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Lucky 13 Wins Best Pastrami Burger in Utah!

Chubby's Cafe, Apollo Burger, Woody's Drive-In and American Burgers also winners

Contrary to what the name might have you believe, a pastrami burger isn't a burger made from pastrami. It's a burger topped with a heaping mound of the seasoned, brined and smoked meat.

  • Lucky 13
    Salt Lake City

    At Lucky 13 in SLC, burger lovers can bite into a juicy burger patty topped with hickory smoked pastrami and melted swiss cheese. This Utah classic comes with a side of fries.
    Photo courtesy of Lucky 13

  • Chubby's Cafe
    Pleasant Grove

    The pastrami burger served at Chubby's Cafe in Pleasant Grove is made with a 1/3-pound hamburger patty – made in-house daily – grilled onions, swiss cheese and thin-sliced pastrami, garnished with mustard, lettuce, tomato and pickles on a fresh-baked and butter-toasted potato bun.
    Photo courtesy of Chubby's Cafe

  • Apollo Burger
    Multiple Locations

    The Apollo Burger starts with a fresh quarter-pound burger patty piled high with Apollo's signature seasoned pastrami. It comes garnished with lettuce, tomato, onions and Apollo fry sauce.
    Photo courtesy of Apollo Burgers

  • Woody's Drive-In
    Salt Lake City

    The signature burger at this SLC drive-in is the Woody Burger, made with a quarter-pound burger patty grilled up with cheese and pastrami and served on a sourdough bun with lettuce, tomato, pickle and fry sauce.
    Photo courtesy of Woody's Drive-In

  • American Burgers
    Grantsville

    The American Burger, a signature menu item at this Gransville burger joint, is topped with lettuce, tomato, onions, special sauce and a healthy serving of thin-sliced pastrami. It comes solo or as a combo with a choice of side and drink.
    Photo courtesy of American Burgers / Facebook

  • Salt City Burger Co.
    Sandy

    The Salt City Pastrami Burger begins with hand-trimmed and freshly-ground beef, formed into a patty and charbroiled to perfection on a proprietary grill. The burger is topped with a heap of seasoned and grilled pastrami and served with a side of fries.
    Photo courtesy of Salt City Burger Co.

  • Crown Burgers
    Salt Lake City

    The signature menu item at this Utah institution is the Crown Burger, a quarter pounder topped with hot, juicy pastrami on a sesame seed bun. The Crown Burger comes garnished with 1000 Island dressing, lettuce, tomato, onions and cheese.
    Photo courtesy of Andres Rodriguez / Flickr

  • From Scratch
    Salt Lake City

    From Scratch in SLC makes a pastrami burger with a house-baked bun, house mayo and house made pastrami. The burger comes topped with cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce, served with a side of fries and house-made ketchup.
    Photo courtesy of From Scratch

  • JCW's The Burger Boys
    Multiple Locations

    Made with 1/3 pound of ground chuck, the pastrami burger from JCW's The Burger Boys is charbroiled and piled high with pastrami, mayo, onions, lettuce, tomatoes and American cheese.
    Photo courtesy of JCW's The Burger Boys / Facebook

  • Astro Burgers
    Multiple Locations

    At Astro Burgers, diners have plenty of choices when it comes to burger toppings. A local favorite is the signature Astro Burger, topped with a generous portion of sliced pastrami.
    Photo courtesy of Astro Burgers / Facebook

While the pastrami burger likely has its roots in Southern California, the Greek communities in Salt Lake City quickly embraced the meat on meat creation. Crown Burgers is the undisputed originator of the sandwich in Utah – the first location was opened in 1978 by the Katsanevas family.

Today burger joints throughout the state feature some form of pastrami-stacked burger on their menu. Many include swiss cheese and either Thousand Island dressing or Utah's ubiquitous fry sauce (a mixture of ketchup, mayo and spices).

10Best and Sandwich America wanted to find the best pastrami burger in the state, so 10Best editors joined forces with a local Utah food writer and The Food Channel to nominate 20 worthy restaurants across the state. USA TODAY and 10Best readers have been voting daily for their favorites for the past four weeks, and now the results are in.

The top 10 winners in the category Best Pastrami Burger in Utah are as follows:

  1. Lucky 13 - Salt Lake City
  2. Chubby's Cafe - Pleasant Grove
  3. Apollo Burger - Multiple Locations
  4. Woody's Drive-In - Salt Lake City
  5. American Burgers - Grantsville
  6. Salt City Burger Co. - Sandy
  7. Crown Burgers - Salt Lake City
  8. From Scratch - Salt Lake City
  9. JCW's The Burger Boys - Multiple Locations
  10. Astro Burgers - Multiple Locations

Congratulations to all these winning burger joints!

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AlertThe Experts

Jennifer Daskevich

Jennifer Daskevich

After winning the World Sandwich Championships, Jennifer took her love of America’s first and still favorite “hand held device” better known as the sandwich, and founded Sandwich America, America’s comprehensive sandwich driven meal occasion platform. Jennifer believes that “a sandwich is the only food genre that is good for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, or a snack.” Jennifer has won numerous cooking competitions and is a restaurateur, wine sommelier, award winning food photographer, TV food personality with NBC Affiliate WFLA in Tampa and appeared on FYI’s original series World Food Championships. She looks forward to embarking on The Great American Sandwich Trail this summer. Socialize with Sandwich America on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Kay Logsdon

Kay Logsdon

Kay serves as Editor in Chief of The Food Channel, developing food-related stories, videos, recipes and more for the website and its distribution network. She speaks and consults on food trends, working with some of the biggest food brands in America. Her favorite thing to do is work with chefs across the country as they do menu development, since she gets to taste and critique the dishes.

Stuart Melling

Stuart Melling

Founder, writer and wrangler at Gastronomic SLC and The Utah Review and former restaurant critic at the Salt Lake Tribune, Stuart is largely fueled by Uinta Cutthroat, alliteration and the use of too many big words he doesn't understand. Stuart is also a member of the Association of Food Journalists.