Burgers by the state

July 4, 3:51 PMPhoenix Easy Meals ExaminerStacey Klaff

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Delicious hamburger

As you’re celebrating the 4th of July this year take a look at some burger alternatives all across the United States. Happy Independence Day everyone!!!

• Alabama: Try the large cheeseburger at Creek Bank Restaurant. There’s nothing fancy about this 7 oz. chuck patty just plain delicious. At the first bite, a secret ketchup-mayo sauce comes dripping down the side.

• Alaska: Try the bacon cheeseburger at the Long Branch Saloon. The focus of this establishment is the rolls, which are baked on-site daily, and are a cross between a ciabatta and a sourdough. Of course the patties are made from fresh beef also.

• Arizona: Try the habanero cheeseburger at the Carlsbad Tavern in Scottsdale. The Angus patty includes two ounces of habanero pepper, and is cooked over pecan wood and served with a glass of milk if requested. (This is a hot one folks!!!)

• Arkansas: Try the hubcap burger at Cotham’s in the City. This burger was once shipped to the White House during the Clinton administration. It is a smoky, garlicky, 16-ounce stack of flavor held together by a 7-inch wide bun made with olive oil and comes with loads of toppings.

• California: Try the classic double-double from In and Out Burger. If you want to order like a local, ask for fries “well-done” and burgers “animal style”, which is fried with mustard, topped with grilled onion.

• Colorado: Try the Juarez burger at Jack-N-Grill. The specialty at this restaurant is a burger topped with ham, a hot dog, guacamole, and of course chile peppers.

• Connecticut: Try the steamed cheeseburger from Ted’s Restaurant. Each patty is steamed not grilled, delivering a delicious lump of ground beef smothered with melted cheddar cheese and served on a soft, big bun.

• Delaware: Try the prime rib burger at Nage. Regulars here eat the rib-eye burger. The meat is mixed with mushroom duxelle and truffle oil and comes with a choice of bun; porcini, wheat or sun-dried tomato.

• Florida: Try the frita burger from El Rey de las Fritas. The thin, beef and chorizo patties are fried, and then topped with shoestring fries and a secret tomato-based sauce.

• Georgia: Try the down low cheeseburger from Holeman and Finch Public House. Two cheese-smothered chuck-and-brisket patties are topped with house-made bread and butter pickles and served on a brioche bun.

• Hawaii: Try the loco moco at the Hukilau Café. A loco moco is Hawaii’s take on a hamburger: a beef patty and fried egg on a bed of rice, smothered in thick gravy.

• Idaho: Try the big jud special at Big Juds. This is just a simple one-pound cheeseburger served with a side of fries. It’s super-juicy but not too messy. A two-pounder however is $3 extra.

• Illinois: Try the slayer at Kuma’s Corner. A bunless, patty is set on a pile of fries, topped with chili, andouille sausage, cherry peppers, onion, and cheese.

• Indiana: Try the lugar burger at the Farm Bloomington. This is an espresso-chili-rubbed bison burger that comes on an “everything” bun with artisan cheese and thick-cut peppered bacon.

•  Iowa: Try the famous garbage burger at the Hickory Park Restaurant Co. The beef or pork patties are all hickory smoked, and the Garbage is topped with ham and sauerkraut and is by far the most popular.

• Kansas: Try the steak burger at Winstead’s. Razor-thin patties made from ground steak are seared on a flat top grill until the edges are nice and crisp.

• Kentucky: Try the hamburger at W.W. Cousins. At the center of the restaurant is a 40-item burger toppings bar that’s so complex there’s a map above it to guide you to the tartar sauce, sliced green olives, Parmesan cheese, or whatever else suits your fancy.

• Louisiana: Try the Cajun shrimp burger at Mason’s Grill. This surf and turf burger is encased on a sourdough bun. The patty in between is stuffed with jalapenos before being sautéed and blanketed with even more jalapenos, Gulf shrimp, and a half-cup of Jack cheese.

• Maine: Try the seven-napkin burger at Owls Head General Store. Owners of this old general store won’t reveal their secret burger-assembly process, but the loosely packed burgers are insanely juicy-they literally fall apart in your hands, and require all seven of those napkins.

• Maryland: Try the heart attack on a plate at Mother’s Federal Hill Grille. This is an 8-ounce patty stuffed with cheddar cheese, dipped in an ale batter and deep-fried. It comes topped with lettuce, tomato, and onions along with a chipotle mayonnaise.

• Michigan: Try the hamburger at the Hunter House Hamburgers. This place sells only one thing: sliders topped with pickles, mustard, and tons of grilled onions.

• Minnesota: Try the Vincent burger at Vincent-A Restaurant. A Juicy Lucy is a Minneapolis specialty: a burger with a surprise stash of Velveeta in the center. The chef likes to upgrade the sandwiches by stuffing Angus beef patties with smoked Gouda and serving braised short ribs on a sandwich also.

• Mississippi: Try the slug burger from the White Trolley Café. These burgers are mixed with a filler (pork, soybeans, and flour) and they deep-fry the patties twice.

• Missouri: Try the inside out burger at Blanc Burgers and Bottles. This is a rich, beefy patty-made with tenderloin, rib eye, and New York strip-stuffed with bleu cheese and the thick patty is topped with bacon and an onion ring on a soft-brioche bun.

• Montana: Try the cheeseburger deluxe from Ford’s Drive-In. This burger is reasonably sized (3 oz. patties), reasonably priced, and paired with a big old milkshake. You can also get a unique topping on your burger at this joint: peanut butter. It’s ordered about 5 times a week.

