The 15 best burgers in DC

Duke’s Grocery, which draws its inspiration from the cafes and pubs throughout East London, offers one of the best burgers in D.C.: the Proper Burger. While the pub taps local farms for many of its ingredients, it sources the angus beef for this burger from the venerable Creekstone Farms in Kansas City. It’s topped with melted gouda, charred onions and dill pickles. The Thai sweet chili sauce and garlic aioli offer a nice balance of spicy and cool. You can also select an array of other accoutrements to add to your order—from the common (bacon, avocado) to the extravagant (white truffle oil, pate).

Alas, #44 may no longer be in the White House, but we can still reminisce about his presidency while devouring this burger from Good Stuff Eatery. It’s topped with applewood smoked bacon, a savory-sweet onion marmalade, melted Roquefort blue cheese and a tangy horseradish mayo. Chef Spike Mendelson crafted the Prez Obama burger, along with a McCain burger, back in 2008 during the presidential election. Good Stuff kept a tally of how many of each burgers were sold in the run-up to the election and, unsurprisingly, the Obama burger won by a landslide. It remained so popular over the last eight years that Good Stuff decided to keep it on the menu permanently—and the District is better off because of it.

Don’t be fooled: These Frenchmen can pull off a mean burger. Two patties, American cheese, pickles and a special sauce on a sesame seed bun—sound familiar? It’s basically your favorite fast food burger on steroids. The beef is fresh black angus, not some frozen pink slime creation; the special sauce is made with a base of homemade mayo, as opposed to the preservative-laden stuff you’d scoop out of a tub. Le Diplomate lives up to the hype associated with Stephen Starr restaurants, in large part due to the solid creations—like this one—from head chef Michael Abt. 

After the success of Citronelle in Georgetown, which closed in 2012 due to severe water damage, chef Michel Richard opened Central in an effort to “democratiz[e] gastronomy.” The restaurant’s burger embodies this effort—an American classic, favored by the masses, but with a finely-crafted twist. The burger comes with house-made mayo and potato “tuiles”—crispy wafers that add a subtle crunch. At $18 ($20 with the cheese and bacon), this burger isn’t cheap—and if you’re looking for extravagance to match every dollar you spend, you won’t find it here. But the fresh ingredients and balanced flavor that Michel Richard’s dishes are known for make this burger worth every penny in our book.

Crisp’s take on the patty melt is a solid recreation of an American classic. Buttery toast, grilled to golden-brown perfection, replace the staid old buns that other burgers call home. A slather of mayo, garlic dill pickle chips and pork belly jelly tie it all together. With a heap of fries on the side, this burger will bring you back to a simpler time—when  “cholesterol” was just a funny word. Crisp is known for dishing out some adventurous twists on down-home favorites—especially when they involve fried chicken—but this one is pretty by-the-book... Which is totally fine by us.