How a Burger Scholar Makes the Best Burgers in NYC

This is the top burger scholar in the world, and his restaurant is a piece of hamburger history. They're making some of the best burgers, and every detail in the restaurant pays homage to historical hamburger joints. This is George Motes, and today we'll try a bunch of different things on the menu, including the burger that made him famous. But we'll also go behind the scenes to see what makes these the best burgers in New York City. And let me tell you, there is no person that is more obsessed with burgers than George. How many burgers do you think you've eaten in your life? Probably around 35,000, maybe, we figure now. Do you ever get tired of it, or no? No. No, I get tired of bad burgers, but I never get tired of great burgers. I think my love for the hamburger grows exponentially, you know, every day. When you walk into Hamburger America, you're walking into a piece of hamburger history, living hamburger history. So you can walk in here, and you can get a great burger that's historically accurate. We don't pretend to make things up. Everything we do here on the menu is something that is based in hamburger history. Everything you see in the restaurant, everything, all the pictures, the wall, all the woodwork, everything here is all indicative of something that I've seen and researched in the world of hamburgers in America, and beyond, really. Hamburger America was started in late 2023, and since then, the reception has been immense. Pretty much every major news outlet has given it praise, saying it's revived the original American burger, and with some even saying it's the best burger in the U.S. But can something seemingly so simple truly be that delicious? Later on, we're going to see how these burgers are made, and if they're worth it, but I first wanted to learn how and why George originally focused on hamburgers. It actually started because I made a film about hamburgers. It started in the year 2000, so 25 years ago, and I started working on this film just for fun. And I was just trying to make a film, because I was a filmmaker, and I was trying to find a good subject. It just happened that nobody had touched hamburgers, so I decided to try it. Well, I discovered that in the beginning, when I first started doing research 25 years ago, that people who were making hamburgers didn't really truly understand their own significance, their own importance. They were just happy to be making hamburgers, making some money, putting their kids through college, buying hamburgers, and were continuing on their parents, their grandparents' legacy. You know, multi-generational hamburger restaurants exist out there to this day, and I don't think 25 years ago they were taking themselves very seriously. No one had ever looked at the hamburger as a piece of culinary importance in America, and I decided I would be that guy. One of the most interesting things about Hamburger America is how simple everything is. But for George, simplicity is key. Simplicity is the number one component to a great burger. You know, the earliest burgers in America were cooked quickly. So it was a portioned ball of beef that was smashed with the back of the spatula, and just done for speed. So we have two basic burgers in the menu. We have what I call the classic smash, which is, you know, everyone's eating a smash burger these days, and it's not a trend, it's trendy now, but it's not new, it's not a new trend. It's been around literally since the dawn of the hamburger, the smash burger. So we have a classic smash, which is a three-ounce ball of beef, a portioned ball of beef that is smashed on a flat top, and served with nothing more than cheese on a toasted buttered bun. That's it. You can add to it what we call all the way. Our version of all the way is what I also like to call the Midwestern trilogy, the mustard pickle onion. Three-ounce ball of beef, that little cooked patch. Helps with a little stick from the bottom of the spatula there. And a round ball of beef should make a round patty, but that takes a lot of practice. We had a metal shop in Argentina that made these for years. It's one pound of 12-gauge stainless. It's a five-par construction with some good stainless welding. But it's called smash bullet, yeah. And then, so we use Lowry's seasoned salt, which is no secret. It's a great salt, though. It has a little bit of everything in it. People get freaked out by American cheese. You should be freaked out by bad American cheese. It's the best. It's designed, it's engineered to melt. So it's great for a burger. First up, we got the classic. It really is so simple. When you see them make it, it's just a few steps. It comes together in a few minutes, and yet it is so packed with flavor. I think ultimately it comes down to using really high-quality ingredients and just understanding what makes a great burger. You don't need anything too crazy. The bun, really nice and fluffy, but also compresses nicely around the burger so you can fit it into your mouth easily. We saw them cover up this burger on the grill so that the cheese melts at around the same time that the patty takes to cook. And it's details like that that really make this a standout burger. One of my favorite things about these burgers is that they're actually quite small. Like, you can have multiple