Butter Burger appears as a signature dish in 2 United States cities. See each city's local variant and where to eat it.
Wisconsin butter burger · Madison
The Wisconsin butter burger is a fresh-griddled beef patty with a pat of butter melted on top, served on a toasted bun with stewed onions and American cheese.
Kenneth Salmon, known as Solly, popularised the butter burger at Solly's Coffee Shop in Milwaukee in 1936, and the style spread across Wisconsin as a tavern lunch counter staple. Madison's Tipsy Cow, the King Street tavern off Capitol Square, codified the butter burger on a downtown bar menu in the early 2010s; the Plazaburger at the Plaza Tavern, the secret-sauce double-stack served since 1964 on North Henry Street, runs in parallel as Madison's other defining tavern burger.
Where to eat in Madison:
- Tipsy Cow
- The Plaza Tavern & Grill
- Dotty Dumpling's Dowry
- Settle Down Tavern
Butter burger · Milwaukee
The Milwaukee butter burger is a fresh-griddled beef patty with a generous pat of butter melted on top, served on a toasted bun with stewed onions.
Kenneth Salmon, known as Solly, opened Solly's Coffee Shop in 1936 near Green Bay and Burleigh, and the shop popularised the butter burger, a pat of butter on a fresh-griddled patty with stewed onions; the diner moved to North Port Washington Road in Glendale in 1971. The style spread to Sobelman's, Kopp's and other Milwaukee chains, and the term butter burger entered the Milwaukee lexicon by the 1950s. Solly's still serves the original version with the butter visible on the patty as you eat it; Sobelman's adds toppings; Kopp's pairs it with daily-changing frozen custard.
Where to eat in Milwaukee:
- Solly's Grille
- Sobelman's Pub and Grill
- Kopp's Frozen Custard
- AJ Bombers