Boston Burger Week: A History Of The Boston Burger From 1900 To Present
In a city most famous for lobster rolls and clam chowdah, Boston has a long and well-established hamburger history. In the year 2013, you will find burgers on the menus of some of the city's top restaurants, with the city's most talented chefs engineers creative takes on the backyard classic. With this evolution in mind, here are some of the greatest moments in Beantown burger history.
1900
Two hours southwest of Boston, a busy traveler stops in a New Haven shop and asks for a quick to-go meal. The result: the hamburger's humble beginnings in the form of ground steak trimmings sandwiched between toast.
1939
Legendary Boston butcher Kinnealey Quality Meats, which today provides beef for many of the city's top burger flippers, opens in a modest basement stall in Boston's Faneuil Hall Market Place.
1997
The Tasty Sandwich Shop, a Boston burger legend famous for serving as many as 400 double burgers a night and immortalized in the film Good Will Hunting, closes its Harvard Square location.
1951
Dan Sullivan opens the aluminum-sided Sullivan's Castle Island on Boston's gritty Southside, selling burgers for $.15. The lines have yet to die down.
2011
One of Boston's most outrageous burgers, the Mac Attack, is an eight-ounce certified Angus burger piled with four-cheese macaroni and cheese and topped with sizzling bacon. It gets national attention on TV shows that take notice of its outrageousness.
2011
On-the-go burger vendors go sustainable when food truck catering service Brother Trucker opens a burger-centric cart offering classic beef, chicken and veggie burgers made with all local ingredients.
2012
The eco-conscious trend continues as a food truck begins selling sliders made with grass-fed beef.
2012
A Harvard Square burger shop christens a Barack Obama burger — made with feta cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion — asking customers the crucial question: one and done?
2013
During the great Summer Of The Cronut, a Beacon Hill burger stand jumps on the bandwagon to invent the Bronut— a hole-free donut infused with maple syrup is cut in half to serve as the bun. Between that rests a quarter-pound angus beef burger, runny fried egg and maple-bacon glaze holding it all in place. Exhale.
2013
A popular burger chain opens in Fenway, raising its price to $6.50 (from the standard $4.50). Fans take the price hike in stride.
2013
A Harvard Square burger joint expands their menu with the "Whitey" Bulger Burger, complete with the tagline "Where's Whitey?" They would later change the tagline to, "Got ya!"
Earlier in Boston Burger Week:
- Lobster Burgers With Tarragon-Mayo Recipe
- Jamie Bissonnette Talks Boston's Burger Scene
- Meet Richard Chudy, Boston Burger Blogger
This post is brought to you by our friends at Amstel Light