of them if you want. My burger looks kind of ridiculous. It's kind of small. It looks tiny. It packs a wallet. But it's not the most beautiful burger. It's not really photo-ready. I look at photos on Instagram, and I'm like, oh, God. You know, it's not ready for photos. You can make double and triple and a quadruple, but that's not my burger. It's about the taste. Yeah, it's about the taste. Now, we're going to try their most famous burger later on, but one of the things that George wants people to know about burgers is just how diverse they are. And I'm not going to lie. When you get him talking about burgers, you really start to see just how much he knows about this food. People don't really realize how regionally diverse the hamburger can be and has been over the past 100 years. When it became a staple of the Midwest, the sort of progenitor of the hamburger, which is basically chopped, cooked beef served on bread. That's the definition of a hamburger. Once the burger was established in the Midwest, people started to put their own spin on it. Take the butter burger, for example, which was invented probably 70 years ago when someone took a classic American hamburger and put a ton of Wisconsin butter on there. You know, if you go down south, there were hard times in the turn of the century. And what they would do is they would extend their meat supply by taking yesterday's buns or bread and crumbling it into the beef. And they created something called a slug burger. So these are regional differences that happen just in the Midwest alone. And one of the cool things that they do here is they also have a monthly rotating burger that pays homage to some of the most legendary burger shops around the U.S. We have a monthly burger special. Monthly burger special is a rotating burger we do every month. And I take one of my favorite burgers from around the country and we actually fly in. And we bring in what I call my hamburger hero who is the person who represents that burger. Just this last week, we had in Sandy Taylor Short who is 87 years old. And we flew her in because she represents one of the most important legacies in something called a loose meat sandwich. Which is not even really a burger. Technically, it's a sandwich. It's chopped meat served in a bun with mustard, pickle, onion. And it tastes like a burger, but it's not constructed like a burger at all. But if you're from Iowa, it is an amazing experience. It is very much a taste of home. This is the only burger that I've ever had where I've been served with a spoon because you want to basically grab some of the loose meat and then pack it back in as it falls out. It's also served in the wax paper that comes from the original restaurant. Which is a super cool touch. A little bit of mustard, pickles, onions, the meat itself, and the bun on this one is not cut all the way through. I'm not going to lie, if I had to make a comparison, this reminds me of like the American version of a Chinese beef or lamb bun where they have this beautiful bun on the outside this kind of like diced ground beef, ground lamb whatever it might be on the inside except this is the American version with mustard and onions and pickles. And it's a burger. There's still one more burger that we have to try. And it's actually the burger that George is most famous for. But Hamburger America, in my mind, is so much more than just the burgers. George mentioned earlier that stepping into the restaurant is like stepping into a piece of hamburger history. And the experience is almost as important as the food itself. To me, a hamburger should taste great. But it really should be experiential. And when you're sitting here, you're part of the experience. You can hear it, you can see it, you can smell it. That to me, that's the goal. And all of the little details in the restaurant either give you a glimpse into hamburger history or contribute to the dining experience as a whole. The pattern in the linoleum towel floor is actually taken from a diner in Pennsylvania. Every little detail in here. I mean, trying to figure out why they like all the metal, obviously the stools. They still make these stools today. I mean, everything is still available. You can still find this stuff today. We have great napkin holders. You know, the classic napkin holders. Every single thing about the place is almost like a piece of performance art. There's something very specific where you smell the food. And not too much because it's all going up through the hood, thankfully. But you do smell, you know you're in the right place. You smell stuff, you hear stuff, you see things. The look is great. And there's something about that piece of performance art that just puts you there. And the best part of all of this is there are secrets to this restaurant that only certain people know. And some that only George himself knows. There are off-menu items but then there's also a massive secret menu of all of these different burgers from around the U.S. George has even said that 70% of the secret menu has never even been ordered a single time. And some people actually order off the secret menu accidentally without knowing that they're ordering it. The drink that he gave me came with pickles in it and I couldn't quite put my finger on what the drink was. I couldn't figure out what the flavor was. But it