In the U.S., what does ordering a "plain hamburger" mean where you live?
 

One of the interesting/annoying things I've discovered is that across the U.S. the notion of a "plain hamburger" varies a lot.

I'm a literalist, but have finally figured out that "plain" (literally, bun 'n' meat. Period.) doesn't mean plain depending on where you are.

Where I live now, it is ubiquitous for a "plain" hamburger to mean meat, bun, and "hamburger sauce" (a nasty Thousand Island based concoction).

I've been in places where "plain" means meat, bun, mustard, ketchup.

In another place, "plain" meant "only mayo" (weird, huh?)

Does it vary regionally for you, or just by the restaurant/chain?

i think its by restaurant.

some people think plain hamburger means "just hold the cheese"

I finally just got in the habit of ordering plain and dry because I was tired of getting condiments on my burgers. That seems to be more in restaurants though. When I go to fastfood places like In and Out and say plain cheeseburger it is just meat, cheese and bun, just the way I like it.

This is like the regional variations for coffee.

When I moved from Minnesota to the East Coast to attend graduate school, I encountered the concept of "regular" coffee.

At a Midwestern restaurant or lunch counter, the default option is black coffee, so the first time a waitress in a diner in an Eastern city asked whether I wanted my coffee "regular," I said, "Sure."

Imagine my puzzlement when she presented me with a cup of coffee that had been dosed with cream and sugar.

I also had to learn that a "chocolate soda" has chocolate ice cream in the Northeast and that to get vanilla ice cream, you have to ask for a "black and white soda."

On the other hand, I grew up with the Minnesota notion of a "California hamburger," which is a hamburger with lettuce and tomato. To me, a plain hamburger is a meat patty on a buttered bun, period.

In the Pacific Northwest, I encountered the practice of snacking on JoJo potatoes (big, fat French fries) with ranch dressing.

I've always assumed that a plain burger had meat, buns, and ketchup/mustard, that's it. guess there's always that regional variation :)

I think the key to success in this endeavor...and yes it does seem that way at times...regardless of the restaurant, lies in the request being made to have it "plain and dry".

It might not be 100% effective where you live, but in every burger joint in Austin, Texas where I have made the request this way, it comes with a bun with meat only.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

I like plane burgers. ;)

For a while, UA served them in biz class transcons.

In NY, they don't server burgers with mustard. When we were out west when the kids were young, they got their burgers with mustard on them. :eek: Not to worry, they were replaced.

The kids or the burgers? :)

This is why for burgers I like Fuddruckers. Just order a 1lb burger medium rare and that's what you get, a plain, meat and bun medium rare burger that you dress yourself. I only use mayo and onions. Fudds is also one of the very few places out here that will serve a medium rare burger. Most places are still stuck in the 1950's mindset that hamburger has to be cooked at least medium or the eater will die from bacteria.

I thought plain was just beef paty and the bun.... (???)

This is a guy who has been ordering plain burgers for about 30 years. Mostly in the midwest and east coast, but I have eaten burgers from Tokyo to Moscow.

Depends on the burger. So for me, plain excludes anything that doesn't change the base definition of the burger you are ordering. In other words, if it isn't in the name, don't put it on the burger.

If I order a hamburger at McDonald's, plain should mean bun + meat. If I order a plain cheeseburger, then you get bun + meat + cheese. To get a cheeseburger without cheese is a hamburger and therefore upsets the definition of the item.

If you go to TGI Fridays and order a bacon cheeseburger, plain should be bun + meat + cheese + bacon. After all, if I didn't want the bacon or the cheese, I could get a regular hamburger or cheeseburger.

I often have ordered a plain burger and received everything but that appears to be a mistake rather than a misunderstanding of the definition of plain. I once ordered a plain burger in Budapest (in Hungarian) and received two pieces of bread and a cheese. That was puzzling. However, when ordering in the United States or Canada, I have never ordered a plain burger where the person took plain to mean anything but bun + meat + cheese.

That's what you get when you order a plain burger in Los Angeles.

I know that you asked for US examples, but I couldn't help myself.
In Australia, you ask for a plain hamburger from a chip shop and you'll get something close to the following;

Meat, bbq sauce, lettuce, tomato, onion (usually fried) & beetroot.

So I love that a plain burger in the US contains so little ingredient. Probably a closer description of "plain" than us though! :)

I don't remember how many years you lived in California, but virtually all old fashioned 'drive-in' burger joints as far back as the early 60s (probably earlier) used a thousand island type sauce (like In-N-Out's) on their burgers as a standard condiment along with lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles. It's what I grew up on, and therefore IMHO what a hamburger should be. It wasn't until many years later I found that it was mostly a California thing. I also remember some places being reluctant on altering that standard burger which was why (I always thought) BK started the "have it your way" deal. Luckily for me there are still a few old fashioned drive-ins in most every city in CA that still make burgers just like I had when I was a little kid.

As to your question, I never order a plain burger, but I've heard plenty of other people say "just meat and cheese" or "just meat".

