What makes one better than the rest? There are burgers made with pricey grass-fed ground, grilled with care, and others packed, charred, and served in grease-covered paper. Both sides have their die-hard followings. No matter the cut of your beef, what truly counts is individuality. “It should taste completely of itself,” Hamburger America director George Motz told the New York Times last year. The burger that tastes like no other, the one (or in this case 25) that elevates it beyond simply a piece of meat and condiments between a sliced bun.
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These burgers are the ones you go out of your way to get. You’ll wait in line like Chef Dale Talde does to fork over a few bucks for a Shack Burger from Shake Shack, or sit down for the Manly from Umami Burger’s menu that Top Chef winner Ilan Hall can’t live without. You can order some of these burgers at divey old bars, at a drive-thru, or while everybody else ponders what dish to get on the four-star menu that features what you’ve heard is one of the best cheeseburgers in town. That’s what you’re there for.
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