50 Burger Challenge

Timko - Boulder Beer - Boulder, CO - Burger #42

5/10

brownie/Milt's/CSCO/burger #27

Rayzor - Mighty Fine Brodie - austin, tx - burger #18

1/2 lb cheeseburger with jalapenos. Good basic griddle-style burger, fresh veggies. 7/10.

brownie/Triple Nickel/CSCO/burger #26

HaVoCLaD - Ski Shores - ATX - #26

5/10

Ah Ski Shores, the memories. You've been there since 1954, but new owners have thrown in a full bar, instituted table service and are hiring a different class of staff. I guess everything changes sooner or later.

What hasn't changed is the "quality" of the food.

I ordered the Border Burger advertised as a 1/3 pound fresh cut burger grilled to perfection topped with Mayo, fresh guac, cheese, jalapenos and grilled onions. I added bacon, which was a good call. The bacon was thick and tasty. The toppings in total were very nice. The onions were only lightly grilled, which I prefer and not done all the way to French onion soup consistency as seems to be the norm lately. The guac was fresh and creamy.

However, if you look at the picture you can see the packet of mayonnaise sitting there like an afterthought. HELLO! The mayo is supposed to be on the bottom bun helping to prevent its disintegration from all the yummy hamburger juices dripping down when you lightly squeeze the burger as you bring it to your eager mouth!

Luckily for me, Ski Shores has solved that bun disintegration problem another way. They've chosen to grill the ever loving sh*t out of that poor hamburger patty. It may have once been "grilled to perfection" but yer supposed to take it off the grill at that point! Maybe they need to spend a little more time on that in training. Leaving it on the grill for another 10 minutes is less optimal.

Fries were cold, the bun came in a bag from HEB. You know the ones - 8 for a buck.

I'm still giving them a five. Mostly for the bacon, the guac and the memories.

Slow Ride - Best Food 2000 - Faringdon, Oxfordshire - kebab #21

6/10, good sauce and chillis, "small" refers to the size of the invading force this could nourish

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Read the Endless British Pub Crawl for all your drinking and running info

Rayzor - 24 Diner - austin, tx - burger #15

Repost to get a picture up.

Burger week special: sauteed spring onions, braised (THICK) bacon, "double cream" blue cheese, garlic aioli on Easy Tiger bun. Very, very good (excellent meat, perfectly cooked), but almost too much with all the stuff. 9/10

Rayzor - Hyde Park Grill Westgate - austin, tx - burger #17

Natural burger with guac and jalapenos, med-rare. Patty was really
good and properly cooked, vegetables fresh, guac home-made. Bun was
decent, but not quite up to the challenge of juices toward the end.
8/10

Timko - Snarfburger - Boulder, CO - Burger #41

7.5/10 - good bun! Light and toasted good. Good cooked bacon. Meh meat. Onion rings good. They've only been open a day and I went during lunch. It's next to the high school. Bad idea. Although they were amazingly fast despite the crowd. Faster than McDonalds.

Timko - Oskar Blue's - Longmont, CO - Burger #40

6/10 - not impressed. Forget the name but it had pulled pork on it. Came out without a hint of pink despite ordered mid-rare too

Biliruben - Chili's - Greenville, TX - #24

6 / 10

Name: Mushroom Swiss
Toppings: LTOPMuC(s)
Patty: 1/4 medium rare
Taste: Not too bad actually. Although it was quite greasy and ultimately wet.

Timko - My Brother's Bar - Denver, CO - Burger #39

Absolutely 10/10 for this kind of burger. Perfect bar burger cooked on a flattop. Greasy. Awesome. They bring out pickles and peppers with the condiment tray too.

