The quest begins. . . But why?

My sister once had a Japanese roommate in college named Teeluna. . . or was it Taylitsu? Laysinu? Pretty sure it was Laysinu, yeah. Anyway she didn't speak English real good and out of the goodness of her cute little heart she offered to cook my family a traditional Japanese dinner. I remember a total of two conversations I ever had with her. One conversation I had with her had to to with what exactly qualified as 'American food' (a conversation I will describe in more detail shortly) and a conversation in which she very shyly asked me over and over again if we had any 'hoil' in the house that she could use. Yes, 'hoil'. She tried to explain what hoil was through telepathy and pantomime when she grew frustrated with English and I really tried to understand her. After a few minutes of hearing her say things like "do your hamily fave hoil?" I finally came to the conclusion that she was mixing up her h's and f's. Common mistake I'm sure. "Yes, my FFFamily HHHas aluminum FFFFoil." Needless to say the meal she prepared (with the help of my family's FFFFoil) was beyond delicious. 

Later I asked her if she missed Japanese food as it was nowhere to be found in Southern Utah at the time. She explained that she did miss it and then I asked another question: "Do you like American food?" I remember her expression exactly, a mixture of confusion and disgust. "What is American hood?"
That was the first time my young brain had ever contemplated this particular question yet my immediate answer was, "You know, hamburgers and hot dogs and stuff." Her head nodded from side to side in a yes-I-guess-so kind of way.
I remember feeling a vague sense of shame for my country in that moment. There we were in the United States of America, the pinnacle of the world, and it didn't have a respectable or even a definable food category as did Japan, China, Italy, or Mexico.
 How had we missed the mark on this particular issue? Heaven knows we love food in this country. 
I guess one can be easily confused in this highly diverse country of ours; we have every type of food available on every street in any developed city.
Yes, America has hamburgers and Laysinu seemed to agree with me that hamburgers were indeed American. But for some reason they didn't 'count' as a respectable food category. 
I don't blame her for feeling that way really. She and I probably had the same idea of what defined a hamburger, which was defined by McDonalds or Burger King with the occasional back yard grilled burger. Nothing to really write home about.
That must change! There must be a dramatic come back by the hamburger. An epic battle in which the hamburger is redefined and refined so that it can put America on top.
Well, lucky for us several companies around this amazing country have already been working on this and it's no longer a question of "Is there a delicious burger out there?" But rather, "Which delicious burger is best?" 

Until recently, the hamburger was nowhere near my top three favorite foods, but today it is. The reason? Restaurants like 5 guy's, Scaddy's, Crown burger and several mom&pop shops scattered throughout this nation. The hamburger is being perfected and I/we am/are the benefactor(s).

Now I see it as my quest in life to find America's greatest hamburger. This blog will follow my adventures as I seek to find top quality, presentation, taste, and that indefinable roll-your-eyes-in-the-back-of-your-head quality in a burger. My quest begins now.