Best burger you've ever had

I'll give the Kansas options:

3. Bobo's Drive In, Topeka

Crumbly, though not too much, which cheese so melted into the burger, the two ingredients have become one.

2. Cozy Inn, Salina

Though I've never had White Castle, I've been told they are similar. You buy a half dozen ... or a dozen ... or two dozen. It's a six-stool diner. It's impossible to visit without leaving smelling terribly of onions for hours. But that's OK. They're damn, damn good. I did make a 70 minute drive for them one day.

1. So Long Saloon, Manhattan

It's pretty much impossible to go wrong. They have a burger with an egg on top (though I've had others, So Long's is by far the best), a great b-b-q burger. My favorite (a designation that changes pretty much every time I try a new kind) is the "Crank it up and Head South" I won't even try to describe it but to say it's awesome.

 

For chains, I've never had a bad burger at Braum's. And the two 1-pound burgers I ate back-to-back at Chee Burger Chee Burger were pretty damn good, too.

But nothing tops the burger I saw my nephew eat at a place called Kuma's Corner in Chicago. It was called the Slayer burger, and it was a 1/2-pound burger (no bun) on a giant plate with fries, multiple cheeses, chili, andouille sausage, peppers and, as it says on the menu, anger. I have to get that burger the next time I'm in town.

 

Dammit, let me know and I'll join you.

 

Bartley's Burger Cottage. Cambridge, MA.

 

I'm partial to homemade on the grill, seasoned with soy sauce and garlic salt and topped with Velveeta.

Had a terrific burger once at a place in Bloomsburg, Pa., called Terrapin's Cantina.

Five Guys is the best I can find up here. As others have noted, the fries definitely put it over the top.

As for Red Robin, I always get a chicken burger with onion straws ... awesome.

 

Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burgers in Ann Arbor. I lived near there when I was in college and ate there all the time. Not sure if it's still there. Little burger shack. You could order up to a quintuple (never saw anyone order a single) and get just about anything imaginable -- multiple varieties of cheese, onion rings, onion strings, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, bacon, a fried egg -- on top at no extra charge. For some reason, the burgers were just unreal. Shiny buns from all the grease in the air. In addition to fries and O-rings, they had incredible deep fried shrooms (or you could get cauliflower or zucchini if that's your thing). Just great eats.

 

There was a place in Hanover, New Hampshire that was pretty damn good. Bacon, Brie cheese, thick patty, American cheese and ketchup. Heart attack on a plate, yes, but it was delicious.

 

"Anybody who doesn't think that the best hamburger place in the world is in his home town is a sissy."
--Calvin Trillin

 

Piper's Kilt, Eastchester, N.Y. Been there many, many times. There's another Piper's Kilt in Inwood, too.

 

Anybody ever had tried to eat that 4-pound burger from the place near Penn State? (They referenced it in a old Hardee's/Carl's Jr. commercial when the Thick Burgers first came out).

I think this is the place:

http://www.dennysbeerbarrelpub.com/

The team I cover plays at Penn State in a few years and I'm hoping that place is still around.

EDIT: It's actually a 6-pound burger.

 

Father's Office, Santa Monica.

I rhapsodized about this place in great detail on the In-n-Out thread. Wait in line to get in, then vulch for a table. Meanwhile, you're drinking awesome beer you've never heard of before that night and salivating over the sweet-potato fries and juicy burger that awaits you.

 

I would hate to see how that comes out later.