Meat the champions

By John Lehndorff, Rocky Mountain News

August 8, 2003

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There's no doubt that Denverites love their hamburgers. It's been a dining mainstay since long before local restaurateur Louis Ballast trademarked the name "cheeseburger" in 1935. Peruse the menus of Denver's burgeoning roster of eateries and you'll find one dish common to almost every one: the humble hamburger.

In fact, our collective, insatiable need for more burgers prompts the building of new spots every day. A new gourmet burger-centered restaurant, BurgerMax, opened recently in Writer Square and Burger-n-Sports - baseball legend Goose Gossage's new eatery - is serving patties in Littleton.

The popularity of the Atkins high- protein diet has given retired burger fiends a renewed excuse to indulge in their favorite food. The rare hamburger scare hasn't had much impact on burger sales. There are just a handful of Denver establishments that insist they can't cook a burger any cooler than medium rare.

When we set out recently to find the best hamburger in the Denver area, we knew we could never taste them all. We started out by limiting our survey to restaurants located in Denver itself.

In our survey, we didn't care about ambience or service unless they interfered with our burger enjoyment. It was also not about the arsenal of topping combinations with which you can smother your patty, or the condiments, steak sauces or side-dishes. What matters most is the meat, and we aren't talking about buffalo, turkey or tofu. It's about the beef and only about the beef.

Also, although we love a classic thin, greasy, cheesy burger as much as the next person - and appreciate the product produced by Grandpa's Burger Haven, Crown Burger and fast-food chains like Carl's Jr. and Good Times - we decided to only look at the cream of the burger crop.

We narrowly focused on the burger royalty, the so-called fork 'n' knife burgers. From an initial list of 75 recommended restaurants - everybody we know has a favorite burger joint - we narrowed it down to about 25. We chose places that are known for serving real, half-pound, hand-formed patties whose charred (or griddled) exterior encloses a pool of beefy juice. We wanted tasty burgers, not hockey pucks.

Over time we found that pre-formed flat burger patties, even the hefty ½-pound ones, were usually too thin to be cooked medium rare and the texture is too dense and chewy.

At almost every burger emporium, we followed the same judging procedure. We ordered two burgers - one medium and one medium rare. When they arrived we sliced each in half to see if they were cooked to order. With half of each burger in front of us, we tasted pieces of the patties by themselves.

We appraised the serving temperature, how it was seasoned and the proportion of patty to bun and toppings. We observed the quality of the bun, toppings, condiments and sides.

Finally, we forgot all the above and took a big messy bite to see if it tasted great, if all the burger parts worked as a complete eating experience and if we would love to have another one. We called it the Yum Factor.

In the process, we also tasted some less-than-stellar burgers. Some failed to make the grade because they were overcooked, flattened like a pancake, oversalted or had herbs and spices mixed in like they were meatballs. Some simply didn't taste good.

The experience taught us some ordering tips. For instance, most restaurants seem incapable of cooking hamburgers to order; most are overcooked. Always order your burger one step cooler than you actually want to eat it. In other words, if you like medium burgers, order them medium rare and it will arrive medium.

Another rule is that almost every restaurant over-salts burgers on the grill. Often it is some commercial seasoning salt mix with added unnecessary flavors. Just tell your waitress to hold the salt. Finally, don't be afraid to send it back if it's cooked wrong.

We also observed that Denver is well-stocked with truly comfy, classy grills where you can order a $6 to $8 burger that makes a full meal once you count the toppings, condiments and sides.

After the grease had settled, the best of the best became clear. The gorgeous $10 Kobe (that's Ko-BAY, by the way) burger served at 1515 Restaurant in LoDo won. This beef is made from special beer-fed cattle that are massaged and pampered.

However, that pricey patty barely edged out the excellent burgers served at Mel's Restaurant, Trinity Grill, Cherry Creek Grill, Manhattan Grill and Dixons Downtown Grill. You can't go wrong sampling any of the big burgers on the list.

John Lehndorff is the dining critic; lehndorffj~RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-5103.