Tessaro's
4601 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
412-682-6809

Let's make one thing clear. 'Burghers, historically a tough crew, love their burgers. So when they start drooling and moaning and generally making fools of themselves at the mention of a half-pounder from this former biker bar, you take notice. They're right. Tessaro's heavenly two-fisted beasts are Pittsburgh's great equalizer, uniting young and old, rich and poor, Steelers fans and...other Steelers fans. It's usually so packed that the ketchup on your elbow probably came from your neighbor's burger. The key is the beef -- butchered in the basement by a firefighter named Dominic -- which gets ground with filet, hand-patted and cooked over a hardwood grill you can smell from blocks away. Order it "Pittsburgh-style," which means charred on the outside and tantalizingly juicy within. Beyond that, you can't go wrong; with meat this good, any accessories under that towering bun are just window dressing. From the wood-paneled walls to the old boxing photos to the neon Rolling Rock sign, everything about this place screams old-school bar. And, lest you forget what city you're in, one of the owners, a burly guy named Kelly Harrington, wears a Heinz bottle tie.

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Photos: Courtesy of Tessaro's