The Burger Continues

It's an indescribable feeling. Warmth in your mouth, moist without saturation, salty without excess. The burgers at Rudy's are perfect. I used to think that the Rainbow Cafe, the spot in New Haven where the burgers were as monstrously large as the color scheme was monstrous, was the only place for meat in a bun in New Haven. Sure there are other places. There is the Temple Grill if you are unfortunate enough not to like flavor, or the Prime 16, which tries to disguise its burgers under layers of toppings, or the burgers flavored by malice in Louie's Lunch, where they hope the aura of being the oldest burger place on the eastern seaboard will transform the slices of white bread they give you into something like a bun.

All these other burgers have swagger, but little substance. Strangely, Rudy's is the only place with no signs proclaiming their burger dominance, no law suits about how long they have been there, nor meal cards, if you get ten burgers you get the 11th free. In fact, the only indication that they know they have the best burger in town is that it is the most costly. Investment in ten burgers would run you the downpayment on a small home. (This is the most timely my blog will ever be. The NYTimes has just written an article about the best burger in New York City. Curiously , despite the ambiance of spilled beer and Rudy's prices are able to keep up with such chi-chi burger purveyors as the Genesis Bar and Restaurant in NYC.)

The times article and my most recent experience at Rudy's has inspired me to try to construct my own burger. In the past I have experimented with onions, chili powder, garlic, sage, egg, sausage meat and handmade breadcrumbs in my burgers, all of which made the burger distinctly unburgerlike. This time, following a suggestion made in the Washington Post, I trusted my meat: nothing but oil, meat, salt and pepper; mustard on the bun; caramelize onion and bacon as the toppings. Before you read the following, here is a disclaimer: while I can be an ambitious baker, I am, occasionally, known to cut corners when cooking, under the guise of experimentation. In this case the corner I cut was grilling. The idea was a good one. "Why do Rudy's burgers taste so good?" "Because they're so juicy." "How did they get so juicy?" Perhaps, I thought, because they pan fried them...in bacon fat. Do not do this. The result was a rubbery, wobbly mess. Everything else came together in perfect burger unison, meaning that it was just the burger itself at fault. Until I come up with a new theory for the burger, I will save my pennies until they amount to a mountain high enough to buy a Rudy's burger and a beer.