Red Mill Burgers

The first Red Mill was a diner and ice-cream counter on Seattle’s Capitol Hill, open from 1937 to 1967. Two of the waitresses there were Kathleen and Monica Shepherd, who used to bring home French fries for their younger siblings. Decades later their siblings John and Babe Shepherd revived the name in their memory, opening a new Red Mill on Phinney Ridge in 1994 and a second in Interbay in 1998. A mural on the Phinney Ridge building shows two faceless girls picking flowers beneath the mill: the two sisters.

The new Red Mill was an instant local hit. It got an honourable mention in the Seattle Weekly’s Best of Seattle in its first year and then won best burger ten years running. One magazine compared it to In-N-Out, saying Red Mill is to Seattle what In-N-Out is to Los Angeles, and in 2009 it appeared on Man v. Food. The family still runs it, sponsors the local car show and takes the whole staff to see the Rolling Stones.

The menu is a list of about a dozen burgers, all built on the house Mill Sauce, with beef, chicken or a garden patty. Three things get mentioned in every review: the thick peppered bacon, which comes shatteringly crisp; the Verde, topped with roasted Anaheim chiles and Monterey Jack; and the onion rings. Babe Shepherd’s fried fish has its own following.

Two burger stands in Seattle, on Phinney Ridge and in Interbay.

• Checkers & Rally's (United States, since 1986). Two names, one menu, double drive-thrus and fries everyone argues about. Also built on beef, bacon, cheese and a double stack.
• Fatburger (United States, since 1947). The Last Great Hamburger Stand, founded by a woman and immortalised in hip-hop. Also built on beef, bacon, cheese and a double stack.
• Hardee's (United States, since 1960). Biscuits in the morning, Thickburgers the rest of the day. Also built on beef, bacon, cheese and a double stack.
• Jack in the Box (United States, since 1951). A drive-thru that sells more tacos than burgers and still makes a great Sourdough Jack. Also built on beef, bacon and cheese.