To mark the Vaccines Takeover of Gigwise, frontman Justin Young has picked his five favourite burger spots on Earth. Read the complete list below.
I know that for some, burgers embody gluttony of the highest order - cheap, over-farmed meat with just about everything else you can think of thrown in, leaning and towering between the grease of the bottom and top bun. That’s not to mention the sugars and refined carbohydrates that regularly accompany them in the form of a Coke and french fries. But for me growing up (and banned from eating them), they represented everything I found seductive about pop culture and, more specifically, American pop culture. They WERE skateboarding, Disneyland, MTV, Elvis Presley and Macaulay Culkin all rolled into one. And now I'm old enough to choose what I eat, I have chosen to eat a lot of burgers - often more than once a day and always more than once a week.
We just finished making our third record, but it was the first time we’ve made one in the USA - the home of the hamburger as we know it. And I took full advantage, but we didn’t just record and write in upstate New York. We spent 18 months going back and forth and around the globe, exploring as often and as much as we could. Here are my top five hamburgers from the places in which we made our favourite record yet.
5. In-N-Out Burger, Los Angeles
I'm starting with the obvious, but the West Coast really does do burger chains like nowhere else I've been. And whilst ‘In-N-Out’ is, I'm sure, by no means the best burger in LA, it's a pilgrimage for anyone visiting the area. Semi-secret religious undertones, brioche buns, lettuce, tomato and raw onions and insane burger sauce - its a classic take. Mmhmmm.
4. St. Louis, Sao Paulo
This is where I came in August of last year when I felt like I'd hit a bit of a creative wall and wanted a holiday and a new perspective. It sounds ridiculously indulgent, but it did help and proved a real turning point for the record. There are worse places to eat beef than in Brazil, and after consuming more than a lifetime’s worth of it at a Churrascaria on my first night there, it took me a few days before I felt like I was ready for more. But when I was, it came at ‘St. Louis’. American in spirit, feel and taste, they do a mean burger. Always chargrilled and best with maple bacon mayonnaise, it hit all the right spots for anyone cultivating an ‘Elvis in the 70s’ kinda look.
3. The Pig Hotel, New Forest, Hampsire
When we all got together again for the first time last spring to share what we had been working on, we decided to rent a house and set up a studio somewhere quiet so we could provide ourselves with a more immersive recording experience than London. So we rented a house in Dorset in March, and then another in the New Forest in May. We didn’t leave the house much, but when we did we made sure it was worth leaving the house for. The Pig is, as it’s name would suggest, obviously known for it’s pork and it’s ’25 mile menu’, but the burger is awesome too. Definitely gourmet, but still gluttonous. Also, definitely wasn’t hungry afterwards.
2. Whiskey Hill Saloon, Cassadaga, New York
Dave Fridmann’s studio is genuinely in the middle of nowhere. You fly to Buffalo and then drive two hours out towards Lake Erie and into the sticks, and so you’re not exactly spoilt for choice when it comes to eating out. But Whiskey Hill Saloon is amazing. It's actually exactly what you'd imagine it to be, only with Confederate flag tattoo’ed locals and Halloween decorations up all year round. And aside from Arni’s spicy bean burgers, they served the best burger I found out there. They’re fucking huge, with caramelised onions, BBQ sauce and french fries that were actually cooked through. You’re never going to Cassadaga but if you do, stop there and say 'Hi' from me.
1. Boom Burger, Portobello Road, London
So many good burger joints have opened up since I first moved to London, when I had to put up with Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Tommi’s, the Sebright Arms, Honest Burger etc. But by far the best burger I ate in London last year was at Boom Burger on the Portobello Road. Arni’s studio is a two minute walk, and so more often than we should have done, we ate here. It's fucking amazing. Jerk mayonnaise, plantain fries, bacon jam and big sloppy burgers. I'm going for one tonight.
See the rest of The Vaccines' takeover below
INTERVIEW: 'No one ever says The Vaccines are important, I think we've achieved that now' - watch
.jpg)
.jpg)
READING LIST: Bassist Arni Arnasson the books he was reading while making English Graffiti
