Andrew Mark Veety

So, What Is The Best Burger In St. Louis?

"Are you going to write something to teach people how to eat a burger like that?"

The words reached the table I was seated at, announcing the arrival of the man behind what I think is the best of all the burgers nominated by the readers of this site. 

I looked around the burger I was holding -- stacked high with thick cut bacon, mushrooms and a blissfully runny fried egg -- to give a smile that can only belong to a person who has found themselves in a situation that was unfathomable just a year before. You see, this project was simply an idea I had driving to work one morning, a personal challenge to make sure I wrote on this site at least once a month, an innocent plan to eat hamburgers with friends. What it has turned into is so much more, reinvigorating my desire to write and providing me with a collection of new friends and mentors who have helped me along the way, a group that have taken to calling themselves The Church of Burger.

Twelve burgers, tens of thousands of words and a year's worth of fun had placed me in this mildly surreal moment -- grinning like a goon from behind a hamburger -- essentially using it as a shield to hide at least some of my face from the camera lens pointed at me from across the table.

Truth be told, its hard to muster a decent reply when burger juice and egg yolk are running down and around your fingers, mixing in the deep tributaries of your palm before making their way to the cuffs of your dress shirt.

Truth be told its hard to formulate a decent reply when you are using a burger you really want to tuck into as a prop for a photo shoot. After all, I started this search to eat the best burgers in St. Louis, not pose with them.

However, we can finish this story a bit later*, but its time to get down to the business at hand and finish what we set out to do a year ago; to find the best burger in town.

So, where exactly is this burger -- the one that for me -- is the best in St. Louis?  

Bill Burge's Burger Of The Year

You can't spell burger without starting with b-u-r-g-e, and you can't have a Church of Burger without Bill Burge. 

Bill has been making me laugh for a full year. He also made me understand at the very beginning that I could not half ass this project. In a sense, this project would have been little without figuring out a way to trade on the names and skills of all the members of the Church of Burger -- I get that -- but this counts double for Bill. I don't say this to diminish anyone in our group, but only to point out how much weight Bill's opinion pulls in this town. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge how important he has been to the success The Church of Burger.

I asked Bill to share with me his pick for the best burger in St. Louis. This is what he said:

"I can’t recall how I ended up a part of the Church of Burger.  Looking back on this time last year, it may have been that I simply invited myself along because Andrew Mark Veety, like most of my friends, seemed like a character.  What I do recall is that without knowing him I laid into him via email about the need for a firm set of ground rules. Without them, how could you ensure that the burgers would be judged in a state that made them as equal as possible?  If, for example, the burger topped with an egg, blue cheese, bacon, and house made pickles at Newstead Tower Public House was the one people were voting for, how could you in good conscience stack that up against the smashed patty at Carl’s?  It’s bullshit. It’s judging toppings not burgers.  It’s like comparing a rib eye to a chuck steak simply because they’re both made of dead cow.

Whatever the case, after eating twelve burgers in the reverse order that a throng of Andrew Mark Veety’s St. Louis minions voted on, I have gotten to taste some good ones, some whatever ones, and some painfully bad ones that made me question just what the hell some of you were thinking—or on?—when you voted. 

I’ve gotten to see that some people don’t like salt and some people really do.  I’ve gotten to see that some people order their burgers a certain way because they’ve become so accustomed to their being cooked incorrectly that when they do come face to face with a perfectly cooked burger, they think it’s wrong.  Perhaps, most astonishingly, I’ve realized that some people’s opinion of a great burger is heavily clouded by misguided nostalgia.

So let’s quantify…

1. I like my burgers medium-rare.
2. I like salt—that is to say, I like a properly seasoned burger.
3. I like that salt mixed into the burger rather than sprinkled on it.
4. I do not like preformed patties or overworked meat.
5. I am not bothered by fat so long as fat is not the overwhelming flavor.
6. While I could sit and critique the perfect char and the flavor it unquestionably adds to the burger experience, I’ll take properly cooked and seasoned over well-charred every time.
7. I like my burgers griddled rather than grilled.
8. I like lettuce, onions, and even out of season tomato on my burgers.
9. I like cheddar cheese and bacon on my burgers—though I left the bacon off because I consider it a cheat to judging a burger. 
10. Where available, I added the cheddar.
11. If that meant the gooey synthetic pub cheddar the people of St. Louis seem to covet, so be it. 
12. If there was no cheddar I went with American (or in the case of Brasserie, blue cheese).
13. I consider it a sin of biblical proportions to use an English Muffin as a hamburger bun.
14. Fuck nostalgia.
15. Seriously, fuck nostalgia.

Having said that, the odds-on-favorite for me (especially if you know me) was the Newstead Tower Public burger.  I consider it a perfect burger.  As I said going into the Newstead visit, and as Kelli Best-Oliver said in her post, it’s the burger I strive to make at home because there’s less guilt in consuming it weekly because it’s relatively lean.  Prior to the Church of Burger I put one away practically every week.  In fact, I stopped making burgers at home because they could do it better. 

It uses sustainable meat from a farm I know and whose owners I’ve met.  It’s ground in house.  The pickles, ketchup, sinus clearing best mustard in the city and bun are also all made in house.  And it’s cooked perfect practically every time which is hard to do—especially when you grind your own meat because, as a rule, you have a less consistent product than if you just bought shit meat that comes pre-gound in plastic tubes like giant sausages.

That, however, is nostalgia talking, and the Church of Burger was about rating the twelve burgers you voted on and which included one Newstead burger.  It wasn’t about the 50 Newstead burgers I’d consumed prior to going into it, just as it wasn’t about the one terrible Michael’s experience I had years ago.  These visits had to stand alone, and this particular Newstead visit, much as it pains me, didn’t hold up as my bun was sub-par having been over-toasted leaving it so dry that it hampered the overall burger eating experience as it was extremely chewy and hard to get through.

A few more notes on nostalgia…

When you’re a business that uses nostalgia as your crutch, you’d think that it would behoove you to be nice and appreciative of all the business you get--especially when your business seats around 16 people.   At Carl’s they didn’t get the message.  I’ve been treated better by an angry 15 year old at Steak ‘n Shake and been served a better smashed burger to boot.

Also, I used to hate Michael’s because it was so smoky, but damn that’s a delicious grease-bomb of a burger.  It’s not something I’d eat often, but when a beer and a greasy burger mood strikes, I can think of no better place in St. Louis to satisfy that craving.  Plus, at 10oz post-cooking, while it’s not winning any awards for sustainability, it was handedly the best bang-for-the-buck of any burger we ate.  Take the misguided-nostalgia-fueled Fatted Calf burger (#11).  It’s $5.50 for a 1/3lb burger, .75 for cheddar, .75 for lettuce and tomato, and $2.00 for fries.  The Michael’s burger is $7.25 for a 10oz burger that comes with lettuce, tomato, onion and fries.  I think the cheese was only a .50 add on, and you get waited on!

The favorite I wish I could’ve picked…

I’d made a firm rule early on that by burger, we meant hamburgers, and by hamburgers we meant meat.  Then I ate the Sweet Burger at Sweet Art.  With its unknown laundry list of vegetables, lentils, and god knows what else, it’s the best non-meat burger I’ve ever eaten, and the best vegetarian entrée I’ve had in St. Louis.  On the Sunday we ate the Sweet Burger I vowed to go back.  I’d consumed three by the following Sunday.

And the winner is…

Having argued for the ground rule that burgers are meat, I have to go with Brasserie. 

In eating the twelve burgers I’ve realized that one of my strongest opinions about a burger comes from the quality of its bun.  The worst of our burgers consistently had bun issues.   Most surprising, my bottom burger, Sub Zero, appeared to use the same bun-- a brioche-like roll from Companion--as many restaurants in St. Louis including Brasserie.  But where one restaurant served a bun that must  have been left out for a couple days as it was so brittle and dry it disintegrated over the course of eating the burger, Brasserie’s was flaky and moist.  It was toasted perfectly, held up from beginning to end, and added a light sweetness to the entire burger eating experience.

And it’s that attention to detail that carried the Brasserie burger to my win.  The patty was well-seasoned on its own—if perhaps a touch salty for some not accustomed to the assertive flavor of the d'auvergne blue cheese.  It was hand formed, uniform, and not overworked.  It had a nice char. 

Put simply, it is a well constructed burger—or perhaps a conceived burger where you can imagine the meeting where the Brasserie crew brainstormed about what makes a good burger?

In fact, the only slight I could possibly offer it is that I’d wished I’d had a greater amount of lettuce and onions.  But that’s a topping, and as all the places that served anything other than iceberg skimped on greens, I can hardly fault them for that.

So well done Brasserie.  You get my Church of Burger win even if I can’t go eat your damn burger for lunch anymore."

So, do I agree with Bill's pick of Brasserie? Check back tomorrow to find out.

Kelli Best-Oliver's Burger Of The Year

When she is not starting charter schools, writing for what seems to be dozens of websites and watching copious amounts of terrible cable television, KBO is the High Priestess of The Church of Burger, a term she coined at the beginning as we prepared for our first monthly visit last January.

Kelli pulled no punches when I asked her for her pick for the best burger in St. Louis, commenting:

"I'm glad I don't have to pour one out for the burger at the now-defunct Newstead Tower Public House, because you can still get it in all it's glory over at Anthony Devoti's Five. The thick, juicy grassfed patty on a housemade bun is exactly what I'm looking for in a burger: the burger I'd make at home, made better than I can make it myself. I checked in at Five for lunch last week with Justin from Yellow Tree Farm, and never doubted that I'd be getting the burger, with excellent fries and house-made condiments, topped with Prairie Breeze from my home state of Iowa. I dare you to find a burger made with higher-quality, more locally-sourced ingredients in this town.

Good god, this is what a burger should be, and you should be eating it for lunch." 

Well, that is two votes out of four for the burger at Five. Surprising? Not really, its been a crowd favorite and has held the top spot on best of lists for several years. But do I agree? The only way to find out is to check back on January 20th, when I'll announce my pick for the best burger in St. Louis -- and a digestif of sorts to help cap off a years worth of burgers. I hope you check back.

Stephanie Tolle's Burger Of The Year

I first reached out to Stephanie to take advantage of her considerable graphic design skills for what would become the Church of Burger logo:

 

While this logo didn't end up in a lot of places that I wished it had -- places like car bumpers, long sleeve tee shirts, the men's room at Sub Zero -- I'm still thankful that Stef took the time to help me out with some branding for this project. I'm also thankful for the easy and converstational tone she brings to all of her burger reviews, they are a constant reminder that no matter what, this project is about having fun than anything else.

I recently asked Stef to share her thoughts on the past year and pick her favorite burger in St. Louis. This is what she had to say:

"When I weaseled my way in to the Church of Burger, through connections and graphical favors, I honestly did not have much burger knowledge. I mean, every American has SOME burger knowledge. I liked burgers. I'd had good burgers. I knew that I like my burgers pink in the middle, meaty and salty. I knew that I absolutely do not like dry, or dense, or gray or perfectly round and chewy burgers. But I never thought too deeply about burgers. Thankfully, Andrew let me in, and I learned to look at my burgers more seriously. In the 8 months I was able to attend, I feel I have become a much better critic of restaurant hamburgers. I think about them now, analyze them. I've learned that my idea of medium rare may have been to liberal. That toppings can distract from the burger itself, but sometimes are saving graces. That the bun is way more important than I ever considered. That while seasoning is vital, everyone has different ideas of what well-seasoned entails. I learned much. I could ramble on. But Andrew only asked me to talk about what my favorite burger was. So I'll stop rambling.

Every meet-up of Church of Burger was special and provided good memories of friends and food and laughs. My first was the Sub-Zero fiasco. The burgers disappointed, but the hullabaloo that resulted to our reviews was a fun ride! The Micheal's burger was memorable in that it seriously put me into a 3-hour meat coma. I will have to say my favorite burger in this experience was the Newstead Towerburger (now available at Five Bistro, as Newstead closed.) Never before had I had a burger that was medium rare all the way through... I mean this sucker is pink all the way through. Usually you don't see the pink until you're at least a bite in. My burger expert friends informed me that this was because the kitchen let the patties rest and come up to room temp before cooking them, causing them to cook more evenly. So simple. So brilliant. This burger was also well seasoned, and a perfect texture. The bun seemed like it was going to be too hard, but ended up working just fine. The other thing about the Newstead meet-up, which may or may not have slightly skewed my vote for the burger, was that there were so many of my Church of Burger friends... some new, some I've known for a couple of years, gathered around a long wood table. We had delicious appetizers, good beer was flowing, there was an adorable baby to pass around, everyone was laughing and jolly....There was rarebit!! It was a perfect night out with good friends and a really tasty, well-executed burger. Which is what the CoB is all about, right? Amen."

There you have it - the third vote for best burger in St. Louis from Stephanie Tolle. How do Iron Stef's picks stack up against my own? Check back on January 20th to find out.

Stefani Pollack's Burger Of The Year

When Stefani is not dominating the cupcake world on her own site -- Cupcake Project -- she's graciously helping me bring a critical eye to this search for the best burger in St. Louis. It would be easy to say that what I appreciate the most about Stefani's participation in the Church of Burger was the heady deserts that she plied us with throughout the year, however that would overlook the strength of her burger reviews, which were among my favorite every month.

I am continuously impressed with her ability to bring a sense of storytelling to our month in and month out analysis of hamburgers. The key to her style is to not only help readers understand what was good or bad with a particular dish, but to place her opinions within a context that is uniquely hers.

Stefani offers up the following choice for her burger of the year:

"I'm going to go the cheater route and create my own best burger.  I'd take the the English muffin from the pub burger at Llywellyn's, the patty from Dressel's (it was the very first burger that we ate, so maybe it just had that virgin allure.  But, sorry, I'm not going back for a second taste for a while as I'm done with burgers.), and the toppings from Newstead."

So, where does Stefani's Frankenburger stack up with my own picks? Check back on January 20th to find out!

Jonathan Pollack's Burger Of The Year

If you've been reading up on the Church of Burger for the last year, you've undoubtedly had at least one moment where as your eyes moved across the page; you found yourself lusting after a burger. I'd like to think this was because of my writing, but in truth is probably because you were gazing upon one of  Jonathan Pollack's burger photos. I am most thankful for the talent and eye candy he contributed to this burger project.

