Today we are going to find the best burger in New York City. We're going on a quest. It is a quest. Thankfully not alone. No. We have some help, not just from anyone, but from the burger scholar. The Burger King. Not of Burger King. New name, Burger Baron. The Burger Baron. New name, Burger Baron. The Burger Baron. Burger Baron's pretty good. The burger guru. George Motz. Mr George Motz. His burger place is one of the hottest spots in New York City right now. However before we get there and meet the man himself, we have come to 7th Street Burger. Inga recommended it. In her opinion, the best burger in New York City. This is the control. This is the standard. Yeah. What's the go to? What's the best? One of our friends said this is the best burger in New York. Oh wow. Look how simple the menu is. Cheeseburger, Double, Vegan, Fries, Water, and Mexican coke. Which sounds dangerous. I know that's illegal in the UK. I don't know whether... I think it's just the glass bottles of Coke. Oh it's not cocaine. Okay. Alright. Fantastic. Perfect. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Wait, should we try the Mexican Coke? Mexican Coke. Cheers. It tastes very different. It does taste different. Wow. Okay. Inga, it better be damn good. Oh my gosh. Whoa. Wow. This is like New York's response to in and out animal style fries. Wow. This is like New York's response to in and out animal style fries. Wow. This is like New York's response to in and out animal style fries. Wow. This is like New York's response to in and out animal style fries. Yeah. I mean if animal style is like a seagull hovering above, just emptying its bowels. I mean honestly, we're standing at the edge of a building. We're at risk. Okay. This is very basic. Oh my gosh. The amount of grease leaking off of this burger. Holy moly. Look at that. It's like the quintessential American. It's like the quintessential American. It's so greasy. It's literally dripping with grease. Cheers mate. Cheers. Fresh off the grill. Oh yeah. I don't often think of burgers as like being hot. They're almost never that hot. It's just good enough to eat. Straight off the grill into your mouth. It's cheesy. It's meaty. Oh my gosh. I mean that is a guilty, guilty pleasure. That is a damn good burger. What I love about this is it's so unpretentious, right? You know, are they going to come up with a fancy name for the store? No, let's just name it after the address. You know, are we going to decorate? Are we going to put pictures up on the wall? Well we've got a no smoking sign, other than that we're all good. Everything about it is so simple. The food has to speak for itself, But even the burger is unpretentious. It's like, this is nothing more than it needs to be. It's just quintessentially American fast food. And it's glorious. Seventh street burger, loaded fries. Seagull style. Okay. Great. Thanks for that. Oh, there's meat. There's meat. Is there meat on animal style fries? It's like, it just looks like the burger, like chopped up burger meat. I finished the burger. The fries are incredible. Thing is right in the UK late night, you're like really craving something. A late night snack, like a guilty pleasure meal. You go and get kebab, right? And it hits a spot. Don't get me wrong. And it hits a spot. Don't get me wrong. If you had this available at like 11 PM in the UK, so much better. It does beg the question. Why the hell don't we have this in the UK? Right? Like a burger under $10. It comes out within two minutes. Genuine fast food, but tastes incredible. We need to build six streets, name them after their numbers. And then we'll have a seventh one and we can finally have these burgers. And I'm pretty sure we can just bring it in. Seventh street. Please open one of these in London. I think is what Ollie's saying. Inga? I'm impressed. It's a solid recommendation. Fantastic burger. It's not gourmet. But you don't want it to be gourmet. That's going to be tough to beat. Well, I must say my appetite is thoroughly drenched. Wetted. It's not wet. It's drenched. Okay. It is so sodden. I have a sodden appetite right now. Okay. Okay. Absolutely dripping, saturated even. Right. Well, you're in luck because the quest continues. With our appetite for burgers thoroughly wetted. Oh yes. We got up the next morning and headed over to George Mott's, The burger scholars, new restaurant. Wow. Wow. It's bustling in here. What a legend. And it turned out this was more than just a restaurant. It was like walking into a burger museum. George. How are you doing? Have you filmed? What's up? George, we're very, very excited to be here. I'm excited you're here. I get to feed you, which is so much fun. The good news about this menu is that it's a small menu. So you can probably eat the entire menu. Wow. I've seen you do it before. Yeah, we've tried. We've tried. So you've