Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Cheezeborger, Cheezeborger, Cheezeborger, No Fries Chips

If you have ghosts you know who to call - ghostbusters. But if you are in Iowa or Idaho and want a great hamburger, who you gonna' call? Well, you might considering contacting George Motz, who has been called both America's leading hamburger expert and the "Indiana Jones of hamburger archeology."

Motz came to the National Archives today to screen his 2004 James Beard Award nominated documentary Hamburger America. Interestingly, Motz said his real passion is filmaking, not hamburgers. "Now I always liked hamburgers and I thought the people behind them would make a good film," Motz said. "I blame the media for the hamburger expert thing."

The film tells the story of 8 distinctive hamburger palaces and the people behind the burgers. Each of the locations had been around for at least 40 years at the time of filming and ranged from the Memphis eatery where the hamburgers are fried in 91-year-old grease to the Billy Goat in Chicago, immortalized in the "cheessborger, cheezeborger, cheezeborger, no fries, chips" skit in the early years of Saturday Night Live

Travelers' Tip:
Good traveling involves thorough research.  So if you like hamburgers and you're planning any kind of cross country trip, you might want to consider grabbing a copy of Motz' companion book to film Hamburger America: A State-by-State Guide to 150 Great Burger Joints, a move endorsed by some great food experts. "When you travel across the United States take this guide with you," says Martha Stewart. "Hamburger America should be a staple in anyone's travel bag," adds chef Bobby Flay.

1 comment:

  1. Looks like a fun movie, but honestly, Martha Stewart and Bobby Flay blurbs? It's as if Lucretia Borgia and Adolf Hitler recommended it. Only thing worse would be a blurb from the anti-Christ herself Rachel Ray!

    ReplyDelete