A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

On August 13th, over 1,400 guests came to the Black Falcon Terminal to sample the top 20 burgers chosen by Boston Magazine readers. For Boston Magazine’s 3rd annual burger battle, the Blue Ox was back to defend last year’s win. VIP guests were allowed entry at 6pm with early access to food, drinks and a special lounge, while general admission opened at 7pm. I met my friend Conor from SoonSpoon and we prepared ourselves for a feast!

Some restaurants came to serve non burger items, like Bronwyn, that had a chilled peach “Solyanka,” an Eastern European fruit and pickle soup.

No. 8 Kitchen and spirits served up a compressed watermelon salad.

Petit Robert made delicious French macarons.

Pangea Shellfish was back for the second night in a row, sampling some of their fresh seafood.

Defending champions from the Blue Ox prepared their “sin burger” with applewood smoked bacon, Swiss cheese, truffle aioli, lettuce, and tomato.

The Precinct burger was made with dry aged beef seasoned with cracked black pepper and fleur de sel, Vermont cheddar cheese, Nueske’s bacon and served on a fresh brioche bun

The Boston Burger Company brought their “hot mess” made from certified angus beef, American cheese, homemade 1000 island, bacon, red onion, pickles, jalapeno’s and shredded lettuce.

Foundry on Elm cooking up mini sliders.

Their burger was an andouille buger: a grilled andouille and beef burger, charred smoked paprika red onions, local honeycomb, dijon whole grain aioli on a black pepper brioche bun.

At these types of events you really  have to pace yourselves, as consuming this much meat (or if you’re me, this is your second night in a row doing this) in a short period of time will make you feel like you’re a walking heart attack waiting to happen.

Smokey Bones provided a unique smoked burger topped with house made caramelized onion bacon jam, creamy havarti cheese, pickled shaved sweet onions, sea salt and cracked pepper, tomato, and bib lettuce on a house baked butter grilled roll.

Davio’s burger, was simple yet delicious:cheddar cheese, onion rings, pickles and steak sauce.

Lincoln Tavern and Restaurant brought kobe sliders: American Wagyu, muenster cheese, bacon aioli and a sunny-side up quail egg on a Rob Roy’s bun. This was probably one of my favorites of the night – how cute are those quail eggs? Everything really melded together nicely for this burger.

The MET bar came with their farm burger: Secret blend beef burger with Vermont Tarentaise cheese, candied maple pork belly and onions with tempura avocado, fried egg, sriracha mayo served on a housemade onion brioche bun. There were a lot of things going on with this burger, but it all worked. I loved the fried egg and avocado combination.

Kings brought their Texas burger: a delicious brisket, sirloin and chuck burger grilled to perfection and topped with house-smoked pulled pork, pepper jack cheese, bacon, pickles, homemade coleslaw and smokey BBQ sauce, served on a soft potato roll.

Joe’s American Bar and Grill came to the event with their burger named, “The Cure”, a ground steak burger, aged cheddar, Joe’s famous baby back ribs, tobacco onions, sunny-side-up egg, chipotle onion jam, arugula on a brioche bun. The jam is what really made this burger!

Union brought their Harissa lamb burger with Narragansett ‘Salty Sea’ feta, tzatziki, pickled red onions and frisee on a buttery brioche roll.

5 Napkin Burger brought their pimento burger: Pimento cheese burger with bacon, griddled onions and pickled jalapenos.

A&B Salem brought their Double Scotty burger, two 5 oz. patties served with sliced Red Delicious apples, smoked gouda cheese, Niman Ranch applewood smoked bacon and arugula on a toasted potato roll. The combination of sweet, smoke and salt on this burger was really quite good.

Amstel Light was the presenting sponsor for the evening – they had a fun booth where people could instagram photos to win prizes.

Saloon went a different route with their fatty pollo: a chicken burger with avocado relish, chermoula aioli, and candied bacon served on a brioche roll.

Wahlburgers brought their own camera crew and were filming for their show at the event.

Wahlburgers was originally going to do their OFD (originally from Dorchester) but decided to do a surf and turf burger instead: black angus beef topped with lobster salad, lemon chive mayo, cheddar cheese and bacon. I liked the idea of this burger, but there was something a little off for me with this one.

Tasty Burger came with a full sized American classic: the bacon cheeseburger, all Natural certified humane beef patty, melted cheese, crispy certified humane bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickles,onion,ketchup and mustard on a fresh baked bun.

The guys from Dillon’s were at it for a second night in a row with their grilled corn! Pictured above, Travis “Tbone” Talbot.

Chef Brendan Pelley from Zebra’s bistro was there with his challah slider: a Kinnealey proprietary blend burger topped with aged Vermont cheddar, crispy house-smoked bacon, miso aioli, and pickled red onions served on a fresh challah bun. Hoping to make out to Zebra’s one of these days – I’ve been hearing good things!

Shake Shack came to the competition with their MeisterShack, a 100% all-natural Angus beef cheeseburger topped with crispy ShackMeister Ale-marinated shallots and ShackSauce.

Grill 23‘s chef Jay Murray was there serving mini milk shakes with kettle chips and horseradish pub cheese, charcuterie, toasts and condiments.

A closer look at Grill 23 setting the bar high for the evening.

Pauli’s‘ brought their “Big Boy Burger” with 100% ground beef burger layered with onion rings, American cheese, bacon & BBQ sauce and served on a fresh baked roll.

Not pictured is Ceia’s kobe burger: Kobe Beef with Manchego, Serrano, heirloom tomato, housemade paprika aioli and Chef Soucy’s Farmer’s Reserve Ketchup, and

Salvatore’s Bruschetta Burger: 100% Angus beef topped with chopped tomato, basil, garlic, red onion and evoo, fresh mozzarella, arugula and vin cotto, served on a grilled garlic-butter brioche bun

Infiniti was the exclusive auto sponsor for the evening. Guests were invited to hop inside and get a feel for the cars and enter for the chance to win a car!

The live entertainment for the night was killer – Sweet Tooth and the Sugar Babies rocked out all night long.

Congratulations to all the chefs! Here were the winners of the night:

Champion (for the second year in a row): The Blue Ox: The Sin Burger by Chef Matt O’Neil

1st Runner Up: Joe’s American Bar & Grill: The Cure by Chef David Forbes

2nd Runner Up: Lincoln Tavern & Restaurant: Kobe Sliders by Chef Nicholas Dixon

 Boston Magazine’s Battle of the Burger

http://www.bostonmagazine.com/cookout/burger/

Disclaimer: I was given two complimentary tickets to this event, all opinions are my own.

Tags: boston magazine events, burger, event, fort point