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.

The post Boston Magazine’s Battle of the Burger appeared first on A Little Bit About a Lot of Things.

The event started at 6pm for VIP’s and at 7pm for the general public. Those that were lucky enough to be VIP’s were treated to a private lounge, early access to the drinks and exclusive vendors.

Alex and Ani set up shop in the private lounge, showcasing their bangle bar.

The first thing you saw when you walked in the door was Stay Sweet Macs, a coconut macaroon company that is just about a year old. They are sold only through their website at this time, check them out here. They have amazing flavors (orange zest, pink salted dark chocolate, toffee almond, jackfruit, and strawberry white chocolate) and who doesn’t love a macaroon covered in chocolate!

First Trade Union Bank was sponsoring a ice cream bar featuring ice cream from Rancatore’s. Rancatore’s is located in Belmont and Lexington. You may be more familiar with Toscanini’s, owned by Gus Rancatore.  Gus and Joe Rancatore are brothers.

Pangea Shellfish company was there shucking oysters for VIP’s.

Above are their Standish Shore Oysters that are grown just over in Duxbury.

Celebrity Cruises was their mixing up dry ice cocktails.

The event was sponsored by Absolut, so all drinks this evening showcased their many different flavors of vodka.

Guests were treated to some great live music for the evening and the MC for the evening was Amy Brooks from radio 92.9.

How fun are their outfits? Abby Lane brought their A game, with their “pineapple express” cocktail.

1 oz Absolut Vodka
.75 oz 888 Pineapple Jalapeño spirit
.5 oz Hum Botanical spirit
.5 oz Orgeat
8-10 oven roasted pineapple chunks

Roast sliced pineapple chunks in an oven on 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Muddle roasted pineapple in a Boston Shaker. Fill with ice. Add all remaining ingredients. Shake vigorously and strain over fresh ice into a rocks glass.

It’s always fun to see the guys from Dillon’s. They were serving up Mexican street corn with honey lime butter and strawberry basil.

A little dance break.

Dillon’s also served up a basil and lavender mint infused lemonade.

Some of the Absolut flavors being showcased this evening.

Richer Pour wine was also in the VIP lounge, pouring glasses of wine on tap.

Andy Husbands was blowing up social media before the event. He was the only one who brought his own smoker!

Tremont 647 was serving up the best ribs you’ll ever have.

Check out how delicious they look!

Got to love Andy’s outfit!

Regal Beagle featured pulled pork and jalapeno cornbread sliders: pulled pork, watermelon bbq sauce, jalapeno cheddar cornbread.

Fairsted Kitchen was smokin’ up some lamb ribs, dusted with cumin and fish sauce.

Sweet Cheeks was go big or go home – they brought a whole smoked pig!

Champions was mixing up their signature cocktail the “Boston Strong”.

1.5 oz Absolut Vodka
.5 oz blueberry syrup
.5 oz ginger simple syrup
.75 oz lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp ginger powder
1 tbsp lemon zest

Prep martini glass- coat half of glass rim with lemon juice and dip in mix of sugar, ginger powder, and lemon zest. To make rim sugar: mix equal parts sugar, ginger powder, and lemon zest.
In an ice filled cocktail shaker add Absolut Vodka, ginger simple syrup, and lemon juice. Shake vigorously. Strain into rimmed, chilled martini glass. Finish by adding blueberry syrup into the martini glass along the side so that it sinks to the bottom. Ahead of time, coat peaches in brown sugar and grill until tender.

Earls Kitchen and Bar featured Slow Braised BBQ Back Ribs with sweet + spicy bbq sauce, warm potato salad and coleslaw.

Empire was mixing up a “Bom Dia”

1.5 oz Absolut Citron
.5 oz St. Germain
.5 oz lime juice
muddled guava and grilled peach
dash guava simple syrup
prosecco
sliced peach
brown sugar
sugar cane

In a shaker, muddle guava and peach with a dash of guava simple syrup add ice and all ingredients except prosecco. Shake and pour into a highball glass and top with prosecco. Garnish with fresh sugar cane.

