The top 10 American Burger Spots You Need to Try Right Now
This article highlights 10 exceptional burger joints across the United States, each offering unique flavors and combinations. From Peter Luger in Brooklyn to Grind Burger Kitchen in Louisville, these establishments showcase delicious and inventive burger creations.
1. Peter Luger/Brooklyn, NY
Okay so if meat is what you’re looking for and a burger done in a simple way that lets the meat shine, without any frills and too much overkill, this one delivers. Look no further than Peter Luger’s steakhouse for a giant burger that is all about the beef. Where’s the beef? Well…you know where I’m going with this right? So don’t dawdle and get over to Brooklyn.
2. Bazaar Meat/Las Vegas
A blend of short rib and Wagyu, this burger delivers on the size side of things and in taste as well. The bun is a sesame bun that also delivers in taste. The bread after all also helps in making a burger the delight that it is and they definitely get that at this location. The bazaar burger by Jose is a winner for sure and is worth your time.
3. The Smash Burger at Michael Symon’s Mabel’s BBQ/Woodmere, Ohio
But he wouldn’t leave his fans without anything, because his next work of art in burger form is just as delicious and can be found at his Mabel’s BBQ locations, and yes it is his variation of the old school ‘smash burger’ of the great Midwest we mentioned above.
4. Bless Your Heart Burgers/Portland, Oregon
Bless Your Heart Burger serves an exemplary smashburger. These loose-ground burgers with fat-and-char-pocked patties come crispy and messy on a potato roll with Duke’s mayo, mustard, ketchup, sweet onions, shredded lettuce, pickles, and American cheese. It’s somewhere between fast food and backyard grill.. Start with the classic but don’t shy away from the chili and coleslaw-covered variety or the LL Cool J Burger with guacamole and bacon.
5. Burger-chan/Houston, Texas
At this cult sensation, you’ll find vigorously griddled, umami-packed burgers to build as you please: single, double, or triple stacked and festooned with trimmings from pickled habanero and fried egg to house sambal aioli. Or go for the newer, bigger patty. Whatever you pick, don’t forget the tots.
6. Burgers Never Say Die/Los Angeles, California
What started as a backyard pop-up out of chef-owner Shawn Nee’s home quickly turned into an Instagram sensation, and then eventually into a brick-and-mortar space in 2019. Known for its purist smashburgers, you need not make any modifications to the Regular (a single patty topped with ketchup, mustard, onions and pickles) to get that perfect burger, which turns out to be basically a McDonald’s cheeseburger, if McDonald’s was actually good.
7. Causwells/San Francisco, California
The smash-style burger tastes like a sophisticated take on In-N-Out’s Double Double, but with way better ingredients and way more deliciousness. The double patties are mixed with dry-aged fat and covered in American cheese and then topped with lettuce, onion, lacto-fermented pickles, and a secret sauce (a combination of house-made Worcestershire, house-made Thousand Island dressing, and other proprietary stuff), all on a Petit Pain bun. You can add accouterments like avocado, bacon, and a fried egg, but you really don’t need any of it; this burger is perfection just the way it comes.
8. Amboy Quality Meats/Los Angeles, California
Chef Alvin Cailan hosts a YouTube show called “The Burger Show” where he dives deep into the world of meat on a bun, so he absolutely knows his way around ground beef. At his Chinatown restaurant/butcher shop he serves burgers in several forms, ranging from the loose-packed thin patty on the Classic Double to the thicker and richer version on the Royale and all the way through to a ten-ounce dry-aged beast with caramelized onions and garlic confit on the DH Burger.
9. Fat Choy/Las Vegas, Nevada
“Hidden gem” is an overused phrase, but few restaurants fit the description as well as Fat Choy. Run by James Beard-nominated chef Sheridan Su, the restaurant quietly operates inside the locals-focused Eureka casino, serving a combination of Asian street food and classic American diner favorites. The Fat Choy Burger is a half-pound certified Angus beef patty with bacon, short rib, onion jam, and secret sauce with a fried egg cooked just right, allowing a perfect drizzle of yolk to soak into the rest of the sandwich from the very first bite.
10. Grind Burger Kitchen/Louisville, Kentucky
Liz and Jesse Huot are among the many restaurant owners across the country who translated a food truck with a rabid following into a brick-and-mortar establishment with a still-rabid following and far less likelihood of suffering a flat tire. If you like to play chef, you can go your own route here in adorning the one-third-pound patties, grass-fed, and ground daily in-house, but you might want to just trust them and try the B&B. It has thick slabs of gooey Brie enveloping crisp bacon, with bright, spicy habanero jam cutting through what would otherwise be excessive richness. It's not your classic cheese and pickles, but it all works beautifully.