Hamburger of the country." Louis Lassen of Louis' Lunch, a small lunch wagon in New Haven, Connecticut, is said to have sold the first hamburger and steak sandwich in the U.S. in 1900. "New York" magazine states that "The dish actually had no name until some rowdy sailors from Hamburg named the meat on a bun after themselves years later", noting also that this claim is subject to dispute. A customer ordered a quick hot meal and Louis was out of steaks. Taking ground beef trimmings, Louis made a patty and grilled it, putting it between two slices of toast. Some
Hamburger or "fortified refuge" and is a widespread component of place names. The first element of the name is perhaps from Old High German "hamma", referring to a bend in a river, or Middle High German "hamme", referring to an enclosed area of pastureland. "Hamburger" in German is the demonym of Hamburg, similar to "frankfurter" and "wiener", names for other meat-based foods and demonyms of the cities of Frankfurt and Vienna (Wien), respectively. The term "burger", a back-formation, is associated with many different types of sandwiches, similar to a (ground meat) hamburger, but made of different meats such as buffalo in