Community Corner
Local Burger Restaurants Put to the Test
Anyone who’s hungry for a cheeseburger doesn’t have to go too far in the Wheaton area. Several hamburger restaurants have opened in the area in the last 18 months or so. Tonight six area teens decided to find out which cheeseburger was best.
Tonight, the Great Burger Dash took place in Wheaton. The targets: That Burger Joint in Glen Ellyn; Five Guys in Wheaton; Meatheads in Glen Ellyn; Tom & Eddie’s in Naperville; and Smashburger in Wheaton.
The judges: six Wheaton and Winfield teens: Ben Alston of Wheaton, Ross Burandt of Winfield, Kailey Morissette, Owen Seleski and Mel Uhrich of Wheaton, and Danielle Unger of Winfield.
The strategy: teams were sent to each of the five restaurants to purchase three plain cheeseburgers with fries. All burgers and fries were taken to the Wheaton home of Ben Alston, where the burgers were quartered and distributed amongst all for taste testing. Since fries were part of the purchase, they were also rated. Leftover cheeseburger quarters were then dressed with favorite condiments and eaten with fries and homemade shakes and cupcakes.“The combination of textures has to be right. The lettuce has to be crisp, the bun has to be toasted enough and the meat can’t be overdone,” Morissette said.
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The burgers and fries were rated one restaurant at a time in a blind sampling, so no teen could tell which restaurant was being reviewed. The criteria were completely at the discretion of the teens – all of whom were hungry at the time.
The results of this thoroughly unscientific and incredibly subjective contest were as follows.
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Best cheeseburgers:
1. Five Guys
2. Meatheads
3. Smashburger
4. That Burger Joint
5. Tom and Eddie’s
Best fries:
1. Five Guys
2. That Burger Joint
3. Meatheads
4. Tom & Eddie’s
5. Smashburger
Best combination of burgers and fries by average score:
1. Five Guys
2. A tie between That Burger Joint and Meatheads
3. Smashburger
4. Tom & Eddie’s
“I thought the results were pretty accurate. Five Guys is well liked,” Seleski said.So goes the Great Burger Dash for one Saturday night. Of course, the real determination of best cheeseburger is made by the individual taster, at his/her own time, in his/her own place and under his/her own consumption conditions. One thought was common among all tasters – the entire process made everyone thirsty for a glass of water.
