MERIDEN— With Memorial Day weekend underway, usher in the summer grilling season by celebrating National Hamburger Day on Sunday, which wraps up National Burger Month.
“I think National Hamburger Day is great. It gives entrepreneurs like myself a little recognition for the great burgers we have and what everybody in this world accomplished and burgers are the American food,” said Kevin LaMay, owner of K LaMay's Steamed Cheeseburgers. “Everybody loves a hamburger, whether it’s steamed, fried, or grilled.”
K LaMay's Steamed Cheeseburgers, Ted’s Restaurant, and Wayback Burgers have been excited about celebrating National Hamburger Day, offering great burger options and specials.
“National Hamburger Day is always cool because it brings attention to us and all the other hamburger restaurants out there, and there are a lot of them,” Bill Foreman, owner, Ted’s Restaurant said. “And it’s always good when you can shine light on what is the staple of the American restaurant business.”
Both Ted’s and K LaMay's have a style of burger that people outside the area may not be used to.
“We do a thing called a steamed cheeseburger,” Foreman said. “It’s cooked with steam instead of putting it on a grill.”
“There is a steam box. It's two separate boxes, one is a meat box and one is a cheese box,” LaMay said. “The meat box, the water is put in the pan and the steam cooks the meat. Kind of like a sauna for burgers and the flavor stays in the beef.”
All the excess fats and oils are drained out of the beef before it’s served.
“The biggest thing I tell people is sometimes when you eat a grilled or fried burger all the oils and stuff stay with the burger,” LaMay said. “With steamed burgers they’re drained out so you can kind of go about your day and not feel sluggish and weighed down.”
Both restaurants offer the steamed hamburger, steamed cheeseburger, double steamed hamburger, and double steamed cheeseburger with a variety of toppings for you to choose from. Meanwhile places like Wayback Burgers offer a variety of made-to-order burgers available as a single patty or classic double patties. They also offer veggie burgers and Impossible Burgers.
“We also have specialty burgers that have specialized toppings already like the California Steamin, Texas Fatty and The Everything,” Foreman said.
Foreman shared that Ted’s most popular specialty burgers vary by time of year.
“I would say the California Steamin with bacon, garlic avocado mayo, lettuce and tomato is always popular regardless of the time of year, and the Black and Bleu with buffalo sauce, bleu cheese crumbles, lettuce, tomato and ranch dressing is another popular one,” he added.
“One of our most popular burgers people really like is the Everything Burger that’s with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mayo and mustard,” LaMay said.
Another popular one is the Maloney Spartan Burger, which contains barbecue sauce, an onion ring and sauteed onions.
“So I’m friends with the high school football coach and when they won a state championship we named our first burger ever after them – the Spartan Burger,” LaMay said.
LaMay also shared that the restaurant separates itself from other places by using a sharp cheddar cheese from Wisconsin. They age their cheese over four years.
“It’s the star of the show. People love our cheese,” he added. “And it’s only available at our restaurant.”
A fan favorite at Wayback Burgers is the “Cheeeesy” which comes with four slices of melted American cheese and two beef patties made-to-order, sandwiched between an inverted, grilled and buttered bun.
Look to get a great deal on some of these burgers before the end of the month.
“We usually run some sort of special in the shop for National Hamburger Day and National Cheeseburger Day,” Foreman said.
On Sunday Ted’s is offering a combo meal of a regular cheeseburger, fry and a drink for $10.
“We have coupons for deals on our website and in the Record-Journal,” LaMay said.
Wayback Burgers has been having a delicious lineup of burger bargains throughout the entire month.
“We were pleased to announce our latest lineup of offers in celebration of National Hamburger Month – our favorite month of the year,” Patrick Conlin, president of Wayback Burgers, said. “Each May, we strive to remind guests why our exceptional customer service and high-quality burgers separate us from competitors. Wayback Burgers’ National Hamburger Month deals are carefully designed with the burger enthusiast in mind and shine a spotlight on our most mouthwatering menu items.”
Wayback Burgers will offer all guests BOGO (Buy One Get One) Classic Burgers on Sunday.
Ted’s Restaurant is a third-generation, family-run business that has been around since 1959. It is located at 1046 Broad St in Meriden.
“I like that we have a unique product that people come from all around to eat,” Foreman said. “And I think people love our burgers because of how long we’ve been around, we do it the same way every time, we use the same products we’ve always used, and it’s a small quintessential hole in the wall style restaurant.”
Though Kevin LaMay has been in the industry for 31 years, K LaMay's Steamed Cheeseburgers has been around for 17 years. It is located at 690 East Main St. in Meriden.
“We’re nationally recognized; we won awards statewide and nationally, but without our customers we wouldn’t be who we are,” LaMay said. “We have a nice following and we thank and appreciate all the customers that come from all over the country to dine with us.”
Wayback Burgers, a Connecticut-based, fast-casual franchise, was founded in 1991 in Newark, Delaware. The company currently operates in 35 states with over 170 locations nationally and internationally in Brunei, Morocco, Pakistan, The Netherlands, Ireland, South Africa, Japan and seven provinces in Canada.
Wayback Burgers is located at 893 East Main St. in Meriden.
So whether you’re cooking out or stopping by a restaurant grab yourself a hamburger or cheeseburger and enjoy National Hamburger Day.
chooks@record-journal.com203-317-2279