Giving the BURGER its due: the hamburger's origins are somewhat shrouded in mystery, but there is no doubt as to its impact on American dining habits and culture.(Editorial)

The modern hamburger was first created by Charlie Nagreen in 1885 in Seymour, Wis., during a county fair. Or by Frank and Charles Menches from Akron, Ohio, who created it during a fair in Hamburg, N.Y., in the 1880s. Or by Oscar Weber Bilby in 1891 near Tulsa, Okla. Or by Louis Lasson of New Haven, Conn., who served hamburgers from his own Louis' Lunch Wagon in 1900. Or by Fletcher David of Athens, Texas, who served hamburger steaks at the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, Mo.

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All right, so it's a little unclear as to exactly who first thought it would be a great idea to put a ground beef patty in between two slices of bread. But since the hamburger first made its way into the national consciousness, no other food item has become such a part of American culture. Hamburgers have been prominently featured in Popeye cartoons and Jimmy Buffett song lyrics. John Belushi turned "Cheezeborger! Cheezeborger!" into a catchphrase, thanks to Chicago's Billy Goat Tavern, and when movie characters Harold and Kumar got a craving for a late-night snack, they went to White Castle.

The hamburger is the ultimate comfort food--familiar, tasty, and readily available. A consumer can head to any grocery store in the country and buy ground beef, fresh hamburger patties, or frozen patties to cook, microwave or grill their own burger. If they don't feel like cooking, they can drive to any number of convenient fast-food places and get one, with prices ranging from spare change to a few bucks. Hamburgers have even been "dressed up" and featured at many white-tablecloth restaurants. It may be a gourmet hamburger served on a fancy roll instead of a plain bun, with cheese that is more likely to be bleu or gouda instead of American, but it's still a burger at heart.

How far can a hamburger be taken? Pretty far, judging by the Old Homestead Steak House in New York City. This June, it unveiled a new Tri-Beef Burger, available at its new location at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. The 20-ounce burger consists of corn-fed American prime beef, Japanese Kobe beef (that is soybean nourished, beef-fed, sake-bathed and hand-massaged) and Argentinean beef. The burger is fried in grape seed oil, placed in a toasted Brioche bun and garnished with heirloom tomatoes, exotic mushrooms and organic micro greens. A signature chipotle ketchup made with white truffles and champagne is also available. The tab? One hundred dollars, not including drinks and tip. But if it helps, $10 from every burger sold goes to the Make a Wish Foundation.

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A BURGER ON EVERY BLOCK

Regardless of who created the hamburger, it fast became a popular meal, starting in the 1920s and '30s. Enterprising businessmen were able to take the idea of the hamburger and run with it, creating the first fast-food establishments and growing their businesses across the country. Edgar Waldo "Billy" Ingram didn't have any experience in the restaurant business when he teamed with Walter Anderson in 1921 to open the first White Castle restaurant in Wichita, Kan., making it the country's oldest hamburger chain. They helped take the hamburger from an item of questionable health sold out of a lunch cart to a popular entree …