Just remember that if you want thousand island and the restaurant doesn't have it, ask for some mayo and ketchup and mix them together. It works.:)

That's true. In some burger joints that's exactly what their 'special sauce' is. It's funny though, the burger tastes completely different if it has mayo and ketchup on it separately instead of mixed, like BK among others.

Exactly! You can't put ketchup on one side of the bun and mayo on the other side. Those condiments must be mixed. I would say the proportion should be 2/3 ketchup, 1/3 mayo.

A plain hamburger where I'm at has burger bun, patty and lettuce.

I like the tasty toppings on a burger including cheese and some sort of sauce. But in MN, if you ask for a plain burger, you get a bun and the burger.

I myself am a fan of AS plane cheeseburger... the Northern Bites :p mmm...

(you can guess which one the burger is)

http://www.alaskaair.com/as/alaska/i...NB_Samples.gif

And its served 'plain'... with only cheese... the condiments (including ketchup, mustard, relish and mayo!) are in a side pack, with a knife & napkin as it can get rather messy!

Ordered a plain cheeseburger at In-N-Out yesterday. The server said, "so just meat, cheese and bun?" Yep, that's what I wanted.

I've gotten a plain burger at diners in Chicago. It usually comes self-standing with cottage cheese and fruit on the side. No bun. A "diet plate".

Steve

It would be meat in a bun here, nothing else.

When I was serving up hamburgers for Jack in the Box (my high-school job) "plain" meant a hamburger patty sandwiched between a dry hamburger bun, but the term we were trained to use when a customer ordered it that wasy was "AB", meaning absolutely bare. This was standard throughout Foodmaker, and many other burger places. This was in San Diego, BTW.

FWIW:

"Royal" meant "with everything" (sauce, and pickles on either a hamburger or cheeseburger; sauce, pickles, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, on a hamburger or cheeseburger deluxe).

"DP", for "divided portion" if you wanted the sandwich cut in half.

One could always tell when a Jack in the Box employee or former employee was ordering at the drive through because the order would be punctuated with code and special requests. At our store, special requests weren't considered a pain, it was a departure from the routine and those items tended to be fresher because they were usually prepared to order.

The best restaurant food codes and/or slang come from short-order cooks and waiters/waitresses who work in diners/coffee shops.

I recall many times ordering a plain cheeseburger for my son at McDonald's and receiving bun and meat and asking where the cheese was and te response was always you said "plain" and then I would explain that if I did not want cheese I would have ordered a hamburger not a cheeseburger. This occurred mutiple times until, thankfully, my son grew tired of McDonald's.

Plain hamburger - devoid of everything except meat and bun
Plain cheeseburger - devoid of everything except meat, bun and cheese
Plain bacon cheeseburger - devoid of everything except meat, bun, cheese, and bacon

If I think there is any question that the person behind the counter doesn't understand what "plain" means, I will tell them to hold everything except the meat, bun, and cheese. That usually gets the point across :)

You get a bun and the burger? So you get a bun then another bun with a meat patty in it? Why do you get two buns?

In the Southeast, plain means bun and meat. Everything else would then have to be added.

I really don't see how anyone could consider anything other than the bun and the patty, plane?

Regular coffee is caffeinated coffee in a cup. They then ask you "How do you like it?" or cream, milk and sugar are available. A choice of Regular or Decaffeinated should have been the first question. At least that is how it is in the Southeast.

To me plain means just that.. Plain. Burger and bun. Anything else would not be plain.

Now I could not imagine ever ordering such a boring meal, but I know people who do.

I've no doubt heard 100s of people order hamburgers over the years, in every way shape and form. Many specify in some way that they only want bun and meat, or bun cheese and meat, etc., but I don't think I've ever heard anyone use the term 'plain' burger. It seems like an odd assumption, and one that I would have noticed. The things we learn on FT.:)

I hear people order plain a lot. Me I would not do it. Many do it and then ask for condiments on the side. Their logic is that it is then cooked FRESH!

Some people order them "No Ketchup" then use ketchup packets on them. Or Fries no salt and add salt.

One of my 4 kids wanted only meat and bun growing up. I never had a problem asking for plain at McDonalds in 3 states and receiving nothing more than meat and bun. Thankfully, he outgrew his fear of flavor and will now try many things I couldn't have imagined when he was 2 and asking for a plain hamburger.

I had a craving for a smoke flavored hamburger last week and went into a Burger King for the first time in a few years. The result was "wet". It must have had several tablespoons of mustard/ketchup which completely overwhelmed the poor little patty. I should have asked for plain.

Plain in Utah usually mean bun and meat...nothing else. Basically a picky kids choice. :-)

But with or without Fry Sauce? ;)

No idea what plain means here. I've never ordered to test it out...and I don't think I ever will! :D

LOL. Or a picky wife. ;)

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

:raiseshand:

:D

Bun and Hamburger, no nothing, not even salt and/or pepper.

In retrospect, I don't think my son was overly picky. Mostly, he didn't want onions within a foot of his cheeseburger. Personally, I can't taste an onion on a McDonald's cheeseburger even though I can see them. It was just easier to order "plain" and put ketchup on it.

Unless there's a special good taste to the burger, I can't imagine ordering one without something on it.