Louis' Lunch is a hamburger restaurant in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

, which claims to be the first restaurant to serve

hamburger A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, ...

s and the oldest hamburger restaurant in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It was opened as a small

lunch wagon ''Lunch Wagon'' (also known as ''Lunch Wagon Girls'') is a 1981 sex comedy starring Pamela Jean Bryant, Rosanne Katon, and Candy Moore. The film was directed by Ernest Pintoff and written by Marshall Harvey and Terrie Frankel and Leon Philli ...

in 1895 and was one of the first places in the U.S. to serve steak sandwiches. According to Louis' Lunch, the hamburger was created in 1900 in response to a customer's hurried request for a lunch to go. In 1917, Louis moved the business into a square-shaped brick building that had once been a

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. In 1975, the restaurant was moved four blocks down to 263 Crown Street. Hamburgers cooked in the restaurant are made on the original cast iron vertical gas broilers from 1898, and the toast is made in a 1929 Savory Appliance Radiant Gas Toaster. The building is a New Haven landmark.

History

Louis Lassen Louis' Lunch wagon (1907-1916)

Louis Lassen was born Ludvig Lassen on July 30, 1865 in Ballum parish. The parish was part of a region in the Kingdom of Denmark which was lost in the 1864 war between Denmark and Austria-Prussia. The peace treaty in Vienna was signed in October 1864; thus, Ballum parish was German at the time of Lassen's birth the following summer. Part of the region and thus Ballum parish became part of (Southern Jutland) in Denmark again in 1920. He and his Ohio-born wife Sophhia nee Kurtz (1862–1941) were married in Manhattan, New York City on May 25, 1889. The couple had one daughter and four sons between 1891 and 1903. Ludvig aka Louis Lassen died on March 20, 1935 in New Haven, New Haven County, Connecticut. He and his wife are buried at Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven. Lassen was a "blacksmith by trade and preacher by vocation" and immigrated to New Haven from Denmark in 1881. His parents Christopher Christian Lassen (1823–1901), a blacksmith, and Anna Maria nee Christensen (1830–1902) immigrated with their youngest daughter Hannah to the U.S. in 1882, and also settled in New Haven County, Connecticut. He became a food peddler, selling butter and eggs from a wooden cart. He purchased a home at 45 Elliot Street and stored his cart in a shed in the backyard. In 1895, he began adding lunch items to his cart. A local businessman dashed into the small New Haven lunch wagon one day in 1900, and he pleaded for a lunch to go. According to the Lassen family, the customer exclaimed "Louie! I'm in a rush, slap a meatpuck between two planks and step on it!". Lassen placed his own blend of ground steak trimmings between two slices of toast and sent the gentleman on his way, so the story goes, with America's alleged first hamburger being served. In 1917, Lassen moved into a square brick building that had once been a

. Louis' Lunch was forced to move to make way for development in 1975, so it moved two blocks down to 263 Crown Street in New Haven. In the 1950s, Ken Lassen added cheese spread to the hamburger. The fourth generation of Lassens owns and operates Louis' Lunch today.

Operations

The Louis' Lunch menu consists of "The Burger,"

potato salad Potato salad is a salad dish made from boiled potatoes, usually containing a dressing and a variety of other ingredients such as boiled eggs and raw vegetables. In the United States, it is generally considered a side dish and usually accompanie ...

potato chips A potato chip (North American English; often just chip) or crisp (British and Irish English) is a thin slice of potato that has been either deep fried, baked, or air fried until crunchy. They are commonly served as a snack, side dish, or ap ...

, and homemade pie. Louis' Lunch makes their hamburger

sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

es from ground

steak A steak is a thick cut of meat generally sliced across the muscle fibers, sometimes including a bone. It is normally grilled or fried. Steak can be diced, cooked in sauce, such as in steak and kidney pie, or minced and formed into patti ...

made from a blend of five cuts of

beef Beef is the culinary name for meat from cattle (''Bos taurus''). In prehistoric times, humankind hunted aurochs and later domesticated them. Since that time, numerous breeds of cattle have been bred specifically for the quality or quantit ...

