everybody has been talking to me about the cincinnati magazine 40 best burgers issue for the past week. i suppose it may seem worthwhile to try to rank 40 burgers, but i have a major beef (get it? beef? hahaha) with it because i mean come on, how can you really rank 40 different burgers? (side note: 365 things to do in cincinnati is doing a best burger quest that i think seems a lot more reasonable and reliable).
and apparently (i don't really know for sure because i haven't bothered to read the article since everyone just tells me about it all the time) it wasn't one person trying all the burgers. it was several people. and who knows what their personal ranking system is, and how they like their burger, and all the other variables. and that is the only way i can figure that the arthur's burger landed squarely at #37 or whatever. i am totally making that number up, it might be #23 or #15 or #31, i have no clue. all i know is that it is not high enough.
my favorite burger in cincinnati is terry's. i know i am a burger whore and on the bandwagon and blah blah blah but i'm sorry, that is a fucking good burger. somebody told me once that it tasted "livery" and i guess they went on a bad night. once i had a less than stellar burger there but every other time it is the best. now i agree, the wait is a pain in the ass and that germ infested knife that everybody passes around and touches and licks and whatever freaks me out, but the burger itself is delicious.
my #2 burger in cincinnati is my own. i'm not being full of myself, i just make a really good burger. very high up there on my list also are mayberry which serves a ridiculous burger which you should never eat for lunch if you want to try to get anything done that afternoon, and cafe de wheels because you can get their burger animal style, and gordo's because they put bacon in their meat, and zip's and paula's because they are cheap and good.
i have by no means tried every potentially good burger in cincinnati. places that people talk about all the time that i haven't been include:
- quatman's
- five guys
- wildflower, which serves #1 according to the cincinnati magazine article (i think)
- cricket lounge
- zola
- virgil's (do they have burgers? maybe i am making that up)
- lots of other places
anyway, the point of all this burger rambling is that we all have our own tastes and i feel like to say that one burger is superlatively the best, or to pretend that you can rank them in some sort of objective way (especially if the tasters and/or tasting methods are inconsistent), is silly. we do not need some magazine telling us which ones we should like and in which order. cincinnati has a lot of good burgers and we should all just be happy about that.
9 comments:
I was sick of burger talk and burger ranking before I even knew Cincinnati Magazine jumped on the bandwagon with their own half-assed attempt to rank burgers.
As for Terry's, my last burger was not up to the previous ones. If my next Terry's burger falls short, I don't see how I can justify wading through the crowd to go again ESPECIALLY since that crowd is now full of food network watching house fraus, children and other dreadful characters who I don't want pressed up against me while I am trying to eat.
And I love that your #2 ranked burger is your own! Anyone who really likes food should be able to make a burger that ranks in their own top 10 if not top 2.
Five Guys isnt that good. Also I almost fell down because the floor in there is so greasy. It grossed me out.
Love the writeup - now, I can't agree about Zip's; granted, I was only there once, but the burger was dry and way overdone. Quatman Cafe? VERY good, at least the one in Norwood is. The Black Horse Pub (rear of the Golden Lamb in Lebanon) made a great burger at one time; once the business re-opens, we'll see if that's survived their several-month closure.
I don't like Five Guys burgers. Seasoning in the meat. I hate when they do that and don't warn you. If i wanted a mouth full of seasoning, I'd lick the plastic bottles. I ordered meat and I want to taste good quality meat, cooked well.
I want to eat your burger. It sounds real thick and juicy.
hahaha, is that heather?
Liz, sorry to hijack this topic but I dont have an alternate means to reach you - have you tried the 1-month-old Al Amir Cafe on 8th next to the Blue Wisp, and if so, what did you think? Menu is strikingly similar to Rayas, falafel was good on my first stop in.
i've been to zola before and it's pretty decent. for me, terrys is the best. although, my standards aren't that high to be totally honest.
Terry's is very, very good but it is eclipsed by Gordo's in Norwood ESPECIALLY the Jean-Robert burger.
I have to knock TTC down a peg or two after learning one of my friends was served a burger in three pieces there. No discount, no explanation. And it came with a 45 minute wait. That's unacceptable at McD's prices...
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