DH has been able to order a medium rare burger (which I would have shared if I hadn't been pregnant at the time). I can't recall where.

My guess? If it were my restaurant, I wouldn't want to serve ground meat rare unless I ground it myself and could vouch for the quality.

The grindedness of burgers makes contamination waaaaaaay more likely.

But steak tartare is ground too, so I wonder. It might just be a prevalent thing, not a local or state policy.

I need sleep - I read that as "...unless I ground myself and could vouch for the quality."

yuck.

Sorry. I'm really tired.

Googling turns up things like:

The story says that States including California, Illinois and North Carolina have enacted laws requiring that burgers be cooked medium to medium well, or to a temperature that reaches at least 155 degrees in the center of the patty for 15 seconds. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also has issued guidelines for an internal temperature of 160 degrees for home cooking. California and many of the other states do allow restaurants to cook the burger medium rare or rare, if a customer so requests. But a fear of lawsuits has prompted many restaurants to ignore that exception and adopt a medium minimum, no exceptions.

and

...complains the LA Times' David Shaw, who is surprised to find that most restaurants won't serve him a hamburger cooked rare, or even medium-rare. With a little research, he finds that nothing in California law prohibits serving a burger rare if a customer asks for it, but he's bound to be disappointed when he discovers that that's not the cause: the chefs aren't obeying a bureaucrat's nanny-state directive, but orders from corporate headquarters to avoid lawsuits from customers who exercise their choice and complain later.

So I'll keep trying. Moe's. Burbank. Check.

Moe's also has a fixins bar. With coleslaw and such. So freaking good.

I can find still try to find the law, or more likely, regulation for you if you want, ita.

Yes please, ma'am!

Okay, I will.