I recently asked Jonathan to share with my readers his pick for the best burger in St. Louis. Here is what he said:

"It's hard to pick a favorite burger of the bunch we sampled over the past year. There were certainly low points along the way, but then we were blessed with what I see as the final four contenders: Dressel's, Sweet Art, Llywellyn's, and Carl's. While some places experimented (with grand success) with meatless patties and others served up a huge helping of nostalgia alongside their burgers, the best burger to me is one that's hand-formed, seasoned perfectly, juicy, and makes you want to go back again and again. That's the burger at Llywellyn's."

There you have it - the first vote for best burger in St. Louis from project photographer Jonathan Pollack. How do Jonathan's picks stack up against my own? Check back on January 20th to find out.

Burger Of The Month - O'Connell's Pub

For the last time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a bitterly cold Sunday in St. Louis. This was the final stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I ate them -- one by one -- and the time is quickly approaching to crown the best burger in St. Louis.

But more on that later, we've still got this last burger to recap.

Joining me this go around were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef /Food Blog Mafia), Evan Benn (St. Louis Post Dispatch / Lager Heads) and George Mahe (St. Louis Magazine / Relish).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the December Burger of the Month from O'Connell's Pub. 

Burger Of The Month - Carl's Drive In

For the eleventh time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger - this time for a lunch break on a warm fall work day. This was the next to last stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me this go around were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Kyle Harsha (Sippin' Saint Louis / Harsha Wines) and Corey Woodruff (Corey Woodruff Photography).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the November Burger of the Month from Carl's Drive In. 

Burger Of The Month - Carl's Drive In

A brief history of Carl's Drive-In:

In the 1930's, the small building that is the home of Car's Drive-In was a gas station that did a side business selling hot dogs and root beer.

In 1959 tha gas station was bought by Carl Meyer, who turned it first into a traditional drive-in, and then by 1962 a diner, enjoying a prime location on historic Route 66 outside of St. Louis.

In 1987 Carl's changed ownership again, this time into the skilled hands of Frank Cunetto, who can still be found behind the counter meeting the demand for his amazing hamburgers and house made root beer.

In 2010 the readers of this site voted Carl's the second best burger in St Louis. Road food aficionados rejoiced.

Classic American smashed burgers. The mother road. A dozen counter seats and a flat top. It is an understatement to say that I am excited about this months visit so we can see how Carl's paper thin patties compare to some of the best we've tried this year.

Burger Of The Month - Newstead Tower Public House/Five Bistro

For the tenth time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a perfect fall night. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me this go around were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef /Food Blog Mafia), Kyle Harsha (Sippin' Saint Louis / Harsha Wines) and first timer Michael Sweeney (STLHops).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the October Burger of the Month from the Newstead Tower Public House and Five Bistro.

October Burger Of The Month - Newstead Tower Public House

Nine burgers down - three left to go.

We have reached the point in this burger search where at least one of the last three burgers ended up on over 95% of all recommendations back in January. This fact alone makes my expectations very high for the last of our contenders. All of the last three burgers are St. Louis institutions, and they are all a bit different from the others we've tried so far.

The first of the last three comes from the Newstead Tower Public House, a burger that has garnered numerous awards for being the best in town -- year in and year out. Its repuatation is well deserved.

The burger at Newstead is made of locally raised grass fed beef and served on a house made bun. I make no excuses for the fact that I love the Newstead burger --  first wrote about it back in November of 2008. At that time I commented:

"...burgers are skillfully cooked to order, in my case medium rare with a good sear and juices that mix with the toppings and run gloriously down your chin and hands."

As good as the burger is at Newstead, the key to this burger for me is the house made quick pickles which are crisp and bright, a perfect match for such a great burger.

While we've had a few outstanding burgers so far this year -- right now I think the burger at Newstead is the one to beat. I can't wait to give it another go.

Burger Of The Month - The Royale

For the ninth time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a humid Sunday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me this go around were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and Kyle Harsha (Sippin' Saint Louis / Harsha Wines).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the September Burger of the Month from The Royale.

Guest Post - Michael Sweeney Checks In From The Old Fashioned

I'm been really lucky to have several guests contribute burger posts to this site over the past year. Joining the fold of friends who will forever have a home here is Michael Sweeney, who runs the site STL Hops and checks in with a burger review from a recent trip to Madison, Wisconsin.

Mike writes:

“We take eighteen ounces of sizzling ground beef, and then soak it in rich creamery butter. Then we top it off with bacon, ham and a fried egg.  We call it the Good Morning Burger”  The Simpsons - "Bart's Friend Falls in Love", May 7, 1992

The Setup:

Back in July, Andrew, Bill Burge, Kelli Best-Oliver and myself were having yet another lovely lunch at The Good Pie.  Somehow over the course of the conversation I mentioned that I was heading to the Great Taste of the Midwest in Madison, WI.

Never losing an opportunity to further the gospel of the Church of Burger, Andrew immediately replied, "You have to go to The Old Fashioned, you have to get the #30, and you have to get it with cheese curds."  Never missing the opportunity enjoy cheese curds and a burger, I immediately accepted the offer of $0.00 to take on this job.

The name The Old Fashioned isn't so much about a drink as it is about a way of life.  It's about a time before homogenized food being delivered on trucks from around the country.  It's about local.  As a beer guy, it was amazingly refreshing to look over a beer list and to not recognize 25 of the 29 beers they have to offer.  It was also nice to know my burger was local and grass-fed.

Our lunch at The Old Fashioned did not quite start how I would have liked.  As Madison has a pretty busy downtown area, parking always looks to present a challenge.  Thankfully, most of the time it's not very difficult to find and in fact, I found a parking garage a block away for this trip.  The unfortunate part is that a thunderstorm had begun to rip through the area and I walked through a monsoon to eat a burger.

I wish I had snapped some more photos of the interior of The Old Fashioned, but frankly, I was just happy to be dry and wanted to eat.  It's not that the interior is all that impressive, in fact, the front dining room could really be that of any family-style restaurant in the area.  But the bar area did hold a bit of a rustic charm that does seem to be missing in many St. Louis bars.

Here's how The Old Fashioned describes the #30:

The Old Fashioned House Burger-grilled over a live fire and topped with fried onions, Bavaria's hickory-smoked bacon, aged Cheddar, garlic sauce and a soft-cooked egg on a buttered and toasted roll.

So, while it's not quite the Good Morning Burger that was referenced above, it's pretty damned close.

Behold the #30 burger from The Old Fashioned:

What Is The Perfect Size Burger?

Its been nine months since I began my search to find the best burger in St. Louis. I've made some great new friends and found more than a few new burger joints that I can't wait to try again. I've eaten a lot of hamburgers -- probably two or three times my normal monthly intake. 

For a while I was really into tackling double and triple burgers like the one pictured above from the Penguin Drive In. Hand formed patties stacked one on top of another, a straight up gastronomical challenge. Cut them in half, squish them down or attack them sideways, these burgers are a blast to eat. However, if my waistline and wife have anything to say about it - these burgers can't be eaten all the time. 

I have always had a soft spot in my heart for the smashed burger -- I probably always will -- but not because they are the best a burger can be. Truth be told I love the smashed burger because of what it was and where it comes from -- roadside mom and pop joints that slowly disappeared once the interstate highway system carved the countryside into long ribbons of asphalt punctuated by exits offering the same burgers and pumps of gas every ten miles.

There is no getting around it, after eating all these burgers I know what I like and what I don't. The basics for a good burger are simple. It needs to be at least 20% fat. It needs to be seasoned, salt the friend of a good burger. Lastly, it also needs to be charred over a flame or cast iron. 

So we have my basic requirements -- but whats the perfect size for a burgers patty? A quarter pound? A half? Bigger? Smaller?

Drop me a note in the comments section and let me know what size patty you think makes for the perfect burger.

Burger Of The Month - Brasserie by Niche

For the eighth time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on an oppressively hot and humid Sunday (and Friday, but more on that later). This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me this go around were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and Evan Benn (St. Louis Post Dispatch / Lager Heads).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the August Burger of the Month from Brasserie by Niche.

The Setup:

For eight months I've been sneaking into bars and restaurants around St. Louis with the goal of eating a hamburger and reporting back on it. To my knowledge our groups have yet to be made. That changed with our visit to Brasserie.

There had been talk all month within our group on the best way to approach this visit given Brasseries' linage to the award winning restaurant Niche and its James Beard Award nominated executive chef Gerard Craft. Expectations were high for the burger at Brasserie and it was a safe bet that several members of our group would be known to the staff and owners. To counter this, reservations were made under a false name, which seemed to make sense to me at the time, but in the end would do little to help hide us once we began to arrive. Indeed, if we were not made as we filed in it most likely happened when our entire table placed orders for the Brasserie Burger -- temped medium to medium rare and topped with blue d'auvergne cheese, red onion and arugula. My burger order was the only outlier, requested medium rare and without the blue cheese.

As we awaited our burgers we enjoyed brunch cocktails and passed beignets with homemade cheese and salads of frisee with lardons and poached eggs. My burger was second to arrive even though I had ordered last -- and it was topped with a healthy dollop of blue cheese. I quickly ran though all the reasonable options I had; eating the burger as it was served or sending it back, which I decided was the best option. Without a word my plate was removed and whisked back to the kitchen.

If there was any doubt that we had been made before this misstep, it was gone now as our server to diner ratio quickly went from 1:6 to 1:2. Behind a flurry of servers I could see the manager directing traffic to and from our table. Next a long wooden cutting board with thick slices of coffee cake appeared in the center of our table. The manager leaned in to give me a time of arrival for my burger and to introduce another dish for us to try -- this time grapefruit halves topped with sugar and torched like a creme brulee.

My burger arrived as promised and there is no getting around it -- it was near perfect. It was also on the house. As I dug into this burger I began plotting my return to Brasserie to try this burger again, with a critical eye to the differences between my second chance burger and one ordered at a later date.

In the spirit of full disclosure, the pictures in this post (graciously provided by Jonathan Pollack) are from our Sunday visit. My review will focus on the burger I ate on my second visit, made a week later.

With the back story out of the way, I'd like to present the Brasserie Burger:

The Patty:

Hand forming a patty will not guarantee a great burger. However, when its done correctly -- loosely packing ground beef containing a good amount of fat and more salt that you think is required -- hand forming a patty will get you more than halfway there. For me, Brasserie gets it right. The patty is touched only enough to get the job done and was cooked a shade past medium rare. Each bite actually tasted of beef, had ample juice without being greasy and was well seasoned. Solid effort all around.

Tasters offered:

"Juicy and well-seasoned. Other than Sweet Art, this is probably the first Church of Burger sampling that I would actually return to eat. Appreciated the hand-formed patty. Only quibble was that it was slightly overdone.

"The patty was delivered as ordered, a perfect medium rare. The predominant flavor in this patty (if one can call it a flavor) was saltiness; the chef's heavy hand coupled with the cheese's salinity made me keep my water well within reach as I ate this burger."

"Good lean/fat mixture, probably in the 80% realm. Cooked accurately to temp."

"The patty was pretty plump. Mine was not cooked to medium rare as I ordered, but it was still a bit pink. The moisture was good... it was juicy but not greasy. It tasted meaty, and had a good texture... had some bite to it without being tough, like maybe the grind was more course than average."

"Because I knew that I would be reporting on the patty, I made a large effort to taste it solo.  I kept ripping off bites of the patty by itself, letting them sit on my tongue and focusing hard.  Sadly, I could taste nothing but salt.  Was the patty just that salty, or did my tongue have a coating of salt on it like glitter on a birthday card from the over-the-top salty fries?  It's hard to say. Also, my burger was dry.  I ordered a medium burger and received a well-done burger.  No sign of pink anywhere."

"A perfect medium-rare, with juices running wild but being expertly caught by the bun - more on that later. This was a beefy, well-seasoned patty. At about 1/3 lb (my estimate), it was the right size and contained the right meat-fat ratio to keep me filled up for the rest of the day without knocking me out of commission."

Caramelization:

Brasserie has put a lot of thought and effort into their burger, including how it is prepared. Like the best burgers we've tried this year, the burger is placed onto high heat and left there until its time to flip it over. What is left is a dark and flavorful crust that provides not only additional flavor but a welcome line of demarcation between the bun and the patty for the teeth to pass though. Well done.

Diners commented:

"Good char."

"I didn't see grill marks (the patty was covered by its bun and pre-placed toppings) but I tasted proper searing: crunchy bits of caramelized beef among bites of soft, juicy meat."

"Charred just enough to seal in its flavor."

"This was a fattier meat, so there wasn't much of a crunchy sear on it."

The Toppings:

My burger was topped with a fresh bed of arugula and pickled red onions -- providing a crisp, sweet and sour foil to the well seasoned patty. In a world where burgers can be topped with a dizzying array of toppings, the simplicity and balance provided by the addition of arugula and pickles, even if they are onions, is pretty hard to beat.

Tasters commented:

"I found a couple of bites to be too salty, and I believe that the blue cheese was the culprit.  But overall, the onions and cheese were a terrific pairing with the burger."

"I loved the texture, taste, and look of the pickled onions and arugula, but their flavors were unfortunately completely overpowered by the inescapable salty elements served as their burger companions."

"The best part of my burger was the pickled onions.  Pickled onions are a unique alternative to the standard caramelized onions and they added a nice sweetness to the burger."

"I wish, more than anything, that the Brasserie burger could be had with more "stuff" and different cheese. The blue they use is good -- if you're in the mood for it -- but some of those French blues get a gritty texture that I sometimes find kind of unappealing.  Of my two burgers, one I was in the mood for some funky blue and pickled onions, the other I couldn't help but wonder what kind of greatness the Brasserie Burger would have achieved stacked high with more lettuce, a juicy slice of tomato, maybe a nice sharp cheddar and some raw onions.  If that were an option, I'd probably eat it once a week."

"I was not a fan of the toppings, but that's just because I don't love blue cheese, so I'd forgo those next time."

"Sharp blue cheese, peppery arugula and delightfully pickled onions? What is this, a burger or art? The answer: both. The blue melted into the patty just enough to add a creamy, tangy effect that both enhanced the fatty flavor and cut through it. I'm an unabashed late-season arugula fan, so that was a pleasure compared to watery iceberg lettuce. And the onions - whoa. Speaking from experience, pickled onions either aren't pickled enough - leaving too much of an unpleasant raw-onion aftertaste - or they're over-pickled, burning the eater's mouth with vinegar bite. This batch struck the right balance. I know this endeavor is about the burger, not the toppings, but in the case of the Brasserie burger, the extra attention paid to the accouterments elevated the meal from good to great."

