Food site TastingTable released its list of “Where To Find The Best Cheeseburger In Every US State” on Sunday, choosing restaurants based on its “own extensive repertoire of favorite cheeseburgers” and positive reviews from customers while excluding large chain restaurants. Ted’s Restaurant in Meriden was chosen as the top spot for the Nutmeg State. The article noted its hundreds of positive Google reviews about its steamed cheeseburgers.
“It’s hard to imagine a burger cooked any other way than on a griddle or grill. Yet Ted’s Restaurant implausibly steams its burgers, and even more implausibly, people love them,” the article states.
Ted’s Restaurant has a burger menu including the Original Steamed Cheeseburger (onion, mustard and ketchup), the Everything (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and condiments), the Big Bacon (bacon, lettuce and tomato), the Big Ted (lettuce, onion, bacon, pickles and Thousand Island dressing), California Steamin’ (lettuce, tomato, bacon and garlic avocado mayo), the Southwestern (chipotle ranch, bacon, mushrooms and onion strings), BBQ Bacon (barbecue sauce, bacon and onion strings), Ted’s Po’ Boy (lettuce, tomato, mayo, onions, pickles and Cajun seasoning), the Hot & Spicy (habanero ketchup, onions, jalapeños and bacon), Buffalo Bleu (Buffalo sauce, bleu cheese, lettuce, tomato and ranch) and the Black & Bleu (bleu cheese, bacon, barbecue sauce and onion strings), according to the restaurant’s website.
Each burger gets about a third of a pound of ground beef, featuring a proprietary blend made just for the restaurant, owner Bill Foreman previously told CT Insider. The beef is pressed into metal trays, which slide into the steam cabinet and cook for 10 to 12 minutes. Two-ounce blocks of white cheddar are also warmed in the steam cabinet, melting to a fondue-like consistency so the cheese can be poured over the burger patty.
Foreman is a third-generation member of the family that first started Ted’s. The eatery’s namesake Ted Duberek opened the Meriden restaurant in 1959, and when Duberek died, his son Paul took it over. Paul Duberek is Foreman’s uncle, and Foreman bought the business from him in 2008.
Other New England restaurants on the list include Harmon’s Lunch in Falmouth, Maine; Little Donkey in Cambridge, Massachusetts; Papa Joe’s Humble Kitchen in Milford, New Hampshire; There, There in Rhode Island; and Honeypie in Jamaica, Vermont.
– Includes previous reporting by Leeanne Griffin
Dining and Cooking