04.19.07
DAVID LUNCH EST. 1978
I get so many food recommendations in my cab. Pretty much everybody I pick up tells me to go somewhere. And when they don’t offer it up during the natural course of a conversation, I ask them flat out. I try to make it completely clear that I’m not interested just in what’s open right now, but what is the most delicious food in their neighborhood.
“I’m not hungry right now,” I tell them (even if I am kinda hungry) “I just want to know what’s the best place to eat around here.” Usually, people get it, and they let me in on a little neighborhood secret. Occasionally, I get people saying, “Well . . . I think the diner is still open. They don’t screw anything up there.” I have to tell them, “No, I’m not necessarily going now. I could come back. I just want to know what’s your absolute favorite thing to eat.” And if they stare at me blankly and say, “. . . Aaaapleeee Beeees???” then goodbye is too good a word babe, so I’ll just say fare thee well.
But when I’m really clicking with someone, we’re talking about life and love and sex and death and war and travel and family and, mostly, food. From those people I often get local recs as well as recs from around the country and the world. Lately, I’ve had a number of folks like that tell me about Louis Lunch. It’s up in New Haven, and it is, supposedly, where the hamburger was invented way back in 1900. Some controversy arose when a place in Texas made the same claim, but the publicity must have helped because everyone is talking about it.
With that in mind, I made a pit stop in New Haven on my way up to Boston so Melissa and I could try this prehistoric burger and see what all the hype is about (okay, we actually took the much slower route via I95 rather than I84 specifically so we could go through New Haven and eat at Louis Lunch).
(When we arrived, Melissa was chomping at the bit to have a taste)
It is well known that they don’t put ketchup on their burgers, so we didn’t make the mistake of asking for that. However, we were immediately greeted with an obnoxious attitude by the counter man. “What do you want?” he asked abruptly and with a sour look on his face before we even settled in.
Well, Louis Lunch is old fashioned, and maybe this guy is just old school, I thought to myself. No need to take his attitude to heart. “Burgers,” I smiled. With that, he gave me more unpleasant attitude about what I wanted on it. There was no schtick to his demeanor the way you get attitude at Pickle Guys on the Lower East Side or Weiner Circle in Chicago. He was just an ass.
As we waited for our burgers to cook in the beautiful old ovens dating from the turn of the last century, I noticed that all the tasty juices in the patties must be dripping off the meat in the vertical contraption. I also noticed that our burgers would be served on toast with cheese spread on it. I sort of liked the idea of forsaking the ketchup in favor of a slice of tomato. But eating my burger on toast instead of a bun felt akin to eating cereal with water instead of milk.
The whole affair made Melissa nervous. She likes her burgers how she likes her burgers:
They tasted good though. Not great. They certainly would benefit from better bread or a basic bun. The thin slices of bread did have the effect of highlighting the quality of the meat, but a small, soft sesame seed bun would have had the same effect and tasted much better. Still, I’m not going to tell them to stop serving burgers on toast if that’s how they’ve been doing it for a century and a decade. You gotta respect that.
I do not respect, on the other hand, that schmuck behind the counter. Although he was a man a few words (all of which came in a nasty tone of voice) with us, he had plenty to say to his coworkers. While Melissa and I tried to enjoy our burgers on toast, we had to listen to this man spew forth the vilest lies and obscenities about the Yankees I’d ever heard. We were on our way to Boston, and I’d been there many times before, but I’d never heard Bostonians say anything close to what this man was spitting up.
Maybe it was because New Haven lies almost exactly half way between New York and Boston so he had major STP. The man ranted almost the whole time we were there about how the Yankees just buy their championships (by that logic the Red Sox should have the second most championships because they spend the second most money), how Yankee fans are the most obnoxious in the league (I saw a Red Sox fan chuck a UNeaten slice of greasy pizza at a guy’s face the other day at Fenway just because he thought it’d be funny as a batted ball hit the poor guy in the hands and the left fielder simultaneously knocked his beer onto his jacket), and that Derek Jeter and ARod are “totally gay for each other” (this one may be true, not that there’s anything wrong with that, and there is certainly nothing wrong with hitting game-ending home runs twice a month).
We were the only ones in there at the time, so there was no ambient noise to drown out his curses and venomous rage. I actually just felt bad for him as well as his coworker who had to listen to it. I was wearing my Nationals hat at the time, but I got the feeling if he’d known I was a Yankee fan the whole experience might have been even worse.
Melissa didn’t even finish her burger. By the end of the meal, I was showing some leg in hopes of getting a ride out of there as fast as possible.
STP=Something To Prove
Famous Fat Dave Dot Com=Five Borough Eating Tours
Smeck! said,
April 20, 2007 at 1:50 pm
The only reason to ever visit New Haven is for Mammouns.
Red Ass Baboon (Jamie) said,
April 20, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Dave! Next time you go to New Haven go to the Yankee Doodle. It is fucking amazing and so much better than Louis Lunch. It is my all time favorite diner. They put butter on donuts and hamburgers.
http://www.thedoodle.com/
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=319
Eat it Smeck!
Adam B. said,
April 20, 2007 at 10:50 pm
What type of sodas were you drinking? Is that gourmet pop?
