Rochester Burger Week July 19-26

r e g r u B k e e W

E at b u r g e r s , Help the Hungry!

July 19-26 made possible by our sponsors

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ROCHESTER BURGER WEEK

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ROCHESTER BURGER WEEK And Home of the

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July 19-26

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Rochester’s BEST Selection of Grills plus Grilling Accessories, BBQ Sauces & Rubs and Cookbooks •LP Tanks & Refills •Cookbooks, Utensils, Spices •Great Selection of Wood Chips: Hickory, Mesquite, Apple, Pecan & Jack Daniels Rochester’s Only

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Who wants seconds?

The quintessential summer sandwich grilled to perfection? A gooey, cheesy debaucherous cheat meal? A vessel for outrageous toppings that have no business being on top of a slab of beef, mushroom or bean?

We’ve got 20 local burger crafters participating in this second year of Burger Week and everyone wants to show off their burger creations!

To join the fun -- order a burger from any participating restaurant, snap a photo and share it with us on Instagram for the chance to win prizes. We’ve got Burger Week shirts, koozies and totes to give away, gift cards to all of the participating restaurants, a grill, and a smoker from Mileage Master Center!

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2488 Browncroft Blvd. • 586-1870

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As if you needed another reason to eat a delicious burger and win cool prizes, Burger Week is a charitable cause. A portion of the proceeds from each burger sold will be donated to Foodlink by participating restaurants.

Help us raise as much money as possible to contribute to this organization committed to feeding underserved communities.

So follow @rocburgerweek on Instagram or visit rochesterburgerweek.com for more information. And make sure to try as many burgers as you can….we guarantee you’ll be ready for a salad by the end of Rochester Burger Week.

eat burgers, HElp the hungry!

A portion of the proceeds from each burger sold during ROCHESTER BURGER WEEK will be donated by the participating restaurants to Foodlink. Help us raise as much money as possible to contribute to this organization commited to feeding underserved communities.

snap. share. win We've got tons of cool stuff to give away during Burger Week.

From Burger Week gear, to restaurant gift cards.

We’re even giving away a Weber grill and a Smokey Mountain cooker.

Just follow us on Instagram, tag us in your burger pics (@rocburgerweek) and you’ll be eligible to win!

give it up to our sponsors

MILEAGE MASTER CENTER We ARE the GRILL MASTERS

ROCHESTER BURGER WEEK

g r u B e h t t a e M

The Angry Goat

938 S. Clinton Avenue / theangrygoatpub.com

Cherry Bacon Bomb Burger Cherry bacon jam, brie, argula and fig aioli

Bar Louie

935 Jefferson road / barlouie.com

6 Napkins Burger Two slider patties, grilled with yellow mustard, topped with caramelized onions, double white cheddar, pickles and Louie sauce.

Blades Bar & GrilL | BLADES DINer 1290 university Avenue / bladesbarandgrill.com

Porky’s Nightmare 8oz Brisket burger, bbq pulled pork, applewood smoked bacon, honey ham and bell pepper cole slaw, smokey bbq sauce, melted chedder on a brioche roll.

BuntSy's Neighborhood Bar & Grill 2235 Empire Blvd / buntsys.com

The Merry Go Round Burger 8oz premium Iowa Angus topped with applewood bacon, beer cheese, pretzels, peanut sauce and drizzled with caramel on a Vienna roll.

Charlie riedel's

1843 Empire Blvd / charliesrestaurants.com

Charlie Burger w/ Everything Ground beef patty with provolone, lettuce, tomato, mayo.

Topped with mustard onions and our signature hot sauce on a poppy seed brioche roll.

McArdle's restaurant

1355 Fairport road / mcardlesfairport.com

McArdle’s Dry Aged Burger 21-day dry aged Angus burger with cheddar cheese, argula, pickled red onions and garlic aioli on a twist roll.

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Tap & Mallet

381 Gregory Street / tapan

Pigs Guilty, Ques

7oz Seven Bridges Farms burger, 5 s red onion, garlic aioli and scallions o

The Gate House

274 N. Goodman / thegateh

The Douglass

Half pound Angus burger with me onions and yellow mustard.