"The bleu cheese was tasty on its own; however, the salt of the cheese just added to the salt fest of burger + fries and made me crave liquid.  It's a good thing that Brasserie makes some stellar drinks."

The Bun:

There is no getting around it -- a burger that throws off juice needs a bun that holds its composure as it is mangled, cut in half and hefted back and forth between a plate and a waiting mouth. For me, a great burger has to have a solid bun that plays its position without overshadowing its payload. The Brasserie bun does this job in spades. Its sturdy without being dense, soft without breaking down under pressure. Because it does its job so well, it is sadly forgettable when the whole burger is considered. Team player.

Tasters thought:

"Served on a very nice, challaesque bun that was indeed toasted for once -- and not just as a cursory afterthought."

"Brasserie's burger's bun rivaled the best buns we've tried so far for Church of Burger.  The outside was toasted and flaky and the innards were soft.  It easily supported the burger and didn't overpower it."

"The bun was fine. It was kind of light and airy but strong enough to handle the burger. I don't know if it would survive a greasier or bigger burger, but it was made just right for the Brasserie Burger."

"Not too doughy, and yet not dry or crumbly. It did a yeoman's work of sopping up those flowing juices while retaining its shape and structure. As a bun should, this version proved to be an excellent burger-delivery vessel without getting in the way of the burger itself."

"The first thing I noticed about the burger was its bun, showcasing the chef's outstanding taste in bread and toasted to perfection: its crust crumbled ever so slightly when held and it easily absorbed the burger's juices without giving way."

The Verdict:

I'm walking a thin line this month. We were undoubtedly made early in our visit. When my order was wrong we were taken care of with a level of concern, attention and hospitality that left me grateful and appreciative for the service.

Beyond these things that complicate the issue, I really enjoyed this burger. It had all the elements that I'm looking for in a great burger -- good beef, fat, salt, thoughtful toppings, a good bun. I feel like all these items were present in both burgers, and they were in balance. If I lived or worked in the area I can see myself eating this burger on a regular basis and being happy about it, which in the end might be the hardest test a great burger needs to pass.

I was struck by several flavors of feedback that I got from our group. There are those in attendance who feel that this burger is overdone, especially with the seasoning of the patty and the inclusion of a strong blue cheese. While I disagree with that observation, I understand the perspective. Then there are a few in the group who took another approach to the topic, commenting on the idea that a burger has been included on a menu of classic French cooking -- suggesting something deeper -- the relationship between a burger and the restaurant that serves it:

"If the point of Brasserie is to make solid renditions of French classics. They already broke the rules. Thanks to McDonald's, a burger is as American as it gets. But then again, I'm no dummy, and I'm aware the French have apparently fallen in love with the burger over the last few years. And really, why wouldn't they fall in love?  A good burger is a thing to behold. So simple and delicious yet somehow, so easy to screw up as we have witnessed many times this year. So instead of complaining, I think I'll applaud the fact that for once in this town, somebody took the "fuck you" approach and said, "This is what our burger is. If you don't like it, order something else."

Indeed. I for one will be revisiting this burger again. Until next month.

August Burger Of The Month - Brasserie By Niche

August finds us with just five burgers left in this challenge to find the best burger in St. Louis. This time we'll be hitting up Brasserie by Niche in the Central West End, a gastropub focusing on traditional menu of French standards in addition to dishes that change daily.

Residing on that ever evolving menu is the Brasserie Burger, topped with blue d'auvergne cheese, red onion and served with fries on the side. As always I'll be ordering mine with no cheese, cooked medium rare.

We will be traveling light this month -- with just the folks who have been with me since the beginning, and I'll be hoping that we don't get made at the door when we show up. Perhaps we'll have to dig up some costumes for several members of our party - even if they are only finger mustaches drawn with black Sharpies.

Stay tuned for the update. Cheers.

July Burger Of The Month - Llywelyn's Pub

For the seventh time this year I rounded up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and Kyle Harsha (Sippin' Saint Louis / Epiphany Wines).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the July Burger of the Month from Llywelyn's Pub.

The Setup:

There are handful of Llywelyn's locations in St. Louis, but for me the Central West End restaurant speaks to what a Welsh pub should be -- old, dark and decked out in well worn wood from the floorboards to the bar back.

Our group grabbed a table in the dining room, ordering drinks and swapping stories before digging into the burger section of our menus. Personally I was looking for the "Pub Burger" -- a pan seared patty topped with caramelized onion, bacon, sharp cheddar cheese on a thick English muffin -- or more specifically a host of toppings that are out of bounds for this burger quest.

As folks voted for the Pub Burger in numbers, I would have to order it, requesting no cheese and onions and bacon on the side. Given that I knew I was taking the things that make the Pub Burger good off of the dish -- I hoped for lettuce, onion and a good July tomato -- the toppings that normally come on the side of a burger but are in no way a required accouterment.

Around the table folks ordered Pub Burgers and the self titled "Llywelyn's Burger" topped with onions, mushrooms, bacon, cheddar and rarebit before returning to conversations about babies, vacations and bachelorette parties. In short order plates began to appear on our table and we dug into our burgers.

Behold the Pub Burger from Llywelyn's Pub:

The Patty:

The burger at Llywelyn's is without a doubt hand made. The patty I was served was loosely packed and oblong -- almost as if it was missing a piece and reminding me of the kind of burger you pull off of a grill at home. I ordered my burger medium rare and that is how it arrived - a thick band of red and pink beef visible with each bite. The patty tossed off some juice early in the eating, but not enough to make the bun hard to handle. Like many of the burgers we've tried this year, this burger lacked the salt that is required for a really good burger. Seasoning was sorely missed.

Tasters commented:

"I was a bit skeptical when I first saw my burger - the patty didn't look pretty. Perhaps that's where Llywelyn's got things right. They didn't focus on having a burger that looked like a round disk, they focused on a burger that tasted like a burger should taste. This burger made me happy. It had salt, but not too much, it was well seasoned, it was prepared to a perfect medium as I ordered it, it had grease (but the grease didn't ooze out of it and dribble down my face), and (while this wouldn't please everyone) the burger was smaller than some of the other ones we've had so it didn't leave me feeling overly stuffed."

"The patty was bigger than the bun, but that's not a big deal. The patty was cooked a little more than the medium rare I requested, but still had some pink. I tried to taste a non-rarebit section to see if the patty itself was seasoned, and it was. It was kind of dry, though."

"I appreciate a hand-formed patty so much. Here was no different. If a patty is hand-formed, I feel like it doesn't matter if it's a little overcooked, which mine was. However, it was the closest to mid-rare I've had yet for Church of Burger."

"Hand-formed, seasoned with care, juicy but not disgusting, and served at the temperature ordered"

"My burger was basically not seasoned. Thank god it wasn't a preformed patty again, but it did seem to have been packed a bit tight as the texture was a bit stiff. Ordered mid-rare, it was once again medium. That's closer than most places so I won't fault them for that because I'm not sure I could do better. It wasn't very juicy though which makes me wonder if they mashed it down."

"Bland. It just didn't seem to have any seasoning on it at all, could have really used some salt. I did appreciate the fact that it was a hand-formed patty though. Of course, I got the pub burger, so it seemed like the beef was simply a delivery vessel for the cheese and other stuff. I ordered medium rare, and that's exactly what I got."

"Fairly juicy, but could have really used a dose of salting."

Caramelization:

For me, the best way to really get a char on the burger is to slap it down on a rocket hot cast iron skillet. True to their advertising, the Pub Burger lacks the familiar hash marks of the grill in favor of a even swath of dark crust. Overall the person preparing this burger did a decent job balancing charring the burger against satisfying a medium rare order.

Tasters offered:

"The patty had a good char on it."

"Charred to perfection."

"Minimal "crunch" when biting into it.  I would have liked more sear to it."

The Toppings:

For the last six months I've been eating plain burgers as they come - with lettuce, onion, pickle and tomato. This is the first burger where I had to specifically ask to leave the toppings off - namely the onions and bacon, which I asked for on the side. I also asked for no cheese per all my previous orders. Essentially I asked for a plain Pub Burger, which was confirmed by our waitress. Sadly my burger arrived with the bacon on the side and onions on the patty, which I moved off to the side. However, this was a small issue compared to what came next. It was apparent from the entrails on the plate and the bottom of the patty and bun that this burger originally had cheese on it. Cheese that was semi-melted into the patty and bun and then pulled off before the plate left the kitchen. Unacceptable, lazy and annoying.

Others suggested:

"Big ups for the rarebit. I will eat almost anything smothered in the tangy, cheesy, savory ambrosia of Llywelyn's rarebit."

"Rarebit = delicious liquid crack."

"Annoying was the fact that I honestly couldn't taste much of the cheese and, those onions...the ones that were supposed to be fucking caramelized when really they were just sauteed because caramelizing onions is a multi-hour investment few restaurants actually take the time to do--couldn't taste them. Might as well not have been there."

"Rarebit should be on everything. It's hard to judge the burger itself, because I mostly tasted this delicious cheese and beer sauce. I believe the rarebit was mostly responsible for me enjoying the burger. It added flavor, saltiness and moisture."

"Bacon on a burger is typically like a hot guy at a party who doesn't bother to dress up because he knows he looks good in anything. It just sits on the burger and expects you to like it even if it's sad and soggy. The bacon on my pub burger, however, was classy. I received two large strips of it on the side of my burger - each crispy and flavorful enough to stand on its own without the meat. Other bacon could learn a thing of two from these fine fellows."

The Bun:

The Llywelyn's Pub Burger rides inside a thick English muffin that is slathered in a fat and grilled on a flat top. The bun is dense enough to handle the juice thrown off by the patty, but beyond that it adds little to the overall burger besides being different from other burgers. Overall it is pretty standard, if judged against other English muffins.

Tasters commented:

"The bun was slightly toasted and held up to the large (but not juicy) burger."

"Often, I am disappointed with sandwiches served on English muffins - the muffins come out too buttery, overcooked, and smashed flat so that the ratio of bread to meat is all wrong. Llywelyn's got their English muffin right. It was buttered, but not overly so, and it had the proper girth to support the burger. This was no egg McMuffin English muffin. I would choose their English muffin over most buns in town."

"My "toasted" English Muffin also wasn't toasted so it appears that Llywelyn's likes to skip out on several of their menu items. Already not a fan of an English Muffin as a vehicle for a burger, it's even worse when it's just dry and bready."

"I liked the english muffin, but I could taste the fat used to grill the muffins, and it was distractingly artificial--like margarine."

"Although I appreciate the fact that they were using an english muffin, it could have been toasted more. Mine was almost undone. Plus, the greased soaked through it and made the bottom half fall apart 1/2 way through eating."

The Verdict:

Readers voted the Pub Burger at Llywelyn's the sixth best burger in St. Louis and several in our group seemed to agree. However, I'm inclined to disagree with the crowd on this one. True - with onions and crispy bacon it is elevated a bit, but this is not the Church of Toppings - its the Church of Burger. Stripped down it is sadly average at best. Points are given for being hand formed and seared on a skillet, but points are taken away for a lack of seasoning and the aforementioned issue with the cheese placed and then removed from my burger.

I'm left thinking about one comment I received, suggesting that this was "a serviceable burger". Indeed as a burger it does fulfill its function in an adequate manner, but is that really enough to be the best burger in St. Louis?

I think not. The search continues.

Burger Of The Month - Llywelyn's Pub

July brings us to the second half of my search for the best burger in St. Louis. True, the past few months saw burgers that were voted for in large numbers, but the remaining burgers seemed to show up in every submission - including the "Pub Burger" from Llywelyn's Pub. 

The Pub Burger is a pan seared patty topped with caramelized onions, strips of crispy bacon and sharp cheddar cheese -- served on a toasted English muffin. In full disclosure I've had this burger several times at several different Llywelyn's locations. I also wrote about it in October of 2008 if you would like to check out what I thought about it then.

I can say that when the Pub Burger is good, it is very good. But I've also tried this burger outside of the Central West End and Soulard neighborhood locations and it has been not so very good. Sad but true. Therefore we will be sticking with the Central West End and Soulard as potential locations this month.

I'm really excited to revisit this burger and see where it shakes out amongst the good ones we've already eaten and the crowd favorites that have yet to come. I hope you check back later this month to find out.

The One Where The Church of Burger Veered Off Into Food Porn

Each month Jonathan Pollack drags his camera out with the Church of Burger and takes tons of awesome pictures that never seem to make it into actual posts. So I figured to celebrate completing six months of the Church and Jonathan's photos I would careen off the road into the dark realm of food porn. 

With any luck this will totally suck -- awesomely.

June Burger Of The Month - The Fatted Calf

For the sixth time this year I rounded up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a sweltering Friday night. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), return guest Jeff Lash (Twitter) and first timer Corey Woodruff (Corey Woodruff Photography).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the June Burger of the Month from the Fatted Calf.

The Setup:

The Fatted Calf was actually closed when I asked for burger suggestions back in January because of a fire that gutted the kitchen the previous fall. While it was clear that the Fatted Calf would indeed reopen, it was not clear that it would happen before its June date with the Church of Burger. It was indeed a risk to leave it in the voting, but given the citywide love of the Calf Burger, I felt that we should give it the shot at being the best burger in St. Louis that it had rightfully earned.

The Fatted Calf sits among the office buildings and specialty shops that line the streets of Clayton, its dark wood and cafeteria vibe are in stark contrast to its surroundings. In this affluent part of the city, the Calf shows that even the well healed enjoy to slum it, not only for a quick lunch but in the early dinner hours of a Friday night.

We filtered in one by one and commandeered a long table near the front windows. While we waited for a critical mass to head up and place our orders, a member of our party offered up that the Fatted Calf reminded him of the kind of place where one should swill beer from large goblets. I found myself nodding in agreement, but adding a dusty suit of armor in the corner and a well placed Hobbit to my own visualization of the space.

We proceeded to the back of the restaurant and got in line for our burgers, ordering from a large board running the length of the counter. To a person our group ordered variations of the "Calf Burger", a 1/3 lb. patty of choice beef, charbroiled to order and served with a selection of house made relishes, pickles and onions -- raw or grilled. As always I ordered a Calf Burger cooked medium rare with raw onions and pickles, while others opted to add soft cheddar, blue cheese, lettuce, tomato, mushrooms and bacon. Readers had recommended the milk shake so several of us upped the caloric ante and ordered shakes with whipped cream.

