Louis Lunch is so old-school there is no such thing as a historical past class.
American hamburger historical past, no less than, begins proper right here. The New Haven, Connecticut eatery is taken into account the birthplace of a nationwide culinary treasure.
The hamburger — particularly, the hamburger sandwich – was, by many accounts, first created and served by Louis Lassen, an immigrant from Denmark.
Lassen arrived in the USA across the age of 20 and started feeding New Haven manufacturing facility employees from a meals wagon in 1895.
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He positioned scorching floor beef between two slices of bread in 1900 for a “fast and scrumptious” lunch, as advised by native lore.
The hamburger sandwich was born! That’s, based on the commonest origin story, no less than.
![Louis Lassen](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burger-Louis-Lassen-7-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lassen, an immigrant from Denmark, invented the all-American hamburger sandwich at Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1900. The cast-iron oven to the appropriate remains to be used to broil burgers at Louis Lunch. (Louis Lunch/Lassen Household)
Others declare possession of the primary hamburger.
However solely Lassen has the stamp of approval from the Library of Congress.
“This New Haven sandwich store is the house of the primary hamburger and first steak sandwich in U.S. historical past,” the nation’s oldest federal establishment introduced in 2000.
“Hamburgers are served solely on white toast, with a alternative of onion, tomato or cheese, however no condiments.”
“Hamburgers are served solely on white toast, with a alternative of onion, tomato or cheese, however no condiments.”
Flame-broiled hamburgers are nonetheless served the identical precise manner by a fourth era of the Lassen household right this moment at Louis Lunch, surrounded by the campus of Yale College.
![Louis Lunch](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-louis-facade-6-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, started as a meals wagon serving native manufacturing facility employees in 1895. Proprietor Louis Lassen invented the hamburger at his lunch wagon in 1900. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
The little crimson brick constructing with black trim and retro-font white lettering seems to be prefer it might need been a firehouse within the days of horse-drawn wagons.
It is a pilgrimage website right this moment for meals followers from everywhere in the world who search a really genuine style of casual-food custom.
“With a meat grinder and a streak of that notorious Yankee ingenuity, Louis Lassen modified the course of American culinary historical past,” Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., advised Fox Information Digital (she represents New Haven).
‘Intensely pleased with their hamburger heritage’
Ludvig “Louis” Lassen was born on July 30, 1865, in Denmark to Christopher Christian and Anne Marie (Christensen) Lassen.
Each dad and mom hailed from the Syddanymark area of southern Denmark, on the border with Germany.
![Louis Lunch burgers](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-two-burgers-soda-6-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lunch of New Haven, Connecticut, invented the hamburger sandwich in 1900. Hamburgers are nonetheless served the standard manner between slices of Pepperidge Farm white bread toast. The one topping choices are cheese, onion and/or tomato. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
The household arrived in the USA in 1885, when Lassen was 19 or 20 years outdated. He married Sophia Kurtz, a local of Clermont County, Ohio.
They’d no less than three kids, based on numerous historic data.
Lassen tried numerous careers earlier than he turned a street-cart meals vendor. He turned his meals wagon right into a brick-and-mortar enterprise on George Road in 1907.
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“The restaurant is so well-liked that when, in 1974, its house owners confronted eviction to make manner for New Haven’s sweeping city renewal program, New Haven residents protested,” native historian Owen Rogers wrote final 12 months for ConnecticutHistory.org.
The whole constructing was moved to its present location, at 261 Crown Road, in 1975.
The hamburger just isn’t an American invention. Floor beef patties got here from Hamburg, Germany, the place they had been served as an entrée.
![Jeff Lassen](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-jeff-lassen-6-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Jeff Lassen is fourth-generation proprietor of Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. His great-grandfather Louis Lassen based the eatery in 1895 and invented the hamburger sandwich in 1900. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Hamburg just isn’t removed from the Danish border. It’s probably the Lassens had been acquainted with hamburgers earlier than arriving in the USA.
“Hamburgers within the late 1800s had been ethnic meals in America, no totally different than we take a look at empanadas right this moment,” burger historian and writer George Motz advised Fox Information Digital.
The American innovation, Lassen’s innovation, was making the hamburger cellular by serving it as a sandwich.
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Ken Lassen, the late grandson of Louis Lassen, as soon as relayed a exceptional story of the historical past of the hamburger to meals author Michael Stern, writer of RoadFood.com and writer of quite a few books within the “Street Meals” collection.
