History

Telway Hamburgers on Michigan Avenue near the West Side has griddled sliders 24 hours a day since 1944. The Hunter House in Birmingham (1952) and the various Telway locations across metro Detroit run the chrome-counter slider canon. Sliders are the cheaper companion to the coney dog on the Detroit budget-food menu; the order is by the half-dozen. Green Dot Stables in Corktown updated the slider format for the 2010s with a $3 rotating menu of 40 builds.

Common allergens: Gluten

Make it at home

Yield Makes 8 slidersHands-on 15 minTotal 20 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 300g ground beef, 80/20
  • 8 small soft white slider buns
  • 1 medium yellow onion, sliced very thin
  • Yellow mustard
  • Dill pickle chips
  • Sea salt, black pepper
  • Neutral oil

Method

  1. Divide beef into 8 balls of about 35g each. Press flat between two pieces of parchment to make patties 4 inches wide.
  2. Heat a flat-top or cast-iron pan over medium-high until smoking.
  3. Add a film of oil. Lay a pile of sliced onion in 8 spots, then press a beef patty on top of each, pressing down hard with a spatula.
  4. Season with salt and pepper. Cook 90 seconds; the onion will steam-fry under the patty.
  5. Flip; cook 60 seconds more. The patty cooks through quickly and the onion bonds to the meat.
  6. Place a patty (onion side up) on the bottom half of each bun. Add mustard and pickle chips. Cap with the top bun.
  7. Eat in pairs.

Tip from the editors. Don't try to make these thick; the point is thin and fast. The smashing technique steams the onion into the patty.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat detroit slider

Detroit slider in Detroit

Telway Hamburgers ★ 4.4

corktownUntil Open 24/7Cash only

Telway Hamburgers on Michigan Avenue griddles sliders 24 hours a day in Detroit since 1944. Cash only, walk-up windows, the chrome-counter slider canon.

Try: Sliders, fries

Tip: Cash only; order at the window and eat in your car. Open round-the-clock daily.

6820 Michigan Ave, Detroit, MI 48210

Green Dot Stables ★ 4.3

corktown

Green Dot Stables on West Lafayette in Corktown serves $3 sliders in Detroit. Forty rotating slider builds, tempeh to lamb to catfish, all under a dollar each above three.

Try: Sliders, fries, cocktails

Tip: Four sliders, fries and a $3 cocktail comes to under $20. Cash and cards both fine.

2200 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI 48216

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