Moving down the line to order drinks and sides, we were able to watch the grill-man pull packages of pre-made patties out of a cooler and slap them down on a well worn and rocket hot grill. At the end of the counter we paid, were given small numbered table signs and then proceeded back to our table to wait for our burgers. In short order paper trays containing burgers, french fries and onion rings were delivered and we dug into the much heralded Calf Burger.

Behold the Calf Burger from The Fatted Calf:

The Patty:

There is no getting around it -- the Calf Burger is not a hand made burger. It is uniform, round,  thick and machine pressed. Watching the grill-man work I did not see him season my patty before throwing it on the grill. While the burger was seasoned at some point during preparation, I thought it could use more salt. I also felt that my burger, cooked to a perfect pink medium rare, lacked the juice that I expect in a good burger. It is safe to assume the lack of moisture stems from the pre-made nature of the Calf Burger. As I worked on this burger I found myself longing for both missing keys to burger success - salt and fat. 

Tasters commented:

"The Fatted Calf's web site proudly calls out, "Tradition. Family. Soft Cheddar." A wiser person than myself would immediately conclude that their priorities are therefore not 'Fresh. Flavorful. Hand-Formed Patties.'"

"Cooked perfectly (ordered medium rare) but rubbery texture and freakishly round.  Like perfectly round. Almost no seasoning or flavor to speak of."

"I'm not going to go as far as saying the burger sucked, it didn't, it just wasn't memorable in any way. Couple the fact that the burger looked to be a pre-formed, frozen patty it becomes clear that whatever former-glory "The Calf" might have previously had, it's glory days are over."

"Fatted Calf was the first Church of Burger joint to actually deliver a mid-rare burger when ordered as such, for which I am grateful. However, it needed seasoning."

"The burger lacked any substance or texture - surprising, considering that juice was slowly oozing down onto my plate paper food boat. If it had been seasoned, I could not detect even a slight hint of it."

"This was the burger that made me question why I agreed to eat all of these burgers.  I left feeling gross about what I had just put into my body.  Whose favorite burger is this, and why?"

"The Patty -- it's pre-made. That's just a fact. It's not going to taste the same as a hand-formed burger and you shouldn't be expecting it to. For a "cookie cutter" patty, though, I found it to be very tasty. I ordered it medium though it was much more pink/red than I expected. It was still delicious."

"I ordered my burger medium and it came out dry - no pink at all, and no juice. Since all I could taste were the mushrooms, I decided to try picking off a piece of the burger to try on its own.  After that, I was almost glad for my salty topping - almost. How could Andrew eat that burger without any toppings?  The burger had no taste.  I might as well have been eating the plastic piece of fake meat that came in my son's make-believe grocery cart."

Caramelization:

The grill at the Fatted Calf is hot, hot enough that welcome and noticeable wisps of smoke appeared around the burger and wafted into the air around it. Patties are thrown on the grill and they stay there, turned once and finished leaving a great set of marks. Job well done.

Tasters offered:

"Carmalization was present but not overpowering. To be honest, I didn't really notice it, which is a positive in my book. Just enough to give it a bit of a crunch, not too much to steal the flavor."

"Nice grill marks but no trace of the crusty searing I like on a burger."

"The 1/3 pound burger boasted grill marks and tasted appropriately charred"

The Toppings:

Relish, pickles and onion make a Calf Burger. Additional accouterments will cost you $0.65 to $1.25 extra per topping and quickly turn a $5.00 burger into a $7.00 burger with the simple addition of cheese, lettuce, tomato. As they are not standard equipment on the Calf Burger I was spared the mealy and bland tomatoes that have plagued every burger we've tried so far this year. In its place were mounds of raw onion and pickles. While excessive, they did make for a tasty contrast to the patty and helped to take my mind off the lack of salt and juice. 

Tasters commented:

"While the cheese scoop was the same size as the one at Michael's, at Michael's you had almost twice as much burger to spread it on. Additionally, the burger at Michael's, all 10 mother fucking ounces of it, was a quarter more.  As it came with lettuce, tomato, onion at no charge --  it actually cost less.  That's kind of crazy when you think about it."

"Thank the burger Gods for the bacon and blue cheese I opted to include."

"I chose to follow a standard burger order: plain with just cheese. Unfortunately, the crust-less burger combined with the scoop cheddar and nondescript bun means I encountered a mouth full of mush. No textural contrast at all."

"Pretty much every burger I've ever ordered - even at those non-locally owned fast food joints - came with lettuce and tomato. When I saw the pile of lettuce and tomato behind the counter at The Fatted Calf, I never imagined that it was considered a topping available for purchase for $0.65.  Had I read the sign, I would have known.  But why would I think to look?  My burger simply went without lettuce and tomato.  While I can take blame for not reading when it comes to the lettuce and tomato, the restaurant is at fault for not pointing out that their cheddar is soft cheddar."

"A la carte pricing is ridiculous and expensive.  I ordered bacon and blue cheese on mine and was rewarded with very crispy strips of bacon (deep fried?) and soft blue cheese crumbles.  Both added a much needed dose of flavor to the otherwise bland burger."

"I went straight up, just ketchup. Call me a heretic but this way I got the full flavor of the burger."

"I smothered the tasteless patty with bacon, mushrooms, raw onions, and delightful scooped soft cheddar."

"Any liquid that the burger had was from the mushrooms - and let's talk about those mushrooms.  When I took my first bite of the burger, all I could taste was mushroom.  I couldn't taste any beef flavor or grilled onion or even swiss cheese.  I couldn't figure it out.  I always order mushrooms on my burger and they always play a supporting role; never had they tried to make a play for the lead.  What was different?  Some table discussion led to the conclusion that these mushrooms were from a can.  Sad.  While someone bemoaned the fact the burger didn't have enough salt, my canned mushrooms had so much salt that any salt in my burger would have made me feel like I was eating seawater.   There is really no excuse for not using fresh or even frozen mushrooms."

The Bun:

For me, the Calf Burger bun may be the best we've seen so far -- doughy and more than up to the task of transporting the patty and its toppings from start to finish. I really would have liked to have seen how this classic kaiser roll held up to a really juicy burger. Top shelf.

Tasters offered:

"Very good. Exactly the same diameter as the burger--a good thing, in my opinion.  Very soft and bread-like texture, thick enough to handle a lot of toppings without being too hard to handle (or fit in my mouth)."

"To their credit, I think this was the first bun that really worked with the burger.  The bun stayed intact throughout my whole meal.  That being said, my burger didn't exactly put the bun to the test." 

"The bun was a nice treat. Substantial, flavorful yet not noteworthy in any particular way. It did its job and didn't try to steal the show."

"The juices were plentiful and were collected nicely by the top third of the bottom bun. It didn't soak all the way through, though it was definitely collecting some good juice, like a wet sponge. The combination of the fresh bun and the juices formed a nice yummy layer of juicy/soggy bun that added an extra layer of flavor between the burger and bottom bun. This is one of the few times I'd use the word "soggy" in a good way."

"The lightly-toasted bun held up extremely well to my onslaught of toppings mingling with the burger's grease."

The Verdict:

Readers voted the Calf Burger from the Fatted Calf in numbers but I'm left wondering why? Really -- it is a fast food burger. Viewed though that lens the Calf Burger compares to the burger from Five Guys and stomps on the nuts of anything The Clown or The King have to offer -- but this is a search for the best burger in St. Louis. While the best burger is undoubtedly one that you can see yourself having on a regular basis, its probably not a fast food burger.

In the end I've left with the weighty comments of two of our dining companions:

"More than anything, I remember liking The Fatted Calf many years ago and I hope, I really do, that it used to be better. Otherwise I have no idea what I was thinking before." 

"Fatted calf is a metaphor related to rejoicing for someone's long-awaited return; I can only conclude that the restaurant is appropriately named as I will not be going back for their burger for quite some time."

It seems the search continues. Until next month.

Burger of The Month - The Fatted Calf

Its hard to believe that we are wrapping up the first half of this quest to find the best burger in St. Louis with a stop at the The Fatted Calf.   

I'm excited that we were able to include the Fatted Calf as it got a ton of votes -- even though it was closed during the voting because of a fire last fall that left the venerable St. Louis landmark sidelined. I left the Calf in the running because the owner seemed determined to reopen. I'd say it ended up being a risk worth taking.

Weighing in at 1/3 of a pound the "Calf Burger" is charbroiled to order before being topped with a section of house made relishes, pickles and onions. Cheese lovers in the group can again indulge in scoops of soft cheddar on their burgers should they choose. Alas I'll be taking down my Calf Burger as it comes.

I can't wait to give the Calf Burger at the Fatted Calf a try, but as we get into the burgers in our competition that got votes by the fist-full, I can't help by have my expectations rise as well. However, after last month, it appears that the burger eating crowds here in St. Louis are pretty wise indeed.

May Burger Of The Month - Michael's Bar & Grill

For the fifth time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger, this time on the first real steamy Sunday of the year. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me were Church of Burger alumni Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), project photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and first timers Kyle Harsha (Sippin' Saint Louis) and Evan Benn (St. Louis Post Dispatch / Lager Heads).

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the May Burger of the Month from Michael's Bar & Grill.

The Setup:

Michael's Bar & Grill resides inside a nondescript brick building in the St. Louis suburb of Maplewood. If it was not for the green awning running along the front of the restaurant, it would be all to easy to pass Michael's by -- it's largely indistinguishable from the other store fronts running along Manchester Avenue.

Passing through a small patio area and into the front door, Michael's opens up into a bar and several dining areas. An open kitchen runs along the wall, providing views of the grill and a tall spit turning a healthy slab of gyro meat. Once you move past the bar section, which doubles as the smoking section, a heady scent of grill takes over -- a mixture of smoke, char and spice that speaks to the Greek lineage of Michael's. It is in many ways a classic diner, albeit it is dressed up a bit.

Our group assembled in the bar area before moving to the first of several table arrangements for our party of eight, eventually ending up towards the back of the restaurant where tall piles of used plates waited for washing in large plastic bins. The amount of cleanup hiding just out of sight of most customers was a bit surprising to me as we had arrived and were seated a few minutes after the advertised opening time.

Our inauspicious dining location aside, we quickly dug into the menu to assess our burger options. Around the table almost everyone ordered up the house specialty -- The Michael Burger -- topped with scoops of soft cheddar, thick cuts of feta and grilled mushrooms. Burgers were ordered rare to medium rare. As usual I ordered the Michael Burger as is came, medium rare and paired with lettuce, a while slice of onion and several pickle strips.

In true diner fashion glasses were refilled long before they were fully drained. It seemed that there was a never ending stream of pitchers moving around the room, which was nice at first but quickly became an annoyance. The smell of burgers arrived a few seconds before the actual plates, as if to announce to all that these massive 10 oz monsters (after cooking) had arrived.

Behold the Michael's Burger from Michael's Bar & Grill:

   

The Patty:

The Michael Burger is advertised as 10 ounces of hand formed chopped sirloin, which upon inspection is more than accurate. Its a really big burger. What is not advertised is that 3 ounces of the Michael Burger are most likely fat, which makes for an incredibly juicy / greasy burger. The patty was seasoned well enough, but I could have used more salt to match all the fat in the burger. The patty was cooked a perfect medium rare. Its honestly one of the better looking beef patties that we've seen so far this year.

Tasters commented:

"At 10oz, this is one of the biggest burgers in St. Louis. It's right at the line where going any bigger edges into a comedic territory where going bigger means Eating Contest. And really, who the fuck needs even a 10oz burger?"

"Unfortunately, my medium rare request was fulfilled medium well. Again. Will no one serve me a mid-rare burger in this town?"

"This is my favorite "meat" burger so far.  It's not the kind of burger I would normally want to eat, because it's insanely fatty, but it's the kind of thing I'll definitely be indulging in again."

"I appreciated the option of a 5 oz. Junior Deluxe burger. The Junior burger is nice when you only want to take a small nap after lunch rather than being in a meat coma for the remainder of the day."

"This is the first burger I've had on the quest that was temped exactly as I ordered it and, looking around the table, it appeared that everyone's burger was accurately cooked."

"The patty seemed to be hand-formed. As I grasped that 10oz burger in my hand, the juices dripped down and covered the plate below...the temperature is spot-on: rare, as ordered."

"It's the kind of food you wish you could get till 2:00AM because it would go down smooth with a heavy dose of intoxication.  It reminded me of the type of burger you'd get at any number of college hangouts only at Michael's, it was cooked right."

"I like just a bit more "snap" when biting into the patty - it seemed a bit mushy. Seasoning was fine, maybe could have used a touch more salt &pepper. I think I'm still sweating the grease."

"I ordered my burger medium and there was no pink at all."

"This is a burger to eat at 3 am, after consuming vast amounts of beer and Jack."

"The 10-oz monster was too beefy for its bun, leaving about a 2-inch protrusion poking out of the bread. The menu claims the meat is chopped sirloin, but I couldn't really tell a difference in consistency or flavor from ground beef. That said, it was definitely a flavorful, satisfying burger -- cooked an as-ordered medium-rare with the juices running wild and attractive grill marks on the exterior."

"The patty - was heeeYUGE and shiny. Mine was cooked perfectly, medium-rare. So juicy. I noticed several of the church-goers using forks towards the end of theirs. I never resorted to that, but it sure was a messy meal, which I like. I napped hard for nearly 3 hours after eating it...and I hadn't even eaten the whole thing!"

"The only flavor present in this patty is beef; I don't detect salt, pepper, garlic, or the Greek seasoning that my mind somehow misappropriated to Michael's burger."

"A huge fatty burger is like a special occasion wine. The once-a-year bottle as apposed to the Tuesday bottle." The Michael's burger is the finest special occasion burger I've had outside of the Kuma Burger at Kuma's Corner in Chicago."

"The burger had no flavor. It not only wasn't seasoned, as far as I could tell, but the meat itself didn't seem to have flavor. The predominant flavor was grease. Grease to me is different than juice. Burger juice is full of flavor and comes out when you take a bite. Grease hovers on the outside of the burger like lube and leaves me feeling like I should do penance by eating nothing but vegetables for the next three days."

