The Great Madison Burger Challenge: brought to you by...me.

I've posted about hamburgers once before, but it's a topic I will happily rehash time and time again. I am an unrepentant carnivore. I can appreciate vegetarianism from an intellectual point of view. I understand some of the health benefits of a veggie diet. I can also appreciate vegetarian cuisine when it's done right. Indians and Greeks have had thousands of years to perfect their all vegetable dishes and they do them well. Vegans, on the other hand...

...that's for another post.

Let's get back to burgers, shall we? Madison has surprised me in that I am not lacking for choices in the tasty burger department. We have chains here, same as anywhere else, (Culver's Butterburgers started not too far from here in Sauk City, WI) but Madison has a fair number of local places, restaurants and bars, that serve a good to great burger. I've tried most of them. Now, I'm going to try them all.

This coming week, I will start my Great Madison Burger Challenge. I am going to make up a list of restaurants and bars to find the best burger in town and report my findings here. If it is a place I haven't been to before, I will go more than once before writing about it. I have a list in my head that I'll write down here. If I am missing anyone's favorite burger joint, feel free to offer your suggestions to me. I do have two caveats: no fast food burgers. This includes Culver's. There will be a few chains on my list, but fast food burgers, after all is said and done, simply don't measure up to the standards I have for a truly great burger, so they will be avoided. And, all bars and restaurants must be within Madison city limits. No suburbs.

Here's my current off-the-top-of-my-head list:

Dotty Dumplings Dowry
AJ Bombers
Weary Traveler
Plaza Tavern and Grill
Five Guys Burgers
Harmony Bar and Grill
Blue Moon Bar and Grill
Old Fashioned
Cooper's Tavern
The Great Dane
Graze

Again, if I'm missing anywhere you find to have an awesome burger, please let me know.

Would YOU pay $19 for a hamburger?

If you had asked me this question a year ago, I would have asked you, in the nicest way possible, "Are you out of your fucking mind?!"

My opinion has changed...and I'll tell you why.


When I see such a large price tag for a hamburger, I figure it falls into one of two categories: Massive Monstrosity Burger where you get it for free if you can eat it in under 45 minutes, or, Upscale Gastro-Pub Burger in a major city that infuses the meat with black truffles, uses beef raised eating only the finest imported Belgian grasses, and is topped with -insert odd flavor here-aoli.

The hamburger in question doesn't fit into either category. It's a 1/3 lb. burger and I don't live in a major city. (I live in a minor one, Madison has 230,000+ people living in it) But, I found a burger I would consider paying $19 for.

Here's the story:

Madison Magazine's Restaurant Week 2011 was during the the last full week of this past January. It involved 35 local restaurants offering a $25 prix-fixed menu that included three courses and three options for each course. I checked out one of these restaurants during this week called Graze with a couple of friends. It's owned by the folks who own L'Etoile and, yes, it's an upper-crust Gastro-Pub with black truffle oil and frites with aoli. It's not the kind of place I would hang out in on a regular basis, but a $25 prix-fixed menu for higher end food is too good to pass up. On the special menu they had a 1/4 lb. version of their normal $19 burger, so I tried it. Think of a burger with in-house ground sirloin, ribeye, and short ribs (the fat content is balanced perfectly) caramelized onions, cabernet jus, on a sesame seed brioche.

I can't believe I'm saying this...but it was the BEST burger I've ever had, period.

I've had some great greasy spoon burgers in my day, burgers made with the perfect combination of ingredients, skill, and love. But this burger was different. It was a flawless balance of ingredients and flavors and I've never had better.

So, to answer the question for myself: yes, I would pay $19 for a hamburger.

And the best part: I don't have to travel to Chicago or New York to get one...though I would anyways, just because.