tell me where his love of burgers came from and he graciously wrote this back:
“Do you know why I love burgers so much? Many of my earliest and happiest childhood memories with family involved eating together. After moving to Miami from New York, my parents and grandparents had to start over. There wasn’t much money, but we would go out once a week as a unit, and burger joints were what we could afford.”
Burgers have always been an inexpensive and delicious sandwich – and the is how so many of us came to love them! as Sef added in his note to me:
“I clearly remember my grandfather enjoying his Big Mac while my sister and I ate cheeseburgers. And while my grandparents passed away more than twenty years ago, I still feel connected to them when enjoying America’s best sandwich, the mighty hamburger.”
Sef’s terrific book “All About The Burger” takes us to the origins of the hamburger sandwich – and also the story of how McDonald’s came to dominate the fast food industry:
This flagship McDonald’s store in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood had towering 60 feet high Golden Arches – from Big Macs to happy meals, McDonald’s has always been at the forefront of fast food…even when some of their ideas didn’t exactly take off:
Remember the “McDLT?” Almost no one does, but Burger Beast tells the story of this marketing disaster, where a single container was designed to “keep the hot side hot and the cold side cold! McD’s even had future “Seinfeld” star Jason Alexander sing about it in a McDLT ad – click here to see it!
Sef also shares the story of In-n-Out, a regional hamburger chain with a secret menu and fanatic customers, who go for the “animal style” secret menu – click here to find out what’s on it!
More than just sharing great trivia about the hamburger, Gonzalez also tells the inside stories of some of the America’s greatest regional burger spots, like this one:
Yes, Ted’s serves a “steamed cheeseburger” and I tried one! Check out this very short music video I made that shows how it is done::
I had it at Hamburger America on New York’s lower west side…here is my review:
The book is filled with great history, funny anecdotes, and so much more that I never knew about my beloved hamburger – now, back to that bag of Dicks’s:
Dick’s Drive-In is an iconic hamburger chain in Seattle…with a very limited and inexpensive menu that has people lining up at the windows outside to order – like Bill Gates! See that story and more about the chain here:
Bravo to “Burger Beast!” Sef’s passion for burgers is infectious, and his site is filled with burger news, reviews and so much more! From recipes to the history of Godfather’s Pizza, fast food deals happening right now, plus food events across the country – it’s a foodie heaven to bit down at his site here!
So many great burgers: from high end dining to grab ‘n’ go options, like this one in New York!
A great Burger lover had shared a picture of 7th Street Burgers and so I had to try one – and you can see my review by clicking on my story here:
One thing I love about Burger Beast is his passion for small Mom’n’Pop places across the country…I do as well and here’s one in particular:
This White Manna burger is delicious – look at the very slow and patient method the Chef employs as she cooks the burgers over minimum heat and let’s the onions caramelize – heaven and smells so good too:
If you are ever in Hackensack New Jersey, you must stop by White Manna – click here to see why:
Most recently, an acclaimed Hamburger Historian opened his own place in New York’s lower west side – so I popped in and had him make me one of his famous grilled onion burgers – take a look:
The wildly popular “Hamburger America” is packed every day – but for good reason!
I could watch these onion burgers being cooked all day long and when you sit at their lunch counter you can! Here we go:
Read my review of my first time there – when George Motz was behind the grill!
If you enjoy these posts, why not subscribe and never miss out? It’s easy, and there are NO ads of any kind, just stuff I like…click on the main page and “follow” me on the upper right!
If you enjoy these posts, please help me get the word out and share on social media and with your friends!
Categories: Bacon, Bite Eat Swallow, Bite! Eat! Repeat!, Books / Media, Burgers, Cheeseburgers, Chef memoirs, Eat This!, Fast Food, Food, Food Travel, Food Writing, Restaurants, Sliders, Travel, Wacky Food, World's Wildest Food
Bite! Eat! Repeat! 
ooh, I’m going to seek out this book
Now I understand your obsession with burgers!
The first (and only for a long time) burger chain in the UK was the Wimpy Bar, which originated in the USA of course. That was my first introduction to burgers, and I loved them! But we have never called them a ‘sandwich’ here, always just a burger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wimpy_(restaurant)
Best wishes, Pete.