 

Caramelization:

Without a doubt the fat contained within this burger leads to the impressive char on the patty. I would have liked to see one cooked as it must throw off an amazing show of flames when the fat drips out of the patty and meets the fire of the grill. The clean and well defined hashmark pattern on the patty suggests an experienced grill person is at the helm and they understand how to cook such a fatty piece of meat without scorching it.

Diners observed:

"Good char on this burger"

"I am not a huge fan of the heavily grilled burger, typically, but this one had a ton of grill flavor that went well with all that fat.  It reminded me of a huge Steak 'n Shake burger, cooked to temp, which makes sense in that they said it was "ground sirloin" on the menu."

"My burger didn't have much caramelization that I could tell... it was well cooked and tasted good, It just didn't have any crunchy or charred edges. Not surprising for such a thick, fatty burger."

"A tablemate said he would have liked to see more charring on the outside of the burger, and another one replied that he thought his was perfectly charred. Personal preference, but I can make sense of both arguments. On one hand, the burger did have visible grill marks that imparted a smoky, open-flame flavor to the meat; but on the other, the big, juicy patty was fall-apart messy -- an issue that may have been avoided if seared on a flattop griddle instead of a grill. I didn't mind eating a few pieces of meat with a knife and fork once they fell off the mainland patty, so I guess the caramelization from the grill was adequate for me."

The Toppings:

As ordered the Michael Burger comes with lettuce, tomato, a hearty whole slice of raw onion and several strips of crinkle cut pickles. The kick of onion and pickle, present in almost every bite is a great complement to the massive beef patty. The lettuce was crisp, hand torn from the head and largely unremarkable. The tomato -- well its May here in St. Louis and while in season tomatoes are starting to show up in the farmers markets, they are nowhere to be found in most restaurants and on most burgers.So very depressing. I would gladly trade what kingdom I have for a decent slice of tomato on my burger. 

Diners offered up the following thoughts on their burger toppings:

"I got Feta cheese on mine, as a nod to the restaurant's Greek-ness. The tangy fresh cheese complimented the rich meaty burger well. My tomato wasn't as mealy and pink as my neighbors, but it was still a yucky out-of-season flop. Claussen pickles sliced length-wise were a nice, salty touch. "

"Topped with that scoop of cheese a picture of the Michael's burger, with it's piece of lettuce so small it might as well be garnish, is the very definition of 'this is why you're fat'."

"A scoop of soft cheddar. And by "scoop," I mean a wallop (not dollop) of the orange-colored, tangy, spreadable cheese. I'm a cheddar guy in most any form, so I enjoyed this, although probably not as much as I would have with a regular slice of cheddar or -- like my table neighbor -- a square of feta. Obligatory-but-shouldn't be tomato (out of season), lettuce (limp), onion (raw) and pickle sandwich strips (score!) came on the plate."

"I wish I wouldn't have ordered the soft cheddar- there was just too damn much of it, so that was almost all you could taste."

"I like the option of feta cheese at Michael's.  The salt from my cheese added some semblance of taste to the lump of cow."

"I think getting that scoop of cheddar was cheating.  It was yet more fat and it oozed everywhere as you ate it.  For me that was the biggest reason the burger worked and I think that's because of the two things that make food taste good: salt and fat.  It needed more pepper, but the salt and fat were there--especially with that heap of cheese -- and it made for a success."

The Bun:

In many ways it seems like the Michael Burger bun is designed for obsolesce. The kaiser roll is a classic and welcome addition to backyard burger cookouts, but for a burger this large and fatty, it is ill equipped to last from the first bite to the last. The bun is quickly overwhelmed by juice, turning from soft bread to an amorphous mess. Halfway though the burger it became unclear where the bottom bun ended and the patty began. With a quarter of the burger left I abandoned the bun as any sort of handle or transport vessel and opted to knife and fork the remaining burger.

Tasters commented:

"The bottom bun was so soggy that I could barely lift it.  The bun was unable to support the weight of the burger."

"The top of the bun held up okay. Nothing special... fit the burger. The bottom bun...it didn't as much fall apart as it was just completely absorbed by the extremely fatty, juicy patty. Almost as if it had never existed!"

"The bun was fine- would have been nice if toasted.  The burger didn't fit onto it, but the top one was big enough to soak up most of the grease."

"The bun was a disaster. It was damn near a Wendy bun and it didn't remotely hold up to the burger that I'd guess was, at minimum, 30% fat. It disintegrated halfway through and I took to the fork and knife for the last quarter."

"The bun is the same one we've all seen on Wendy's sandwiches -- a kaiser roll with a dusting of something (fine-grind cornmeal?) on top. Kaiser is my favorite carb vessel for homemade, backyard-BBQ burgers because its doughiness gets even more flavorful as the bun absorbs all of the meat juices. The Michael Burger was a runaway juice train, with even more liquid than the bun's underbelly could handle (the soft cheddar provided a protective layer for the top of the bun). I still think it held up better than any bun could have, I'm proud to love kaiser bread, so this was a highlight of the burger for me."

"As I continue to take bite after bite, I notice that I also can't feel the bottom half of my bun. It obviously could not hold up to the patty and surrendered to its juices, becoming a sloppy mess in the process. By the time I was done, I was finishing this burger with a fork and knife, and I needed a stack of napkins to aid in the cleanup effort."

The Verdict:

Readers not only voted the Michael Burger the eighth best burger in St. Louis, it is also one of the burgers that I'm asked about most often by folks who did not participate in the voting. It is clearly a crowd favorite and for good reason -- its a greasy mess of a burger -- and who does not like that?

As I sum up my experience with the Michael Burger, I'm keep coming back to a comment from a member of our group who offered, "Uhhhhhhhhhhh…It was juicy, salty, and plenty fatty. So fatty, in fact, I had to put my head down mid-meal, even after fasting all day, and I left two bites untouched. It may have bested me." While I managed to finish my burger, I would tend to agree with this sentiment.

The Michael Burger is a challenge to eat, both during the dining experience and for hours afterward. If this burger were a girl, she sure would be fun to hang out with, but you might think twice before bringing her home to meet Mom -- unless your Mom happens to be a fan of big greasy burgers. In many ways the Michael Burger might be the best "Sometimes Burger" in St. Louis. While I might not be back for some time, I'm looking forward to tackling it again, perhaps after consulting with and being cleared by a cardiologist.

STLToday.com Shows Love For The Church Of Burger

Pretty sweet write up of the adventure so far by Evan Benn of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Evan joined the fun for the May Burger from Michaels Bar & Grill and wrote about it for the Off The Menu section of the online paper.

Burger of The Month - Michael's Bar & Grill

Welcome to month five of my quest to find the best burger in St. Louis based on the votes of my readers. After last month when we visited a local landmark that I know quite well, we are back into the realm of the unknown with the burger from Michael's Bar & Grill in Maplewood.

Known as the "Michael Burger", I can find little about this burger besides that its a 10 ounce patty of chopped sirloin and that a lot of you voted for it. Besides the occasional review of this Greek restaurant in the local media I have been unable to find much detail to share besides a really fuzzy picture of the menu.

In any event, looking at the way the votes panned out it appears that we have moved past the burgers that got enough votes to make the cut into the burgers that showed up again and again in the results. While the judging remains the same, I have to admit that I'm expecting some really good burgers going forward.

It will be fun to see if there is indeed wisdom in crowds, starting with the May burger from Michael's.

April Burger Of The Month - McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden

For the fourth time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Joining me were Church of Burger member Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), second time participant Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and special guest George Mahe (St. Louis Magazine / Feast). 

Thanks are due to the nice folks at Cottonfactory who kindly provided my shirt for this months update.

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the April Burger of The Month from McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden.

The Setup:

McGurk's is a legendary Irish pub in the historic Soulard neighborhood of St. Louis. While the pub is only a shade past 30 years old it feels like it has stood at the corner of 12th and Russell since before St. Louis was handed from the French to the Spanish and back to the French over 200 years ago. 

The interior of McGurk's is a mixture of well worn wood surfaces and floors that complement the red brick architecture that is common across the city. The space invites you in and wraps itself around you; it is the kind of place that you can walk into in the late afternoon and walk out of as the sun rises the next morning if you are not careful. After all soûlard is the French word for drunkard. 

In many ways this part of St. Louis reminds me of Pleasure Island from the Disney version of Pinocchio. To my friends and neighbors who live in the neighborhood what I am saying may seem like a slight but I do mean it as a complement. Soulard is a great place to visit, but it should be known that if you overstay your welcome vice will undoubtedly get the best of you and you run the risk of turning into a jackass. I say this based on personal experience.

Our group met up as McGurk's opened to find the bar already filled with people and a Irish band setting up off to the side. With some luck and persistence on the part of Kelli we scored a long raised table off to the side that was more suited to family style drinking than eating, but with folks filling in the door it was the best we were going to get.

Around the table McGurk's Burgers were ordered medium rare to medium, topped with cheese and various combinations of mushrooms, onions and bacon. In a particular stroke of genius Stefani and Jonathan asked for chocolate sauce to complement house made chips, making for a sweet and salty side for their burgers. Given the traffic though McGurk's, service moved along at a reasonable pace - essentially long enough to drain your pint of beer and order another for your meal. One diner commented that they were, "impressed that all the burgers arrived simultaneously (and on one tray) and were served without resorting to the "who got what" rigamarole."

This is the first stop on this burger adventure that I have frequented before, and in the spirit of disclosure I can honestly say that John D. McGurk's Burger topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions caramelized in Guinness and bacon is a personal favorite of mine.  Alas, I would be trying this burger as it came, free of addition of mushrooms, onions and bacon. This meant a medium rare burger topped only with the garnish plated with the burger, slices of tomato, red onion and a single leaf of lettuce. 

Behold the burger from McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden:

The Patty:

At the core of the McGurk's burger is a thick and almost perfectly formed patty of beef, suggesting its been formed and pressed with the aid of a mold to ensure consistency from one plate to the next. My burger arrived closer to medium than the medium rare I had ordered but the interior was pink and lightly seasoned. Around the table all the burgers arrived as ordered save one, which was sent back for a replacement.

Tasters commented:

"The burger edges were perfectly uniform: either a pre-formed patty or one that had been hand-pattied then pressed into a mold. The taste of the beef was good, complimented by perfect cross-hatch grill marks and char. So the taste was fine...the texture was not."

"I ordered it medium-rare. It was cooked perfectly, and tasted nice and meaty... I wouldn't have minded more salt."

"My choice of fare at McGurk's will not be changing after having their burger, an effort that falls short of the ideal in terms of both the mushy bun and patty lacking both juice and proper seasoning."

"I didn’t miss the salt on this one.  I thought the meat had enough flavor on its own (well, on its own when you count the swiss, tomato, mushrooms, and Guinness onions)."

"A good burger is like a good crabcake: it should formed by hand and treated lightly...not over-worked, not over-pressed, not over-handled. A burger should be handled only enough to keep it together...it should be made with freshly ground beef and should be airy and, for lack of a better word, fluffy. Otherwise the protein gets too compressed and the juices in the meat do not flow. I encounter very few burgers made the right way. This one was no different."

"The burger just looked overcooked and unappetizing. It had clearly spent time under a heat lamp or on the side of the grill (as the garnish was cool, I would suspect the latter). Regardless, it was NOT fresh off the grill." 

"I order my burger medium and that’s just how it arrived.  It was moist, but not dripping with juices.  This was fine with me.  I know others like to see the juice, but I’m cool without it. When I see lots of juice, I picture cows bleeding.  The burger was not overly seasoned."

Caramelization:

Ample grill marks were apparent on my burger suggesting the patty was cooked properly - placed on a rocket hot grill to cook on one side, then flipped to finish on the other. While the caramelization on this burger did contribute to the overall flavor, it would have benefited from additional seasoning. 

Around the table diners were happy with the char McGurk's achieved on their burger.

The Toppings:

For me, mushrooms, caramelized onions and bacon are to burgers as mirepoix is to a good stock. Yes, there are countless other toppings for a burger, but they pale in comparison to the earthienss of mushroom, the sweetness of onions and the smoke and salt thrown off by bacon. It was with heavy heart that I watched my fellow diners enjoy their burgers, because I knew just what I was missing.

My burger was topped with a single slice of crisp lettuce, a hearty slice of red onion and a sad tomato that suffered from being out of season. 

Tasters offered up the following thoughts on their burgers:

"I loved the Guinness onions." 

"Sorely missed rarebit."

"The mushrooms and onions were such good burger companions. Simple flavors... they tasted like mushrooms and caramelized onions, sweet and earthy and seasoned well, without any unnecessary flavors."

"It's bad enough to have to endure tomatoes in April anyway, but to be served slices with the core still intact? Please... Here's a dollar, McGurk's...go buy a tomato corer."

"My toppings of onions, mushrooms, and bacon were expertly prepared."

"This burger was clearly fresh off the grill, cooked properly, cheese looking freshly melted, with 2 respectable strips of room temp bacon crossed over the top."

The Bun:

I was not a fan of the traditional kaiser bun the McGurk's burger was served on. While it had marks from being grilled before plating, I found the bun bland and flavorless, sadly it was a perfect companion for my tasteless and out of season tomato. Sad.

I was especially surprised at the differences in the quality of the bun from one plate to another. It was almost as if some of our burgers were made with yesterdays buns and some with buns delivered fresh that morning.

Tasters replied:

"The kaiser bun was slightly grilled--a wee bit of crunch on the edges, otherwise doughy--but it was still under-heated and under-grilled."

"The bun was grilled, and that was my favorite part, as it added buttery crunch a good way into the burger all the way around."

"This burger's kaiser was room temp, not grilled, not warmed, and quite doughy, again, not unlike other burger buns in town, and therein lies the problem."

"The bun was the perfect texture – not so soft that it fell apart while eating it and not so hard that it crunched.  It had a bit of its own flavor, but not so much that it overpowered the burger."

"My bun was toasted a little too much--it wasn't burnt, the toast was just particularly chewy, and it overpowered the meat, which lacked juice." 

The Verdict:

Truth be told I was very disappointed with my burger from McGruk's, especially after having so many tasty ones there in the past. In hindsight its apparent that what I liked about the burger at McGurk's was not the burger at all, but the toppings. Instead of complementing the burger, its the toppings that steal the show, leaving the patty as a mere delivery vessel. Take the toppings away and you have a burger that is average at best.

