Photo: Fatburger1000 Island Burger
A fresh beef patty with thousand island dressing, lettuce, tomato and American cheese. It is essentially a West Coast “special sauce” burger done with a thick patty instead of thin ones, and it tastes like the kind of burger that inspired half the drive-thrus in California.
The story
Thousand Island dressing is older than fast food and comes, by the usual account, from the Thousand Islands on the St. Lawrence River, where a fishing guide’s wife, Sophia LaLonde, served it at shore dinners in the early 1900s. The actress May Irwin liked it enough to pass the recipe to the hotelier George Boldt, who put it on the Waldorf-Astoria menu. Mayonnaise, ketchup and chopped pickle turned out to be exactly what a griddled patty wanted, and half the special sauces in fast food are variations on it.
What’s inside
- fresh beef patty
- thousand island dressing
- lettuce
- tomato
- American cheese
- bun
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the 1000 Island Burger yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef, a special sauce and cheese
McDonald's Big Mac (Copycat) - Shares beef and cheese
The Burger Ball Pit - Shares beef and cheese
Zachariah's Shack Burger - Shares beef and cheese
The Krusty Burger
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the 1000 Island Burger.- Shake Shack · beef, a special sauce and cheese
SignatureShackBurger - Ruby's Diner · beef, a special sauce and cheese
SignatureThe Classic - Peter Pane · beef, a special sauce and cheese
Feige Ziege - Carl's Jr. · beef, a special sauce and cheese
SignatureFamous Star with Cheese
More from Fatburger
About Fatburger
Lovie Yancey opened a small burger stand in Los Angeles in 1947, originally called Mr. Fatburger, and dropped the “Mr.” in 1952. In an era when almost every burger business was run by men, she built one of the most famous burger names in the city, and she kept cooking to order long after fast food had become about speed.
Around 180 locations in about 20 countries.
Not affiliated with Fatburger. Trademarks belong to their owners. The photo is credited under it and is used to illustrate this menu item; it comes down on request.