Hamburger America 2 Almost Done

I'm at the end of my rope and almost done with final manuscript for the completely revised edition of Hamburger America. 50 new (old) burger joints have made it into the new edition and I am completely wiped out. I've worked harder on this book than anything in my life and I can't wait to put it to bed. I've actually had a blast in the past 2 weeks checking in with the 100 burger joints that are in the book already. Not surprisingly, nothing has changed at these places and that makes me happy.

My love and appreciation of the Great American Hamburger has grown ever stronger and I've met 50 new hamburger heroes. I'm looking forward to sharing the fruits of my labors, soon, come April 2011. And starting next week I'll be able to get back to blogging.

Below is a shot from the new book. See if you can guess where this was taken. Could there be anything better than a beer and a burger at a classic drive-in? (comments are open for this post)

Chicago Food Film Festival - Special One-Time Burger

Sorry I have not posted in a while. The book manuscript is due in a few weeks and all of my writing energy is going into the book right now. We are also gearing up for the 1st Annual Chicago Food Film Festival where we are throwing a burger party with Chicago burgerman, chef Michael Kornick and DMK Burger Bar. He'll be making all sorts of burgers and we'll be watching part of Hamburger America and Joe York's CUD. Kornick has also agreed to concoct a special burger for the event on Sept 25th using the cheese of one of our big sponsors - Jarlsberg. Festival Producer Seth Unger has already labeled it the JARLSBURGER. I like it.

Burger Garage is Open!

The Burger Garage opened for lunch this week and I was there. Not just because the burgers are great but also because the 2 dudes behind Burger Garage are childhood friends of mine. Jim and Adam Pileski have a family restaurant pedigree (The Palm) so there was no question that they were going to get it right. Jim has been talking about opening a burger concept in LIC for years and it has finally, actually happened. And it is goood.

The patties, cooked on a flattop, are from LaFrieda, the ice cream for the shakes is from one of my faves Max 'N Mina's in Flushing, and the buns are buttered, toasted white squishies. I had a double (2- 4oz patties) with American cheese and sauteed onions. Melt in your mouth good. I want more good.

They've been open for lunch now only 3 days and I hit the end of the lunch rush (fortunately). "We had a line out the door, around the block on Monday," Jim told me. They can handle it though, and my order came quick.

Finally, a burger to compete with that other burger in LIC - the Motz Burger at Water Taxi Beach!

Burgers Are Good

My super-genius friend, artist, and director Mac Premo just finished a short film on how to make a burger. The piece is running on the new madepossible.com and features me in my kitchen and is pretty damned good. Click here to see the 2 min piece and get yourself hungry..

An Appearance on Cooper's Kitchen

The appearance I made on the new webseries Cooper's Kitchen back in early March is now airing. The star of the show is award-winning country music recording artist Cooper Boone and we had a blast. I actually got to grind a Pat LaFrieda brisket-and-clod combo on camera and it turned out well. Check out the part where I stick my fingers into the meat grinder without the use of the supplied 'stomper'. Kitchenaid will love this one.

Also don't miss my somewhat ridiculous backup guitar and singing on Ramblin' Man. I sort of forgot that the show ends with Cooper singing with his guests. I had fun though and actually don't look half stupid. (notice the grinder peeking into the shot below)

Minnesota/Eastern Iowa Trip Starts Tomorrow

For the completely revised edition of my book I head out on another short burger jaunt into the Upper Midwest. There are a few burgers I need to check out from Duluth to Dubuque (not kidding) and this time the wife, the former vegetarian, is coming along. Follow the trip on Twitter@MotzBurger. Should be 7 burgers in 3 states, 40 hours.

Diablo Burger in Flagstaff, Very Local

I found myself in Flagstaff, Arizona yesterday and had to stop into a newish, recommended burger spot called Diablo Burger. Tiny does not begin to describe the size. The restaurant may be 500 square feet if that, but manages to seat close to 20 at 'community' tables. 

EVERYTHING about Diablo is local. The beef, the the pickles, even the hot sauce I noticed was made in Flagstaff. The organic ice cream for their kick-ass shakes is from Straus Family Creamery (in California, hmm, not very local but way good). Even their cash-only policy is technically local (the menu points out, correctly, that transaction fees go to a bank that is not very local at all).

The burger was great, cooked to temp (using a thermometer) on a flame grill with (local) lava rocks, and served on an English muffin that has Diablo's logo branded on top (above). I'm not a fan of the English muffin at all for a burger mostly because they taste sour and funky, and this one imploded under the juice of this perfectly cooked burger. A toasted white squishy would have been the way to go and I assume they chose the muffin as an excellent surface for their 'brand'. I asked for American cheese and was quickly reminded that there was no 'local' American. I settled for a local cheddar with local bacon.

If you are looking for a seriously local burger Diablo is no joke. Their beef comes from cattle raised 40 miles from Flagstaff. Just don't ask for American cheese.

Hamburger Rock

I've been handed some pretty crazy burger-centric gifts over the years, everything from hamburger soap to the now-famous hamburger phone. Every year our Christmas tree is filled with an assortment of hamburger ornaments and my daughter just gave me a burger-shaped eraser from Japan. A recent gift from my father-in-law may have taken the prize however. On a trip to Bolivia last month he spotted this familiar looking rock in a riverbed. He told me, "I immediately thought of you." I wonder why?

Changes At Bobcat Bite

Nothing to dramatic here, but since I was at the Bobcat Bite last summer they have made the change to a more substantial bun. Obviously, it saddened me to see the white squishy go away but this large, juicy burger managed to disintegrate the bun in seconds. The new bun actually works. And another change - the burgers are now larger, weighing in at 10 oz. before they hit the griddle (making them a full ounce larger now and the change is noticeable.)

There's one more change that is making John Eckre's life crazy at the grill. They have added the Bacon Green Chile Cheeseburger to the menu (above). I indulged, the bacon was excellent, but something was not quite right. After all of these years eating Green Chile Cheeseburgers I've come to love the simplicity of the burger, the cheese, and the hot green chile. I'm glad to hear the addition of bacon is popular but for me the GCC is king.

Oh, and they have a new website!

Video Clip From El Reno

The trip through North Texas and Oklahoma was wild and I will eventually get around to posting a few highlights from the journey. Thanks to my commitment to tweeting on the road someone from El Reno Oklahoma's Onion Fried Day found me at Sid's Diner just after I had finished my last glorious bite of an onion fried burger. He had a camera with him and shot this: