Reviving the Classic American Burger

“Like a haiku, the best burgers benefit from an imposed limitation of form,” he wrote in his “Great American Burger Book.” Motz believes in beefiness as a hamburger’s foundational attribute, something to which all other elements—the bun; a sauce, perhaps; a considered minimality of toppings—ought to work in dedicated service. There are just two burgers on the menu at Hamburger America. The Classic Smash, in which a baseball of freshly ground beef is smeared into lace-edged flatness on a searing hot flat-top griddle, can be ordered with melty American cheese or “all the way,” with diced onion, a few dill pickle rounds, and a slash of mustard. The signature George Motz’s Fried Onion Burger uses an Oklahoma technique of covering the beef with a heap of sweet onions sliced paper-thin, and smashing the onion-topped meat into the griddle. After the burger is flipped, the onions caramelize and char between the meat and the griddle, all but disappearing, while giving the patty a haunting sweetness. It’s served with no condiments, no dressings—just a slice of American cheese, as both lubrication and salt, and two salutatory pickle rounds on the side.