- Welcome back.
- Welcome back, Steven.
We're doing another three episode burst
before the new year rolls in.
You might be wondering why we're not driving.
Say hi, Devon.
Devon's up front driving
because we're picking up our special co-star today.
He's an avid fan of the show, from River Forest, Illinois.
His name is Jackson, and his visit is made possible
by Make-A-Wish.
- [Steven] What's up?
Nice to meet you
(parents laughing) Hi, guys!
You ready to go? - Yes.
- [Steven] All right.
(grunts)
There's Adam, say hi.
- Hey
- Welcome to the car, Jackson.
- It's the worth automobile.
- That's right. - Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,
I'm the pun master on this show.
- [Steven] I like it.
- But thank you Jackson for joining us
on our double cheeseburger episode today.
- Thank you for having me.
- He flew all the way out from Illinois.
- Yes - The Midwest,
I like you already.
- Should we do the Today on Worth It?
- You don't know how to do that?
- Today on "Worth It", we're having
three double cheeseburgers at three addresses
At three different price points
to see which one is worth it.
- The most worth it.
- [Together] The most worth it.
- At its given price point.
- So that's at least six patties.
- Are you prepared?
- I'm hungry.
- Good
- So the first place we're going to
is called Burgers Never Say Die.
We're gonna see Shawn.
- This is a smash burger joint.
I love Super Smash, the game, Ultimate, and all.
You play Ultimate?
- Yes
- Who's your main?
- (chuckling) Oh my God.
- Donkey Kong.
- Okay, okay, I'm a Ness man.
- You're bringing all the co-host attributes
that Steven wants in me, but I don't possess.
- Hey, do you watch the NBA?
- Yes.
(all exclaiming)
- That's what I'm talking about.
- So your menu starts with the regular,
and the regular has two patties.
- Yes - Why is that?
- I like double cheeseburgers.
That's what I grew up eating.
It also works because it's a smash patty.
- [Andrew] And tell us what a smash burger is?
- [Shawn] It's cooked on a flat top, at very high heat,
and you just smash it down there, so it sears to the griddle
and the whole process probably takes a minute or less.
- [Jackson] What makes a really good burger?
- [Shawn] It's so subjective, like personally, for me,
I like burgers cooked on the griddle.
- [Jackson] What does the griddle add?
- [Shawn] You get flavor that's been there, the seasoning
from the food items other than burgers.
- [Andrew] What drew you to making burgers specifically?
- [Shawn] My wife and I, we were always really into burgers
and got into the food scene of LA.
Bringing together all the burgers we ate,
I thought, I wanna try making this burger myself.
I started in my backyard
with no intention of opening a restaurant.
For a couple weeks, I was just begging people to come
and try the burger; friends, coworkers, whoever.
And then, some people approached me,
asking if I wanted to open a restaurant.
And throughout my whole life,
I usually just jump in,
and I thought, let's give this a shot and see what happens.
- We have a sign right here that says, "always order two".
Why?
- It's an ode to the backyard.
People would order one, and they would regret it
and then there would be a long line or we had sold out, so.
- Is two still doable?
- I recommend two for you, yeah.
- What about you, do you do two?
- I do two, I've eaten like six in one day, so.
(laughing) - Oh my goodness.
- I mean we're gonna do six probably,
over the course of this day, for us,
so why not start with two?
- (sighs) here we go.
(cash register opening)
- [Andrew] All right, Jackson, take it away.
- Worth-it, Double Cheeseburger, take one.
- Nice. - That was perfect.
That was better than I usually do.
- Take two.
(clattering) (laughing)
- So that Burgers Never Say Die,
they also have soft serve ice cream.
Insider pro tip;
you get your soft serve in a cup, order a soda on the side,
and then mix it for your own float.
- What are the correct proportions for a float?
Does anyone know?
- The whole bottle. - It's a feel.
- Jackson's got classic root beer float.
This is Steven's--
- [Steven] I got chocolate--
- And a blueberry root beer.
Okay, when, when, when, when.
Cheers! - Cheers!
How do you eat this?
- Who thought of floats?
Pour some soda on some ice cream?
That's like some,
the-parents-aren't-home, mischief (all laughing).
- [All] Cheers.
- The fries!
- Taste like McDonald's. - Taste like McDonald's, yeah.
- [Andrew] So these fries are fried in beef tallow.
Apparently this is what McDonald's tasted like
way back in the day,
before they switched to a vegetable oil.
Staying true to their motto,
we've two burgers for each of us except for you Jackson,
because this is your first time on one of these rodeos,
I don't wanna do that to you.
- Whoa.
- It looks the way a fast food burger looks in a commercial,
but this is how it is in real life
- [Jackson] It smells good.
- Great bun smell.
Did you think you'd have to wait
this long before you actually get to take a bite?
