Butter burgers are better here
Yesterday, I had the weirdest experience. I walked from the parking lot at Campy’s Cookout, where it was 2019, and emerged into the restaurant, where it was 1958. Time travel was possible because everything at this neat roadside eatery was a blast from the past.
I must have driven passed Campy’s a hundred times over the years. I am often cruising along Federal Road, but do not remember seeing it and if I did it did not make much of an impression. Certainly I know I never stopped and went in.
What was remarkable about being inside Campy’s was that not only was it 1958, but it was 1958 in Wisconsin! Dear reader, I can see the confusion on your faces as you read this, but let me explain. Much of my career as a food writer involves travel, and much of the travel is from Maine to California and back. I am always on the lookout for unique regional foods, and one of the favorites I discovered was Butter Burgers in Wisconsin.
Wisconsin loves butter, in fact the highlight of the annual State Fair is a contest were people sculpt large elaborate statues out of butter.
You haven’t really had the full Midwest experience until you see the Statue of Library carved from the stuff we spread on bread.
Discovering Campy’s Cookout was a real find. The decor is retro and the menu is succinct. It focused on various burgers, some sandwiches, a few salads and wraps.
Everything looked good and the aroma inside was of sizzling meat and toasting buns. My mouth dropped open when I saw that one of their specialties was a Butter Burger. When I am in the heartland I practically live on them, but I have not seen one since my last trip and never in New England.
Let me tell you how a real Butter Burger is made. You take a good size patty of ground beef and on the stove top you add a stick of butter to a frying pan. Then you grill the burger in the butter, adding more if you need to. Then you place the burger on a bun, add more butter in the pan, and after you have placed a slice of yellow American Cheese on the patty, you grill the whole thing in the melted butter until the cheese melts and the bun softens.
I have a health-food-crazy friend who calls sugar “white death.” I am sure some of you feel the same way about copious amounts of butter, but butter is one of my major food groups, so the more the better.
Along with the Butter Burger, I ordered onion rings and a chocolate milkshake. When my order was brought to the table, I knew the food here was serious road food. I was surprised by how good everything was and the attention to detail. The chocolate milkshake was served in a traditional stainless steel beaker. In days gone by, malteds and milkshakes were always presented this way. A glass came with it and you rationed out what was in the silver container, sipping until it was empty. It was a given that there was enough for two or three glassfuls. Today at Campy’s I was not given a glass, just a straw to stick directly into the the silver receptacle and slurp up the milkshake. The shake was fine, but the retro presentation took it up a few notches.
I think I said “wow” loudly when the burger and onion rings were set before me. The waitress smiled and said, “I hear that a lot”
It was served in one of those traditional red “woven” plastic baskets, the burger placed on a sheet of black-and-white checkerboard paper, like the starter flag at the Indy 500.
Before I hoisted up the Butter Burger, I snatched some onion rings from the plate. I am an onion ring junkie and these were the real thing. Someone in the kitchen had sliced an actual onion, hand dipped the rings in batter and fried them until they were slightly darker than golden brown. Aside from a bit of salt from the shaker, they were perfect.
When I ordered the Butter Burger the waitress asked if I would rather have a potato roll or a sesame seed bun. I ordered the sesame bun to see if it would make the burger seem like fast food.
Even with the sesame bun, it had no relation to any fast-food burgers. The meat was piping it hot, the cheese was dripping out, and the bun had all but disappeared from its butter bath. It was as good as the fabled Butter Burgers served at Culver’s in Wisconsin. Maybe better, although I might give Culver’s extra points because it serves a custard milk shake so dense you can turn the glass upside down and nothing spills out.
I laid waste to the onion rings and the BB in record time. With some appetite left, I ordered something on the menu that for me is a test of how good the kitchen is.
Is there anything simpler then a grilled cheese with tomato and bacon? Probably not, but so few cooks get it right. Sadly, I have had umpteen versions with too much bacon or slippery tasteless tomato, or undercooked so the cheese has not melted, or burnt until the sandwich is tasteless and dry.
Long ago, Julia Child told me the hardest thing a chef can make is a perfect omelette or a plain roast chicken. I learned from Julia the beauty of doing something very simple very well. Campy’s gets an A for being a perfect roadside stop with good food and a pleasant atmosphere.