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College Survival Guide: Steve Seel & Jill Riley's Guide to the Best Hamburgers Around Town

Posted at 3:41 PM on September 5, 2011 by The Current

Far be it from us to attempt to talk any college student out of his or her preferred dining staples. We were both impoverished undergraduates ourselves once upon a time, and we fully understand the delights of yellow mustard on saltines.

Besides, if you could see what we wolf down for breakfast when we're sitting in the on-air booth at 6 a.m., you'd be stunned that we work for the same radio company that produces the gourmet dining show The Splendid Table.

The two of us may be known for our predilection for salty, bagged snack crackers, but when it's time for a culinary experience that's a bit more, uh, cooked — with heat, such as a flame from a stove — we here at The Current's Morning Show know how to live well: with burgers!

The Twin Cities is a hamburger mecca. If you're an out-of-state student just arriving in this bipolar metropolis, little did you know what patty-on-a-bun specialties were awaiting your discovery.

Where to go, you ask, hungry young scholar? Come, let two people who know how to dine with their bare hands show you the way. Not all of these options are as cheap as a bag of sliders from White Castle, but we've still stayed conscientious of the college budget. The most expensive plate below is 13 bucks, good for an enjoyable Friday date night. We've also included some non-mooing alternatives too, in case you're looking for some variety.

The Juicy Lucy (or "Jucy Lucy")

Who invented this trademark Minnesota gimmick-burger with the molten cheese in the middle of the burger patty? Several local joints lay claim to the original idea. The debate will probably never be settled, but one thing's for sure: the Juicy Lucy is as Minnesotan as Marge Gunderson's accent.

Many maintain that Matt's Bar (3500 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis) is the home of the true original (they also spell it "Jucy," which many insist is the proper spelling in this context). For $4.95 you get the burger in a basket, and the fries are a la carte ($2.95 for a satisfying half order or $4.25 for a generous full order). The 5/8 Club has three locations (Minneapolis, Maplewood and Champlin), and its Lucys have won multiple best-of accolades, ranging from Mpls/St. Paul Magazine to AOL's "City's Best Burgers" for several years running.

Theme And Variations

St. Paul's The Blue Door (1811 Selby Ave.) has made its name by taking the Jucy Lucy concept and going a bit mental with it. Here, bleu cheese makes them — you guessed it — "Blucys." But the basic blucy is only the beginning. From there, the menu detours into such baroque territory as "The Luau," topped with pineapple, Canadian bacon and chili lime sauce, and "The Merriam Park," named for the pub's location, which adds bacon and garlic to the bleu cheese and tops it with a dollop of red currant jelly.

Non-Cow Options

Lots of area pubs and restaurants offer some pretty tasty non-bovine burgers. A favorite Friday afternoon decompression hangout for the two of us, Sweeney's Saloon (96 N. Dale St., St. Paul), has a Turkey Burger that Steve is particularly fond of (and believe us, it takes a lot for Steve to veer from his preference for beef). "Order it with the house mayo-mustard," he says.

We also enjoy hanging with our Current co-workers at any of the various locations of The Bulldog for our Friday constitutionals. The Bulldog Northeast (401 East Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis) has a Black Bean Burger that gets high marks in our personal survey of staffers. It comes with tomato, guacamole, sprouts, pickled red onion and adobo sauce for $11, served with fries. A slightly thriftier veggie burger option is the popular offering at Uptown's Leaning Tower of Pizza, at $7.95, also including fries.

Steve's favorite:

Minneapolitan Steve raves about Kings Wine Bar (4555 Grand Avenue S., Minneapolis). Made with locally-raised, grass-fed beef, the "Kings' Burger" is "so good, you'll think your taste buds are having some kind of lysergic-assisted hallucination," he says. "It's got carmelized onions, bacon, pickles, an incredible shallot aioli, something called "manchego cheese" and a mysterious 'Kings' spice' that no doubt contains some kind of ecstasy-producing magic dust from another planet." All that for $12.95 with fries or salad. Steve's runner up: the "Buster Burger" at Buster's on 28th, a 1/2-pound Angus chuck with pickle aioli for $10.

Jill's favorite:

St. Paul-ite Jill picks The Nook (492 Hamline Ave S., St Paul). "This is the place to get one of the best burgers you've ever had in your life," Jill says. Time and time again this tiny spot been recognized for its awesomeness (Even Guy Fieri from Diners, Drive-ins and Dives called it "off the hook"). The joint has been around for generations and was almost totally destroyed by a fire in 2010, but it's back open for business. The Nook menu offers about 25 different specialty burgers.

If you stop in, you must try the "Juicy Nookie" Burger; it's cooked to medium and stuffed with hot, melty, dripping cheese. A Juicy Nookie, served with homemade fresh-cut fries, will set you back $8.25. If you're looking for something to do after consuming your burger, go downstairs and do some bowling at Ran-Ham Bowling Center. "This place is one of the gems of St. Paul," says Jill.

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