Now trust me, I love a hamburger! I have for 62 years. Well, maybe 57 years because I am not sure how many hamburgers I ate before I was five. But had I been eating them at that age I know of only three or four places I could have gotten one, not counting having my Mom make me one at home and, off course, the pool room where “hoods” hung out.

These days there are more places to buy a burger than there are Baptist churches, QT gas stations, or mattress stores. Heck, they are even importing burger joints from the left coast to convince us Southerners we can’t cook a burger.

Not sure if you have been paying attention but they tore down a local landmark on Highway 138 (the Triangle Building) to bring us yet another hamburger joint (Five Guys) and another mattress store. See, I told you so! Joni Mitchell used to sing, “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”, but in these days and times we put up another strip shopping center. Not sure if you have noticed but we have two empty shopping centers already!

I have lost count of how many places to get hamburgers here in town. All the way from the gut bomb burgers (great for late night rescues) to the fresh ground burgers made by hand and grilled to order. Trust me there are plenty of great places for a good hamburger in this town. I guess we have the room for a few more.

I do like 5 Guys and am happy to have them in the mix. Now I really love Freddy’s – great concept and I know they are a little flat but that is their hook. I love them. For fresh ground, it’s hard to beat one at Jim ‘N Nick’s. Grilled on an open flame, just like in the backyard. Urban Mo, once again, big burger and freshly cooked on a flat top, sealing in the flavor as it cooks.

With the latest push for freshness and farm to table, we are seeing the quality in this food category take a step up. While sampling the burgers you can’t forget Olde Town eateries like Celtic Tavern and The Whistle Post. Both are tops on my list.

I could go on for the entire paper listing the good and bad burger places in town, but I will leave the rest for you to discover on your own. I do miss the locally owned places I grew up with such as Marshes Dairy, The Ritz Bar (as in ice cream not booze), and of course The Corner Drug Store.

No burger in the world has ever been made better than one made by Sarah Childers at the Original Corner Drug Store. I hate the kids of today miss this kind of good ole cooking, but as the saying goes, “What goes around, comes around,” so here we are to “the good old hamburger days“!