America's Best Burgers

By Bret Stetka for MSN City Guides

With a burger type for every palate, this best-of list is sure to make your mouth water.  

I know, another burger list. All the food-obsessed urbanites out there are probably sick to death of media outlets constantly spitting out their picks for who makes the best patty in town. But in the interest of ensuring that you, the MSN reader, are thoroughly primed on where to begin your quest for the country’s best burgers, we’ve decided to throw in our two cents on a national scale. We've already covered doughnuts and hot dogs, so it's only fitting that we’ve gotten around to the ultimate symbol of all-American cuisine: a patty of ground beef laid in between a sliced bun, perhaps with veggies and condiments, perhaps with cheese.

To help compile the list I've contacted two of the world's foremost authorities on all things burger – Josh Ozersky, food writer and author of "The Hamburger," and the ardently anti-ketchup George Motz, burger historian and author of "Hamburger America." And like Motz says, a list of this sort is never definitive. There are plenty more worthy burger makers and there’s always another Grade A burger shop waiting to be discovered; this is just a starting point. So dig in, and let us know your favorite patty in the message boards.

Bobcat Bite Restaurant
Santa Fe, N.M.
Initially a trading post and then a gun shop, in 1953 rancher Rene Clayton put this ragged, pink adobe building to better use: a roadside diner serving one of the best hamburgers in the country. Now owned by John and Bonnie Eckre, Bobcat Bite’s was named for the bobcats that used to come down from the dusty New Mexican hills to kindly relieve the restaurant of its scraps.

BB’s signature green chili cheeseburger is built from freshly ground antibiotic- and hormone-free chuck steak and topped with diced green chilies (from nearby Hatch, America’s chili capital) held in place by a slice of white cheddar. The key to the burger is the 50-year-old cast-iron griddle, which leaves the patty crunchy on the outside and as rare as you want it in the middle.