![Louis Lunch stove](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-griddle-oven-6-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lunch flame-broils its burgers in 125-year-old stand-up cast-iron ovens. Founder Louis Lassen cooked the very first hamburger sandwiches in the identical precise ovens from Bridge, Seaside & Co. of St. Louis in 1900. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
“You have heard of the Tartars? They rampaged by way of Europe, and one of many issues they did was kill cattle,” the third-generation Danish-American burger maker advised Stern, who shared the story with Fox Information Digital.
“However they did not have time to cease and cook dinner it, so that they put hunks of it beneath their saddles and as they rode north, the meat received floor up by all of the galloping and seasoned by the horses’ sweat … and steak tartare was born! Lastly, they stopped in Hamburg, Germany, lengthy sufficient to cook dinner it, and there you’ve a hamburger. However nonetheless with out the bun.”
“With a meat grinder and a streak of that notorious Yankee ingenuity, Louis Lassen modified the course of American culinary historical past.”
The story sounds a bit wild, “however is essentially true,” stated Motz, writer “Hamburger America” and “The Nice American Burger E-book.”
He disputes the truth that the Tartars raised and killed cattle. He stated the Tartan raiders probably rampaged fueled by lamb or goat meat.
He additionally disputes that Lassen invented the hamburger sandwich. He traces hamburger sandwiches to state festivals across the nation within the Nineties.
![Burger expert George Motz](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/IMG_20220515_185928_604.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
George Motz is the writer “Hamburger America” and “The Nice American Burger E-book.” He disputes the Louis Lunch hamburger sandwich origin story, however can also be one of many Connecticut eatery’s largest followers. (George Motz)
A burger fan, in the meantime, despatched him a clipping two years in the past from the April 12, 1894, version of the Shiner Gazette of Texas that cites “hamburger steak sandwiches on daily basis within the week at Barny’s saloon, Moulton.”
The citing, he says, “would debunk any declare” made later.
He stays a loyal fan of Louis Lunch, nevertheless, at the same time as he disputes its hamburger origin story.
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“Individuals are pleased with their hamburger heritage,” stated Motz. “On the very least, he [Lassen] helped popularize the hamburger.”
Maintain the ketchup
Louis Lunch right this moment is a residing museum of American culinary historical past.
“I describe it as going to burger church,” stated Motz.
“It’s heaven. It’s actually heaven. You solely go there to eat and to depart. You may solely have it their manner and there’s actually one thing lovely about that.”
![Ovens at Louis Lunch](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burger-stove-close-up-7-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lunch flame-broils each hamburger in the identical 125-year-old Bridge Seaside & Co. cast-iron ovens first utilized by founder Louis Lassen when he invented the hamburger sandwich. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Visitors from around the globe savor hamburgers within the shadow of Yale College the identical precise manner Lassen ready his first sandwiches greater than a century in the past.
Burgers are served with solely three topping choices: cheese, tomato and/or onion. The onions are roasted with the burgers.
There’s no lettuce. No mustard. No ketchup.
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“Condiments had been invented to cover the flavour of the meat in an period when meat went dangerous,” Louis Lunch proprietor Jeff Lassen, great-grandson of the founder, advised Fox Information Digital.
They could be the perfect hamburgers in America: fats, juicy, and flame-broiled in exceptional little 125-year-old cast-iron ovens manufactured by Bridge, Seaside & Co. of St. Louis in 1898.
![Lunch at Louis Lunch](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-lassen-lunch-table-7-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lunch of New Haven, Connecticut, is credited with inventing the hamburger sandwich in 1900. The menu right this moment consists of solely hamburgers or cheeseburgers with a alternative of onion or tomato; sides embody solely potato chips or potato salad, with sodas from native maker Foxon Park Drinks. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Louis Lassen served his very first hamburger sandwiches from the identical precise ovens in 1900. The uncooked patties are positioned between two grates after which flipped sideways and slid into the oven to roast to medium uncommon.
Louis Lunch burgers are served solely on slices of white bread — the identical manner Louis Lassen served them in 1900.
“The hamburger,” stated Jeff Lassen, “existed earlier than the hamburger bun.”
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Louis Lunch makes use of white bread from one other Connecticut culinary icon: Pepperidge Farm, based within the Nutmeg State by Margaret Rudkin in 1937.
Burgers could be ordered with potato chips or potato salad.
