Wednesday, June 1, 2011

The Adventure Begins.

Beth and I like to eat meat. So much so that we have been known to have meals we call "Carnivorefests." In the quest for meat, we eat a lot of burgers. They are delicious, affordable, delicious, and readily available. But whose is best? This is a question we are determined to answer. After much thought and discussion, we have decided that this is a project. A project with an answer determined by science. This is an experiment, and at the end of the experiment, we will know which restaurant has the best burger in Oxford.

To begin, we needed to come up with standard judging criteria. In an effort to be consistent, we have created score sheets to take to each restaurant to judge their fare. Burgers will be judged in five categories: style, taste, content, satisfaction, and price. Each category is worth five points, adding up to 25 points for overall score.

We've also established some rules in our efforts to be consistent, fair, and sometimes bossy.
  1. No ridiculous extras. Just get staple condiments. Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, cheese, mustard, ketchup, mayonnaise, or any combination of those you see fit.
  2. Get fries with your burger. If that's not an option, chips or some other potato-based food will suffice.
  3. Eating burgers is not laborious. You must enjoy your work!
  4. Drink beer when available.
  5. This goes without saying, but burgers have to be made with beef.
And who will be doing all this judging? The answer is a team of very qualified burger eaters: Beth Ziegenhorn, Greg Earnest, and me, Jillian Pecoraro. We will go to every restaurant in Oxford that isn't a fast-food restaurant (we qualify that as places with drive-throughs), eat their burger, and score it, all while putting the results here. And we will have some help. We will bring along guest judges to get different opinions. Meaghin Burke is our Chief Correspondent in Charge of Vegetarian Affairs (Her scores won't be included in the official burger score, but it will give some insight into Oxford's vegetarian options.) And Katherine Fields is our Fry Judge.

Our first burger experience: Proud Larry's! Check in for updates!

2 comments:

  1. I will gladly pay you on tuesday for a burger today!

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  2. I'm very interested in these results. I lived in Oxford for 6 years and always had great burgers, but personally didn't find my favorite until Rooster's came around in the last 2 years I lived there. Boure also cooks up something great.
    Good luck and enjoy! This sounds like an amazing experiment.

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