Emmy Squared

Emmy Squared belongs to the Pizza Loves Emily family of restaurants, founded by Emily Hyland and chef Matthew Hyland, with partners Howard Greenstone and Ken Levitan. The family’s restaurant Emily, in New York’s West Village, made its name with pizza and with a burger: the Emmy Burger, a double stack of dry-aged beef with a gochujang sauce on a pretzel bun, which became one of New York’s most talked-about burgers.

Emmy Squared opened in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2016, built around square, Detroit-style pizza with a crisp, cheesy “frico” crust, and has since spread to Nashville, Philadelphia, Washington, Louisville and beyond. It has its own double-stack burger, Le Big Matt, which was voted the best burger in Nashville.

The Emmy Burger’s influence is hard to overstate: the reviewers behind The World’s Best Burgers, who ranked it sixth in the world in 2026, note that its gochujang-and-pickle flavour profile is now imitated in burgers around the globe. Emmy Squared has served it as a special, and the two burgers have even faced each other in a customer vote.

Restaurants in New York, Nashville, Philadelphia, Washington, Louisville and other US cities.

• White Castle (United States, since 1921). The first fast-food burger chain, still steaming tiny square sliders on onions. Also built on beef, cooked onions and cheese.
• Friendly's (United States, since 1935). The New England ice-cream parlour turned family restaurant, home of the Fribble and the PattyMelt. Also built on beef, cooked onions and cheese.
• Habit Burger & Grill (United States, since 1969). The chargrilled burger Consumer Reports once called the best in America. Also built on beef, cooked onions and cheese.
• Whataburger (United States, since 1950). A Texas institution with a burger too big for one hand. Also built on beef, cooked onions and cheese.