Daily dispatches on the Washington, DC area's food, restaurant and dining scene.

Burger Brackets: Moving On To the Quarter-finals

With the elimination of several great burger spots (including one shocking upset) it's time to move on to the quarter-finals of the Burger Brackets.

Published Thursday, March 19, 2009

Well, burger lovers, it's been a long, exciting, and sometimes torturous road since we first introduced the Burger Brackets to you. What have we discovered? People love Five Guys (not too much of a shocker, that), Elevation Burger apparently has a mailing list of epic proportions, and, perhaps most importantly, we learned the lesson that you can never take anything for granted—as, apparently, fans of Ray's Hell-Burger did. Widely expected to make it to the finals, if not win the entire thing, Ray's was knocked out unexpectedly today by Central's burger.

But no regrets! Moving on. We're down to the quarter-finals, the Edible Eight, the final spots competing for Washington-area burger dominance! Starting today, we'll only have one face-off per day that will stay open for 24 hours for voting. When we reach the finals, we'll keep that face-off open for close to a week for voting. But for now, let's move on to the first quarter-final burger match-up...

And as a reminder, you can keep tabs on all the Burger Brackets and browse through past ones here.

Five Guys: This local franchise chain just keeps marching ever forward. Every time they've been in a match-up, Five Guys fans, both local and national, rally to make sure they keep garnering more votes. Five Guys certainly has their detractors (a recent commenter said "Five Guys is really not that good, just cheap, and a cheap is not the same as good at all") but we wouldn't be surprised if they made it all the way into the finals.

BLT Steak: You may be surprised that a burger from a place that focuses on steak has made it this far, but try the juicy $16 lunchtime burger, made from Black Angus beef and served on an old-school sesame bun, before you scoff.

Who makes the better burger? Vote in the poll below, then leave your thoughts in the comments. Then check back tomorrow at 2 PM for the next installment of the Burger Brackets.

Keep tabs on all the Burger Brackets here.

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Comments

Five Guys is by far the better burger. You can taste the freshness of the meat. They just don’t get any better than that.

Posted by: Burger Connoisseur, Mar 25, 2009 01:02:11 PM

Whomever thinks Palena has a great burger either has no tongue or has never had another burger. It’s a giant, warm, and over toasted bun that scrapes the roof of your mouth, a single and dull piece of meat, and a piece of cheese. I’ve made better by buying fresh Brioche from Balducci’s and cheese from Cowgirl.

Posted by: TDD, Mar 24, 2009 03:26:30 AM

BLT Steak has the best burgers in DC, juicy and perfectly seasoned. The other burgers don’t compare.

Posted by: Sheila, Mar 22, 2009 08:07:30 AM

BLT is good and should win their bracket. I want to see them and Elevation go head-to-head.

Posted by: Mike Whalan, Mar 21, 2009 07:17:03 AM

The burgers at BLT are fabulous and I know
my burgers.

Posted by: Howard, Mar 20, 2009 07:13:16 PM

BLT is by far the best in burgers and the hanger
steak.

Posted by: Meryl, Mar 20, 2009 07:05:56 PM

BLT Burger all the way!

Posted by: BigStu, Mar 20, 2009 06:44:23 PM

Ballot stuffing?!?, Five Guys has 300 restaurants, Please... BLT’s Burger is the Truth

Posted by: Lucas, Mar 20, 2009 05:55:32 PM

blt steak!

Posted by: ARTfreaks, Mar 20, 2009 05:10:05 PM

Five Guys is a greasy burger just shy of wendy’s. BLT is where it’s at

Posted by: scott, Mar 20, 2009 04:01:38 PM

Five Guy’s is out? That’s it. I’m no longer interested.

I guarantee Five Guys doesn’t have an email newsletter, a talklist, a blog, vlog, facebook, myspace or twitter account to incite their customers to vote. Smells like ballot stuffing to me.

Posted by: slurpeeman, Mar 20, 2009 11:29:34 AM

@Spider, Nathan’s was kicked out in an earlier round. Hope you’ll still vote in the rest of the Burger Brackets!