JohnF - Wholly Cow - Austin, TX - #18

Grass fed beef. Tasty

9/10

JP - Millers Crossing - Lafayette - # 24

Burger: Bacon, Cheddar, egg, avocado

Beer: Avery IPA

nutsandboltons - Honest Burgers - London - SH28

I ordered the Honest Burger at the Soho location. Nice thick patty with a solid beefy flavor (could have had a little more char on the outside, but that's picking nits), they say they cook it medium with a pink middle. Mine was a little closer to medium well, but it was juicy enough that if I'd ordered it medium rare, the bun would have fallen apart. Little bits of the cheese fried up nicely where it melted off the side of the burger and came in contact with the griddle. The red onion relish and pickles added a bit of zing, and the bun was a little bit sweet and held up well under the weight of all the meat and toppings. For such a thick (1.5") patty, this was a remarkably easy-to-eat burger. Everything held together well without falling out of the bun or getting all over the place. Also, the fries were fantastic - crunchier than most, but thick enough to still retain that hot fresh potatoey characteristic on the inside, not too salty, not
too bland, with little crispy bits at the bottom of the pile that reveal their secret (good clean oil at the right temp) by not having a charred taste. My initial thought was that this burger was an 8/10, but after reading what I've written here, I'm obviously more impressed than I realized.

10/10

Rayzor - Contigo - austin, tx - burger #16

Cheeseburger, fully dressed. Really good, and I love the house made half-sour pickles, but the meat was oversalted for my taste. 8/10.

Timko - Jax - Boulder, CO - Burger #38

10/10 - Would eat again. Surprising for an all seafood place, but not surprising given the talent in the kitchen.

Timko - The Hungry Toad - Boulder, CO - Burger #37

8/10 - solid 'pub' burger.

Timko - K's - Buena Vista, CO - Burger #36

6.5/10 - standard frozen patty on a flat top. Super greasy and good.

Timko - Lariat - Buena Vista, CO - Burger #35

9/10 - Unexpectedly solid burger! Nothing fancy but good. Took JT's recommendation and he steered me right.

Digger/Fairwinds Golf Club/Nanoose Bay/ B.C. Burger # 13

Awesome burger and fries. Extra Pepperoncinis. 9/10

Slow Ride - Magic Kebab House - Swindon - kebab #20

7/10 Great chilli sauce, ate for ten minutes before reaching the pita, 5 more before it became sandwich-like. Review here.

Digger/Earl's/Nanaimo, B.C./Burger # 12

Earl's is a great place for a consistently good burger.Washed down with an Albino Rhino Lager. 8/10

nutsanboltons - Wimpy - Southend-on-Sea - SH27

Ordered some sort of hickory burger. Thin patty, a little weak on flavor but ok. BBQ sauce was on par with
most of the fast food places in the states, which is to say I'm very
surprised it didn't absolutely suck. Toppings were fresh. Chocolate milkshake was pretty terrible, but that's not what I'm reviewing. All things considered, 4/10.

JP - Fate Brewing - Boulder - #23

Burger: The Pit Boss, bacon, smoked ham, smoked Cheddar, BBQ

Beer: house IPA

Great burger and beer!

Dutch Mill COS CO

#16 6/10 average

JP - Casa de JP - Lafayette CO - #22

Burger: Busted out the grill! Grilled onions, applewood smoked Cheddar, pub mustard.

Pev - The Keg - Manitou, CO - Burger#27

7/10

Pev - Marigolds - CSCO - Burger#26

Great Burger. Go here if youre headed to get boned at the Tbone. 8/10

Pev - Front range BBQ - Brownies Hood - Burger #25

Bracket busted. 6/10

Pev - Hamburger Marys - Denver, CO - Burger#24

Decent for a guy dressed like a girl. Guard your backside. 7/10

Pev - Texas T-bone - CSCO - Burger#23

If you need a local burger for the challenge you better hurry up and hit this place up. With its 13 dollar burgers that are worth about 4, this place will be out of business faster than Deweys... even if they actually pay their tax bill.. I think I got boned. 2/10

Pev - Wooglins - CSCO - Burger#22

Always a solid choice. If they had fries here I'd frequent it more often. 6/10

HaVoCLaD - Dave and Busters - Austin - #25

10/10

Hadn't eaten dinner at D&B in 5 years, I didn't remember the food being all that great so I figured I might as well cross a burger off the list, amiright?

The South Philly Burger on the menu caught my eye and I asked the server who confirmed that it was really good and popular. I'm not a big fan of weird burgers, but something about it spoke to me so I went with it.

it's pretty much just what it sounds like - a philly cheesesteak sandwich on top of a 1/2# burger. That's thinly sliced steak, onions, mushrooms, peppers and american cheese for those of you not in the know.