I was struck by the comments of one diner, who provided the following thoughts on McGurk's and their burger.

"I've been going to John D. McGurk’s Irish Pub & Garden long enough to remember what the place looked like before the additional rooms "and Garden". The feel of the place hasn't been altered by time, nor has my usual order - fish and chips, a stew, or corned beef to be washed down with by a pint of cider or stout; dessert, for me, is optional: a snifter of one of their many excellent scotches.  Why return for a mediocre burger when there are better food options available?"

I would tend to agree with those sentiments. I'm sorry McGurk's, you are by far one of my favorite places to hang out here in town and I was pulling for you to be the best burger in St. Louis. I'm sorry to say that I don't think that's the case. The search continues.

Guest Post - Kelli Best Oliver Takes Down A Jucy Lucy

The High Priestess of The Church of Burger, Kelli Best-Oliver hits up the Twin Cities and takes down a Jucy Lucy. Kelli reports:

About once a month, I embark on a northern sojourn to the Twin Cities. While I've been making this trip for almost three years, I've not yet had time for culinary exploration, until now. My friend Eric offered to plan a pub crawl that kicked off with a visit to a mecca for burger enthusiasts: Matt's Bar.  Matt's Bar, along with the 5-8 Club are widely touted as purveyors of the Cities' oldest and best Jucy Lucy.  

The Jucy Lucy (and, yes, it's spelled that way at Matt's) is a cheese-stuffed burger. More specifically, it's two thin burger patties pressed together around a lump of American cheese. The burger is cooked until the cheese is molten, creating a dangerous first bite known to scorch many a tongue. As the reigning High Priestess of the Church of Burger, I felt it was my duty to brave the threat of cheese-related injury and sample a Jucy Lucy.

Matt's has gained national notoriety after being featured on both Man vs. Food and, more recently, Food Wars, which explained the line out the door at 3:30 on a gorgeous Saturday. Matt's is truly a corner pub, with around 65 seats at booths, tables, and at the bar. It is, despite its celebrity status, a dive in the truest sense: wood paneling, neon lights, and cash-only. Once our spots in line reached inside the building, the friendly barkeep (also the owner, I'm told) offered us beverages to keep us occupied. We chose, naturally, a pitcher of Grain Belt Premium. While waiting, I observed the efficient machine that is Matt's. Besides the bartender pulling beers and taking cans of soda out of the cooler, there were two servers on the floors, and one guy schlepping trays of uncooked burgers from the downstairs prep space to the cook. The cook manned a tiny flattop, about the size of a small desk, and a deep-fryer that churned out baskets of hot fries.

Despite the crowded nature, our party of seven was able to, with a little sweet talking to some college boys, snag the biggest booth in the corner. There's not much to say about your choices: while regular burgers (and a few other irrelevant offerings) can be had, what's the point? You come for the Lucy, with or without grilled onions. I chose without, and added a basket of fries.

Service is friendly and efficient, as places with perpetual lines out the door tend to be. But let's get to the main event: the Lucy. It comes wrapped in wax paper, which serves as your plate. I let my burger cool a bit, per our server's orders. The outside of the burger is pure char, about as much as one can get away with before treading into burnt territory. The bun is grilled and toasty. Here's the money shot:

In order to achieve the molten cheese, I'm guessing they have no choice but to cook the burgers well. The patty, actually a merging of two individual patties around the cheese, are handmade, and a cross between a West-Coast thin griddled burger and a fast-food burger because of this doneness. In that sense, the meat was nothing special. However, it was properly seasoned and the char gave a nice bite that goes well with the runny slough of liquified American that literally squirts out of each bite.  The rendered beef fat, along with little bits of meat, merge with the cheese, giving each bite a fatty, savory coating. While ketchup is on the table, no other toppings, other than the onions, are offered. It should be noted that the fries are exactly as I prefer them: skinny, salty, and steaming hot from the fryer.

The Lucy (and, indeed, the entire Matt's Bar experience) is an essential stop for burger lovers visiting the Cities, and served as the perfect stomach-lining for an impending pub crawl.

Kelli Best-Oliver is a founding member of The Church of Burger and writes for The Food Blog Mafia and on her own site, South City Confidential.

Burger of The Month - McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden

Welcome to month four of my burger adventure here in St. Louis. Fresh off of a soul cleansing veggie burger last month - we are back to the basics with a burger from a St. Louis institution, McGurk's Irish Pub & Garden. 

I'll be taking on a burger that is simply known as the "John D. McGurk's Burger". As this is the first burger on our list that I've actually had, I can testify that it is usually pretty damn tasty, especially when its topped with sauteed mushrooms, onions caramelized in Guinness and a few strips of bacon. 

Sadly for this go around I'll be taking the John D as it comes; with some lettuce, onion and tomato. Such is the life of someone attempting to eat the same burger at twelve different locations. Here is to hoping other folks jack this burger up like I normally would - because its not to be missed.

We will be back to our Sunday schedule as well and rolling with a very special guest who has been waiting patiently in the wings to worship at the Church of Burger. Should be fun.

 

March Burger Of The Month - Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio

For the third time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a sunless Saturday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis this coming December.

Tagging along for the ride were the core members of The Church of Burger; Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project) and Church of Burger photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography) who graciously provided all the pictures for this months update.

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the March Burger of The Month from The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio.

The Setup:

From the moment that votes started rolling in for a veggie burger, I knew that Sweet Art would present a challenge for this burger project. Besides the obvious - how do you judge a veggie burger against a meat burger - I was worried about participation as well. The feedback on this months burger came fast and almost always had a negative aspect associated with it. Among my favorites were the opinions that veggie burgers are not burgers or the simply stated belief that most veggie burgers inherently suck. When our group would meet it seemed that faces grew a bit longer when the topic of the Sweet Art burger came up. From time to time I worried if this would be the point where the wheels came off of my burger project.

To help fortify the more skeptical members of the group we agreed to meet early at Mangia Italiano for a pre-burger drink and final discussion on what makes and breaks a veggie burger. Beers were consumed and we shared a small pizza topped with greens and pancetta - as if the consumption of bacon would somehow compensate for the forthcoming vegetable patty. 

Things seemed grim, but fortified with some liquid courage we ventured over to Sweet Art and headed to the counter with our orders. Listed as the "Sweet Burger" on the menu, this burger is a veggie patty topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, "magic" and "love" on a toasted wheat bun. 

Upon reaching the register, our party of five was informed that only three Sweet Burgers remained for the day. We quickly bought the remaining burgers, commenting to one another that not only was demand for this burger strong, apparently only a limited number were made each day. We agreed that the five of us would split the burgers and share family style around the table so everyone would get a chance to try.

Of the three burgers, two were ordered with cheese. The last was our baseline burger, ordered just as listed on the menu for my judging.

With orders in we moved back to our table where we talked and checked out the owners art which lines the walls of the restaurant. The vibe at Sweet Art is crunchy without being pretentious, hip without making you feel alienated. It was all to easy to sit back, dominate one of the few large tables available and enjoy the company of friends. All to quickly our burgers appeared, standing tall on vividly colored plates.

Behold the burger from The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio:

The Patty:

Like the paintings on the walls, the veggie patty of the Sweet Burger is a work of art with specks of roughly cut vegetables mixing with textured vegetable protein (TVP) and whole nuts. From a distance the heady scent of spice - what seemed to be a mixture of coriander, cumin and possibly turmeric - reaches the nose, inviting a quick succession of bites.

The varied textures that all the players contribute to make for a mouthfeel that is not quite meat or vegetable. The patty springs back against your bite, compressing to a point of chewiness before breaking away from the burger.

Tasters were of like mind, commenting:

"The Sweet Art veggie burger was truly a burger.  It had just the right amount of juiciness, but it held together when I bit into it."

"The Sweet Burger was fantastic."

"As a former vegetarian, the Sweet Art burger is probably the best veggie burger I've ever had. It has great texture without trying to be meat-like. Beats the hell out of Gardenburger."

"I have no fucking clue what was in that patty outside of the obvious carrots and onions.  It seemed like maybe there was some eggplant, nuts, and what I'm assuming were lentils, but I really have no idea. Regardless, what I do know is that instead of trying to give it the texture of meat, it was more of a patty sandwich, and I particularly liked that about it."

Caramelization:

Many run of the mill veggie burgers seem colored to give the appearance of meat, sometimes going as far as to include "grill marks" to suggest that they have been licked with flame before being flash frozen and boxed up for the freezer section. These types of veggie burgers are intended to be replacements for meat, a sacrifice in the name of healthy eating.

What is nice about the Sweet Burger is that the folks at Sweet Art achieve a decent amount of caramelization during cooking which stands out against the orange hue of the patty. As the name suggests, this burger does have a sweetness to it and its reasonable to assume some sugar is used in the patty to help achieve a good char. Very impressive.

Tasters commented:

"The sear they were able to achieve on this patty were impressive given that they weren't dealing with real meat."

The Toppings:

My burger was topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, and according to the menu both "magic" and "love". The greens were crisp enough to have just been cut, making a nest for the burger to sit upon. Being mid March, I found the out of season tomato to be pale and bland. The tomato was cut thickly to contribute to the overall height of the burger. For me the spread and ketchup were lost behind the spice of this burger, which dominated each bite.

Tasters offered up the following thoughts:

"The "special sauce", which seemed to be some kind of remoulade, gave it a spicy zing that really rounded out the flavor of everything that was in that patty.  It did get a little messy to eat towards, the end--but then what great burger isn't a little messy."

"The cheese melted over the top worked just the way that I would expect it to on a good burger – adding flavor and some grease.  I enjoyed the mixed field greens so much more than the sad piece of iceberg that I often find on burgers.  I know that others were bothered by the out of season tomato, but I thought it was pretty good for an out of season tomato.  It wasn’t gray and wimpy."

"Mixed greens added a bit of crunch and imparted a subtle flavor that enhanced the burger more than shredded, bland lettuce would have. I think the best ingredients in the burger, however, were the advertised "magic and love"."

The Bun:

The whole wheat bun resembled a traditional hamburger bun. While it is not thick or overly dense it did a good job holding up to being halved and shared around the table. While it did its job, for me it was the weakest part of the burger. With all the thought that went into the patty and the fact that Sweet Art is more of a bakery than anything else, I expected something more than was plated.

Tasters thought:

"The bun was hearty (not the kind that turns into a sticky Wonder Bread-like glue in your mouth).  It definitely enhanced the burger."

"The bun seemed like it might have been heated in a microwave.  I could have used a little better bun, also, but that's the best of the three buns so far.  It was real similar to the Rudi's Organic buns I use at home, but the Rudi's are a little better still."

The Verdict:

Readers voted the Sweet Art Sweet Burger the tenth best burger in St. Louis. As a veggie burger in a hamburger contest, I would have to agree that it not only holds its own against the competition so far, in many ways its superior.

I'm struck by the comments of one taster, who offered, "As a vegetarian entree, it represents everything that vegetarian food needs to be to keep people from making fun of it. As an eater of meat, I'd choose it over most of the hamburgers I've had in St. Louis. I will eat many of these things while Sweet Art is in business.  It's just a delicious sandwich."

I'm a reluctant consumer of vegetarian fare because it often tries to be a replacement for its meat counterpart instead of a cuisine unto itself. The Sweet Burger succeeds because it bucks this trend. Instead of being reminded of what the diner is missing, even a meat eater can appreciate the Sweet Burger - which is hearty and satisfying without betraying its roots as a veggie burger.

Truly a treat and a rare find here in St. Louis. Kudos to my readers for the suggestion.

Confessions Of A Dumbass - The Daddy Warbucks

Several times a year I meet up with friends, most of them Dad's, for "investment club". Investment club is an auspicious event in all regards, but if we were being honest we should really just call the night "hamburger club" and be done with it.

Yes, there is always some talk of IRA's, 401k's and the occasional Israeli small cap technology company, but its more of a chance to to get out of the house, have a burger and catch up with friends that we don't get to see as often as we would like between work and family life.

A wrinkle in our recent meeting was that it was in direct conflict with "book club", where our better halves meet up to eat, drink wine and "discuss" a book that apparently only a few of them have actually read.

Talk about a misnamed club!

In any event, with the Mom's headed out for their night of well deserved fun with friends, the Dad's were forced to rethink our night out and have it at home so we could watch the kids and put them to bed. In a perfect world having an investment club at home would mean firing up the grill for some hand made burgers, because it goes without saying that there are few burgers better than a home burger. However after some discussion it was decided that folks would bring over their burger of choice, with everyone separating into two camps for the ordering - one group opting for Steak n' Shake, anther going with Five Guys. 

One one hand you have the smashed goodness of a Steak n' Shake burger, on the other you have the beauty that is a Five Guys burger (minus the fries, thank you). How could I not slip an order in for one of each and do something fantastically disgusting with them.

In honor of our little investment club, I present the building blocks of "The Daddy Warbucks".

On the left we have a Five Guys bacon burger with mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, pickles, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, raw jalapeno peppers and green peppers. On the right we have a Steak n' Shake double Steakburger with mayo, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onion and pickles.

Counting all the buns, patties and toppings, we are looking at 22 "layers of burger", which I merged into The Daddy Warbucks:

The bottom and top layers are the Five Guys burger, the Steak n' Shake burger is sandwiched in the middle. I tried to cut it down the middle for a cross section view, but was afraid that it would not survive the sawing and hacking so I let it be after giving it a good decent stabbing with a chefs knife.

Unable to get the towering height of this burger into my mouth I attacked it from all sides until it was a sloppy and mauled form in my hands. Each bite left burger toppings in my beard, on my face and all over my hands - it was a mess that called for the foregoing of napkins and the deployment of a kitchen towel.

With all the toppings mixing it quickly became difficult to tell where the Five Guys ended and the Steak n' Shake burger began. However, the two played together amazingly well together with the raw jalapeno, pickles and grilled mushrooms standing out not only in most bites, but most belches in the hours after consuming this burger monstrosity.

When The Daddy Warbucks had disintegrated to the point of no longer being a hand held sandwich, a knife and fork were called out to finish the job.

Let's add this to the "never do again" file. Someone get me a salad.

In The News (Again) - The Church of Burger

As the posts have shown, February was a crazy month for the Church of Burger.

The drama surrounding the February burger has faded in the past weeks, but not before the discussion spilled over onto other local food writers sites and resulted in an interview with the Riverfront Times.