sort of eaten your way around all the burgers in America. I wouldn't say all. That's a stretch. There's a lot of burgers out there. A lot. I've eaten some of the best. How many burgers do you think you've eaten in your life? We were trying to figure this out the other day with a friend of mine. I'm going to guess somewhere in the range of 40 to 50,000 in the last 25. It's been 25 years of research. It's a quarter of a century of research. You look amazingly good. Space them out over time. Okay. But out of those 40 to 50,000 burgers, you've chosen just two. No one said that. Thank you. Your the first to actually pointed that out. All the burgers. The two burgers that I chose, the reason I chose them was because they're classics. Okay. These are the burgers that predate the sauces and the truffle oils and all that garbage. What should we have, George? The whole menu. The whole menu. Okay. It's easy. Okay. The classic smash or, and i should say and. You're also going to get the, should you have a single fried onion burger. So it's been around for 102 years. Started at a place called El Reno, Oklahoma. And a guy was trying to find a way to stretch his meat supply. So he took a ball of beef, put it on the flat top and smashed into it. Some very, very thin sliced onion to extend his meat supply. Oh wow. Look at that. That's a lot of onion. There's like a mountain of onion on that burger. I couldn't even see the burger anymore. Wow. I like the sound of that moan. It looks naughty. I can't believe, Ollie, we went to Seventh Street before this and we, And we were planning on comparing the two as which is the better burger in America. Like this is completely incomparable. After blasphemy. Completely unbearable. I swear every time I pull one of these off, I think if I took a little bite, would anybody notice? I really do. All the time. That's right. Are you ready to eat? Oh my gosh. Literally like cooked and then placed into our hand, Like a flipping Michelin star omakase. But it's history and it's burgers and it's America. Hello. Oh, in the middle? Yeah, please. Please. You literally have the whole menu here. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Sit down to eat burgers with you, George. It's like stargazing with Stephen Hawking or going on a run with David Godkin. So sing an alarm clock with Mark Wahlberg. Can we eat. It's hot and warm. So probably the classic, yes, probably good. Okay. Highly recommend. Classic cheeseburger. Thanks, George. Oh my gosh. Here, do you want to have that one? We'll share that. Go for it, Ols. Come on. Burger me. It's so simple, but it's so beautiful. It's essential. That's really good. It's really, really good. That's straight pork. What I love about these as well is it's quite small. There was a trend for a while in the UK, Of bigger and bigger burgers, bigger and bigger patties. We like to say manageable. Yeah. Like you could swallow that down in less than a minute. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. People get kind of angry sometimes. They go like, that was too small. I need another one. Yeah. Perfectly seasoned. It's hard to taste why that's so good. There's no sauce. Yeah, no sauce. Oh my gosh. It doesn't need it at all. Writer for the New Yorker magazine. Referred of this burger as the one you trust taking your daughter to prom. Oh yeah, I read that. I know you're wondering where the heck is George's restaurant, but do not fear. All will be revealed. That's right. Odoo who sponsored this episode, Have a super effective website builder, That we've used to design our very own jolly map of New York city. If you go to the jolly big apple.com, You can check out all the restaurants we've been to in the series, And all previous episodes we've filled in New York. Didn't even cost us a penny to make the website, Because first Odoo application is free for life with unlimited hosting and support. They also offer a free personalized domain name for one year, Which is how we got the jolly big apple.com. The website builder is super easy, quick and efficient. You can just drag and drop elements, add content, customize colors and change fonts. My favourite feature is that you can use Odoo's AI configurator, Which is linked to chat GPT for extra inspiration. So if you're looking for our jolly restaurant racks in New York, Head on over to theJollybigapple.com. And if you haven't tried Odoo yet and want to support our channel, Why not use it to design your own website today? All right, back to the burger shrine. I watched your documentary hamburger America. You've also got a book. Burger America. Now a restaurant. Also a cookbook, the great American burger. Yeah. The documentary is amazing. Like if you can find it online, I found it on YouTube. Like if you can find it online, I found it on YouTube. I don't know whether. It's pirated. Sorry. I