Sticky Lips BBq

830 Jefferson road / stick

The Trash Heap

8oz burger, Angus beef, topped off provolone cheese and Rochester’s

The old Stone Tav

758 South Avenue / theold

Asian Belly Ston

Standard Stoneburger topped with our house-made Korean BBQ sauc

Toasted Bear Tave

689 South Avenue / tbtaver

Toasted Bear Bur

1/2 pound of beef/brisket blend to meat sauce, onion ring, lettuce and

Honeoye Falls Dis

168 West Main Street / hon

HFD Burger

6oz Fire Creek Farms beef patty, h HFD sauce, Bakers Street Bakery b

gers!

ndmallet.com

so Closed

spice bruised pork belly, jalapeno cheese sauce, pickled on a ciabatta roll.

housecafe.com

eat hot sauce, American cheese,

kylipsbbq.com/stickylips

ff with sweet collard greens, Idaho home cut fries, best meat hot sauce on a toasted Diablo roll.

vern

dstonetavern.com

neburger

h Pork belly, pickled onions, jalapenos, cucumber and ce.

ern

rn.com

rger

opped with house smoked pork belly, cheese sauce, hot d tomato.

stilleryBar & Lounge

neoyefallsdistillery.com

house pimento cheese, bacon, lettuce, crispy onions, brioche bun.

Lovin Cup

300 park point Drive / lovincup.com

We got big BUN Our locally sourced burger, served up with our special noodle-bowl sauce, peanut butter and Asian slaw.

Jimmy Z's plates & Shakes

53 Main Street / platesandshakes.com

The Eiffel Tower Bacon cheeseburger topped with 2 BBQ chicken fingers and onion rings.

Harry G's NY Deli & Café

Maple Mania 678 South Avenue / harrygsdeli.com House made burger with maple sausage seasoning, maple BBQ sauce, maple cheddar cheese, bacon and French fried onions on a Kaiser roll.

Grappa Italian Nouveau 30 Celebration Drive / grapparoc.com

Grappa Italian Bison Burger Grilled Bison burger, house-made mozz, heirloom tomato, baby argula, aioli fiorentina on a grilled ciabatta roll.

vesper Kitchen Bar

1 Capron Street / rocthevesper.com

The Royale with Cheese 10oz burger, tomato, bacon onion marmalade, smoked gouda, house made pickles.

Dicky's Corner pub

791 Meigs St / dickyscornerpub.com

BBQ Chipotle burger 8oz angus patty cooked to temp. Topped with house made chipotle slaw, cheddar cheese and pickle served on sour dough.

Le petit poutine lepetitpoutine.com

Cheeseburger Poutine Savory ground beef served over poutine and topped with crispy lettuce, tomatoes, and cheese sauce.

ROCHESTER BURGER WEEK

THE BOND THAT BURGERS BUILD

BY KITA ROBERTS

There is something about a classic burger that brings people together. It invites conversation and, much like any casual handheld food that you are bound to need a few napkins for, allows people to roll up their sleeves and get a bit messy.

Burgers aren’t just an American backyard favorite. Found across the country in just about every drivethrough, family restaurant, food trucks, and even occasionally moonlighting as a signature item in upscale places; they are a social event. People who share burgers, whether in a backyard or at a hightop, are always willing to smile and share light conversation too.

As Rochester gears up to celebrate summer’s favorite social food, and the classic American favorite for Burger Week, I am inviting you to think of the burger not just as a quick bite to eat, but as an invitation for community, gentle competition, and oldfashioned fun.

The thing about burgers being more about community than food is simply this.

Grilling burgers at summer barbecues, camping trips, as tailgating essentials, and for poolside afternoons are all about sharing those moments with friends and 22

family. Naturally, by hosting an afternoon barbecue, or ordering a burger at your favorite local pub, you are saddling up to the table to enjoy time with those around you. Not just to sit quietly and eat.

Taking life back from those screens, as you sit savoring those patties, you spend time catching up, in real life. Sharing burgers is an IRL (In-real-life) community event, every time. You can’t scroll through the latest social networks with ketchup on your fingers, so enjoy those around you.

