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[1] Pimento cheese on a cheeseburger is a special treat (photo © Gardenia Restaurant | NYC [alas, closed]).
[2] Switch out the bun for a different bread: baguette, brioche, English muffin, focaccia, or pita, for example (photo © Thomas Breads).
[3] A bacon cheeseburger with blue cheese (photo © Cheesecake Factory).
[4] A simple double cheeseburger: lots of protein (photo © Allen Brothers).
[5] In 2001, the DB Burger started the gourmet burger movement. Our experience: Too many stuffings made it impossible to distinguish the foie gras and the truffles (photo © Daniel Boulud).
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Updated September 2026
In case you missed National Double Cheeseburger Day on September 15th, September 18th is National Cheeseburger Day. So we know what we’re having for lunch!
Several restaurants claim that they created the hamburger by placing a ground beef patty inside bread.
What about the cheeseburger?
Check out the info below. As you eat your CB, enjoy Jimmy Buffett singing “Cheeseburger In Paradise.”
Below:
> A brief history of cheeseburgers.
> Fifteen+ elevated cheeseburger recipes.
> Fantasy cheeseburgers.
> Is a cheeseburger a sandwich?
> The video history of the cheeseburger.
Elsewhere on The Nibble:
> The history of cheeseburgers.
> The history of hamburgers.
> The history of cheese.
> The year’s 25+ beef holidays.
> The different cuts of beef: a photo glossary.
> The different types of cheese: a photo glossary.
1. A BRIEF HISTORY OF CHEESEBURGERS
Several people and places claim the invention of the cheeseburger, although it’s not a stretch to see that any cook could have easily thought to garnish the patty with cheese, not to mention lettuce, tomato, onions, and more.
Louis’ Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut claims to have served up the original burger in the U.S. in 1900, placing a beef patty, tomato, onion, and cheese between two slices of toasted white bread—no ketchup or mustard. They still serve it the same way.
Lionel Sternberger of The Rite Spot in Pasadena claims he invented it around 1924, serving it under the menu name “The Aristocratic Burger: The Original Hamburger with Cheese.”
So: Did they invent both the burger and the cheeseburger?
Some hard facts:
- O’Dell’s (Los Angeles): The first evidence in print appears to be from a Los Angeles restaurant, O’Dell’s. A menu from 1928 explicitly listed a “cheeseburger.”
- Trademark Filings: Print records from the U.S. Patent Office show that Louis Ballast of the Humpty Dumpty Drive-In in Denver, Colorado, officially applied for and was awarded a trademark for the word “cheeseburger” in the mid-1930s, which helped transition the item from regional diner slang into standardized print menus nationwide.
Check out the video below for a thorough discussion.
“Man who invented the cheeseburger was smart; man who invented the cheeseburger was a genius.” — Matthew McConaughey
2. 15+ MORE CHEESEBURGER RECIPES
You likely have your own favorite cheeseburger recipe, but take a look at these elevated CBs:
Plus
[6] The Golden Boy, originally priced at $6,000 in 2021. It’s still on the menu at De Dalton’s in the Netherlands (photo © De Daltons).
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[7] Serendipity 3’s $295 cheeseburger in New York City (photo © Liz Stegner | Serendipity 3).
3. FANTASY CHEESEBURGERS
In 2001, Chef Daniel Boulud shocked the foodie world with his famous DB Burger, created for the opening of his restaurant, DB Bistro Moderne, in Manhattan. A sirloin patty was stuffed with braised short ribs, foie gras, and black truffles.
The concept and price shocked the culinary world and essentially kickstarted the modern gourmet burger boom. Its initial $27 price tag* seems like chump change given what followed.
(By the way, we had the DB Burger and thought it was an attention-getter that didn’t pay off on the palate. With all that stuffing, you couldn’t taste the foie gras or the truffles.)
