Miller’s Bar | Dearborn, Michigan
Much has changed in the Detroit area since 1947, but one thing remained constant through thick and thin: the Miller’s Bar burger. Here you get a perfectly cooked medium burger with a Velveeta slab and white onions stacked on a steamed bun that hardly holds its own against the cascade of magnificent juice and cheese product with each bite. On wax paper at a joint where you order at the bar, “commando-style” is served, and nobody keeps track of what you have. — AK
Miller’s Bar
Nation | Cincinnati, Ohio
Nation derives its name from Carrie Nation, a fervent advocate of temperance whose hatchet-wielding expeditions in her heyday destroyed several American taverns. And certainly, invoking her name in an establishment that ably represents the ales of one of America’s most undervalued beer cities, there’s more than a hint of irony, but burgers are not funny. The Nation burger is a 6-ounce brisket-enhanced patty with smoked Cheddar, crisp onion strings, horseradish aioli on a buttery challah bun. There’s BBQ whiskey sauce, too. — ML
Nation