- Can I point out one more physical attribute
of this burger before we bite into it?
Sorry, Jackson.
Look at the way it's like a lattice.
- [Andrew] Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Crispy? - Very crispy.
But you can almost see through the meat.
- [Andrew] Like a spider's web.
- [All] Cheers!
- Oh, man.
- Wow!
- It's crunchy too
- It's really crunchy. - Yeah.
- [Andrew] It's the essence of burger.
There's nothing extra.
There's not like strange sauces or condiments.
This might be the best burger I've ever had.
- Oh man.
- Like truly.
- Would you agree with that?
- Yes
- This is one of my favorite ones.
- Swallow your food.
(Jackson laughing)
- Next burger, here we go.
- You would definitely be satisfied by one of these,
but you're gonna want two.
- I do agree.
Order two.
What am I doing with my life now?
I'm only slightly lactose-intolerant,
so low levels of cheese, that's fine.
Are you lactose-intolerant at all?
- No
- You're a lucky person.
Oh, we had ice cream, too.
What am I doing? (all laughing)
- [Andrew] Jackson, what do you think
about the part of the show where Adam eats?
- He takes really large bites.
(laughing)
- I'm gonna finish mine before you.
- Of course.
I don't know if I could do that.
- What a cheeseburger.
- [Jackson and Steven] That was insane.
- We keep talking at the same time.
- Oh.
- Twins! - Look who is simpatico.
- So before our next double cheeseburger,
we're actually gonna get another double cheeseburger.
We're going to this French restaurant
in West Hollywood, called Tesse.
I saw on Instagram, that for National Burger day,
they made, we're just gonna call it
a special dessert burger.
We reached out, and the pastry chef, Sally,
so kindly agreed to remake it, but double this time.
This might be the most visually
appealing burger of the day.
(charming old school music)
- Close your eyes. - Okay.
- Man, this is gonna blow you away.
Three, two, one, reveal!
(Steven and Jackson exclaiming)
- [Andrew] It's very realistic.
- Dude, is that a strawberry?
- [Jackson and Andrew] Yes.
- [Andrew] Two macaroons, chocolate ganache,
mango passion fruit cheese, strawberry slices, shiso leaf,
and a raspberry jelly for the ketchup.
- Wow.
If you did not tell me was dessert,
I would not have guessed it.
- [All] Cheers!
- [Steven] How to eat this?
(mumbling)
- It's actually really good.
I mean it's chocolate and fruit, what's not to like?
- It's sweet and bitter at the same time.
- [Steven] That's the nosh.
- The tasting notes coming off of Jackson.
This isn't your first time, is it?
- No. - All right, I retire today,
you can have the--
- Do you know what time it is now?
- Yes.
Oh, you're asking me (mumbles).
- If you didn't know, I'd be concerned.
- Fact time.
- That's right, double cheeseburger fact.
- Double cheeseburger fact.
- One minute.
(all laughing)
Double cheeseburger fact.
- Bob's Big Boy, is credited with selling
the first double cheeseburger in 1937.
The chain's original name was Bob's pantry
but after the double cheeseburger,
dubbed the Big Boy, was invented,
the restaurant changed its name to boast its famous burger.
The double cheeseburger became so famous,
they changed their restaurant name.
- [Adam] What about renaming this show?
- Whoa. - Whoa.
- It would probably be called, Adam's Silent Bite.
- No, Adam's Big Bite.
- Adam's Big Bite.
Yes!
- For our next double cheeseburger,
we're on our way to see Frederick and Max,
at Burgerlords, in Highland Park.
Similar to this double cheeseburger,
this next double cheeseburger's made without meat.
- I've never had a veggie cheeseburger before.
- Curveball for the episode.
- I'm scared and excited.
- Scared and excited is a good place to be with food.
- Tell us what kind of restaurant Burgerlords is.
- The way I think of it, it's kind of a bizzaro version
of a traditional fast food restaurant.
You're used to a frozen garden burger, portobello.
This is the opposite, where everything is vegan, vegetarian,
except the beef burger.
- Do you think you're more popular
with traditional beef cheeseburgers
or with the vegetarian and vegan crowd?
- Honestly it's like 50-50.
- Yeah? - Yeah We look at it
every week.
- [Steven] How did you guys develop
the recipe for this patty?
- [Max] Everything kind of has its role.
The barley for chewiness, and cashews give it a nice crunch.
We're roasting all the eggplants,
slicing up the other vegetables.
Those get sauteed with all the spices on the flat top.
Cooking barley in a rice cooker, with kambu and miso,
roasting nuts, garbanzo beans, cashews,
and then it all goes into one batch, and just mixed up.
- [Fred] Once it's cold, it settles,
and then we're balling it like a traditional burger.
We roll it in Panko, then we patty it out,
so the Panko when it's cooking gives it a kinda crispy edge.
