Louis' Lunch

Louis' Lunch
Louis' Lunch Landmark building
Restaurant information
Established	1895
Current owner(s)	Lassen family
Head chef	Jeff Lassen
Food type	Hamburgers
Dress code	Casual
Street address	263 Crown Street
City	New Haven
State	Connecticut
Postal code/ZIP	06511
Country	United States
Seating capacity	30
Reservations	Not taken
Other information	Credit cards not accepted
Website	www.louislunch.com

Louis Lassen 1907-1916

Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, advertises itself as the first restaurant to serve hamburgers and as being the oldest hamburger restaurant still operating in the U.S.^[1] Opened as a small lunch wagon in 1895, Louis' Lunch was also one of the first places in the U.S. to serve steak sandwiches.^[2][3]

History

Louis Lassen, a butter dealer, operated a lunch wagon on Meadow Street as early as 1895 and served steak and ground steak hamburger sandwiches, made from scrap trimmings, to local factory workers.^[4] The population of New Haven doubled between 1870 and 1900. Tens of thousands of European immigrants flocked to the city to find work in the many factories located there at the time.

According to family legend, one day in 1900 a local businessman dashed into the small New Haven lunch wagon and pleaded for a lunch to go. Louis Lassen, the establishment's owner, hurriedly sandwiched a broiled hamburger between two slices of bread and sent the customer on his way, so the story goes, with America's first hamburger being served.

In 1907, Lassen moved the business to Temple and George Streets. After a decade there, he left his lunch wagon for a square-shaped little brick building that had once been a tannery. Forced to move to make way for development in 1975, Louis' Lunch moved a fourth time, relocating the tannery building to its present location, 263 Crown Street in New Haven, CT. The fourth generation of Lassens own and operate Louis' Lunch today.^[5]

Antique stoves

Louis' Lunch flame broils the hamburgers, the original way, in antique 1898 vertical cast iron gas stoves manufactured by the Bridge and Beach, Co., St. Louis, Missouri. The vertical stoves use hinged steel wire gridirons to hold the hamburgers in place while they cook simultaneously on both sides. The gridirons were made by Luigi Pieragostini, of New Haven, who applied for a patent in 1938.^[6]

Original hamburger and steak sandwich

Louis' Lunch hand forms their hamburger sandwiches from ground steak made from a secret blend of five different cuts of beef. The hamburgers and steak sandwiches are then flame broiled vertically in the original antique stoves. The hamburgers are prepared with cheese, tomato or onion as the only condiments or garnish; never any mustard, ketchup or mayonnaise. If one were to ask for a condiment, he would politely be informed none were available as the proprietors strongly feel the quality of the sandwich would be masked. The hamburger sandwiches are served the original way: on two square pieces of toasted white bread.

Endorsements

• The Library of Congress web site states that the first hamburgers and steak sandwiches in U.S. history were served in New Haven, Connecticut, at Louis' Lunch sandwich shop established in 1895 [4].
• Referring to the hamburger, James Trager wrote in his Food Chronology, "the popular sandwich made its American debut in New Haven, Connecticut in 1900: Louis Lassen grinds .07 cent/LB lean beef, broils it and serves it between two slices of toast (no catsup or relish) to customers at his 5 year old three-seat Louis' Lunch".
• Referring to Louis' Lunch, Earl Steinbicker in his Daytrips New England: 50 One-Day Adventures, claims this is the place where the American hamburger was invented.
• The episode Hamburger Paradise on the Travel Channel's show, Food Paradise, features Louis' Lunch.
• A New Haven-focused episode of Man v. Food Nation includes a segment at Louis' Lunch.
• Louis' Lunch was rated #1 in Travel Channel's 2010 Chowdown Countdown also called 101 Tastiest Places to Chow Down.
• Heston Blumenthal travels to Louis' Lunch looking for the perfect hamburger in his series "In Search of Perfection".

See also

• Hamburger
• History of the hamburger
• History of the U.S. Hamburger

References

• Allen, Beth and Westmoreland, Susan (2004). Good Housekeeping Great American Classics Cookbook. Hearst Books. ISBN 1-58816-280-X. 
• Elliott, Richard Smith (1883). Notes Taken In Sixty Years. R. P. Studley & Co.. 
• Price and Lee (1899). New Haven (New Haven County) City Directory. Price and Lee Company. 
• Riccio, Anthony V. (2006). The Italian Experience In New Haven : Images And Oral Histories. SUNY Press. ISBN 0-7914-6773-2. 
• Romaine, Lawrence B. (1990). A Guide To American Trade Catalogs 1744-1900. Courier Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-26475-0. 
• Steinbicker, Earl (2000). Daytrips New England: 50 One-Day Adventures. Hastinghouse/Daytrips Publishers. ISBN 0-8038-2008-9. 
• Trager, James (1997). The Food Chronology: A Food Lover's Compendium Of Events And Anecdotes, From Prehistory To The Present. Owl Books. ISBN 0-8050-3389-0. 

Notes

1. ^ State of Connecticut official website list of firsts retrieved on 2009-05-20 [1]
2. ^ Local Legacies website retrieved on 2011-04-04[2]
3. ^ Library of Congress Local Legacies website retrieved on 2009-04-23
4. ^ Price & Lee's New Haven (New Haven County, Conn.) City Directory, 1899, page 375[3]
5. ^ New York Magazine May 16, 1977
6. ^ U.S. Patent #2,148,879

External links

• Official website
• Library of Congress Louis' Lunch main page
• Library of Congress Louis' Lunch: A Local Legacy
• New Haven Oral History Project:Ken Lassen Grandson of founder Louis Lassen
• New York Times Op-Ed: Louis' Lunch
• Chronicle Restaurant Feature: Louis' Lunch
• Roadfood: Louis' Lunch

Coordinates: 41°18′23″N 72°55′49″W / 41.30644°N 72.930298°W / 41.30644; -72.930298