. The hamburgers are then flame

broiled Grilling is a form of cooking that involves dry heat applied to the surface of food, commonly from above, below or from the side. Grilling usually involves a significant amount of direct, radiant heat, and tends to be used for cooking meat a ...

vertically. The hamburgers are prepared with cheese, tomato or onion, then served on two square pieces of toasted white bread. Louis' Lunch flame broils the hamburgers in the original

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impur ...

vertical gas broilers manufactured by the Bridge and Beach, Co.,

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

, in 1898. The stoves use hinged steel wire gridirons to hold the hamburgers in place while they

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (professional), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * ...

simultaneously on both sides. The gridirons were made by Luigi Pieragostini and patented in 1938. A sharp cheese spread is used, as opposed to sliced cheese. The restaurant uses a 1929 Savory Radiant Gas Toaster. The restaurant is traditionally closed during the month of August (for vacation). In 2014, Louis' Lunch was closed from August 3 to September 1.

Hamburger claims

Many others claim to be the creator of the hamburger, including

Charlie Nagreen Charles R. Nagreen (2 May 1870 – 5 June 1951), known as "Hamburger Charlie", was an American claimant to the title of inventor of the hamburger. Career Born in Hortonville, Wisconsin, Nagreen was a 15-year-old vendor at the 1885 Seymour Fair ...

, brothers Frank and Charles Menches, Oscar Weber Bilby, and

Fletcher Davis A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically Ground beef, beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles ...

.Sam Gazdziak (August 1, 2006)
"Giving the BURGER its due: the hamburger's origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but there is no doubt as to its impact on American dining habits and culture.(Editorial)."
The National Provisioner. BNP Media.Nancy Ross Ryan (February 6, 1989)

Restaurants & Institutions. Reed Business Information, Inc. (US). White Castle traces the origin of the hamburger to

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Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, with its invention by Otto Kuase. However, it gained national recognition at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair when the ''

New-York Tribune The ''New-York Tribune'' was an American newspaper founded in 1841 by editor Horace Greeley. It bore the moniker ''New-York Daily Tribune'' from 1842 to 1866 before returning to its original name. From the 1840s through the 1860s it was the domi ...

'' namelessly attributed the hamburger as "the innovation of a food vendor on the pike." In 2000, the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

recognized Louis' Lunch as the creator of the hamburger after being backed by

United States Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

Rosa L. DeLauro Rosa Luisa DeLauro (; born March 2, 1943) is an American politician who has been the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party. The dist ...

. The Library of Congress stated that Louis Lassen sold the first hamburger and steak sandwich in the U.S. in 1900.Louis' Lunch A Local Legacy
Library of Congress. Americaslibrary.gov. Retrieved on April 21, 2013.U.S. Library of Congress Folklife Center Local Legacies Project retrieved on April 13, 200

/ref> '' New York'' magazine states, "The dish actually had no name until some rowdy sailors from Hamburg named the meat on a bun after themselves years later," noting also that this claim is subject to dispute. Detractors of the Louis' Lunch claim include

Josh Ozersky Joshua Ozersky (August 22, 1967 – May 4, 2015) was an American food writer and historian. He first came to prominence as a founding editor of '' New York'' magazine's food blog, ''Grub Street'', for which he received a James Beard Foundation Aw ...

, a food editor for

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

. In Ozersky's book, ''The Hamburger: A History'', Ozersky denies the claim based on the definition of a hamburger and told the ''

New Haven Register The ''New Haven Register'' is a daily newspaper published in New Haven, Connecticut. It is owned by Hearst Communications. The Register's main office is located at 100 Gando Drive in New Haven. The ''Register'' was established about 1812 and ...