• Nebraska: Try the twisted cork burger at the Twisted Cork Bistro. Patties here are made from all-natural local ingredients: pork shoulder and flatiron steak. No one needs fancy toppings here-the good stuff is all inside the patty: paprika, fennel and aged white cheddar.

• Nevada: Try the classic patty melt from Kilroy’s. This is a grilled cheese sandwich with a burger in the middle. The patty is an 85-15 blend of Angus beef and chuck topped with grilled onions, jack and Muenster wedged between two slices of grilled, well-buttered rye bread.

• New Hampshire: Try the chill burger from Gilley’s PM Lunch. These juicy, loosely packed burgers are served with a side of poutine, a French-Canadian specialty covered with gravy and cheese curds.

• New Jersey: Try the best cheeseburger in the world from Stage Left. Scraps of pricey steak from the fancier side of the restaurant are mixed into the Angus beef patties, which are charred over a wood grill and topped with aged cheddar.

• New Mexico: Try the green chile cheeseburger from Clancy’s Irish Cantina. Burgers are served between flour tortillas with a sauce of local hatch green chilies boiled with pork shoulder, potatoes, garlic and cumin, then smothered with cheese.

• New York: Try the cheeseburger from the Burger Joint. This place is tiny, crowded, hard to find and ruthless about burgers. You will have ground beef on a squishy bun, and you will like it. Fries are an option, salads, and turkey burgers are not. The charred patties taste like they were made on a backyard grill.

• North Carolina: Try the Raleigh time’s burger at the Raleigh Times Bar. Nothing fancy here: The chef his own meat daily, so you can get deliciously simple half-pound patties medium rare, just as nature intended.

• North Dakota: Try the double cheeseburger from Hi-Ho South. The just-greasy-enough burgers, served on a buttered bun with fried onions, are the result of nearly half a century.

• Ohio: Try the burger at Terry’s Turf Club. There are peanut shells on the floor and the burgers come on paper plates but the toppings come straight off the fine-dining menu, including foie gras, scallops with lychees, and Iberian ham.

• Oklahoma: Try the fried onion burger at Johnnie’s Grill. Onions are pressed onto the burgers and caramelize as they cook. The thin patties are topped off with mustard and a warm bun.

• Oregon: Try the skyline burger at Skyline Restaurant. This burger is so well renowned that food writer James Beard declared it one of the best he’s ever tasted. The quarter-pound patty comes on a buttered, toasted bun with tomato, pickles, and mayo.

• Pennsylvania: Try the Angus burger at the Royal Tavern. The thick patty comes on a brioche bun with caramelized onions, bacon, Gouda, chili, mayo and pickled long hot peppers.

• Rhode Island: Try the murder burger at Haven Brothers. Customers line up from early evening until 4 AM for the double-decker Murder Burger with chili, cheese, bacon and mushrooms.

• South Carolina: Try the redneck cheeseburger at Nu-Way Lounge and Restaurant. Here, real-deal, house-made pimiento cheese, piled between the patty and a big, soft sesame bun, sets the burger apart.

• South Dakota: Try the squealer at Hemmer Brothers. The three brothers who set up this shop grind bacon right into the patties, so there’s bacon in every bite-and all the more room for other toppings.

• Tennessee: Try the cheeseburger at Rotier’s. Cooks at this restaurant don’t bother adding salt or pepper to the beef patties: Legend has it that the burgers get their entire flavor from a big old piece of steel-the restaurant’s 64-year-old flattop grill. Once seared, the patties end up on poppy-studded French bread.

• Texas: Try the hamburger at Perini Ranch Steakhouse. Chef Tom Perini’s Angus beef burgers are topped with mushrooms, chilies, and cheese served with a knife and fork, just like a steak.

• Utah: Try the spicy Moroccan lamb burger at Acme Burger Company. This eatery is shaking things up with patties like cranberry-pecan turkey and the popular spicy lamb with harissa sauce, served on a sweet-potato bun.

• Vermont: Try the Scibek sizzler at The Shopping Bag. The $5 half-pound burger is made with Montreal steak seasonings and meat fresh from the butcher counter. It was created and named for a police officer that stops in often.

• Virginia: Try the cheeseburger from Ray’s Hell-Burger. Beef patties are served blackened, with a peppercorn crust, or “Diablo, “ doused with a chipotle pepper sauce.

• Washington: Try the dork burger at the Lunchbox Laboratory. Customers stand in line and decide from a collection of 8 patties and 50 toppings which one to order. The dork burger is 40% duck, 40% pork, and 20% “secret.” Rumor has it; the last bit is cured meat.

• Wisconsin: Try the brat and bacon pretzel burger from the Great Dane Pub and Brewing Co. Two patties (beef and bratwurst) are smothered with cheddar cheese, topped with stout-caramelized onions Apple wood smoked bacon, and pilsner mustard served on a soft pretzel bun.

• West Virginia: Try the doublewide from Hillbilly Hot Dogs. The famous 10-pound burger, which feeds 14, arrives on a 25-inch bun with 35 slices of cheese, 35 tomatoes, two heads of lettuce, three onions, and a pound of pickles. Cooking time: 45 minutes.

• Wyoming: Try the bison burger platter from Terry Bison Ranch. Every Sunday at this working ranch, diners board an old-fashioned locomotive to visit the herd, while eating bison burgers for lunch. The freshly ground meat is served straight up with no seasoning.

For more info: Any questions, comments, or concerns please feel free to contact me at pastrychef1@cox.net Thank you!!!