Some ‘Ground’ Rules
It’s really as simple as it sounds. I’m going to try 50 of the best burgers in the city of Atlanta, the place I currently call home.
I don’t know any more about burgers than the average Joe. I never raised cows. I never studied the culinary arts. I’ve never worked at a bakery or slaughter house. I just like a good burger. I’ve simply researched several top 10 lists, done some talking, taken some suggestions, tried some on my own, etc. This is not an end-all-be-all. I’m doing this because every Top 10 list has completely different burgers on it, and I want to try them all.
My sole purpose with this project is to show the general public what some of the best burgers look like, inform them on where to get ’em and what they’re called, and give a brief positive description of my experience. This isn’t Yelp, and I’m not a critic. If I could make better burgers myself then I wouldn’t even bother.
First off, some ground rules (no pun intended) of note:
- I’m ordering the one burger that looks the best to me at each location based on what I’ve heard, suggestions from the staff, or simply what I’m feeling that day. Several of these places serve many wonderful burgers, but I’m not trying all 26 (based on a very brief tally I did about 18 seconds ago) of the Vortex burgers. One and done.
- All photos will be taken with the iPhone X, in case Apple wants to pay me millions of dollars for my efforts *cough cough. The only reason I say this is so you, the reader, know that I’m not a professional photographer and that this is REALLY what the burger looks like. Yeah, I edit the photos because this isn’t 1992 either and I still want this blog to be aesthetically pleasing and salivating. These restaurants work hard to make a good burger stack and I don’t want to discredit them because it was dark or something.
- So far, I’m including some chains. My list includes around 67 burger spots currently, and when I need to eliminate some I will most likely start with the chains. This has been a point of conflict for me; on one hand, some of these chains are still some of the best burgers in the city. On the other hand, it’d be nice if this was a list of burgers you can ONLY get in Atlanta. As of this morning, I’m more on the “screw it, it’s a good photo of a great burger” vibe.
- This last rule is really more on a personal level, but still of note. Once I take the photo, I’m setting the phone down. This is to ensure that I’m still enjoying the burgers and being fully present in the moment. I know this sounds like a millennial on her second annual trip to Coachella, but I thought it necessary to point out.
The plan as of now, to keep things relatively civilized, is to release pictures and descriptions of the burgers about 5 or 6 at a time. They will be organized by location such as Buckhead, West Midtown, East Atlanta, and so on. The idea behind this is so that if you find yourself in the mood for a good burger, you can pull up my blog and find one nearest you that you KNOW will be fantastic.
I have a good head start, but will probably post once every couple of weeks in order to make up some ground (and THERE it is again, another use of the entendre, should I go for the coffee context?).
Please feel free to shoot some suggestions my way, leave comments or ideas, share this post, offer words of encouragement, or join me for a burger somewhere. I appreciate any and all support.
And most importantly of all, enjoy.