turns out that it was a special drink that really is only found in North Carolina called the Witch Doctor. Which combines every single drink on the soda machine and pickles. These little details are what sets Hamburger America apart. But the real draw of this place is the third and final burger on the menu. The one that made George famous and the one that this restaurant is known for. By the way, I know that I make a lot of fine dining videos but these types of restaurants are actually the ones that I love the most. So if you want to see more of the most amazing restaurants, people, and food from around the world, definitely subscribe below. But for now, I think it's time to try their famous Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger. The other burger I have on the menu was the burger that kind of made me famous. Which is the, specifically, the Oklahoma Fried Onion Burger. Which is a science experiment at it's greatest moments. It's five ingredients. Sweet onion, obviously beef, bun, cheese, and salt. And that's it. People say oh, there's a sauce on there. I was like, no sauce. It's literally just, you know, grease is a condiment. Grease is in there and we serve it with two pickles on the side. You're not supposed to put the pickles in. In Oklahoma, they serve them on the sides. You're supposed to eat them like a chip. Just as kind of a way to the palate cleanser. To cut the beef. It's a pretty beefy, rich burger. The acid from the pickle helps you, you know, enjoy the burger more. We do one thing that's a little different here that they don't do in Oklahoma. We actually tuck in the onions underneath once we flip it. In Oklahoma, they cook it at a higher temperature. They cook fast. Super fast. This is the gather, by the way. See that? I can lift it up and gather the onions, put them underneath so they don't burn too badly. You want them to cook. You want them to be at the point where they're almost burnt. But they're not. It takes about six and a half to eight minutes, depending. Beef steam is melting the cheese and then softening the bun. The stuff that's heavier is going down and obviously caramelizing the onions. Now we have the burger that made George famous. This Oklahoma fried onion burger. I'm excited for this one. Holy crap. Mmm. I mean, you can just see how thinly the onions are sliced and how thinly they're put into this burger. Really beautifully caramelized without being too burnt or anything like that. They have this beautifully deep umami sweet flavor and then you really do taste that grease going from the bun into those onions. I mean, there's a lot of different ways to think of it. One is it's an umami bomb because of the caramelized onions. When you cook this burger, you're cooking the burger in rendered beef fat. The burger is rendering and the onions are cooking in the beef fat and it creates this incredible caramelization you can only get from cooking in beef fat. That's it. You can't cook them separately in butter or something and try to add them to the burger. It wouldn't taste the same. There's some crazy science going on with the very, very sweet onions. They're medallias. Um, and the rendered beef fat and just the right amount of heat. Some people go too far and they burn them. You end up with something very acrid. The idea is to get to the point where they're almost burned, caramelized, and they break down. I believe the onions have a breaking point kind of like brisket, which is about six and a half to eight minutes where the onion actually just gives up. And that's the point where it's really the best. It's pure science. That's the scientific side. People like it because it tastes good. They don't know. They're like, wow, why does this taste so good? And there's no sauce on it. I don't get it. You'd think that a burger that really only changes a couple things, like here, what they've done is they've, uh, they still have the patty, they still have the cheese, they still have the bun, but instead of the diced onions, they do this really thinly sliced caramelized onions. They take out the pickles and that's it. But it tastes so different from the other one. The other one is a bit more of that classic burger taste, I would say. And then this one is a bit more of that, like, umami bomb. Like he said, there are only a few things on the menu. We've tried the two famous burgers and they're so, so well done. You can tell that there's an extensive amount of research and thought and precision in it even though it's something as simple, seemingly simple, as a burger. And literally, as I was heading out, George had one more drink that he wanted to tell me about. It's a classic old school New York City drink that is unfortunately dying. It's going away. Um, it's chocolate syrup, specifically the right Brooklyn chocolate syrup. We won't mention the name because they don't make it the same way. We're gonna get the different cocktails. Seltzer. From a seltzer tap and also milk. And that's it. Hamburger America has changed the way that I think about burgers. Knowing the history and importance of the burger in American cuisine makes every bite that much more special. It's a restaurant where every single time you come back, you can have a new experience. And what George and the team have done is create something to commemorate the legacy of the humble hamburger.