The Living Room was mixing up “The Cucumber Haze” which earned them the title of first runner up at the event.

1.5 oz Absolut Vodka
.5 oz blueberry-thyme simple syrup
1.5 oz fresh lemon juice
2 slices of cucumber
sprig of thyme
lemon twist
2 blueberries

Muddle two slices of Cucumber. Combine all ingredients in a shaker. Serve over ice in Collins glass. Top with Soda water. Garnish with sprig of thyme two blueberries and lemon twist.

Bronwyn had a delicious Hungarian smoked brisket with paprika and honey glaze

Stop by Larry J’s in Southie and say hello to Larry Jimerson.

Larry J’s brought pulled pork (Texas and North Carolina) that was from slow smoked pork butts (12.5 hours!!)

Brian Moy of Shojo (right).

Shojo had a dish inspired by a Hawaiian luau. Coconut water glazed suckling pig; Hawaiian salad of pineapple, ham, tomato, carrot, broccoli, shrimp; tahitian POI: banana, mango, coco creame, taro pudding and  coconut sticky rice.

BT’s Smokehouse did a brisket rueben: smoked beef brisket, sexy slaw, pickled rye sauce, on honey brown bread.

Leah Famularo of Burton’s Grill was mixing up an “Absolut Sizzle”

1.5 oz Absolut Vodka
.5 oz Cointreau
.75 oz cayenne simple syrup
2 oz fresh squeezed grapefruit Juice
chunk of lime
cayenne simple syrup
1 cup superfine sugar
1 cup water
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

In shaker pour Absolut and Cointreau over ice, finish with cayenne simple syrup and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. Shake vigorously and strain over fresh ice in snifter glass. Squeeze one fresh lime chunk into glass.

Robert’s Maine was at the event as well sampling some of their delicious bites.

Michael’s Deli served up a BBQ meatloaf knish: housemade BBQ meatloaf wrapped in knish dough and baked.

Glenn LeMaitre of Bricco mixed up his Bricco Espresso Martini and came out on top as champion at the event.

2 oz Absolut Vanilia
1 oz Kahlua
.25 oz Amaretto
.25 oz Baileys
.25 oz Frangelico
Double shot of espresso

Place all ingredients into martini shaker and shaken vigorously. Stain into a martini glass rimmed with cocoa and sugar. Garnish with three espresso beans.

A closer look at those winning cocktails!

East Coast Grill and Raw Bar served up baby back ribs – house smoked with a blackberry peach bourbon sauce.

Look at those ribs!

Kings was serving up some delicious mac and cheese!

Bond was serving up their signature cocktail “Bankrupt” that earned them the title of 2nd runner up for the evening.

3 oz Absolut Vodka
3 oz strawberry rhubarb puree
rhubarb
strawberries
.5 cup sugar

For the puree juice equal portions rhubarb and strawberry in a juicer. Then, bring juice to boil and immediately remove from heat stirring in fine sugar to sweeten and thicken (for 1 cup juice add ½ cup sugar). Combine vodka and puree in a shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.

A closer look at those delicious cocktails!

Bokx 109 was mixing up their “Absolutely American” cocktail:

1 oz Absolut Mandarin
1 oz sweet and sour mix
.5 oz grenadine
1 oz Blue Curacao
Cherry garnish

Add 1 oz Absolut Mandarin, 1.5 oz sweet and sour to shaker over ice. Stir with bar stirrer. Pour in Collins glass, add .5 oz of grenadine allow to settle to bottom. Add ice to fill, float with Blue Curacao. Garnish with cherry. Drink should layer red, “white,” blue.

A great event over all, already looking forward to next year’s event.

Boston Magazine’s The Cue

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

The post Boston Magazine’s The Cue appeared first on A Little Bit About a Lot of Things.