Posted by: Catherine (washingtonian.com), Mar 20, 2009 11:01:19 AM

Sorry, I meant to say BLT’s Burger is the BEST!

Posted by: DontWorryAboutIt, Mar 20, 2009 10:43:22 AM

This is, hands down, THE best burger in town. Nothing else compares - uber tasty!

Posted by: DontWorryAboutIt, Mar 20, 2009 10:36:42 AM

It is without contest that BLT not only has the best burgers but the best steak in Washington, D.C. area, New York and beyond. I’ve followed Chef de Cuisine Victor Albisu throughout the city and he is just simply amazing. So, I encourage your palates to discover a delectable surprise.

Posted by: Hida, Mar 20, 2009 10:21:14 AM

Everytime I come into town from Los Angeles, I always stop and get a burger at BLT Steak. It’s the best lunch time treat. Worth every penny.

Posted by: Bucks Boys, Mar 20, 2009 10:11:26 AM

Are you kidding me there is no comparison, BLT blows Five Guys out of the water! I guess if you like greasy burgers that end up drenching the bag with their oils, five guys might be your pick. But if you enjoy a perfectly prepared burger made how you want it, then BLT is the obvious choice.

Posted by: CK, Mar 20, 2009 10:00:25 AM

Has anyone had a burger at BLT Burger in NY? Those burgers are the BOMB. I hope a BLT Burger opens in DC. For now - the BLT here has my vote, those burgers are delicious.

Posted by: Jeff, Mar 20, 2009 09:51:47 AM

Any burger contest that does not even include Nathan’s is retarded. They grind their own meat daily and their burger’s are amazing. This contest is a joke and I fart in it’s general direction.

Posted by: Spider, Mar 20, 2009 09:50:23 AM

Remember the explanation of what would happen if the Ghostbusters let their proton beams cross each other? That is the same thing that will happen if Five Guys loses this competition:

"Try to imagine all life as you know it stopping instantaneously and every molecule in your body exploding at the speed of light."
—Dr. Egon Spengler, Ghostbuster.

Posted by: slurpeeman, Mar 20, 2009 09:20:32 AM

@Cameron H. - Good Stuff Eatery was actually knocked out in the first round. Thanks for reading!

Posted by: Catherine (washingtonian.com), Mar 20, 2009 09:20:14 AM

How can you leave our Good Stuff Eatery! That’s just wrong... Not a true competition w/o Spike frmo Top Chef in the mix. Come on now.

Posted by: Cameron H., Mar 20, 2009 08:40:50 AM

So Central has an email list and Ray’s doesn’t, so they win the bracket?!? Total BS.

Posted by: Nevin, Mar 20, 2009 08:13:10 AM

BLT by far.I have tried burgers from others that remain in the bracket....none hold a candle (or a bun) to BLT’s. I have also tried BLT in Vegas and in Scottsdale....Washington’s BLT still tops the list!

Posted by: Dr. Ben, Mar 20, 2009 08:00:13 AM

To the previous poster -- I agree BLT burger in Vegas is awesome but it’s really a different restaurant. BLT Burger in Vegas has amazing shakes too, but no popovers, sadly.

Posted by: Mason, Mar 20, 2009 07:42:05 AM

So basically this is all about mailing list. Elevation Burger better than Palena? Please. You gotta be kidding me. Palena is the best burger in DC, better than Central. Top 4 are Palena, Central, BLT and Five Guys.

Posted by: Mason, Mar 20, 2009 07:40:36 AM

I don’t agree with the hype about Central. It was so soggy and hard to eat and the meat was gross. I love burgers but I couldn’t even choke that one down. BLT has a burger place in Vegas so I think they must be able to do a good burger. Hard to compare Five Guys with BLT, but all in all, BLT gets the vote

Posted by: Tried Both, Mar 20, 2009 07:17:54 AM

Oh and I’ve never had a BLT Burger for Five Guys had to get my vote. Still, this is a battle between two minor leaguers.

