This Is Connecticut's Best Burger For 2020: New Report

CONNECTICUT — It's more than fitting that the crown for "Best Hamburger in Connecticut" be placed upon the brow of its creator.

New Haven's Louis' Lunch invented the classic American burger in 1898 according to the Library of Congress, and 122 years later food review website The Daily Meal has named it Best in Connecticut for 2020.

The site praises Louis' as "a must-visit for any culinary pilgrim in New Haven, Connecticut. Here, burgers are made from a blend of five cuts of meat, ground fresh daily, hand-rolled and cooked to order in the restaurant’s original cast-iron grills from 1898. The end product comes with cheese, tomato and onion on white toast."

...and that's all it comes with. This is no "build your own" joint for giddy millennials to experiment with artisanal mustard, avocados and pretzel toppings. Louis may not know what you want, but he knows what you need, and that's a flame broiled patty, tomato and onion on white toast. Okay, twist his arm, he'll throw on a slice of cheese. But that's it, Bub.

It's a simple approach, but a famously successful one. The burgers from Louis' Lunch have been praised in print and on TV, with features on The Travel Channel and The Food Network, and in "Zagat," "Food and Wine Magazine," and others.

To compile their list of best burgers, The Daily Meal editors started by taking a look at their annual ranking of the 101 Best Burgers in America. That's pit together via a survey with hundreds of burgers on it given to a panel of noted writers, journalists, bloggers and culinary authorities from across the country to vote on. They also "extensively researched beloved burger joints in big cities and small towns alike, dug through online reviews and combed existing best-of lists, both in print and online."

Tiny Louis' Lunch, located at 261 Crown Street in New Haven, is one of the oldest family-run businesses in the country, and is now operated by founder Louis Lassen's great-grandson, Jeff Lassen.