Shackburger Veterans for Truth

Turns out, The Fat Guy is a Shackburger vet. That's probably how he became a fat guy. Here's the Fat Guy's take on where to find great hamburgers. (It's a continuation of this largely unread posting.)

As an extra special Friday bonus that I have, for some reason, written in the voice of NewMexiKen, here's some information that serves no purpose whatsoever:

No one is really sure where the cheeseburger originated. There are two competing claims.

First there's Louis Ballast. (Think about the origins of that surname. His was the family that got thrown overboard in times of distress. It's amazing a member of his family didn't invent the life preserver.) Ballast, who operated the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, trademarked the word "cheeseburger" in 1935. Or maybe he didn't. According to this apparently authoritative history of the hamburger, Ballast was not successful in his attempt to trademark "cheeseburger," which may have already been in use. But everyone else in the world seems to think he did get a trademark, though there's some disagreement about whether it was 1935 or 1936.

Whatever, the other claimant, Kaelin's Restaurant in Louisville, Kentucky, appears nowhere in the hamburger history but insists it's the real birthplace of the cheeseburger. The restaurant has menu and advertising evidence that they started serving cheeseburgers in 1934. I've been to Kaelin's and its burgers are very good, though they're not the only cheesy aspect of the restaurant. The clientelle is made up largely of octagenarians who look like they might still be waiting for the check for a dinner they ordered 70 years ago.