Valerie said,
April 24, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Best burger on the planet is at the Buckhorn in San Antonio, New Mexico — population of several hundred is a reasonable estimate. Every burger fashioned by hand daily with freshly-ground 80/20 ground beef, cooked over an oldfashioned grill and layered with chopped tomato, lettuce, onions, pickles, locally grown, roasted green chile and american cheese. but here: check out what others have said: http://chefmoz.org/United_States/NM/San_Antonio/Manny’s_Buckhorn_Bar_&_Grill1108008249.html
Valerie said,
April 24, 2007 at 10:24 pm
oh, please, a burger on plain white bread?!
vaos said,
April 25, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Is this the same place and same guy???
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/01/roadfood-louis-lunch-new-haven-connecticut.html
Johnny T said,
April 25, 2007 at 7:44 pm
Dave, as I have often found, when you wanna play ball, you go to Yankee Stadium- no need to fool around anywhere else; this is an analogy that holds true over nearly all aspects of life, especially food. If you need a great burger, why look any further than the 5 boros? (by the way- have you tried Schnack? I have- and I am sure I could have saved you a stop in New Haven.
Take a look…
http://johnnytomatoes.blogspot.com/
John said,
April 26, 2007 at 4:50 am
Hey Dave- three things I tend to trust only to Our Fair City- Baseball (Bronx, of course), Medical Attention, and Food… I’d love to see the Burger Joint head to head against Little Louis’ Lunch… No contest!! Keep em comin’ Dave
Tery Spataro said,
April 29, 2007 at 2:25 pm
David, Heard you on NPR this morning! I LOVE what you’re doing! Keep it up. Would love to do a food tour taxi ride with you.
Nick said,
May 2, 2007 at 4:04 am
Too bad you had such a bad experience because while I agree that the burgers are decent I found the charm of the place lay in its history and sense of tradition and pride that the counter people had when I visited last fall. It is definitely a piece of Americana.
Nate said,
May 7, 2007 at 11:09 pm
This place is very, very overblown. I’m a student at Yale, and I’m very serious about my burgers. Louis Lunch is overpriced, underwhelming, and the staff are obnoxious and treat you very poorly. Also, they ALWAYS seem to hate on the Yanks. I’ve been there twice, and I will never go again. Yankee Doodle is definitely the best for burgers in the area. They make an old-timey lunch counter style buttered burger. It’s so good that it seems to melt in your mouth. Should you ever find yourself in The Have again, I highly recommend it.
Vanessa Williams said,
May 10, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Sorry you had an unpleasant experience at LL’s; New Haven has so much to offer and so many great people I hope this awful guy doesn’t make a lasting impression on of you of CT! Next time you’re in CT and you want good burgers, go to Ted’s in Meriden, CT on Broad St. Steamed cheeseburgers; each is cooked in its own metal steam compartment, and they’re super juicy. Otherwise your best food bets in NwH are Mammouns (which is also in the Village) or Pepes (though there is still a long-standing debate about the best pizza in NH, to include Sallys and Modern).
I didn’t realize there were B.S. fans in New Haven; we have a “Mason Dixon” line of sorts that seems to divide NY-BOS fans by a diagonal line cutting through the state, following the path of Rte 9;’ Litchfield County, Fairfield County and 1/2 of New Haven County are mostly NY fans. Must have encountered a border jumper!
Born and raised in CT,
Vanessa
Melon said,
July 17, 2007 at 2:10 pm
Louis Lunch is one of those places you go to for the experience, especially if you consider yourself a connoisseur of burgers, or at midnight to soak up some of the many adult beverages you’ve consumed at the local bars (then those burgers taste pretty darned good)…unless you prefer an AMAZING falafel from Crown Pizza, which is across the street from Louis’! My husband tells me Mammouns stinks compared to Crown. Now, I haven’t eaten at Mammouns (I’m loyal to my man’s knowledge of good food since we love to explore new towns and cities together just for the food!), but Crown serves excellent falafel and Mediterrean has great falafel too (with outrageous garlic knots to boot). Hey, and on the subject of pizza, don’t forget BAR! Excellent pizza and right in the vicinity of all the nightlife!
Melon said,
July 17, 2007 at 2:14 pm
To clarify my last comment, IF you are a connoisseur of burgers, you go to Louis ONLY for the experience, not the burgers.
Frank said,
July 17, 2007 at 2:19 pm
There are a lot of strong opinions on this blog and I’d just like to add my own…
Louis Lunch does not have the best burgers I have ever had but they were not terrible either. They definately do not fit the traditional concept of a hamburger and that puts off some people. It’s a great place to try but there are better places to get a burger.
I think that all of the comments surrounding Mammouns are way off base…
“The only reason to ever visit New Haven is for Mammouns.” Is just an insane statement. Mammouns does not even make the best Falafel in New Haven. Crown Pizza and Mediterranea both have better middle eastern food. Mammouns is easily the most overated restaurant in New Haven.
New Haven is nationally known for it’s great pizza and Itallian cuisine. There are a number of great italian restaurants in the area such as Sally’s, Pepe’s, and Modern.
Lou Gorfain said,
March 22, 2008 at 10:25 am
Dave, have you ever done any television? Would be interested in talking to you.