It’s been about a year since we first posted our initial review on this blog. In that time we’ve not only visited a lot of different places and eaten a lot of different burgers, but we’ve also gotten a handle on exactly how we were going to go about expressing our opinions.
From the beginning we decided that we were going to judge, not the fanciest gourmet or specialty burger on the menu but the most basic offering a restaurant had. Only then would we personalize it with our own choice of cheese and condiments. While we broke this “rule” a few times, ordering up the “special sauce” or chomping into our favorite from a place we’ve visited many times, for the most part we held true and ate up the basic cheeseburger.
Another little self imposed rule we established early on was that we were going to shy away from the chains. Initially we meant the fast food joints such as McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, etc. but we really did want to focus on the local joints that serve up a fine neighborhood burger. While we have fluctuated from that unstated rule a bit and have included some of the “sit-down” chains, we have, for the most part, stayed true to this vision as well.
After a while people began asking what our favorite burger has been. That’s always hard to say. While we have our personal favorites, both of us believe that what one person likes in a burger (or a car or a pet or anything for that matter) is highly personal. That’s one reason why we didn’t bother to put together any kind of rating system for this blog. We simply wanted to express how we felt about eating at a specific restaurant. (OK, to be honest, this whole blog was an excuse for the two of us to go out and eat burgers.)
Another thing that we’ve been asked from time to time is what is our least favorite burgers or if there are places that really disappointed us when we went for a visit. Were there any places that have been highly touted that just didn’t measure up to what we believed to be a quality burger or restaurant? Sure. Does that mean people shouldn’t go there and give them a try on their own? Absolutely not. In fact one recent post got a comment from a friend who lived near the restaurant saying that he had been thinking of stopping in and trying it out but after reading the review he didn’t think he would. We responded that he should try it for himself since we all have our own likes and dislikes; each of us has our own pallet.
What we have decided to do was to answer those questions for you over the next three blog entries. There will be no specific order to the listings nor will there be any specific number of restaurants. Most importantly, as always, this is our opinion and it shouldn’t influence you in any way whatsoever. That is unless, of course, you are the type of lemming that follows the advice of one specific Super PAC.
The first will be the local places that we liked the best. These are the joints that are locally owned and most likely have attracted a following of neighborhood folks who regularly stop in and enjoy the food. This is based on our personal experience at a given restaurant. In some cases there have been multiple visits and some of the others are simply our one and only impression.
Next we will list out the chains that we found to offer up the best burgers. We have probably stated in each review of a given chain that while it is a good burger it isn’t as good as some of the local joints we like the best. That’s true. The chains never live up to the local places in the same way that a movie can never be as good as the novel on which it was based. That’s really a bad analogy but what the hell.
Our final blog will be about the restaurants that disappointed us the most. Most of these were places that came with a high recommendation from some other “best” list or from a personal recommendation. The reason for our disappointment may have been the quality or the service or even the atmosphere. But whatever the case it prompted us to look at each other and pretty much decide that we really didn’t care to go back there and give it a second try.
So there you have it, something to look forward to in the coming weeks. Besides, this will give us some time to head out and try a few more places that we can ramble about in future blogs as we head into the second year of this cyber word world.
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