However, weeks before all of this went down I participated in an interview for a mid-west based website called UrbanBacon on a variety of topics pertaining to food writing, social media and the restaurant business. I think the range of questions make for an interesting read.

I appreciate the folks at UrbanBacon reaching out to me and giving me the chance to share my thoughts.

Amuse Bouche for March 9th, 2010

I'm pretty sure this burger joint is in my old neighborhood in Queens.

The State - MTV Shows

In The News - The Church of Twitter...er...Burger

After my review of the February burger from Sub Zero Vodka Bar I was contacted by the Riverfront Times to participate in an interview with Bill Burge and Pi Pizzeria owner Chris Sommers regarding the spattering of Tweets that followed our visit and the place of social media in food writing and the restaurant business.

The outcome of that interview can be found here.

I think the article is quite good and sets the table for a larger discussion once folks get past the more scandalous elements of a poor selection of words and a burger review. I do hope that as a community of writers, chefs and owners we can get to our seats at that table.

There should be no doubt that I understand my part in the ensuing disagreement over food, social media and the hard working folks who make and serve food for a living. I presented a thought that was in context for only a few of the people who follow me on Twitter which was a mistake. I get it.

However, I've gotten a fair amount of feedback that writing about my burger project threatens local business owners and the livelihood of their employees. I do not agree with this viewpoint, but I am willing to listen to anyone who wants to make the argument. My only recommendation is that you use more than a 140 character Tweet to do it. Perhaps a well meaning business owner in St. Louis would be willing to host folks for drinks and debate. It seems like the Schlafly Bottleworks or The Royale would be fitting locations for such an event. I'm unsure who would be neutral enough to moderate it though. Maybe we can just stop yelling at each other in bursts on Twitter and yell at each other over drinks instead.

My friend Kelli Best Oliver shared her thoughts on food writing recently, and I think her reasoning is worth consideration. If you have even a passing interest in this debate, would encourage you to read it.

Finally, I'd like to share my interview in its entirety - if only to gratify my own ego.

Are you more likely to air a restaurant complaint to management or publicly, and why?

For me, I think that is a matter of context.

In my personal life, if I am having a meal and something is not right, I will try and address it directly while I am there. If I am happy with the resolution there is a very good chance that I will say something favorable on Twitter. I do think that when given the chance most people want to and will do the right things. When they do, kudos are deserved.

There are still times when I go out with the intention of not being @amveats, but I can see how that side of me can show up. The line between me and my digital self seems pretty thin at times. I think this is because the tools in my pocket make it so easy to share – I can Tweet, Yelp and update my site and Facebook status from my iphone in a matter of seconds if I really want to.

However, when I am preparing to write about food, I’m going out to eat with a purpose. My intention is to tell a story and share it with my readers.

For many of my readers the act of eating something outside of the home is a luxury. They are spending their discretionary income. It may be arrogant on my part to assume that I’m having a direct impact on their spending decisions, but I bet it happens from time to time. I take that seriously. Why? These are people who have given me the courtesy of their time and feedback. Don’t I have a responsibility to give my opinion, for whatever its worth, on what is good and bad, what works and does not? To avoid this responsibility is a disservice to the readers I’ve cultivated over time.

How is this obligation different than a restaurant who has cultivated a following through good execution? Why is one more valuable than the other? Because one is online and one is made of bricks and mortar? Because someplace has employees? With my writing, if I get sloppy, don’t I run the risk of losing readers? At my job, don’t I advance based on reviews of my performance, why is it bad form to apply the same standard to a restaurant?

Having covered my obligations to my readers, what is my obligation to the places I write about? In scope are to be fair and honest. I would include standing behind what I’ve written and addressing issues when I’ve said something wrong. I have made mistakes in my writing, and I’ve been called on them. It sucks, but I’d like to think that I didn’t strike out when it happens. I try to look at what I did and didn’t do, make amends where I could and to learn something.

What is out of scope? Directly helping a business owner improve how their business operates.

Which method have you found to be most effective in resolving problems?

It is the rare person that can resolve a problem within 140 characters.  I don’t think you can beat sitting down and talking with someone. The advent of Twitter does not negate thousands of years of conflict resolution.

What pros and cons do you see with customers, chefs, and restaurant owners using Twitter, Yelp, etc?

I think that collaborative media is by its very nature, disruptive. It has changed the ways that we create and consume information, if you can actually call a 140 character burst “information”. Although the application of these technologies is still relatively new, they are and will continue to fundamentally change the way that businesses, in this case restaurants, and their customers interact.

I’ve heard the comment that if you have an issue at a business, tell the manager or owner. Well, guess what – every day your customers are telling you what they think. They are doing it on their blogs and Twitter accounts, and they are giving you real time feedback. Are we going to ignore the message because we don’t approve of is delivery method?

These are disruptive tools. They are changing the way we interact and do business. Is there something so special about food and the people who make it that they are somehow is exempt from this?

I agree that these tools are for the most part public utilities. Given that, I don’t think its reasonable to think that a restaurant can control every message linked to their business. That ocean is way to big to boil. So what is left? Yelling at and in front of current and future customers? Would you do that in your restaurant? Why would you do it online?

These tools are all about building a community and a relationship, but so many times they are used by business owners to blast a sales pitch. There is a way to leverage these tools to tell your story. As a consumer of content and services, it’s ok to tell me about your special on Twitter, but it’s not ok to tell me a dozen times a day. Its ok to engage me when I write something you disagree with. Its not ok to somehow imply that I’m a “foodie”, which I think is slang for “amateur”, and a method to try to diminish the value of my comments.

Savvy users of tools like Facebook and Twitter find it more effective to talk about being at the farmers market and finding some fantastic ingredient that will be used in a dish tonight. They are not using it to turn off the very people who they derive an existence from, yet that is what happens. It seems counterintuitive to me.

All things being equal, the wall between the kitchen and the people who talk about food has come down. You have this confluence of opinion and pent up frustration, and they are obviously not coexisting in harmony, they are generating conflict.

I have tried to put myself in the shoes of a chef who has worked hard perfecting a craft and is putting his or her best plate forward nightly. I’m sure is frustrating to read negative comments and reviews that seem both nameless and faceless.  I understand why a chef would take to Twitter and defend himself against criticism.  

If we accept that we are dealing with largely uncoordinated bursts of communication, what do we use to retaliate? More bursts of communication. To make it worse, most of the time these bursts are missing a context. Where does that get the business owner or the chef?

I’ve seen the love that some chefs and restaurants here in St. Louis get. They have fans. Many times the adoration is justified. These fans will undoubtedly take to Twitter to defend a chef, I know this because I’ve seen it happen. I think if a chef or a restaurant is honestly putting out its best food, its best service, if they are working their asses off and pushing themselves, then taking to their Twitter accounts to defend every perceived attack defeats the purpose of all the time and effort they spent generating good will and relationships with their customers. If a restaurant is doing these things, the food should speak for itself, internet comments be damned.

What responsibilities do you think diners have in making online reviews?

Be fair. Be honest. Put things in context. Understand that your words have meaning. Use your own name or develop an online persona that can be associated with you. I blog and tweet under my own name, if I say something wrong people can find me. And trust me, they do.

I don’t think we’ll ever be rid of drive-by reviews, any more than we will ever get rid of angry people. Does anyone think that they could stop a disgruntled, or worse yet generally disagreeable customer from sharing their experiences with a group of friends over coffee? I understand that the issue is that we’ve gone from a small group of people sharing ideas to sharing the same thought with hundreds or thousands.  I think with that fact comes a level of responsibility, backed up by a track record of being a credible source of content.

However, being honest and fair does not mean that I take responsibility for how someone runs or does not run their business. It means I’m trying to do the right things in the right way, for me. It means that I have set a standard for myself and I’m trying to live up to it each time I write.

These tools are new, but their existence does not somehow mean that the cream will not rise to the top. Again, the hard part is sifting though the static for the signal.

What responsibilities do you think restaurant staff members, chefs, and owners have in using social media?

When you are dealing with an organization, I think people need training on how to use a tool and the message needs to be coordinated to a certain extent. Using social media tools requires a set of skills that move the user past the concept of promotion. It requires the ability to develop a voice and foster a community.

I think the staff of a restaurant has a different function in communicating than the chef does. There are personalities and voices within a restaurant that have important things to say. Combined and coordinated, I think they can help tell the story behind the restaurant, they can help to build a long term relationship with not only their customers, but communities both real world and digital.

Burger of The Month - Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio

Welcome to month three of my burger adventure here in St. Louis, or as I like to call it, "The Month That The Wheels Were Supposed To Come Off The Church of Burger." Only history will tell if that dubious title will belong to this or the past months burger. What I do know is that within the inner sanctum of the Church of Burger, no other stop has created the stir that this months burger has. You see, this months burger is not a hamburger, it is a veggie burger. 

Yes, as voted by my readers, this month the burger that I will be venturing out to try is made of vegetables. It is 100% vegan and it belongs to The Sweet Art Bakeshop & Art Studio. Listed as the "Sweet Burger" on their menu, it is a veggie patty topped with organic mixed greens, a house vegan spread, ketchup, "magic" and "love" on a toasted wheat bun. 

I am left wondering if a rouge but well meaning contingent of my friends who happen to forsake meat in favor of vegetables have bombed my voting. Could they be so devious? Or could they be onto something? I will have to find out. The loophole as to what is a "burger" exists in the simple framework of my adventure and I will rise to the challenge. 

I do need to report a few changes to the Church of Burger, effective immediately:

As Sweet Art is not open on Sundays, it makes the act of  worship difficult. So, for the month of March, The Church of Burger will be known far and wide as The Shul of Burger. Shalom y'all! We are celebrating the third festive meal of Shabbat.

Also, due to the feedback we got from last months visit and the diminutive size of the Sweet Art dining room, I am forced to reduce the footprint of our group. Given this, seating with our group will be restricted to our core group plus a few guests, with vegetarians and a special guest getting priority seating. That means for this go around we are already pretty full. This does not mean that friends and regular guests of the CoB can't make a visit, try the burger and let me know what they think. It just means we can't roll into Sweet Art and try to get a table for 10 or more people. My apologies in advance.

Once again, I'd like to express a heart felt thank you to everyone for the comments and thoughts regarding my burger project. I've gotten some amazing emails from folks following along and demand to join us is growing - I'm already making reservations for some folks for our April burger. I've also gotten some well thought out feedback as well, which I greatly appreciate. 

Please keep the comments and notes coming. You can leave a comment here, email me, or find me on both Twitter and Facebook. I look forward to hearing from you.

February Burger Of The Month - Sub Zero Vodka Bar - Recap

For the second time this year I gathered up a group of friends and food bloggers to take down a burger on a lazy Sunday afternoon. This was the next stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis in December.

In tow were some new faces and old friends including; Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia), Bill Burge (STLBites), Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project), Church of Burger photographer Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography), Stephanie Tolle (Iron Stef / Food Blog Mafia) and Nik Cameron (13) in addition to a pack of friends and family who wanted to take a look at what my burger project has become.

With the introductions out of the way its time to welcome you all back to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the February Burger of The Month from Sub Zero Vodka Bar.

The Setup:

Forgoing appetizers but opting for adult beverages, we dug right into the burger menu. Under the guise of "An American Burger Bar", Sub Zero offers up 18 signature burgers ranging in price from $9.95 for the Classic (ground black angus beef, lettuce, cheese, tomato and onion) to $31.95 for the Surf & Turf (American Kobe beef, avocado and poached lobster tail with clarified butter).

Covering the spectrum of burgers between the Classic and Surf & Turf diners can select patties made of beef, lamb, pork, tuna, bison, turkey, chicken, falafel and vegetables. Burger hounds who can not find an acceptable choice among the 18 signature burgers can build their own, with enough combinations of meats, veggies, cheeses, sauces and toppings to boggle the mind, taste buds and digestive track. 

Around the table folks delved deep into the burger menu to make their selections. Among the burgers ordered were several classics, the Hawaiian kobe, a lamb, the southwest veggie, the spicy cajun, the slinger, a pair of falafels, the turkey, the Jamaican jerk and both the Sub Zero and Kobe Beef sliders.

As I need to judge all of the burgers this year, I stuck with the classic, sans cheese and dressed as is with lettuce, tomato and onion.

Without a doubt this was a diverse and complicated order of burgers but the waitstaff covering our tables were efficient and friendly; taking our orders and filling our glasses without showing the stress of covering such a large crowd. 

For the next 45 minutes, conversation ebbed and flowed around the two tables we occupied. Friends chatted and we got to know the new folks who had joined our burger adventure. An hour after we arrived the first burgers appeared, followed by wave after wave of plates until all were served.

So here we were at the moment of truth, the reason we ventured out on a wet Sunday. Behold the burger from Sub Zero Vodka Bar:

The Patty: 

Listed as black angus beef on the menu, the burger was compact but ample, with a hand formed patty at its core. I ordered my burger medium rare and it was cooked nearly perfect with a rosy pink interior.

Like all the burgers that I was surrounded by, the burger on my plate appealed to the eyes. It really looked like a great burger, standing high and dominating the small plate is was served on. However, as I took my first bite I was shocked to find that this perfect medium rare burger was lukewarm at best. My second bite was no better than the first as I noticed a lack of seasoning. By the third bite it was clear that the burger did not lack seasoning, it didn't have any. 

While the pink interior juices of this burger ran a bit into the bun, the patty seemed dry. I checked the bun several times to see if it was absorbing juice as I worked on the burger. It was. However, each bite was devoid of moisture, cold and depressingly free of a distinct burger taste. 

Tasters were divided over the quality of their patty choices, commenting:

"My burger was overcooked and lacked juice and salt. You can get away with one, maybe even two of these, but not all three."

"I know I didn't agree with everyone else but my burger was quite good, perfect size, nicely cooked, yummy"

"It was under-seasoned, overcooked, cold, and on an inferior bun that didn't hold up through even half the burger. When you get a burger in a place called Sub Zero it is, as expected: Sub Par."

"The turkey patty was solid. It was probably premade, given that it was a bit to symmetrical to really be recently hand-mashed. That said, it was flavorful and surprisingly juicy."

"I think Sub Zero should be lauded for having so many interesting-sounding offerings, but the patties fell short."

"Can't claim to be a burger expert, but I think I know the difference between right and wrong. Sub Zero's were wrong."

