The votes are in. After a close battle, 80/20 @Kaelin’s Restaurant has been named the best cheeseburger in Louisville by our readers.
Kaelin’s is locally lauded as the inventor of the cheeseburger + after looking into this claim we learned that most historians credit Lionel Sternberger of Pasadena, California as the inventor of the American classic in 1924. But, we found this awesome story by The Courier-Journal from 2015 exploring the origins of this tale with 85-year-old Irma Kaelin Raque — one of Carl Kaelin’s children.
Congrats, Kaelin’s. 👏
Bracket Introduction
In the spirit of the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments, we’re joining the fun of bracket competitions with a face-off of our own.
We asked you to share your favorite cheeseburgers in Louisville with us, and now — thanks to you + the help of a random generator — we have the official lineup for our bracket.
Who’s in the running
Going head-to-head in the first round are:
- Grind Burger and Mussel & Burger Bar
- Bambi Bar and Toasty’s Tavern
- W.W. Cousins and Shady Lane Cafe
- Sidebar at Whiskey Row and 80/20 at Kaelin’s Restaurant
How it works
Beginning today, we will host several voting rounds within our newsletters + social channels to determine LOU’s best cheeseburger. Who moves on is up to you. Vote for your favorites, and the cheeseburger with the most votes moves on. Simple as that. We’ll go until we have a champion, which will be announced in our March 21 newsletter. You will be able to vote once per round.
How to participate
Vote for the cheeseburger you’d like to see advance to round two using this poll. You can vote for all four spots or as little as one. Once we count all the votes, we’ll share an updated bracket and new poll in an upcoming newsletter.
Want to fill out a bracket to see if you can guess who will win? Download and print the image above to take the competition up a notch. If your bracket is correct, send us a photo for a shoutout + bragging rights.
