Ate from there the other day. It was soft and mushy but also flavorful in a way that I missed and it kind of remided me of the burgers they sold at the school cafteria. If I eat burgers I usually eat from smaller places since they have better ingredients and much much better fries, and I don’t like giving money to the international megacorp. But those places all make ‘fancy’ burgers with a meaty patty, toasted buns, fancy sauces/toppings etc. No option to have a thin patty with standard toppings and standard sauces between standard bread…
Nostalgia
What you want is to go to a cheap takeout that isn’t part of a chain. The kind that does burgers AND kebabs AND fried chicken AND curry AND pizza, all in the same place. It’s best if it smells of grease and the middle-eastern guy behind the counter refers to you as “bossman” as a term of endearment.
They’ll sort you out :)
There are small local restaurants all over that place that will sell you a basic burger. There are local chains that will do the same. Unless you’re in a food desert, I suppose.
Wait, aren’t these places are all over? Pick Quick in Tacoma and Dicks in Seattle are just a couple around here. But it seems like every town has their own version.
Don’t forget Crazy Erik’s in Bremerton!
Eagan’s and Big Tom’s in Olympia.
Cannot/should not be forgotten!!
Grabbing onto this comment chain to ask if anyone knows a good burger place up in Bellingham/Ferndale/Blaine?
Even the medium size chains go for quality bread and think themselves too fancy to use ketchup+mayo as sauces. They also either don’t use pickles and onions, use them in trace quantities or use fancy pickles, fried onions and such
I mean there are fancy burgers around, but most towns in Washington have a greasy burger joint like what you are describing. Maybe it is regional?
Fancy pickles are always such a disappointment to my taste buds. I do appreciate a fancy cheese occasionally.
Occasionally would be good for both for me. That way they stand out when they are fancy. Not that I’ve seen much fancy cheese in burgers, it’s either yellow sandwich cheese, orange sandwich cheese or halloumi, which feels more like a cheese patty than a topping
There’s a place in charlotte nc called Harriet’s Hamburgers and they are what you’re describing. It’s a fast food type place but the burgers are amazing. They also make their own sodas and they are way better than any coke or Pepsi products.
How do they make the sodas?
I don’t know but I bet their website or something has some info
My favorite burger restaurant Parlour does this. They have other things on the menu but I always just get the burger and fries. Its even better from the food truck.
Hospital cafeteria
My hospital cafeteria made a surprisingly good muffaletta
I mean there’s definitely places like this, but most of them are in major American cities like New York, LA, and Chicago. Small-town diners couldn’t compete againt garbage fast-food and so the majority died out.
You can make such a thing!
Fair. I usually mess up home burgers with too much topping but maybe it’s time to give it another go
This is really specific, but in my town the gas station has a burger and hot dogs grill attached to it that’s run by like one guy that serves what you’re describing. I guess if I was looking for someplace similar in another town I would hunt around for places that serve burgers that don’t even have a name, true holes-in-walls basically.
Man I agree with you! Why can’t the ‘artisanal’ burger be regular burger?
Chilies. Similar price at this point too.
No. Apart from being another huge chain, they absolutely do not make fast-food style burgers, just lower-end fast food quality burgers. The patties are overly thick and watery, and they think they’re too good for processed American cheese when they most assuredly are not.
Never seen one. I’m from Turkey so if we had one here it would also be ‘international megacorp’ anyways
Look for restaurants that offer “smash burgers.” That’s going to be a thinner patty that’s stacked to make the bigger burger rather than making a meatlump that never comes out quite right. It looks like there a good number of places in Istanbul you could try.
I think I used to get these. Not quite what I had in mind when writing this but they were good until the restaurant closed
I did assume you were american, sorry. They are a chain, so i feel somewhat comparable to McDs. In my hometown there are a few homestyle local places I prefer overall, but they are not really McD style.