These burgers have a lot of research behind them.
Self-proclaimed hamburger scholar George Motz made a documentary and a Travel Channel show devoted to burgers, he’s traversed the country to find the best beefy offerings and he wrote several meaty books, including “Hamburger America, a State-by-State Guide to Great Burger Joints,” which was lauded by Anthony Bourdain.
Now, Motz is flipping the patty, opening his own place in Soho called Hamburger America.
“I never had a plan to open a restaurant,” the Long Island native told The Post. “I started with a film on burgers and then got into cooking them. It was definitely an inverse to the usual path.”
The 43-seat eatery at the corner of MacDougal and Houston has a retro feel with gleaming luncheonette counters and a color scheme that references its key menu item — yellow seats that conjure cheese, brown walls that suggest beef or buns.
“We’re looking to make [it] very vibrant while trying to recreate a timeless hamburger joint,” said Motz.
There are just two types of burgers on the menu, both priced at $7.25 for a single and $11.50 for a double.
The “George Motz’s Fried Onion Burger” features a smashed patty made from ground Schweid & Sons chuck. It’s topped with onion strings that are fried into the burger and American cheese. Motz traces its roots back to Oklahoma, over a century ago.
“We’re trying to bring back pieces of living hamburger history,” said the 55-year-old.
The other burger on offer is a midwest-inspired “Classic Smash Burger.”
It features the same beefy base but is topped with yellow mustard, dill pickles, and diced onions pressed and fried into the meat.
If you’re noticing an emphasis on alliums, there’s a reason.
“They really were a burger’s first condiment,” said Motz.
He took ideas — from decor to yes, onions — from over 100 different burger joints when conceiving of his own spot.
The three most influential were the Apple Pan in Los Angeles; Shady Glen Restaurant in Manchester, Connecticut and White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey.
Motz said the latter was “instrumental” to conceiving his own restaurant, praising the Garden State diner’s classic decor and generous use of onions.
For all his love of burgers, Motz said he’s “not a fry guy.”
But never fear, there are still spuds on offer — shoestring-style fries ($4.25) cooked in corn, not canola, oil
Other menu items include a simple grilled cheese ($5), a toasted hot ham sandwich with swiss ($7) and a transporting egg cream ($5).
Motz has an unlikely fan in calorie-counting, soda-taxing former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has praised his books.
He cut the ribbon at Hamburger America’s packed grand opening on Wednesday and tucked into a Fried Onion Burger.
At the ceremony, Bloomberg lauded the eatery’s low prices. Affordability was important to Motz.
He said, “we didn’t want to be another $20 SoHo burger.”
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