"I had the lamb, the bbq buffalo, the classic and the southwest veggie sliders. The southwest veggie was the most flavorful by far, but too heavy on the sun-dried tomato taste. The Lamb burger didn't taste much of lamb, and I also didn't taste the mint they promised. The buffalo burger was maybe the best, only because the coleslaw and bbq sauce added moisture."

Caramelization: 

Like everything about this burger, the grill work contributed to the overall beauty of the dish, with islands of char dotting the patty. While the grill marks were not well defined, it did not appear that the meat was handled improperly by the grill-person. All things being equal, the flavor picked up off the grill might have been the only thing saving this burger from being totally devoid of flavor. 

The Toppings:

Our waitress indicated that we could request an item not be added to a signature burger, but no changes or substitutions were allowed. For my classic burger, this meant several slices of tomato, a selection of lettuces and raw onion. The lettuce was a spring mix, fresh but not overly crisp. The tomato was soft, bland and had an out of season taste that I could have done without. The raw onion was sliced thin and had a pleasing sharpness to it when eaten. In hindsight the onion might have been the most flavorful part of this burger.

Tasters commented:

"For what I paid for the burger, the least they could have done would be to put what they said they would put on it."

"Amazingly, the hummus on the burger was overpowering both the feta cheese, and the lamb flavor.  I *saw* bits of mint, but couldn't really taste that either, thanks to the hummus."

The Bun:

The bun for my burger appeared light and airy on the inside when examined, and provided a pleasant crinkle of crust when held. For me, the bun was not quite a classic hamburger bun and not quite a brioche. More than anything it reminded me of a large slider roll. When eaten there was a quality to this bun that made me think of a store bought potato roll that was left out and reused the morning after a back yard cookout. An underlying staleness to the bun did little to help the dry and unseasoned patty. When bitten there was no toothsome pull of the bread before the teeth moved out of the bread and into the denser meat. Instead I was left feeling like each bite consisted of a journey from stale to dry and sadly back to stale. Disappointing. 

Others thought:

"A dry bun that couldn't possibly stand up to the litany of toppings offered at Sub Zero, leaving me a very sober worshipper."

"The bun failed. It literally fell apart on me."

"The bread would have been more solid if it had been dough."

"The bun was a bit tall and dry for my taste."

"The "brioche" bun was dry and relatively tasteless"

The Verdict:

Readers voted the burger at Sub Zero Vodka Bar the eleventh best burger in St. Louis. Given all the issues with this burger, I have to disagree. In my opinion, it appears that the effort of the kitchen has gone into appearance of the burger but not its substance. This represents the worst in dining, where a high sheen is placed on the product to give the appearance of value.

Many diners commented that there was a disconnect between the quality of the burger and its menu price. Truth be told, this burger would be bad at most, if not all price points. 

One member of our group opined, "I was surprised we were going to a vodka bar for the burgers. I would go back to Sub Zero if they have a good vodka tasting option, but why do they try to have such fancy burgers? Stick to vodka and cocktail foods that go with vodka. I don't get it."

To me, it seems Sub Zero suffers because it does not know what it wants to be. The signage says that it is both a vodka and American Burger bar. However, when you walk though the door you come face to face with a sushi table. Why? Its not clear to me how all the parts fit together. Each theme seems more of a hail marry than a well executed plan. Its as if management has attempted to integrate dining trends as they appear, leaving them to lay stagnant in their restaurant long after the fad has passed.

To sum up, I can't help but bestow upon Sub Zero the adage of "Jack of all trades, master of none". 

The search continues.

This Week In The Church of Burger

This has been an insane week for The Church of Burger. Before the reviews of the February burger are posted (to be complemented by posts from several other food blogs and media outlets) I wanted to give you a flavor of what its felt like for me.

To be honest, I haven't decided if I'm Jules, Brad or the burger in this clip.

More to come, thanks for sticking with me through all the drama.

Burger Of The Month - Sub Zero Vodka Bar

Welcome to month two of my burger adventure here in St. Louis. The response to my project has been incredible so far and I'd like to thank everyone for the interest, kind words, opinions and requests to join me for a burger. I also really appreciate all the recommendations for your favorite burgers. While they were not submitted in time to be included in this project - I don't need a special reason to get out there and taste some tasty burgers.

If you have comments, questions or would like to find out more about participating in this months burger, please leave me a comment in this post, or you can contact me on Twitter or Facebook.

I'm pleased and honestly a bit apprehensive to announce our February burger, Sub Zero Vodka Bar. Why both pleased and apprehensive? I find myself feeling both because this whole project was founded on the idea that readers tell me what their favorite burger is and then I go eat them. The premise opens the doors to some burgers and burger joints that have and will continue to create some, shall we say "spirited conversation" over the coming year, not to mention question what a "burger" really is. However, I'll try to save that argument for next month, when this burger journey might careen off the proverbial rails in the opinion of many. Should be wicked.

In any event, I'm looking forward to my visit to Sub Zero, because from what I've heard and read, they are dishing up some jacked up burgers to complement their sushi and vodka bar. Yeah, sushi bar. I said I was apprehensive, didn't I? I always get worried when I look at a place and you can't readily tell what and where their wheelhouse is. Is this place about the burgers, the fish or the booze? Can you excel at all three?

But what the hell, who am I to judge until the burger is sitting in front of me? Let's eat!

January Burger Of The Month - Dressel's Public House - Recap

This past Sunday I met up with a great group of friends, foodies and food bloggers to take down a burger. This was the first stop in a year long search for the best burger that St. Louis has to offer, based on the input of my readers. You nominated them and I'm eating them, one by one until I crown the best burger in St. Louis in December.

Before we dive into the actual burger, I wanted to take a moment to thank some people who have not only helped me refine this idea, but really improve it. And for that I am very thankful.

Kelli Best-Oliver (South City Confidential / Food Blog Mafia) - By far my biggest supporter since I thought up this project. She's spread the word, encouraged me as I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do and coined the term "The Church of Burger" - suggesting that we make each months meeting a Sunday lunch. Inspired.

Bill Burge (STLBites) - For keeping me honest and refining how I compare all these burgers. Originally I was going to eat the biggest and most jacked up burgers I could get my hands on, it was Bill who pointed out to me that's not really a good comparison and got me to change my plan.

Stefani Pollack (Cupcake Project) - For recommending that we start with the pretzel with a side of rarebit at Dressel's. While it had nothing to do with eating burgers, it was a damn good call.

Jonathan Pollack (J. Pollack Photography) - For the photos, which I think bring this project to another level. Please check out his site and think of him the next time you are looking for a photographer. 

Finally, thanks to everyone for the votes and feedback that let me put this project together. If you are interested in this project, please leave me a comment or contact me on Twitter or Facebook for more details.

Now, without further ado, welcome to The Church of Burger. In the name of the bun, the toppings and the holy burger, I present unto you the January Burger of The Month from Dressel's Public House.

The Setup:

I arrived early, grabbed a seat at a large table, a pint of cask O'Fallon IPA and contemplated the task at hand as I waited for folks to file in. I was happy to find that Dressel's has an authentic pub feel and is blissfully free of smoke or the remnants of smoking. 

Dressel's has two burgers on the menu; "The Dressel's Hamburger" (a 1/2 beef burger with lettuce and raw onion on a brioche bun) and the "5" (lamb burger, chive butter, bread and butter pickle, tomato and lettuce on a brioche bun). Diners can also top their burgers with cheese, rarebit, sauteed mushrooms, onions, red peppers, kraut and a house made bacon.

Around the table folks opted for the beef burger and then added cheese, rarebit, onions and mushrooms to their orders. I kept to the rules and ordered the Dressel's Hamburger as it came, with lettuce and onions. Nobody in our party requested a burger cooked past medium, with the majority opting for medium rare.

A pretzel was delivered to our table shortly after our burger orders were taken and we all dug into this salty and chewy pub treat served with a side of rarebit for dipping. We took turns passing the dish around the table, ripping a piece off and plunging it into the rarebit. The pretzel was crisp on the outside and crowned with salt, a perfect foil for the fresh bitterness of the cask ale IPA.  

With the pretzel gone and its rarebit artfully reserved for a forthcoming burger, the conversation turned to all things burger. Where to get them. Where you can't get them anymore. How they should be cooked. Why a burger cooked at home is almost always the best burger you can get. Time passed and I didn't see our waitress approach, arms loaded down with burgers on plates and baskets depending on the side ordered.

So here we were at the moment of truth, the reason we ventured out on a Sunday. Behold the burger from Dressel's:

The Patty: 

Listed as 1/2 pound on the menu, the burger looked like a hand made patty that was oozing juice from the top, indicating a good protein to fat ratio, probably 80/20. The first bite was juicy and salty, making an amazing topping unto itself - making condiments an unnecessary addition.

As I mentioned before, everyone ordered burgers medium and medium rare and for a table of seven I only saw one burger that approached that level of doneness. Instead of red to pink interiors, most of the burgers ranged from a light pink to a medium well gray.

Tasters commented:

"Mine was like a rainbow of beef: mid-rare on the first bite to almost full on well on the last. Fat saved it."

"Mine was definitely medium. I like 'em pinker than that. Luckily, it was still awesome."

"Well, really, the two things that make food taste good saved it: salt and fat"

"A bit salty, came out medium rather than medium rare, but worked perfectly."

Caramelization:

I don't care if the burger you are eating is smashed on a flat top or grilled in the back yard, it needs the flavor and crunch that can only come from a good char. For me, the saltiness of this burger did a good job pulling some juice and fat out of the patty before grilling. This led to an impressive set of grill marks which were dark, defined and indicated that the grill-person didn't waste time playing with the meat - it was cooked on one side, then the other, then plated.

The Toppings:

To Bill's point, its a little to easy to jack up a burger with all the extras to hide an otherwise subpar burger, so for the purposes of this project I am eating the burgers as they come. In this case, that meant lettuce and raw onion. The lettuce was crisp and fresh, providing a pleasing crunch. The sharp contrast of raw onion made for a good combo. No complaints.

As far as toppings, no two burgers were ordered the same during our visit, but there was a healthy representation of cheese burgers around the table.  One taster commented that the, "Rarebit sauce is not to be missed". 

Personally I was sad nobody opted for the house made bacon, because I would have been tempted to "tax" a bit of it off their plate had it shown up.

The Bun:

Often overlooked, a bun can make or break a burger experience. Far from being a marquee player of the burger team, it should instead play the part of journeyman, providing solid defense and a pop from time to time. For a burger throwing off as much juice as the one at Dressel's, the brioche bun did a fine job holding things together until the last bite. Like an edible Temper-Pedic pillow it stood up not only to the burger, but repeated two handed trips from plate to pie hole. From my perspective the bun was well done.

However, some of the diners disagreed and commented:

"It was just an oddly bagel-shaped enriched white bun.  There was no real egginess to it the way you would expect from brioche.  I also wished they’d toasted it more.  Someone did do it, but mine seemed like an after thought as apposed to an attempt to actually get it crisp."

The Verdict:

Readers voted the burger at Dressel's the twelfth best burger in St. Louis. Given how well rounded and executed I thought this burger was, it seems to indicate that the "best burger" in St. Louis will be orgasmic in a way that is usually reserved for a sandwich at Katz's Deli. And while that works in the movies, I'm not sure it will happen here in St. Louis. 

For me, the mix of salt and burger juice makes for a fine burger, one of the better burgers that I've had here in town. To get the best out of a burger from Dressel's I would suggest that readers order their burger a little less done than you really want it, and skip the condiments because this burger does not need them to hide behind. 

Others at the table thought that the burger at Dressel's was at best average with a chance of being much better. I can find common ground with that perspective, because it was not a perfect burger. Instead it hangs out in the lukewarm water between run of the mill and potentially great. And lets face it, here in St. Louis, that's not always an undesirable place to be.

Burger Of The Month - Dressel's Public House

We are starting a bit late for sure, but the voting is done and its time to get on with the first of our St.  Louis Burger of the Year contenders.  

With over 100 votes covering 25 + restaurants and burger joints in the area the competition to get into the top twelve was tight and in the end readers selected Dressel's Public House as the St. Louis Burger of the Month for January.

The Dressel's Hamburger clocks in at 1/2 pound, grilled to order and includes a slice of sweet onion, lettuce and a pickle on a brioche bun for $8.00.

After that, you can add cheese, sauteed mushrooms, onions, red peppers, kraut, house made back or American bacon, tomato and relish for an additional charge. 

My plan is to make an unannounced visit to Dressel's over the next two weeks to give this burger a try. I'm already thinking about adding the mushrooms and house made back bacon. The addition of kraut is also interesting. 

I'd be excited to know if you have thoughts about this burger, can suggest other items from the menu to sample on my visit, have suggestions from the beer menu to pair with my burger and most importantly would like to join me. Please leave me a comment or contact me on Twitter or Facebook for more details if you would like to take part in trying this months burger.

Help Me Eat The Best Burger In St. Louis

Twelve months - twelve burgers that you pick and I eat.

We'll focus on a burger a month and at the end of the year - we'll select the best burger in St. Louis.

So far I have 18 burger nominations and over 50 votes covering the best St. Louis has to offer. I'll collect your favorites through Friday, January 15th so leave your ideas in the comment section, or contact me via Twitter or Facebook. To be fair, limit your suggestions to 3 burgers, ranked so I know which is your favorite.

On January 16th I'll tabulate everyone's favorites and weigh them against the most recent "Best of" lists from local media (print and web). However, because word of mouth carries more weight with me than annual lists, they will carry more weight here as well.

Once we have our list, I'll make an unannounced visit each burger joint and break down the best they have to offer into a handful of criteria; the patty (which can be meat or veggie), caramelization, toppings, bun, presentation and most importantly - the taste.

The burger with the most votes will be our December burger, the next highest will be November and so on. On the first of each month* I'll announce that months burger on this site, Twitter and Facebook and I'll open up comments for a week. The person who makes the best case for that months burger will get a chance to join me to eat their favorite burger and help me with the judging - and I'll pick up the tab. In the event that nobody makes an impassioned plea for that months burger, I'll treat my wife to a night out for burgers.

I hope your excited about this project as I am, here is to twelve months of fantastic burgers!

*January will be a bit haphazard - I will announce this months burger on Monday the 18th and I'll accept comments until the 20th. Hopefully by February I'll have the process ironed out. You do what you can.