My family said the Juicy Lucy was 'just a cheeseburger' and here's why they're wrong

Prior Lake American

During a recent visit, my purebred Iowan family quizzed me on what makes Minnesota better than the other states I’ve lived — Iowa, Wyoming and Missouri.

“Well, people really are very nice,” I said. With a skeptical scoff, they retorted that it was just passive aggressiveness.

“OK, then there’s the Juicy Lucy,” I said.

After a brief description, they concluded that a Juicy Lucy was a cheeseburger, just with the cheese in a different place and given a gross-sounding name.

“No, it’s different,” I started to explain, but their minds were made up.

However, the Food Network ranked the Juicy Lucy as the best cheesy dish in Minnesota, so my family is wrong and I can write an article about how wrong they are.

First of all, the Juicy Lucy is “not just a cheeseburger.” I don’t even like cheeseburgers.

The Juicy Lucy is not some slice of cheddar (or two if you’re feeling wild) slapped on a burnt burger to serve your neighbors when it’s your obligation to host the cook-out. It’s two hamburger patties lovingly crafted around a block of cheese, from the states that do cheese best.

And yes, some prefer the scalding first bite with the volcano of melted cheese, but the best Juicy Lucy is a few minutes older and wiser, when the cheese reaches a stringy consistency, perfectly balancing out the burger’s texture and flavor.

According to the Food Network article, the Juicy Lucy is “arguably one of the North Star State’s proudest culinary exports.” If it was “just a cheeseburger,” patrons wouldn’t flock to restaurants across the Twin Cities to get their hands on the gooey, caloric mess.

Guy Fieri, the spiked-hair and fire-shirt-wearing man himself, featured a Juicy Lucy on his critically acclaimed (probably) show, “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives,” when he went to The Nook in St. Paul. Not only that, but he has his own Juicy Lucy, “Guy’s Big Bite,” at the restaurant. The article recommends the Juicy Lucy at The Blue Door Pub, called “Blucys.”

I’m glad the Food Network can appreciate the Juicy Lucy for the culinary masterpiece that it is, because clearly, my family cannot. Though it does have a gross-sounding name, I’ll give them that.

For true Minnesotans who respect the power of the Juicy Lucy (the power can make you gain 20 pounds, so beware), the Food Network chose cheesy dishes for every state. Locals can head to Des Moines for a “Walking Ched” burger at Zombie Burger (I can vouch for the fried deliciousness of this one), to Madison for cheese curds from The Old Fashioned in Wisconsin, to Bismarck for a tater tot hot dish at Humpback Sally’s in North Dakota or to Rockerville for a fry bread cheeseburger at The Gaslight Restaurant and Saloon in South Dakota.