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As you fire up the grill this Memorial Day, you may want to take a moment to pay homage to the people who first brought you the hamburger. There is a lengthy and fascinating article on the history of the hamburger on What's Cooking America. While there is some debate about who created the first hamburger, Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut has a strong claim to the title.
According to What's Cooking, "Louis ran a small lunch wagon selling steak sandwiches to local factory workers. A frugal business man, he didn't like to waste the excess beef from his daily lunch rush. It is said that he ground up some scraps of beef and served it as a sandwich, the sandwich was sold between pieces of toasted bread, to a customer who was in a hurry and wanted to eat on the run."
You can still get hamburgers today at Louis' Lunch. However, don't expect to get any ketchup. The Louis' Lunch website states that their hamburgers "have changed little from their historic prototype [and] are still the specialty of the house. Each one is made from beef ground fresh each day, broiled vertically in the original cast iron grill and served between two slices of toast. Cheese, tomato and onion are the only acceptable garnish -- no true connoisseur would consider corrupting the classic taste with mustard or ketchup."
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5-20-2008 @9:41AM Colin said... I hate when restaurants get all uppity with how their food is eaten. The customer is always right: If he wants ketchup, give it to him.
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5-20-2008 @11:50AM Jim said... Yeah, Food Network has interviewed the folks that run this place a few dozen times... and they seem to be real JERKS. Given their smug attitude and weak burgers, I don't think I'd ever eat there.
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5-20-2008 @8:42PM Leigh said... They've been in business for this long, I think they can make a pretty strong argument for doing it whatever way in hell that they want to. They didn't seem like jerks to me in the bit about the restaurant I watched, they just seemed....old.
If you want variety, go to Applebee's. If you want honest to goodness fresh ground beef, an ingredient list you can pronouce, and a piece of Americana, go to Louis'.
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5-20-2008 @11:15PM badfrog said... I live about two miles away, and have been there three times, brought once by a friend who told me about it, and dragged twice by visitors who just HAD to try it out.
The people ARE jerks, in that special New Haven way. The square/rectangular patties are small, and they steam them upright, in an ancient (original?) kind of a homemade George Foreman grill, which is not a way to cook for flavor. They serve it on white bread toast. This is something that screams for catsup, but you get mustard.
It is not expensive, but it is also not at all good. Cramped and dingy. I can think of noplace in this country where I have had a worse sit down dining experience. Kind of like an early 1956 McDonald's, but with a crappy attitude.
There is a very nice Turkish restaurant across the alley which I highly recommend.
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5-22-2008 @6:24PM JoAnne said... You guys are a bunch of jerks!! I've been going to Louis' for YEARS and love it just the way they serve it!! It is NOT a square patty, so I don't know what the hell you're talking about, nor are they made on a "Foreman" type grill or steamed. It's a verticle GAS grill, and the flames hit both sides at the same time. They are by far THE juiciest burger I've ever had, and as a personal friend of the Lassen family after being a customer for so long, I take offense at your calling them jerks. I agree with Leigh - go to Appleby's!
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5-24-2008 @6:19PM KF said... I've seen this place profiled numerous times on the Food Network as well. I'm sorry JoAnne, but the owners do tend to come off overly smug. It's not quite the same as having intense pride for their product and their history -- that's a given and they SHOULD be proud of their legacy -- but the delivery has been offputting at times. Like the customers are idiots if they want ketchup instead of "We are so proud of the taste, you won't need it." See what I mean? That said, their staunch refusal to not offer ketchup is their schtick, and I get it. There is a joint in Chicago where they scream curses at you ("What the $%^& do you want to order?!) and that's THEIR schtick and everyone loves it.
Frankly, I'd want to try the Louis Burger "their way" anyway -- that's how they intend for it to be eaten and it's worth trying to see why they think so. After that, however, if I wanted ketchup, I think a packet or two should be available. It's not as if it would be ruining what is a very basic sandwich on run-of-the-mill white bread. The dual side blame broiled burger does looks great -- it isn't square -- and I'd definately try this, but mostly for the nostalgia.
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5-26-2008 @10:09AM JeepGuy98 said... You people are posting a LOT of the exact same things that went through my head ! I too have seen them on Food Network and other food-related programs, and they do come across as being smug and condecending about their food. Almost insulting towards someone who would have the audacity to consider asking for ketchup on their burger! Not everyone is familiar with their way of doing things. And maybe if JoAnne wasn't a "....personal friend of the Lassen family" she could step back and see from our perspective that, to people who don't know them as intimately as she, they really do come across as jerks.
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