Boston Burger Battle - I Need a Nap

Oh dear readers... are you ready for a new era of Quitsville here? I haven't written about food much in the past, which strikes me as pretty odd given the amount of time I spend thinking about, reading about, and making food (not to mention eating!). Well, those days are over.

I love food. I love cooking and canning and drying and smoking and grilling and eating, definitely eating. I spend a lot of time and energy on trying new foods, new restaurants, and new techniques - so it only seems fitting that I spend some of my precious blog time on one of my past times.

This evening I attended KO Prime's 2nd annual Boston Burger Battle - an epic competition of Boston area chefs to create the best burger in the city (as vote upon by yours truly... and you know, hundreds of other eager carnivores). I knew this was going to be a big night, don't get me wrong, but I'm not entirely sure I knew exactly what I was getting into.

The Burger Battle is a fundraiser for Autism Speaks, an organization founded around raising autism awareness, and is a veritable mecca for burger lovers. 13 local chefs (correction - 12 chefs - Craigie on Main sadly dropped out at the last moment) compete with sliders or quartered burgers for the title and its pretty amazing.

Nate and I kept our excitement in check throughout the day - not knowing entirely what to expect - but when we arrived it was time for full on glee. We checked in, got our wristbands and proceeded to the 2nd and 3rd floors where burgers were spread before us like a heavenly banquet! I grabbed a glass of wine but a word to the wise - you don't need it, it only hampers the shoveling that can be accomplished with two hands.

In the end, I did manage to get at least a bite of every burger on offer: the onion-ring topped delight from The Bristol Lounge, the fried oyster topped burger from Island Creek Oyster Bar, the veal burger with cinnamon sugar pork rinds from Trina's Starlite Lounge, the biscuit burger with cheese sauce from Garden at the Cellar... all of them. And oh heaven were they amazing. Each one was like its own little experience with different flavors, different buns and sauces, different toppings. Amazing.

In the end, my favorites were the burgers brought to you by KO Prime (yes, the host but OMG that meat, it was like eating an amazing little steak on a bun), Bambara (a classy take on an In-and-Out style burger), and Blue Ginger (burger purists will disagree but Ming Tsai's sloppy joe had just the right combination of flavors and textures). Honorable mention for The Gallows for their homemade pickles!

As I'm writing this post the Burger Battle hasn't even wrapped up so we'll have to wait and see who the winners are! For those of you who are interested, watch out for next year's Burger Battle!