didn't have to upload it because someone else did. Yeah. So it's fine. Wait, I mean, it's tiny. That's how big it is. Yeah. I shot it in 480p. It's never been anything larger than 480p. I watched it in as high a definition as you could possibly watch it. Wow. 25 years ago and I was shot on a Sony PD150. I don't know if you guys know what that is, but it's like a little handy. It's a handicam. Okay. So on mini DV. And before I was just roaming around the country, making a film for nothing. But it's brilliant because the stories, But it's brilliant because the stories, You feel like you learn so much about America through the stories. I think there's two separate restaurants that move location, And they actually move the physical building. Physically picked it up and moved it. It's weird. That became a kind of weird theme in the movie. Yeah. These restaurants physically moved. They actually moved because people were afraid to lose them. Yeah. Onion burger. This is one of your most famous recipes. This is one of your most famous recipes. It was, by the way, a fluke that I became famous. It was, by the way, a fluke that I became famous. It was, by the way, a fluke that I became famous. Really? Yeah, but I made it famous. How so? Because I was doing a news show in Seattle when my cookbook came out. Okay. They said, "Okay, what burger can you make that's simple, And you can talk about in front of a crowd of 250 people in seven minutes?" And I said, "The onion burger." Randomly pulled it out of my head. Oh, wow. It wasn't like a specific choice. This is the one you got to make? Five ingredients. Let's do this. Yeah. It's beef, cheese, onions, salt, and bread. That's it. No sauce again. It's good? Okay. I love your childlike enthusiasm for burgers, George. I still have it. It's like, this is what? Your 30,000 second burger? Yeah something like that. It was actually good with a little bit of mustard too. Was it good? Oh my gosh. The onions are properly caramelized into the patty as well. Wow. It's so oniony. In the best way. Best way. It really says a lot that you're sitting here, Chowing down on your own burgers as well. I love that. I love it. Been eating it for 25 years. And by the way, the pickles don't go in the burger. You eat them just like that. You nibble it. Oh, beautiful. Now burgers is your thing. Now burgers is your thing. 20 plus years obsession. You've never moved on from burgers. You know, if I was a therapist, George, I'd be like, it's great. You know, but maybe you've got a problem. If you were in Japan, it would'nt be a problem. Right?In Japan, they're chefs and cooks that study one type of food their entire life. And they pass it on. Like, they share their poor kids somewhere. Yeah. Becomes generational. You will now be making temosaki for the rest of your life. My kids have already told me I'm not making hamburgers after you. Are you ever tempted to, you know, do something else? People think that all I do is eat burgers. And talk about burgers. It's not true. I mean, if you did, honestly, I think you'd be dead. This is true. But I eat everything. I will literally eat anything except for maybe haggis. Oh, we should get you some good haggis in a burger. There you go. The good haggis burger is really good. It actually really works. Really? Yeah. We found a burger he hasn't tried. Well, you said that you had the menu here planned out for two and a half years with the guest spot right? Yeah, why? We have a guest spot. We'll make a haggis burger for you. We spent two years working, perfecting it. If you make a haggis burger with a little lecture, why not? Okay. That's a challenge. Wow. I didn't know you were haggis fans. What's next, George? I think you should try the hot ham. Okay. Midwestern specialty. Fantastic. It's kind of a flavour bomb. It's only three ingredients. Cheese, ham. It's weighty. For some reason, I thought this would be spicy. No, spicy hot ham, but it's very basic. This is kind of a daily beater. People come in and they get this every day. There's so much flavours in that. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, we can melt the cheese. Oh, yeah. And Swiss is what they use. Everything I do in the restaurant is based on what is part of history, Everything I do in the restaurant is based on what is part of history, Either diner history or specifically hamburger history. I try to stray from that at all. All right. And you've got four sandwiches. What made you choose these sandwiches for hamburger America? Basic diner culture. I want people to also come in and get something other than a hamburger if they want. We sell a lot of egg salad sandwiches. It's my mom's egg salad. Gosh, the stakes are high here. I don't really like egg sandwiches. Oh, really? But I don't want to disrespect you. I absolutely love an egg sandwich. She won't. Here we