Best burger you've ever had

We're 21-pages in, and I still haven't mentioned my local contender: Hudson's Hamburgers, downtown Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.



Small burger stand in a busy, touristy North Idaho lake town. Two brothers run the stand, in its fourth generation.

Simple menu: single or double, cheese or plain. Fresh-sliced pickle and onion are the only toppings. You add the ketchup, mustard and/or spicy ketchup.

No fries or chips ... only burgers, drinks and slices of pie. A bit expensive, but worth it as a treat. A hot Huddy's just melts in your mouth.

 

I've been to Five Guys twice in the last month... Great fries, but I think the burgers are colossally overrated and way overpriced.

They're good, but I don't think they're even close to the other chains mentioned on this great thread.

 

Exactly. When I think of a great burger, Five Guys is not even close to being in the conversation.

 

No wonder the chain is failing miserably.

 

The Wendy's pretzel bun bacon cheeseburger ... should not be on anybody's "best list."
The bun is fantastic, but the burger is just too damn greasy and the cheese too gloopy. I was five bites in and had already used up a paper towel. All the grease quickly makes the bun soggy, too, so the main feature is negated.

The pretzel bun hot dog at Sonic, however, is amazing. Much cleaner than the Wendy's burger (it only comes with mustard on it), so you really get to taste the awesomeness that is the pretzel bread with every bite.

 

I don't know if it's possible for cheese to be too gloopy.

 

As long as you're mentioning a hot dog ... while I was grocery shopping recently, the store was giving out samples of Hebrew National hot dogs. The sample was cut to about two bites worth with no ketchup or mustard, and the damn thing was one of the tastiest things I've ever had.

 

A plain Hebrew National hot dog cooked on a hot plate my a grocer is better than a Five Guys burger?

I don't understand.

 

Yup. They didn't cook the flavor out of the meat like they do at Five Guys.

I mean, I really wanted to like Five Guys. Based on what I'd heard, I was excited when I heard they had moved into my market. I had to go well out of my way the first time I went there. About the third and final time, it was one that was kind of on my way home. I was hungry and really wanted it to be good. But about two-thirds of the way through the burger I was sitting there thinking "I should have just gone home and cooked something."

I really wanted to like Five Guys. But I like my burgers medium rare and they simply overcook their burgers.

 

First stop on our Pensacola trip this past week was dinner at a fairly new joint called The Tin Cow.

Had a burger on a bed of greens - I'm still doing the low carb thing - that was damned tasty.

Last stop was McGuires, and my wife had a burger that may have been better, based on my taste test.

 

I agree. Had one yesterday. Very messy...and not in a good way.