Helps keep the patty from burning on the grill, too.
- [Fred] All of the work comes at the beginning,
so we can push it out really fast.
On average, I mean our tickets, are like five to 10 minutes.
It's like neo-fast food.
- [Max] It feels like fast food, it looks like it
on the exterior, but in the kitchen, we're cooking all day.
- [Steven] Now that you've explained all of this,
it feels like a burger joint
is the hardest thing to do for vegetarians.
Like why did you wanna tackle a burger joint?
- [Max] You know, there's the nostalgia.
- You know, it's the experience of a diner,
a fast food restaurant, having fries and eating a burger.
It was also to create something that we didn't think
really existed here.
You know, when we grew up,
there was a lot of times we felt left out,
so we wanted to make sure that everyone felt
they had a good option here.
- So to round out our experience,
we also got the tofu nuggets and french fries,
lord-of-the-fries style.
- Lord of the fries, that's a good pun.
Have you read "Lord of the Fries yet"?
(pop) (all laughing)
- We can't take you anywhere.
- Cheers - Cheers.
- Ah, this is good.
We'll make it.
- Oh my goodness.
- For the first time in my life, I have somebody
who is also a messy eater.
Look at that.
- [Jackson] Cheese crust.
- [Andrew] It's got the cheese crust.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
- [Steven] Veggie bumps.
- This is good. - Wow.
- It doesn't taste like plants at all.
It tastes like real beef.
- It's hot, cheesy, juicy, meaty, and yet there's no meat.
So when you think, "Man, I could really go
"for a burger right now."
Does this satisfy that feeling?
- 100%
(laughing)
- Are you gonna finish that thing Steven?
- I'm trying to.
- Put a little hot sauce on there.
- Uh! - Uh!
- [Steven] Yeah, hot sauce me.
You know what, that's really good.
It's a nice little kick.
It really brightens the flavor of the burger.
- Oh, it has a good kick to it, that's good.
- It is like I'm in a different universe right now.
Vegetarian food, in this universe, is the norm.
- It does kind a feel like we're in a Twilight Zone set,
a little bit, just like transported back in time,
but to an alternate reality where everybody's a vegetarian,
and you know what?
Pretty good.
You ever watch Twilight Zone?
- [Steven] Wow, that was a good bite.
- Life blowing.
- Life blowing (laughing)
- Not just mind blowing
- life blowing
- Life.
Oh my gosh, guys, I'm on patty number ten.
(laughing)
- That was eight. - Oh, sorry, eight.
- It was eight.
Yeah. - I can't count anymore.
That's how many patties I've had.
- Before we go to our last burger, it's time for one more--
- Burger fact.
- Double cheeseburger fact!
- Oh dang it.
- Would you like to read the fact today?
- Sure.
The price of the Big Mac
when it debuted nationwide was 49 cents.
- 49 cents?
So you're telling me I could go to a McDonald's
with two quarters and come back with a Big Mac and a penny?
- Yeah, in the 60s, when it debuted.
- Oh, sorry.
- [Adam] That happened a long--
- Back in the 60s.
- [Adam] Back in the 60s, right.
- We're on our way to petit Trois,
where we're gonna see Chef Ludo,
and his double cheeseburger called, The Big Mec.
- And what is on this Big Mec?
- Well, it's a French Restaurant, so sauce.
- Petit Trois, it's a classic French restaurant.
The design and the food is very French.
- And so you have this burger.
How does that fit into that classic menu?
- In France, we eat a lot of steak hache,
we know is a patty, so I decided to just do a burger,
like what Americans like, you know?
And look like a burger, too.
- [Jackson] What makes a really good burger?
- [Ludo] A burger needs to be crispy and juicy.
When I eat a steak or any meat, that's what I want.
I want the meat to be crispy
- It's called the Big Mec, styled after the Big Mac,
of course, right?
- Of course, yeah yeah, of course.
Mec, in France, means guys,
(speaks foreign language)
French food is all about the sauce,
so what's very important for me is that my burger
in the plate, swimming in the sauce,
like when you eat a steak, so I decided to do
a classic French sauce, called Bordelaise,
beef stock with a lot of shallot and a red wine sauce.
We take like eight hour to do,
then after we have aged cheddar cheese.
How do you know if I'm going to put aged cheddar cheese
or American cheese?
Because I love American cheese.
- Really? - Oh I love it.
- You love American cheese?
- Oh we don't like American cheese?
Guys, come on. - Some people don't.
- When I think about French cuisine, I think fine dining,
or I think like kind of--
- Foufou?
- [Steven] Yeah, a little bit,
I mean this burger is not what comes to mind, right?
- My job as a chef is also to cook what people want.
And it's fun to mix American food with French cuisine.
I recommend to eat the burger with a fork and knife.
