5 Napkin Cheddar Bacon Burger
AOL announced the winners of its City’s Best program, where users vote for their favorite restaurants, bars, theaters, clubs, etc. We’ll skip the rest and home in on the Big Question: Who won Best Burger?
As a resident of the state that elected Rod Blagojevich its governor, twice, I can say with authority that you never what you’ll get when the polls open. And the burger joints AOL voters selected are a mixed bag. I think Five Guys Burgers & Fries makes a fine burger, but if you vote for it as your city’s best, you haven’t gotten around enough. Yet Five Guys was voted the winner in three cities. Other chain winners are The Counter in Los Angeles and In-N-Out in Las Vegas. Curiously, no Best Burger awards were handed out in either Cleveland or Philadelphia? Good burgers abound in both cities but the omission isn’t addressed by AOL.
The complete list follows:
| CITY | BEST BURGER WINNER |
| Atlanta | Vortex Bar & Grill |
| Austin, Texas | Hut’s Hamburgers |
| Baltimore | Five Guys Burgers & Fries |
| Boston | Mr. Bartley’s |
| Charlotte, N.C. | Penguin Drive-In |
| Chicago | DMK Burger Bar |
| Dallas | Kincaid’s Hamburgers |
| Denver | The Cherry Cricket |
| Detroit | Red Coat Tavern |
| Houston | Becks Prime |
| Las Vegas | In-N-Out Burger |
| Los Angeles | The Counter |
| Miami | One Burger |
| Minneapolis/St. Paul | Sandy’s Tavern |
| New York City | 5 Napkin Burger |
| Orlando | Five Guys Burgers & Fries |
| Phoenix | Lenny’s Burger |
| San Diego | Johnny B’s Burgers & Brew |
| San Francisco | BIX |
| Seattle | Scooter’s Burgers |
| St. Louis | O’Connell’s Pub |
| Tampa | Biff-Burger and Buffy’s Southern Pit Bar-B-Que |
| Washington, D.C. | Five Guys Burgers & Fries |
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The May Burger of the Month at R.J. Grunts in Chicago is the Chihuahua Burger. That's a ground chuck and sirloin patty topped with Chihuahua cheese, jalapeño cabbage slaw, pickled red onion, cilantro, and Cholula garlic aïoli. To see the full list of May's best Burgers of the Month around the country, click
Ehhh… “The Counter” for LA is like saying “In N Out”…. or dare i say “McDonalds”. The Counter was interesting and groundbreaking when there was one or two locations. Now it’s a chain, and with all chains, the story is so hackneyed. Cool, you can choose from 50 different toppings and sauces to make exactly the burger you want. But 95% of them will taste terrible because you picked random stuff to throw on a burger.
Obviously, our burger club feels strongly this isn’t the way to design the ‘best burger’. If you want variety, sure The Counter is good enough, but if you want a chef to design the ‘best burger’ in LA, stay away… try Umami, Father’s Office, 26 Beach, Rustic Canyon, or 20 other places first.
I’d like to know how the voting was done and the criteria used. For Chicago there are many better burgers than DMK.
I believe it’s a simple “Vote for your favorite” invitation to AOL users.