In the end, a griddled beef patty in a sesame bun is a griddled beef patty in a sesame bun, but Jewish dietary restrictions conspire to make the kosher burger a somewhat different animal than its cheese-laden predecessors in American diners. And nationwide chain Burgers Bar is the undisputed Jerusalem master of the kosher burger.

What Burgers Bar lacks in cheese and bacon it makes up for with a lengthy list of add-ons and toppings sure to please even the most strident devotee of mixing meat and milk. Your freshly assembled, never-frozen burger (in weights ranging from 150 to 300 grams, meaning the ballyhooed quarter pounder is actually a good bit smaller than Burgers Bar's weest offering) can be jazzed with toppings ranging from Argentinian chimichurri and Italian pesto to Yemenite charif and Middle Eastern tehina - and, of course, the favorite Israeli cheese substitute on a burger, the fried egg. 

Other menu offerings hew pretty closely to Western-style comfort food - steak sandwiches, chicken salad, chicken strips, onion rings, wings, wraps - although lamb and Moroccan cigars make an appearance to appeal to Israeli tastes. Inexplicably but happily, the sole dessert option is none other than churros.

Like all Burgers Bar locations, the Shammai Street branch features an open grill setup that allows you to watch your burger come together. Being downtown, it's popular and consistently crowded with both locals and foreign visitors - so popular, in fact, that the chain opened another branch mere steps away on Jaffa Road. It's a perfect locations for quick downtown lunches, evening meetups with friends or, considering its late weekend hours, capping off (or providing further fuel for) a night of revelry.

Burgers Bar boasts locations all over town - if you're in the neighborhood, you can also satisfy a burger craving on Jaffa Road downtown, in Talpiot or in the German Colony.