The Juicy Lucy, a burger with cheese melted inside the patty rather than on top, was invented in South Minneapolis. Two bars on the same stretch of Cedar Avenue both claim to be the original. They are both open, both excellent, and the argument is now part of the city’s small civic heritage. The rest of the metro has plenty of other strong burger opinions too.
Matt’s opened on Cedar Avenue in 1954 and claims to have invented the Jucy Lucy (their spelling, no "i"). The burger comes out molten in the middle and you will burn your mouth on the first bite. That is the experience. Cash only, no reservations, expect a wait.
Read full entry →The other Juicy Lucy origin claimant. Open since 1928 with multiple metro locations. Their Juicy Lucy comes with your choice of four cheeses (American, blue, pepper jack, Swiss) and Time Magazine has named it one of the most influential burgers of all time. Pick a side in the Matt’s vs 5-8 debate.
Read full entry →The Nook opened in 2000 and the "Nookie Burger" is now frequently in the top of every Juicy Lucy ranking written about the metro. Bonus: there is a basement bowling alley with paper-and-pencil scoring. Order the burger, get a beer, roll a few games. A perfect Twin Cities night.
Read full entry →A South Minneapolis gastropub with one of the deepest craft-beer lists in the metro and a burger that locals defend with serious energy. The yardstick onion rings are famous in their own right. The neighborhood rallied to fund the rebuild after a 2013 fire, which tells you what kind of place it is.
Read full entry →A small Twin Cities chain doing the Blucy, their Juicy Lucy variant, with a rotating menu of stuffed-burger experiments that read inventive on paper and somehow land most of the time. The Bacon Blucy is the order. Strong tap list.
Read full entry →An Edina diner that has been doing burgers and malted milkshakes the same way since 1934. Walk in and it is essentially 1955 inside. The basket burger is the order. The chocolate malt is mandatory.
Read full entry →A Payne Avenue pub on the East Side of St. Paul doing one of the best straightforward bar burgers in the metro. Smashed-style on a soft bun, no overengineering, draft list that goes deep on local. The kind of room where you arrive at six and leave at ten.
Read full entry →A small upscale-burger chain doing the higher-end version of this list. The Smokehouse with bacon jam is the signature. Strong whiskey program, half-off burger happy hour, multiple metro locations. Reliable.
Read full entry →A St. Paul restaurant whose burger has quietly become one of the most-talked-about in the metro. Dry-aged blend, soft brioche, perfect cheese melt, almost annoyingly good fries. Order it at the bar with a martini.
Read full entry →The Parlour Burger built a national reputation at the original Minneapolis location, a thick dry-aged patty with caramelized edges that lands on best-burger-in-America lists. This West 7th sibling brought it across the river to St. Paul. Get it at the bar with a cocktail and do not skip the fries.
Read full entry →Anna Morgan and Kevin Manley, who met working at 112 Eatery, run this tiny bistro out of the first floor of an apartment building, and the burger has a cult following to match the living-room feel. The fries are taken so seriously there is a dedicated potato chef. Small room, big burger.
Read full entry →Bjorn and Megan Jacobsen’s Cathedral Hill room runs a frequently changing seasonal menu, but the move is the burger, served in a strictly limited run of eight a night. When they are gone they are gone, so order early. A serious kitchen treating the burger as a special.
Read full entry →The grand Victorian mansion in Irvine Park, dating to 1870, reopened in 2024 with a reimagined bar where the draw is the Irvine Park Burger, a blend of Wagyu, brisket, and chuck. White-tablecloth history with a serious burger at the bar.
Read full entry →Jonathan Gans and Josh Hoyt, who met at The Bachelor Farmer, describe this Linden Hills spot as the burger joint two Americans might open in Paris. All-Wagyu patties on miso-butter buns, from a $12 basic to a $21 foie gras and black truffle splurge. Sandwiches and vegetarian patties round it out.
Read full entry →The Kingfield neighborhood bar that took over the Petite León space, and it kept the predecessor’s caramelized-onion burger on the menu. Two smash patties, white American, pickles. On Tuesdays the burger comes with waffle fries and a tap cocktail, beer, or NA for one price.
Read full entry →Dark Horse closed and then staged a comeback in Lowertown under chef Shane Oporto, with the burger as the headline. The D.H. Double stacks fresh-ground patties with house-made American, special sauce, and thick pickles on a glossy bun, built on an aged-beef blend for extra depth.
Read full entry →Chef Sawicki’s Polish-American restaurant in Northeast cooks much of its menu over a live hearth, and the signature is a duck burger, in-house ground duck served Oklahoma-style with grilled onions. Smash burgers too, alongside duck confit cabbage rolls and pork belly pączki.
Read full entry →From the chef-owners of Travail, a Northeast counter pairing handmade ice cream with smash burgers. The Dream Burger is a quarter pound smashed into griddled onions with melty American, Dream Sauce, garlic-dill pickles, and raw onion on a soft milk bun. Get a pint of ice cream on the way out.
Read full entry →Jesse Hedman and Mona Negasi run one of the most sauce-forward smash-burger trucks in the metro, with patties smeared in sesame aioli and beef bacon jam or mustard mascarpone with cheddar. A regular at Smash Burger Fest. Check their socials for where it is parked.
Read full entry →Nikki and Brian Podgorski’s smash-burger truck, known for double-deckers on toasted brioche. A fixture on the Twin Cities truck and festival circuit. Check their socials for the current location.
Read full entry →A family-run roadhouse out by the Minnesota River that has been grilling its Famous Hamburgers for decades. A reader put it best: as good as Kings in Miesville, without the drive. The beer is plentiful, including their own root beer, and the whole thing is gloriously simple. Worth the trip to Eden Prairie.
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