"hamburger" news and stories

In our search for the best of the best of fast-casual restaurant menus, we've sampled Applebee's Appetizers and Outback Steakhouse Favorites. We've given you our picks for TGI Friday's Sizzling Skillets, and Red Lobster Shrimp. Now we figured it was time to put some all-American burgers to the test, courtesy of Ruby Tuesday.

Menu Overview
We dug into all six of Ruby Tuesday's handcrafted premium beef burgers (we're saving the Veggie, Turkey, and Crab premium burgers for another taste test). Triple Prime burgers are a blend of ground tenderloin, sirloin, and ribeye, and are offered plain, with Cheddar cheese, and with Cheddar and applewood-smoked bacon. We also test-drove the Boston Blue (with blue cheese, onion rings, and barbecue sauce), the Smokehouse Burger (Cheddar, bacon, onion rings, and barbecue sauce), and the Alpine Swiss (with Swiss cheese and baby portabello mushrooms). All burgers come with lettuce, tomato, and garlic-mayo toppings, are served on a potato bun, and with a side of pleasantly crisp and well-salted "endless fries." Yes, spud lovers, it's fries till you pull the trigger. (We ordered all burgers cooked to medium doneness.)

See our winner, runner-up, and loser after the jump.

Our new monthly installment features a portion of the popular guide, Eat This, Not That! in hopes that it will help you make better choices at casual and fast-food establishments.

Two pieces of bread. That's the bedrock of every hamburger on the planet. Here's the caveat: With the power to create comes the power to inflate. In fact, the average cheeseburger has ballooned from 333 to 600 calories in the last 20 years.

Some burgers even top out at 2,000 calories. For this there's no greater evidence than the greasy bread-boats being served at our most popular burger shops. Sure, there are decent options out there, but more often than not the junk that comes stuffed between the buns is enough to turn Jessica Simpson into Homer Simpson. Like these five burgers listed below. They're gut bombs in the worst way. Luckily, Eat This, Not That! discovered healthier alternatives for each of them.

After the jump, an overview of the best -- and worst -- burgers in America.

For Burger King's New Year's resolution, The King has proposed to place toppings not on top of their signature flame-broiled burgers but inside them. BK might just be making 2011 the year of the stuffed burger -- kicking things off in January with the kick of jalapeño, complemented by cheddar cheese. Here's how it rates:

The Claims: The Jalapeño & Cheese BK Stuffed Steakhouse Burger is a thick "steakhouse" beef patty infused with bits of chopped jalapeño peppers and morsels of cheddar cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato, and a creamy poblano sauce, all served on a bakery bun.

The Price: $3.99, at participating locations.

See my verdict after the jump.

Happy National Hamburger Day!

According to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, Americans eat roughly one hundred burgers -- per person! -- annually. Though it would seem that the burger is universally prized across the U.S., Americans seem to argue passionately about what they deem to be the very best variety.

Some vouch for West Coast chain In-N-Out; others passionately back local institutions, like Brooklyn stalwart Peter Luger's beefier bite; while many are torn on the eternal McDonald's versus Burger King debate. Which burger is your favorite? Argue your case in the comments -- and grab your favorite burger come lunchtime to support your cause!

Of course, there's nothing like grilling your own. Read 16 Tips for the Perfect Burger and then fire it up with these burger recipes.

Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot at having your photos featured on the site.

First there were the sea-salt fries, then Dave's Hot 'n' Juicy Cheeseburger. Now, there's the D.T. Double. Wendy's is on an end-of-year roll. Another homage to founder Dave Thomas, the D.T. Double, reports Nation's Restaurant News, has pretty much all the components of a Big Mac: two burgers, two slices of cheese, tomatoes, onion, lettuce, and a "signature sauce." Launching in Rhode Island and Texas, it will go nationwide if customers cotton to another Dave burger.

But we're wondering: Isn't "D.T." (also the abbreviation for delirium tremens) a little depressing? Wendy's, may we make a suggestion? Stick with just plain "Dave's" for your Double.