Published: January 16, 2007 08:13 am      

Battle of the burger

Brown wants Athens to have official burger

NEW HAVEN, Conn. — A burger battle is brewing between a Texas state legislator and the owners of Louis’ Lunch, a restaurant established in 1895, where it has been claimed that the hamburger was invented.

However, with the new session of the Texas legislature now under way, Republican State Rep. Betty Brown has proposed a resolution declaring Athens, Texas, is the original home of the hamburger.

Brown, who represents Athens and Henderson County, says that a long ago resident of the town, Fletcher Davis, had a luncheonette in the late 1880s and sold the first burgers there.

A magazine article also suggests that Davis not only created the hamburger, but sold it from a booth at the St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904. A spokeswoman in Brown’s office said she is proposing the resolution on behalf of the Athens Chamber of Commerce,

Those claims are not sitting well with Ken Lassen Sr., 89, the third-generation owner of Louis’ Lunch, where he says his grandfather came up with the first hamburger.

Lassen said it happened in 1900 when a man rushed into Louis’ and asked for something he could eat on the run. Louis Lassen, Ken Lassen’s grandfather, grabbed a broiled beef patty and put it between two slices of bread.

Lassen notes there is the official designation of Louis’ Lunch as the burger birthplace, cited by the Library of Congress, under a resolution initiated by U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn.

Mayor John DeStefano Jr., very much an advocate for his city, is backing the Lassens and their claims.

“It’s a well-known and established fact that New Haven is the home of the hamburger. In fact, New Haven’s claim to the hamburger is even supported and documented in the Library of Congress,” DeStefano said.

DeStefano notes that New Haven has been a cradle of creativity, as the birthplace of the cotton gin, the first rubber tires, the corkscrew, the Frisbee, lollipops, Erector Sets and pizza.

“We are even the birthplace of George Bush, who wants people to think he’s from Texas. So yes, the hamburger is as much a New Haven original as President Bush,” DeStefano said. “Get over it, Texas.”