From Starbucks to the sea, Seattle knows a thing or two about healthy cuisine. However, a delicious burger reigns supreme in Washington. Below are some of the best burgers Seattle has to offer.
THE BEST BURGER-IES!
The tavern burger at Loretta’s tastes like a backyard dad burger, but better. This thin little thing with special sauce, pickles, plain American cheese, and onions lives up to the hype, and tastes just as good with a beer at the bar as it does wrapped in wax paper to-go.
If drippy topping-heavy burgers are your thing, the beacon burger at Perihelion is your ideal meat sandwich. The cheddar, thick pork belly, and chile aioli work better together than Gene Kelly, Debbie Reynolds, and Donald O’Connor in the tap dance sequence in Singing In The Rain. It’s a masterpiece.
To get your hands on a butcher’s burger at FlintCreek, you have to be strategic. Get there when they open, sit at the bar, and secure one of the 12 burgers available per service. This burger topped with onion jam, blue cheese, and arugula is excellent.
Some little-known Seattle trivia: The original owner of Sam’s Tavern went on to found a national chain of burger restaurants called Red Robin. Sam’s 50 burger is kind of like a Red Robin burger, only a million times better, and not eaten next to a child sticking a crayon up their mother’s nose. It comes topped with bacon, avocado, gouda, and a creamy bacon ranch. Just in case there wasn’t enough bacon, there’s some blended in the patty for good measure. And as an homage to Red Robin, you better believe you get bottomless steak fries with this beautiful thing.
The Essex burger is proof that if you cook a mound of beef like you would a pizza, it’s going to be great. Essex is from the same team behind Delancey, one of our favorite spots for charred pizzas, and their burger is seared in a wood-fired oven as if it were a Neapolitan pie. The result is outrageously good, especially topped with two secret sauces: an orange one that tastes like pepperoni, and a white one that tastes like caesar salad dressing.
Our first taste of the burger at Frank’s immediately made us drop our utensils and say, “Oh yeah.” That’s how good it is. While everything’s tasty here, skip the oysters and move directly toward the burger for dinner. The well-salted patty, acidic pickled onions, white cheddar, and seafood Louie sauce all in one bite is way better than an evening of slurping down ocean phlegm.
At first, the “animal-style” burger at Sawyer made us angry, because a) it reminds us that Washington state doesn’t have In-N-Out, and b) this burger doesn’t even have cheese. Then we took a bite, softly apologized, and gave the burger a little pat on the bun while onlookers stared. It’s a super tender double wagyu patty with a caramelized onion and mint mornay sauce so rich you will not miss the cheese.
The burger at Bar Melusine is like the Bateau burger’s little sister. It’s from the same team, and it’s smaller, not quite as impressive, and is probably super jealous of the older sibling for being more popular, naturally. But while you could fit the whole thing in the palm of your hand, it packs a tasty punch – from the onion jam to the tiny seeded bun.
If you didn’t know what Shake Shack was until Seattle got one, it’s the result of a world-class restaurateur opening up a near-perfect burger chain. And while the city-specific ones with Washington ranch beef and Macrina buns are good, they’re missing the point when they share menu real estate with the perfection that is the classic shack burger. With crisped edges, cheese, mayo-y shack sauce, and a toasted potato bun, it’s our go-to fast food burger, every time. Sorry Dick’s.
In a faraway land called the Eastside, there’s an ugly little Bellevue burger joint that smells like fryer oil, looks like it hasn’t been updated since they opened in 1989, and serves the best charbroiled cheeseburger in the Seattle metro area. These are juicy and taste terrific with bacon and fry sauce on one of those huge sesame seed hubcap buns. Also, this isn’t an onion ring guide, but we can officially advise you to pop a ring on your burger for a good time.
All credit for this delicious list goes to The Infatuation. https://www.theinfatuation.com/seattle/guides/best-burger-seattle
