The Burger Index: Notes on Methodology

But a burger seems a better core indicator because, for starters, just about every restaurant in the city sells one these days. Classically-trained chefs once sneered at the lowly stacks of beef and bun, which were relegated to fast food joints or casual diners. Not anymore.

Sesame Burgers & Beer lets you build your own burgers with an array of toppings and housemade condiments (Robert F. Moss)

Burgers have become a menu essential at restaurants high and low, especially on bar and brunch menus (slide a fried egg on top and—voila!—a breakfast dish!) You can find them at barbecue joints, at Mexican restaurants, at the flashiest high-end steakhouse—a universal menu item if there ever was one.

Plus, a cheeseburger is a straight-forward preparation that, despite the creative energy that chefs pour into their custom grinds and housemade condiments, don’t vary all that much from one restaurant to the next. (We’re excluding, of course, absurd acts of conspicuous consumption like piling poached lobster or shaved truffles on top.)

So burgers it is.