"The Burger" at Angry Dog in Dallas TX. In the Deep Ellum District.

Being local, I have a tendency to lean towards In 'N Out

My usual order:
Double-double animal style, no pickles, strawberry shakes and animal style fries. ^ :D

Umami burger in LA followed by Shake Shack in NYC

Charlie Bienlich's - Northbrook IL. quality of meat, limited menu of all good food!!!

I'll volunteer to try all of these out and report back if you would like.

[removed uncivil remark] If a flat top grilled burger done to a medium well done is someone's idea of the greatest burger in the world, I've got to put a serious ? mark next to any food recommendation that person makes.

It seems like a number of posters to this thread are taking into consideration the ambience of the place where the burger is served, rather than the quality of the burger alone. Some are unable to separate the two, I focus solely on the latter.

I have to second this. After years of hearing about In n Out, I finally had a chance to try it in RNO this summer during the Air Races. I was utterly disappointed. In terms of fast food burgers, I find Five Guys infinitely better.

Gotts Roadside in Napa gets my vote when in CA.

On the east coast right now my choice is for BLT Burger.

The very best burger, is one I make myself with applewood smoked bacon and maytag blue cheese.

For a restaurant burger, this Jaeger Burger from Thurman's in Columbus, OH is my fave:

http://s3-media4.ak.yelpcdn.com/bpho...MTfXJasA/l.jpg

McDonald's.

Asia, and Europe, hard to beat...

In and Out, and 5 Guy's in the states.

Nothing like a White Castle...at 1:00 AM..

In 'n' out is pretty damn good, but I think the best burger I ever had is at the snack shack at the driving range at the Olympic Club in San Francisco. It's a cheeseburger from a grill that is about 100 years old, served in a grilled hot dog bun. And no one pays for their own...you roll dice with whoever you're with and the loser buys.

Well, I have waited twice. Once, she ran out after I stood in line for 2 hours. It was about two weeks after the WSJ story ran. But the time I actually ate a Ghetto Burger a year later, the wait time was about 45 minutes. I guess it depends on what time of the day you go.

Best burger... The $0.99 1/2 lb. Fat Eddie burger at Fast Eddie's Bon Air in Alton, IL. It's amazing and, obviously, dirt cheap.

That's fine, but honestly there are many, myself included who greatly prefer an In-N-Out style (SoCal style) burger to any gourmet burger. And while In-N-Out is very good, there are dozens if not hundreds of independent joints in CA alone that make a similar but better burger.

It always will be. ^:)

For some reason the almost unlimited range of what you can do can make the home making of the perfect burger an all-consuming passion/obsession.

And don't start me off about the bun .......;)