Here on Best Bites Blog, we’ve been rounding up beefwiches
throughout May in homage to National Burger Month. Since most of
us will spend this weekend chowing down on burgers at backyard
barbecues, we thought our posts might inspire you to move beyond
the same old patties and condiments.
First things first: Start by heading to one of these
premier sources for
meat.
Then look to our local chefs for outside-the-burger-box
inspiration.
If you’re flipping burgs for healthy folks, take a tip from
Bourbon
Steak
chef
Adam Sobel, who dropped a little science on us
when we asked how he gets his turkey burger so
juicy.
Beyond taking your patty’s temperature, there’s also the
ever-important matter of toppings, and Sobel says you can’t go wrong
with guacamole. “I don’t know what it is about it, but it just
works.”
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s the
gluttonous hangover
special
from Mintwood
Place.
We guarantee your guests aren’t expecting a burger with fries
and an egg on top.
This being Washington, politically themed parties are
always in style. You can offer guests all the fixings to make themselves
Good Stuff
Eatery’s
Roquefort-topped
Obama burger. Or, since chef
Spike Mendelsohn spilled the
beans
about what would go on a Romney burger, allow them to vote for
that sandwich instead. Decisions, decisions.
If you’re an unabashed Obama supporter, however, you
should only serve burgers topped with cheddar cheese. We know very well
that’s how he likes
them.
Going meatless? Hotel
Helix makes its veggie burger from
black-eyed
peas.
Sounds a lot better than what comes out of a box marked “Boca.”
Speaking of beef alternatives, several very good
Washington restaurants–Chef
Geoff’s
among them–create
burgers
from some of the ocean’s finest bounty. The only question is:
Do you have the nerve to serve a mussel burger to your friends
and neighbors?
What do
BGR
and
new Columbia Heights watering hole the Pinch have in common?
They like to put barbecue on their burgers. This month’s
special
at BGR involves a prime beef patty topped with pulled pork. The
brand new bar, meanwhile, opts to heap pulled duck and bacon
on its
sandwich,
appropriately dubbed the Meat Lovers.
If you’re out to impress or looking for something to
do with those stacks of cash that are cluttering up your closet, you
can make your own version of the foie-gras-topped 1%
burger
from BLT
Steak.
Just be sure
to pick up a little gold leaf while you’re out grocery
shopping. Speaking of foie, it showed up again at
2941,
where chef
Bertrand Chemel piles it atop his duck
burger.
To make your own version of Poste’s
onion soup
burger,
you’ll need to first make onion soup. It’s a lot of work, sure,
but isn’t it worth it for a sandwich that combines three all-time
favorite foods into one rich and brothy whole? We think so.
Hmm. Not sure we can suggest in good faith that you
put peanut butter and
jelly
on your Memorial Day burger.
Your foodie friends may scoff at sliders, but show
them miniburgers are still cool by serving wee ’wiches in the style of
some of Washington’s
best.
It doesn’t just cure hangovers—Dorothy Moon’s Triple
Decker
also tastes really good. That’s thanks, in part, to spicy
Sriracha. We suggest you add a bottle to the collection of condiments
you put on your fixins bar.
Happy Memorial Day! Now get cooking.
