Alton Brown's All-Time Favorite Double Cheeseburger Is From This Oklahoma Restaurant

There are various different ways for something to be declared "America's best" whatever. Sometimes it comes via customer satisfaction polls, like the data that determined Chick-fil-A to be America's best drive-thru a few years back. Other times the vox populi speaks without a middleman, as with the online reviews that provided us with some of the nation's top gas station burritos. Publications with expertise in a certain field may also weigh in, as happened when High Times chose Taco Bell as America's best stoner restaurant. Sometimes, however, all it takes is a single tweet from a celebrity, as was the case when Alton Brown unilaterally declared on X that Bar Arbolada's double cheeseburger was the best in America. 

This accolade wasn't immediately granted official status by national media, seeing as how it was just one man's opinion. But local news — Bar Arbolada is in Oklahoma City — seemed thrilled to claim the cheeseburger crown for one of its own.

Unfortunately, Brown didn't go into detail about what made the burger so special in his opinion, nor has he apparently spoken of it since that 2021 visit. The Oklahoman, on the other hand, got all gushy about the smashburgers that are crispy outside (which is pretty much the point of this preparation) yet "remarkably juicy" inside. Brown's tweet also served to draw attention to the bar and its burgers, as it's mentioned in quite a few online reviews. Of Bar Arbolada's 30+ Google ratings that use the word "cheeseburger," 10 of them namedrop Brown, while several others refer to the item's "best in America" status.

Some reviewers seem baffled by what Alton Brown saw in Bar Arbolada's burger that would prompt him to tweet about it at all, much less accord it a "best of" status. Of the aforementioned Google reviews that call out Brown by name, half of them agree with him, while the other half wonder what he could have been thinking. One person speculated that it could possibly be the "worst burger in America," calling it "disgusting" and "thin as a napkin." A somewhat better experience was had by a Yelper who waited 90 minutes for the burger, since they found it to be slightly superior to the ones served at McDonald's. The same could be said for a TripAdvisor reviewer who also experienced a long wait but characterized the food (cheeseburgers included) as "mediocre."

One local publication, The Lost Ogle, also seriously questioned the celebrity chef's judgment. In that publication's opinion, the cheeseburger in question is okay, but nothing special. It speculates that Brown may have eaten at the bar (which isn't really a restaurant per se) out of convenience, noting that the menu is pretty limited. If you want a meal, your choices are a cheeseburger, a veggie burger, a grilled cheese sandwich (plain or pimento), or a chicken salad sandwich. Perhaps Brown hadn't eaten all day? They say hunger is the best sauce, and we've all had times when even a frozen cheeseburger from 7-Eleven would taste pretty amazing. However, these days, if you ask Alton Brown about his favorite food around the country, he might not be so keen to reveal specific restaurants.