Posted by: Mike, Mar 20, 2009 06:59:21 AM

Ray’s v. Central should have been the final. Just luck of the bracket. Without a serious PR effort, I don’t see anyone topping Central.

Posted by: Mike, Mar 20, 2009 06:58:22 AM

BLT burgers are GREAT - I hear there may be a BLT Burger opening up here, so they are serious about their competition. I’ve had both burgers and have to say that Five Guys has really been slacking since they opened so many locations.

Posted by: Jack, Mar 20, 2009 06:49:32 AM

Stop crying and learn from the past!!!

Posted by: Bye Bye Rays, Mar 19, 2009 05:29:35 PM

Isn’t this the comment page of Five Guys VS BLT Steak? Well it is, but how come there is no comment about this battle? Stop crying over spilt blood and go try the meat in these burgers! This is for FUN not to make restaurants look bad.

Posted by: Funny Kids, Mar 19, 2009 05:25:46 PM

Landrum had it coming to him. His burgers don’t hold up past the local cult mania he’s created. Anyone who knows anything about burgers, like Josh Ozersky, ( probabbly the biggest authority on burgers) knows and states a 10 oz burger is simply disgusting! you have to pre cook in in an oven, so it dries out, or bury it in a fake marinade to pretend it’s juicy. Congrats Michel. you did good!

Posted by: HAHA, Mar 19, 2009 02:10:08 PM

I agree that if this reduces the lines at Ray’s I’m all for it. And, whomever says Ray’s flavor profile is weak lacks...taste.

Posted by: Shido, Mar 19, 2009 02:01:51 PM

this is a load of horse patooty. i’m out.

Posted by: Ray Burgerface McGee, Mar 19, 2009 01:37:53 PM

How about this for the rest of tourney ... only vote between two burgers that you have actually tasted! This should not be a blast email contest. BTW, I voted for the Central burger because I actually prefer it to the Hell Burger. Now I will finally get to Elevation and see if they can match what to my tastes is the best AND most natural burger I have every tasted (and I tasted it again today). Delish!

Posted by: Honest Abe, Mar 19, 2009 01:26:40 PM

So at this point it’s pretty clear that this is just a contest to see which burger joints have the best PR machines / email lists, huh?

Kinda sucks for the smaller shops that don’t take on the expense of hiring a PR consultant.

Even without having seen the raw numbers of how many people voted in each contest so far, I can probably predict the outcomes from here on out:

Five Guys beats BLT Steak, probably by a 2/3 margin or better.

Elevation Wins over Central with 60% of the vote.

Chaddy’s tops Harry’s, but it’s close.

Matchbox blows out EatBar.

In the final four, Elevation ekes out a close one over Five Guys, with plenty of angry comments from both sides about how bad the other side is.

Matchbox goes on to beat Chaddy’s handily, ending the closest thing this contest has to a Cinderella Story.

And Elevation posts a comfortable win over Matchbox to take the title.

Exciting? Not really.

A true representation of "Best Burger" in the area? Hardly.

A testament to the strength of "Vote for us" campaigning? Definitely.

Woo. Hoo.

Posted by: The HellBurger You Say, Mar 19, 2009 01:24:12 PM

I voted for the Central burger since it has more thought put into its design -- a nice rosemary taste, the right amount of juiciness, etc. The Ray’s Hell Burger, which I like, is sort of a classic, down and dirty burger -- thick and juicy, but not much else in terms of a flavor profile.

Posted by: TDD, Mar 19, 2009 12:53:16 PM

Good. Less lines at Ray’s :)

Posted by: Rus, Mar 19, 2009 12:51:34 PM

Central clearly had sent out some sort of email blast or something. But you can’t fault them for running a PR machine on this. Ray’s fans should have stepped up.

Posted by: Lacey, Mar 19, 2009 11:52:56 AM

I call BS that Ray’s didn’t make it. The Central burger is nowhere near as good as Ray’s.

Posted by: BS!, Mar 19, 2009 11:40:29 AM

Burger Brackets: Moving On To the Quarter-finals

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