Morton's Offering Burgers and Benefitting Make-A-Wish

I am deeply conflicted about chain restaurants. While I'm as pro buy local as you can get I know that all those folks working at chain restaurants live in Louisville. They're local people. So even when dining at a chain restaurant you're still supporting local people and the local economy. That said I am deeply in love with independent restaurants and the flavor they add to our city. If I have the choice I'm going to pick a local, independent restaurant over a chain every time.

So it's quite infrequently that I write about chain restaurants or events at chain restaurants. However when a chain restaurant is doing something interesting, innovative or even "touchy feely do good stuff" it'd be wrong not to write about it. So when I got the press release for Morton's selling burgers and giving nearly 25% of the purchase price to charity I'd already planned to write about it, then they invited me to try the burger for free. So consider this your complete disclosure: On Sunday B and I ate very, very tasty burgers and fries at Morton's for free. We also had free diet coke. 

Every Sunday from July through September, Morton's guests will have a chance to indulge in the "Morton's $19.78 Prime Sirloin Burger," with $5 of each hamburger and French fries entrée going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

"This is the burger that started it all," said Joseph Effert, general manager of Morton's in Louisville.

Morton's $19.78 prime sirloin burger isn't just any hamburger - it's what led to Morton's creation 30 years ago. When Morton's co-founders Klaus Fritsch and Arnie Morton first worked together at the Playboy Club, Fritsch made his signature hamburger and sent it out for Arnie Morton to taste. Morton proclaimed it the best hamburger he'd ever tasted. From that day, they started the business partnership that has become Morton's The Steakhouse. Now in its 30th year, Morton's has 80 world-wide restaurants.

"It's appropriate that we celebrate our anniversary with our signature dish - which is not currently available at Morton's restaurants that don't offer lunch," said Effert. "And what better way to give back to an organization that does so much for some very special children in our community? We're pleased to be able to support Make-A-Wish in this way."

As part of Morton's "30 Wishes for 30 Years" campaign, the 80 Morton's restaurants around the country have raised more than $99,250 to help grant kids' wishes.

Having eaten the burger I can tell you that it's this gigantic mondo burger (something like 13 ounces) served with blue, swiss, cheddar or I think even American cheese. I deeply enjoyed the burger because yes, it's obviously good beef but also they actually cooked it perfectly. I enjoy a medium rare burger and many, many restaurants cannot deliver that. Morton's did so quite nicely.

In closing, if you're downtown on a Sunday you could definitely do worse than having a burger and cocktail in Morton's bar. $20 ain't cheap for a burger but it's a really good burger, a quarter of the price is going to charity and really $20 is worth it just for having your own individual ketchup boat.