Burger Month is Born: In 2013 GirlCarnivore was launched, with the idea of becoming a fun slightly snarky place for anyone craving for a meatinspired recipe to come and join in. To take the edge off, and make accessible, the steps for prepping, cooking, grilling, or smoking anything.

As the site grew, I realized that the community I loved around my campfires grilling burgers could be shared virtually, through the website. And on one hot summer day sharing a backyard bash with some friends, an idea sparked to life.

Burger Month started in 2014 when I threw out the idea to some blogging friends

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and foodies to cultivate that social feeling online. In the days of millions of websites, running one can feel somewhat isolating, but burgers always get people talking. They bring everyone to the table, and that always results in fun conversation. I wanted to bring that to the internet and share it with readers, inviting them to join me at the table too, so to speak.

To break down the feeling of just being someone far away behind a screen.

Since it started in 2014, GirlCarnivore. com has hosted an annual BurgerMonth every May, showcasing hundreds of amazing recipes from chefs, bloggers, and friends. Every year, the burger-loving community grows, and I get pictures and messages from readers from all over with their home-made creations or local favorites. Which is precisely the feeling I was trying to cultivate in the busy online world; Community.

The challenge to the participants?

Make a great burger, whatever that means to the creator, and share it to a wider net of the combined blogs and sites readers. We started with a humble group of burgers, but have grown since that first year, to showcase hundreds of amazing recipes, burgers of all kinds, and even added weekly prizes for those loyal readers to win with hopes of spreading the burger craving far and wide. The event has taken over May on GirlCarnivore.com and spread across social platforms with multiple recipes and new creations coming out daily for the entirety of the month.

Being the host of BurgerMonth.com has led to some pretty exciting places, and one of my favorites is being the judge of many burger battles. In each, talented chefs from

one winner was declared in the New York Best Burger Competition. All were amazing, and being such a fan, a few readers and friends have pointed out even more other great New York Burgers to try too. It’s worth creating a road trip through the state to experience the variety.

With so many options, what makes a great burger?

restaurants come together to showcase their award-winning burgers in hopes of being awarded the best burger.

Recently, the New York Best Burger Battle allowed me to judge the states best burgers.

They were narrowed down by online voting open to the public, to the top 9 burgers. The competition was fierce, incredibly filling, and brought a great group of New York talent into one kitchen to compete.

Besides creating over the top delicious burgers, the cookoff was an education in the region’s flavors. My peers explained the salty kimmelweck (kummelweck) roll, which led to a fantastic Beef on Weck burger. There was a classic griddle smashed burger, an ode to Texas Barbecue with brisket topped burger, fresh avocado spiced with jalapenos and mayo and a juicy diner style mushroom burger, and of course the mile high burger with a fried egg on top, to name a few.

Each of the five judges scored the burgers and made notes, and in the end,

Is there such a thing as a bad burger? No. Even when they don’t come out as planned, burgers are one of those foods that are always welcome. As a home cook, whether they are smashed on a griddle, grilled or masterfully seared in a skillet, there’s no going wrong. And that goes for the actual patty itself too. There isn’t a protein that doesn’t fit the bill when it comes to delicious burgers. But, beef stands as king when it comes to that classic flavor.

Here are a few tips for a perfect burger: Start with a great blend of beef, with just enough fat to add flavor and keep things moist. From there, just a pinch of salt goes a long way for a perfect umami flavor.

Other seasonings can be added in, but the taste of a classic beef burger without much additional filling is always a guaranteed hit.

Don’t overwork the patties when forming, and allow them to rest before cooking. Be sure to cook to an internal temperature of 160 with ground beef for food safety. Allow the burgers to rest for 3 to 5 minutes before serving.

For bonus flavor, a small dollop of compound butter melted over the resting burgers goes a long way.

Find more about Burger Month, the Burger of the Month Clubhouse, and more recipes to get you inspired on my site, GirlCarnivore. com. You can follow along with more meaty adventures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram too @GirlCarnivore

Kita Roberts is a food/travel writer, photographer and the creator of GirlCarnivore.com and PasstheSushi.com.

She is always off exploring global flavors and learning the history of our foodways.

Follow along on her adventures on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT NYBEEF.ORG

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