'', "If you say it can be on toast, you're essentially redefining the hamburger out of existence. The hamburger as the world knows it means a sandwich of ground beef on a bun." However, Motz's ''Hamburger America'' notes that the hamburger bun did not exist in 1900 nor did so for another 20 years. Ozersky's book also notes earlier claimants and recognizes Walter Anderson for creating the modern hamburger. In 2006, a "

mock trial A mock trial is an act or imitation trial. It is similar to a moot court, but mock trials simulate lower-court trials, while moot court simulates appellate court hearings. Attorneys preparing for a real trial might use a mock trial consisti ...

" was held by the Hamburger Festival in

Akron, Ohio Akron () is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Summit County. It is located on the western edge of the Glaciated Allegheny Plateau, about south of downtown Cleveland. As of the 2020 Census, the city prop ...

. Louis' Lunch was noted to have taken the event seriously, in contrast to other representatives of other hamburger creator claimants. Renny Loisel, public relations director of the Greater New Haven Convention and Visitors Bureau, submitted an affidavit and letter from the New Haven Preservation Trust and noted that the

recognizes Louis' Lunch for creating the first hamburger, but the evidence was denied. According to an internet poll, Louis' Lunch placed third and Loisel noted that despite the evidence it was more about theatrics than truth. An article from

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

sums up the problems of identifying the origins of the hamburger by stating, "One problem is that there is little written history. Another issue is that the spread of the burger happened largely at the World's Fair, from tiny vendors that came and went in an instant. And it is entirely possible that more than one person came up with the idea at the same time in different parts of the country."

Reception

The restaurant has been the subject of shows on "the

Travel Channel Travel Channel (stylized as Trvl Channel since 2018) is an American pay television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, which had previously owned the channel from 1997 to 2007. The channel is headquartered in New York, New York, United S ...

, the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

, the

History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Disney ...

and even

Oprah Oprah Gail Winfrey (; born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954), or simply Oprah, is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. She is best known for her talk show, ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'', b ...

." On

's '' Chowdown Countdown'', Louis' Lunch was rated #1. Episode 10 of

Burger Land ''Burger Land'' is an American food reality television series that premiered with two special episodes airing back-to-back on September 2, 2012, on the Travel Channel. The series is hosted by food author/filmmaker and hamburger enthusiast George ...

, ''A Burger is Born'', highlights the claim and history of Louis' Lunch. According to Raichlen's book, ''BBQ USA'', patrons of Louis' Lunch include United States presidents George H. W. Bush and

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

, and

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

. '' Food & Wine'''s website named Louis' Lunch as one of the "Best Burgers in the U.S." '' Roadfood'' notes that it is an "essential stop on America's burger trail." Critics of the restaurant hinge on its dislike of condiments, particularly

ketchup Ketchup or catsup is a table condiment with a sweet and tangy flavor. The unmodified term ("ketchup") now typically refers to tomato ketchup, although early recipes used egg whites, mushrooms, oysters, grapes, mussels, or walnuts, among o ...

; customers who ask for it are ejected from the premises. In episode 10 of ''

'', the "no ketchup" sign is visible hanging in the restaurant and an informative caption pops up to read "

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

students who try to sneak in ketchup are asked to leave." According to "American Food Roots," signage and an exchange of stories confirms the policy. Tom Gilbert wrote, "Louis’ Lunch is a very friendly place as long as you get with the program, which always has been about serving quality beef and making sure that nothing ruins or upstages it. As Jeff

assen Assen () is a municipality and a city in the northeastern Netherlands, and is the capital (politics), capital of the province of Drenthe. It received City rights in the Netherlands, city rights in 1809. Assen is known for TT Circuit Assen, the ...

will tell you, that means no puffy, sweet bun, no well-done meat and no ketchup..." Both Connecticut Museum Quest and American Food Roots note the strong presence for the restaurant's way and Menuism goes so far as to note it the #2 of "the 5 Least Welcome Places for Ketchup." Even '' Esquire'' affirms, "You can get your hamburger sandwich topped with onions, tomato, and a squirt of Cheez-Wiz. Just don't ask for anything else." On the wall a sign reads "this is not Burger King you can't "have it your way." You get it my way or you can't have it."

References

External links