- The $295 Cheeseburger. Serendipity 3 in New York City created Le Burger Extravagant in 2012 (photo #7). At $295, it was declared the world’s most expensive burger by The Guinness Of World Records. The burger is topped with black truffles, fine Cheddar cheese from the fromager James Montgomery in Somerset, England, and a fried quail egg. The Wagyu beef is infused with white truffle butter, and the roll is dusted with edible gold. A mini blini with caviar and crème fraîche was nestled on the top of the roll, and it was held together with a diamond-encrusted gold toothpick. At the time, Guinness Book Of Records named it the world’s most expensive burger [source]. It’s still on the menu.
- The $5,000 Burger. In the no-cheese burger category, the record goes to the $5,000 cheeseburger that Chef Hubert Keller served at his Las Vegas restaurant, Fleur, a year earlier, in 2011 (photo #8). The FleurBurger was a Kobe beef patty topped with foie gras and black truffles, plus truffle sauce. It came with a bottle of 1995 Petrus Bordeaux, $2500 at the time—and of course, a side of fries and a “special sauce” made with truffles (was cheese extra). The creation was a limited-run concept [source].
- It turns out that the FleurBurger couldn’t claim the “world’s most expensive” title, or even Las Vegas title. Carl’s Jr. had that honor in 2006, when it introduced its $6,000 “combo meal” burgers, offered on the room-service menu at The Palms Casino. It, too, included a bottle of Petrus.
- The Golden Boy ($6,000 / €5,000) 2021 brought forth a saffron-infused champagne bun covered entirely in edible 24-karat gold leaf (photo #6). The patty combines 100% A5 Japanese Wagyu beef and chuck short ribs, layered with Beluga caviar, white truffle, King crab poached in Puligny-Montrachet Burgundy wine, 100% vintage Joselito Ibérico Bellota ham, white-truffle-infused Cheddar, and a barbecue sauce made with Kopi Luwak coffee and Macallan whiskey. NOTE: This was served by De Daltons, a restaurant located in Voorthuizen, the Netherlands. It was initially a charitable tie-in, with the proceeds donated. Chef Robbert Jan de Veen specifically set out to beat the previous Guinness World Record holder. It’s still on the menu!
- The 1849 Burger (~$110 / £80) This cheeseburger debuted in December 2020 alongside the launch of Gordon Ramsay Burger inside Harrods, London. “1849” honors the year Harrods was founded. An A5 Wagyu beef patty was layered with slices of Wagyu beef, pecorino, truffle-porcini aïoli, and 12-year-aged balsamic vinegar. It’s still on the menu.
- The $50 Burger at Wild Rye in Oregon: This example is one of many higher-priced burgers that are still within reach of us regular folks. An Aberdeen Angus patty topped with a foie gras torchon, summer truffle aïoli, smoked provolone, Bordelaise onions, and a dusting of gold dust. It was introduced in summer 2024 by Chef Karl Holl when Wild Rye opened at Brasada Ranch in Oregon. It’s still on the menu.
We don’t know any high rollers to treat us, so we’ll stick with some of the creative—and affordable—cheeseburger recipes above.
[8] Hubert Keller’s FleurBerger came with a bottle of 1995 Petrus in 2011, with lots of truffles but no cheese (despite being called a cheeseburger colloquially or in some menus). And it wasn’t even the most expensive burger in Las Vegas! But it came with a tray of gourmet condiments (not shown).
4. IS THE CHEESEBURGER A SANDWICH?
Burger, cheeseburger, hot dog: All of these are sandwiches. They’re a roll (or two pieces of bread) with a filling.
That’s the dictionary definition, and that should be the end of the discussion.
However, this seems to have become one of the great culinary debates online.
It seems that many purists and casual diners argue that a burger occupies its own distinct food category entirely separate from traditional sandwiches.
They’re entitled to their opinion, but their opinion is wrong.
*The DB Burger was still on the menu in 2020 when the pandemic engendered the closing of the restaurant. It was $35 and included a carafe of Beaujolais.
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