Very French foufou, like you say.
- You said that, not me.
- So it is fork and knife?
- In France, we eat our burger with a fork and knife.
Okay guys, sorry, yeah we do.
- [Steven] There it is.
- It's really unlike any burger I've ever seen before.
- Look at how it's plated.
- It's in a pool of sauce.
- Yeah, it looks like a lily pad in murky pond.
- [Steven] Will you do the honors?
- Oh man, oh okay.
- [Steven] Everybody on the internet
is going to watch you cut this in half.
- We're losing traction here.
- Oh, god.
- [Andrew] This is a $25 cheeseburger
that you're just hacking through.
- [Steven] Double.
- Stab through the whole thing to secure your bite.
What?
Oh god. (all laughing)
- I regret saying that I would be okay sharing a burger.
I'm gonna cheers? - Cheers!
- And then I'm gonna mop up some sauce.
- It's magical.
- Yeah. - Yeah, boy.
- Wow.
- Oh man, that sauce.
- That sauce. - Is incredible.
- The patty is so crispy.
- It's juicy and crispy at the same time.
- Okay, if I were to go back to Burgerlords,
that was everything I want in a burger,
but it's vegetarian.
- This is everything I didn't know I wanted in a burger.
- Exactly, I don't think I've had a sauce like this before,
that is so rich and yet tantalizing.
- Yes, the sourness just makes you crave more.
- Yes, it does.
- Jackson's like, keep talking
while he eat the rest of this burger.
- (chuckling) He is destroying our burger.
- Is this what you thought an expensive burger
would look like on Worth It?
- No, I thought it would look fancier.
Most expensive burgers, like your episode with Keith,
it was a lot of ingredients, like foie gras and lobster.
This one just has beef and cheese and a sauce.
It's so simple that you don't need anything else.
How is it?
- I can see why you'd use a fork and knife.
(laughing)
- So how do you feel?
- Food coma. - Food coma?
- So now's the time.
You know what time it is.
- Double cheeseburger dance time.
Go!
(laughing)
double cheeseburger, hey!
Oh!
- Before we get to our Worth It winners,
what was your favorite thing today
that wasn't a double cheeseburger?
- The dessert at Tess.
- Oh yeah. - That was good.
- You just stole my answer.
- My favorite thing today that wasn't a double cheeseburger
was our co-star Jackson.
And that fact that I didn't have to eat alone
with Steven one more time.
I think we'll start with you today, Steven.
Which double cheeseburger was most worth it to you,
at its given price?
- [Steven] Burgers Never Say Die.
The texture of the patty was what I try to accomplish
when I add chips to my burgers.
Crunchy, crispy, juicy.
- Hold on, rewind this back.
You put potato chips on your cheeseburgers?
- Yeah, great double cheeseburger.
But I gotta say my worth-it winner
just barely goes to the Burgerlords.
- Oh the vegetarian double cheeseburger.
- That redefined what a double cheeseburger could be.
Next stop, we got Andrew.
(Andrew groans)
- I love all of these places.
Burgers Never Say Die, probably the best straightforward
cheeseburger I've ever had.
Burgerlords, I think that's where I'd go if I wanted
to hang out with people.
Am I gonna say my worth it winner was Petit Trois?
I think I am.
When I think about it, I start salivating.
I think it's the Bordelaise sauce.
- Did you see that coming?
- No.
- I thought he was choose Burgers Never Say Die.
- Yeah, me too - Look.
Obviously, they were all great burgers.
- Okay, before I say my worth it winner,
how could you not pick the last one?
I mean you're the hype beast of food.
- (laughing) What?
- You're a very fancy boy, you know?
- Hot dog, you picked the high-priced one.
Steak, high priced.
- Wow
- If you actually go back and tally the ones I pick
the high-priced one, though, it's not that often.
- Sushi and burger.
- Okay, all right, I'm out of here.
- Jackson knowledge of the show is coming back to haunt us.
- Just kidding, I love you, buddy.
- I love you too, bro.
- All right, Jackson. - Okay.
- No more beating around the bush.
Who's your Worth It winner?
- [Steven] So the veggie burger,
it was a new experience for me.
I'm going to start ordering veggie burgers,
so Burgerlords is my Worth It winner.
- What?
Are you kidding me?
That was a good fake out.
Adam, who's your Worth It winner?
- [Adam] Burgers Never Say Die.
Annie, who's your Worth It winner?
- Burgers Never Say Die.
- All right, we've got a good mix here.
But all we know for sure is that Andrew lost today.
- I did not lose.
- This has been quite the journey.
- Thank you for having me.
- No, thank you for flying all the way to get here.
- It was worth it.
- What?
Show name, watch out.
(laughing)
This Worth It winner decision is going to haunt me forever.
- So you wanna change it?
- I take it back, it's--
(upbeat music)