go. What's that? He'll taste it for you. Three ingredients, eggs, good mayo and mustard. That's it. That's the whole sandwich. Nothing too good. A reviewer in town called this perfection. My mom was like, "It's just an egg salad." It's a really good egg salad. Thank you. I'll give it a go. Come on. Yeah, give it a go. Give it a go. Wow. He's finishing it though. I love it. Yeah, absolutely love that. I don't love it. I don't hate it. I certainly respect your mum. There you go. You hear that, mom? He respects mom. So the tuna is reverse engineered from the apple pan in Los Angeles. So the tuna is reverse engineered from the apple pan in Los Angeles. I don't know know if you know the apple pan. Oh, that was your first burger? Exactly. Whoa. This guy's done his work. Yeah, he's done his research. Yeah. Wow. That was not my first burger. That was what started all of this though, right? That was the burger that it clicked in my head. And it didn't hurt that I was on a plane that landed at midnight. Someone said, "Go to the apple pan. It's open until one o'clock in the morning on a Friday." And I went there and sure enough it was open. And I was just sort of stoned on being in LA for the first time. And I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was like I was in a fake place. It was like this. It was like a diner. Right. It was a diner that was lost in time. It was truly lost in time. Like the 1950s came to an end and no one told them. So this is... I love their tuna salad. I'm the guy who goes to the apple pan and, I get a tuna salad sandwich when I'm going to the airport and eating on the plane. I'm that guy. Okay. I eat the tuna on the plane. Breaking the tuna salad sandwich on the plane. That's bold. Pretty bold, yeah. People go, "Oh, what are you doing?" It's a great sandwich. So it's a little bit different than a classic New York tuna salad. Oh wow. So we put sweet relish in there. That's it. That's it. Hint of sweetness. Sweet. Yeah, I also use rice wine vinegar. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Sweet and sour. Yeah. So it's a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Now you're a man of many talents, George. You're a great writer. I loved reading through Hamburger America. Thank you. You're also a musician? Yeah, yes I am. You had a band? I was in a band for 10 years, yeah. Yeah. 10 years? We were a band named Toss, we had an umlaut over the o's. We were actually Tuss. Oh, Tuss? We would say we are Tuss. We play rock music. Are they Austrian? What are these people? Yeah. Nah, we're from New York. Okay. Okay. You say at the end of Hamburger America, the book, that you're writing a musical. Yes. Yeah. What happened there? Which book was that. It was a while ago, huh? So it's true. I've been working on a musical for about 10 years. Okay. Wow. I have this vision. My agent is excited about it. I have other people excited about it. It's a musical, yeah. And specifically... Is it about burgers? It's called Max Lunch. Okay. Named after my son. Oh, okay. And it's about a four stool diner. It is about burgers. Of course it is. I want to see it. I want to see it. I also, my inner therapist wants to be like, you do have a problem, George. Yes. Grilled cheese. Classic. Just two slices of American cheese, buttered, toasted, white bread. It's simple. It's simple. Okay. But I mean, it's not supposed to be anything but what you're tasting. Hell yeah. You're kind of going down the spectrum here. Hell yeah. It's getting more and more simple. Oh no. That hit to spot. Yeah. Eventually we'll just be chugging flour. Right. There's no way that has the right to be that good. Is that the butter? The butter and the cheese? I mean, oh my gosh. This is the classic PBJ. There's nothing to that except peanut butter. I love that this is on your menu. Literally just eating maybe the best burger in my entire life. I'm now sitting here with two bits of white bread. People get one of these every day. And jam. But I mean, this is the single of you going back to the womb. I literally almost to the womb. Benjamin buttoning this menu. Next thing you're just going to give us like bottles. Now, baby formula. Oh man. I haven't cried laughing in a long time. That was great. Over PBJ. George, it's been such a pleasure. The thing is when you think of a scholar, you think of someone in an ivory tower. Yeah, you don't think of someone who's potentially like a civil war reenacter. Cooking burgers. Okay. It's my way or the highway. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Being able to sit here with basically the leading burger expert in the world. In the world. In the world. And eating some of the best burgers we're ever going to eat is such a privilege. So thank you so much. Thanks very much. Thank you. What a privilege. In the meantime, see you jolly soon. See you later. Bye.