I was going to give this a nine as they deviated from the ideal philly by not using cheese wiz, but here it is a day later and I can't stop thinking about it and planning on when I'm going to have another.

That's a clear 10/10 in my book. I'm halfway done with this challenge and this is the best burger I've had so far this year.

HaVoCLaD - Bone Daddy's House of Smoke - Austin - #23

7/10

Got the basic 1/2# cheeseburger. It came with bacon, cheddar and honeysuckle grilling sauce along with "the usual stuff." Beer by Shiner.

This was a good burger. Nice and juicy, fresh ingredients. The sauce was tasty but nowhere near overwhelming.

Fwd: HaVoCLaD - ZTejas - Austin - #23

6/10

Hickory Burger - A half pound burger. Hickory BBQ sauce with Jack and Cheddar. Onions/pickles/bacon and jalapeno mayo thrown in because, why not?

It was pretty good, but just a bit much for me on this particular night. It could score higher if I get around to trying it again. A little too big, too much BBQ sauce dripping everywhere, too much cheese. Too much going on, they should kick a few tastes off of the island on this one.

+1 for steak fries, those were awesome.

Anthony - Circuit of the Americas - Austin, TX - #21

Juicy's burger 6/10: ridiculously overpriced, and I kept envying Lulu's corn dog. Ah well, the race was good.

Anthony - Esquire Grill - Sacramento airport, CA - #20

Airport bacon cheeseburger 7/10: decent burger, if a bit overpriced.

JP - Tom's Urban 24 Diner - Denver - #21

Burger: green chile, pepper jack, avocado, chipotle mayo

Sweet potato fries with chili dipping sauce was awesome.

$13.50 Ouch. Good burger. Not that good!

nutsandboltons - Marks & Spencer - London - SH26

Surprisingly good burger for a supermarket lunch counter. Thick patty, good flavor. Cheese and bacon were both better than passable. Potato wedges were a bit typical, but also a bit fresher than I'd expected. Overall 6/10. Let's hope this one was the slump-breaker I've been looking for.

Peter Pepper, 24 Diner, Austin, Burger #22

Ordered the Patty Melt which is served on the bread with caramelized onions. It was tasty but the bread was a bit tough on the crust. Side of Mac n cheese was good but not up to par for 24 Diner. 7.5/10

Slow Ride - Cirencester Best Kebab - Cirencester, Gloucestershire - kebab #19

7/10 -> very good dinner after chasing a Hash trail found by accident. Full write up here (with links to pubs on my unsuccessful HHH hunt in that write up).

Peter Pepper, Joe's Place and Connie's Beer Garden, Austin, Burger #21

First time for lunch at Joe's Place and this is a hidden gem for lunch and happy hour. Check it out for yourself. Had the meatloaf burger and this thing was sloppy delicious and juicy with grilled onions and this hidden blue cheese snap that surprises with every bite. Connie even positions the plate so the "rocket fries" (spicy fries) acquire the tasty juices as they drip. This place is the bomb. 9/10!

Beebs - Indian museum - Washington, D.C. - #15

Sliders, buffalo, turkey, bison
Score: 4, 7, 4
Buffalo and bison were too tough, turkey had goat cheese sauce, which brings up the points

nutsandboltons - Southwark Tavern - London - SH25

Cheeseburger and fries, add pulled pork. Adding the BBQ was a bad idea, since it was horrible. Burger itself was a little better, but overall still just 4/10. Seems I'm in a slump lately.

JohnF - Barney's Gourmet Burgers - San Francisco - #17

Bacon and cheddar. 7/10

JP - Three Pints Brewing - Plainfield IN - #20

Burger: bacon, caramelized onions, Cheddar, blue cheese, tomato.

Beer: house Izzy's IPA

Burger looked like fuck but was really good. Beer too. Maybe it's because I got up at 4:30a, had a connector flight through Chicago to get to Indy, ran 10 after checking and it's dinner time and this is the first food that's crossed my lips. I'm now on east coast time and will make no qualms about hitting pillows at 8p. The End.