![]() With a thick, pillowy bun, cheese melted to a practically liquid state and plenty of pickles, it’s a solid prototype for the category. The burgers are good - there’s a solid bacon cheeseburger (A&W claims to have invented it in 1963) - but I recommend just the simple cheeseburger. (Fun fact: Marriott International started as an A&W stand in Washington, D.C.) Bacon CheeseburgerĪ&W may not be the brand it used to be, but put some respect on the name: Founded in 1919 in Lodi, right between Stockton and Sacramento, it became a thriving international chain based entirely on root beer, the drink that is palatable only when you put ice cream in it. I don’t know - it feels a little like cheating. Wendy’s is pretty dependent on bacon in its menu: The one nearest me currently has 20 different burgers, 13 of which include bacon. Evaluate the brand on its burger quality, which is, for the most part, decent but not much more. Wendy’s, the brand known for its square patties and beloved “Where‘s the beef?” commercials from the 1980s, is probably best known these days for its celebrated, sassy Twitter persona, which posts memes and roasts brands with awesome put-downs. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll be on a diet of weak tea and steamed vegetables for the next six months. The 23 chains below are ranked from worst to best, but all the chains in the top 10 are pretty good. I’ve tried to factor that in and have included an extremely subjective value/affordability metric on the y-axis of the matrix to go along with taste rating. But there are more and more upscale fast-food burgers these days eschewing convenience in favor of higher prices and a premium product. ![]() Is it fast-food or fast-casual? You could argue that in order to qualify as fast food, a place should have a drive-through window. It should be compatible with eating inside a moving car, ideally with one hand only. It can have toppings - lots of toppings - but it shouldn’t be overly busy. (To get a better idea of what I mean, please refer to this piece I wrote last year about chicken nuggets versus chicken tenders.)Ī great fast-food burger should taste good, of course, but it should also be convenient. I’m picking the best fast-food burger, which is an important distinction. I’ve tried to put these burgers into context: I’m not picking the best burger in general. I’ve evaluated burgers from large, national chains in this ranking, making a couple of notable exceptions for California-based chains. People customize with extra patties, or by subbing Beyond Beef in for meat.Let’s just launch right into the exhaustive and extremely correct Fast-Food Burger Power Rankings. A jalapeno burger crackles with both pickled and crispy-fried peppers, but restrained amounts of actual heat. The Chester, a deep cut from Long Island, is essentially a grilled cheese sandwich, on Texas toast, with a burger in the middle. ![]() One’s a tribute to Oklahoma’s Depression-era onion burger, though the diaphanously thin sliced onions mostly layer nuance into a really good cheeseburger. Kelly unearthed a few semi-obscure regional burgers for the concise menu. The resulting burger might resemble Jabba the Hutt, but the pressed patties are delicate, and the bun smooshes down to practically nothing between your fingertips-the whole thing feels superbly calibrated, not just another mindless act of beef swagger.Īs gluten-free options go, this feels more fun than wrapping a burger in a lettuce leaf. The same iterative approach that drives Ladro’s roasting helped Kelly dial in the bun (Franz), the grind (prepped at Ladro’s baking commissary), and the American cheese (“there’s a wide range of quality and thickness”). If this sounds like an overreaction to a problem that wasn’t even technically his, well, Kelly admits that he also saw Smash That Burger as a potential test case, should he ever decide to diversify his portfolio beyond coffee. When that proved too expensive, Kelly got serious tinkering with his smash burger recipe. Rooftop co-owner Craig Christian wanted to install a kitchen so the brewery could do its own food. But he watched Rooftop struggle to manage a rotating calendar of food trucks-the standard way Seattle breweries provide food for taproom visitors. He wasn’t exactly looking to start a burger business, much less a food truck. Kelly would occasionally cook smash burgers for everyone on a portable griddle. Brewers use Ladro’s coffeemaker Rooftop supplies the roasters’ after-work drinks. The two staffs intermingle in the open warehouse. Its roastery on Nickerson Street occupies the same building as Rooftop Brewing. Owner Jack Kelly is also the founder and CEO of Caffe Ladro. Seattle has beer and coffee-its dual beverage poles-to thank for Smash That Burger.
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