![Louis Lunch fan](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burger-louis-customer-mike-adams-7-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Michael Adams of New Haven, Connecticut, has been consuming at Louis Lunch because the Nineteen Eighties. He is a proponent of the hamburger pioneer’s no-condiment mantra. “They need you to eat it the best way they served it within the 1800s,” stated Adams. “That is what it is all about.” (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Do-it-yourself pie is commonly supplied for dessert.
Many visitors instinctively ask for lettuce, mustard or ketchup for his or her burgers — forcing Lassen to repeat the restricted choices to newcomers.
“That is the true deal. It’s no bulls—,” stated Motz. “Why would anybody wish to impose their picture of the blokes who’ve been doing it for greater than 100 years? Depart it alone. It’s dialed again the best way it needs to be.”
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Louis Lassen died on March 20, 1935. He was 69 years outdated.
He’s buried right this moment at Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven beside his spouse, Sophia.
![Louis Lassen](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burger-louis-lassen-portrait-7-23.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lassen, an immigrant from Denmark, is credited with inventing the hamburger sandwich at his eatery Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1900. (Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital; Lassen Household portrait)
Debate over the origins of the hamburger probably will linger without end.
What’s not doubtful is that Danish immigrant Lassen was instrumental in popularizing the hamburger in the USA.
And right this moment there is no such thing as a meals in the USA that is extra well-liked.
“Individuals eat greater than 50 billion burgers every year … a median of almost three burgers per week for each American.”
Individuals eat greater than 50 billion burgers every year, based on a number of trade estimates.
That’s a median of almost three burgers per week for each American man, girl and little one.
![Louis Lassen and burger](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/Louis-Burger-Split.png?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis Lassen, founding father of Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, is credited with inventing the hamburger in 1900 when he positioned scorching beef between two items of bread. Louis Lunch nonetheless serves its hamburgers and cheeseburgers between slices of Pepperidge Farm white bread toast. (Louis Lunch; Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
Louis Lunch could have loved well-liked acclaim lengthy earlier than it achieved worldwide recognition from the Library of Congress.
“The Whiffenpoof Tune” is the standard title tune carried out by the Yale College Whiffenpoofs, proclaimed because the oldest collegiate a cappella ensemble in America.
“They need you to eat it the best way they served it within the 1800s. That is what it is all about.”
“To the tables down at Mory’s/To the place the place Louie dwells” are the track’s opening lyrics.
A galaxy of America’s most celebrated stars have carried out the tune. Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra all recorded variations of the Yale track.
![Grave of Louis Lassen](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/MTAW-burgers-lassen-grave.jpg?ve=1&tl=1)
Louis and Sophia Lassen are buried in Evergreen Cemetery in New Haven, Connecticut. Louis Lassen, born in Denmark, is credited as creator of the hamburger sandwich, an all-American culinary traditional. (Courtesy Sean McKim)
“Mory’s” refers to Mory’s Temple Bar, a non-public membership for Yale College college students. The “Louie” most probably references one of many membership’s house owners, Louis Linder.
However many New Haven residents consider the track refers to beef patty peddler Louis Lassen.
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Native resident Mike Adams, a Louis Lunch buyer because the Nineteen Eighties, seems to help the second idea. He notes that Louis Lunch burgers have lengthy been a beloved late-night meals for New Haven bar hoppers, Yale college students notable amongst them.
He additionally helps the Lassen household’s devotion to the no-condiment burger custom.
![Lous Lassen and Louis Lunch](https://a57.foxnews.com/static.foxnews.com/foxnews.com/content/uploads/2023/07/1200/675/Louis-Facade-Split.png?ve=1&tl=1)
New Haven, Connecticut, street-cart meals vendor Louis Lassen is credited by the Library of Congress as inventor of the hamburger sandwich. His namesake eatery, Louis Lunch, is a beloved New Haven establishment right this moment. (Lassen Household; Kerry J. Byrne/Fox Information Digital)
“They need you to eat it the best way they served it within the 1800s,” stated Adams. “That is what it is all about.”
“Louis’ Lunch has held a particular place within the hearts of the residents of New Haven for greater than a century,” Rep. DeLauro of Connecticut advised Fox Information Digital.
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“I encourage anybody visiting New Haven to cease at Louis Lunch. However no matter you do, don’t ask for ketchup!”
To learn extra tales on this distinctive “Meet the American Who…” collection from Fox Information Digital, click on right here.