In order to cheer Marshall up after numerous unsuccessful job interviews, the gang (as well as Regis Philbin) attempt to find the long-lost restaurant where Marshall had his first and best New York hamburger.
This episode provides examples of:
- Artistic License – History: Future Ted tells the kids that when he first moved to New York it was still run down and dirty, and started gentrifying after he moved there. He and Marshall moved there in 2000, after it had undergone years of gentrification in the mid- to late-nineties.
- As Himself: Regis Philbin guest stars and joins the gang on the desperate hunt for the burger. He plays an impossibly aggressive and strong version of himself.
- The Atoner: While not explicit, Lily is against Marshall being back as a corporate lawyer because he got into the job because of her debt, so she doesn't want him to be unhappy again.
- The Big Rotten Apple: How Ted described New York City the first time he arrived there before it underwent gentrification.Ted: But then, sadly, the whole city started to go uphill. The streets got a little cleaner, the rents got a little higher, and one by one, the crappy old places we loved began to disappear.
- Credits Gag: The Sigil Spam of Goliath National Bank spills over into the credits, with Bays & Thomas usual "Muttnik" art replaced with the GNB logo.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Marshall mentions a desire to be a Harlem Globetrotter. Later seasons will firmly establish both him and Ted as avid fans of the Washington Generals who hate the Globetrotters.
- Funny Background Event: At the Goliath ATM, Robin is so desperately hungry that she starts licking the glue on a deposit envelope.
- Heroic BSoD: Marshall's obsession with finding the Best Burger in New York is the result of so many failed job interviews taking their toll on him.
- Hypocrite Has a Point: Lily is worried that Marshall is going to hate his job at Goliath National Bank just like his previous corporate job and is neglecting his dream of being an environmental lawyer. But as Marshall points out, they need money right now, and having a job, albeit one he might not like, at least gives him some sort of motivation to get up in the morning.
- Impossibly Delicious Food: One bite on the Best Burger in New York and it will leave all other burgers tasting like Marshall's grandfather's feet.
- Logo Joke: Instead of the usual Bays-Thomas Productions Vanity Plate showing at the end, there's one for the fictional Goliath National Bank, which Barney had been talking up for the duration of the episode.
- Nostalgia Filter: Marshall's determined search for The Best Burger in New York is really about trying to recapture that time in his life, when he'd just moved to New York and was still a fresh college graduate full of idealistic dreams, instead of the corporate sellout he feels himself becoming.
- Rousing Speech: To encourage the gang to keep with their search, Marshall tries to put into words how he felt when he had that first taste of the legendary best burger, describing in full detail every single component of it with poetic, sophisticated words.Lily: And you got our wedding vows off the Internet.
- Running Gag
- Robin's order always arrives last, then is promptly thrown away by Marshall.
- Marshall and Regis growing enraged at people saying The Corner Bistro has the Best Burger in New York City.
Marshall: [to the guy who recommended Corner Bistro] Oh, the Corner Bistro! It's amazing, I spent a quarter of my life searching for the best burger in New York City, but silly me, it never occurred to me to check the highest-rated burger in the Zagat guide! Wow, thanks a lot, guy! Let me return the favor. Great cup of coffee: …Starbucks!!! Shhhh!!
[later]
Regis: If you tell me it's at the Corner Bistro, I'm gonna smack you right in the face!!! - Satiating Sandwich: No, not a euphemism for weed this time. It's actually the Best Burger in New York City. One bite, and it will leave all other burgers tasting like crap.
- Serious Business: Regis is downright scary when talking about the burger.
- Shout-Out: Marshall's eloquent burger speech is inspired by the film ''Amadeus''.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: All of them for the Perfectly Best Burger in New York. For Marshall, every burger that is not the Best Burger in the world is a piece of crap. This especially pisses Robin off, who hadn't had a single bite all day, and would leave every burger uneaten when Marshall leaves when this burger isn't the one.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Nobody in the gym bats an eye when Regis Philbin goes full ham on the gang. He must do that all the time.
