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Bite into Davis Downtown’s Burger Battle

FalafelBurger

The Badmash “Gangster” Burger at Falafel Corner is competing in the Davis Downtown Burger Battle. It features lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, thousand island sauce, mayonnaise, house-made secret sauce, American and Swiss cheese, bacon and egg. (Courtesy photo)

(From press release) Davis restaurants are offering lots of juicy reasons to head downtown this month, as eateries compete for the title of Best Burger.

Nearly a dozen restaurants are taking part in the 2023 Davis Downtown Burger Battle, and the list is growing. Patrons are the judges, assigning points for every featured burger they try. It’s a great chance for burger fans to show support for a favorite establishment – and try some new ones. Entries include beef, veggie and vegan burgers, and some creative combinations of toppings and breads. Each participating eatery features one contest entry. Judges may rate one or all burgers – one entry per restaurant.

The eatery with the highest-scoring burger will receive a trophy and bragging rights. Throughout July, burger tasters scan a QR code at their table (request one if not available), and score the burgers for taste, presentation, creativity, patty, toppings and bun. Grading in each category is from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). In early August, the restaurant whose burger has the highest average score is declared the winner.

So far, participants include Third & U Café with a jalapeño burger, Bull ’N Mouth with its Down the Hatch Burger, Cloud Forest Café with a Valley Veggie, The Davis Food Co-op with The Vegan Vaquero Burger, El Patio Fresh Mexican Grill with a Mex Burger, Falafel Corner with a Badmash “Gangster” Burger, The Halal Guys, Handheld Sweet & Savory Pies with a Brie Burger wrapped in dough, Steve’s Pizza with a Sticky Burger with maple syrup and peanut butter, Tommy J’s Grill & Catering with its Firehouse Burger, and Village Pizza & Pints with a Gorgonzola Burger with Bacon.

Read full descriptions of each restaurant’s burger entry at https://davisdowntown.com/2023-burger-battle.

Downtown Davis businesses still wishing to participate in the program may visit https://bit.ly/BBregistrationform to sign up.

Davis Downtown leads and energizes the downtown as the primary business, entertainment and cultural center of Davis. Alive with activity seven days a week, downtown Davis draws locals and visitors alike to experience fine food and beverages, retail, professional services, arts and entertainment in an extraordinary and sustainable gathering place.

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Comments

11 responses to “Bite into Davis Downtown’s Burger Battle”

  1. Ron O

    Don’t mean to be the proverbial “wet blanket” again, as I was when finding out that downtown “gift cards” cost customers MORE than just paying in cash.
    But I’m not seeing any price for “participants” (“judges”) to attend, nor does it seem that a “burger-sampling contest” is all that appetizing. How many burgers (of any type) can one “sample”, before it all becomes something “worse” than just unappetizing?
    For that matter, it seems (to me) that restaurants don’t really “need” a contest like this. Isn’t one of the “complaints” that downtown is already becoming a food court? (Not my “complaint” – but is cited by some.)

    Reply
  2. Roberta L. Millstein

    I participated in one of these before, and the way it works is that you have a whole month to try one, some, or all of the burgers. It’s a regular burger purchase, and you rate each burger that you try.
    A totally optional thing of course — just something that’s fun to do, especially when the restaurants make special burgers for the contest. A way to support restaurants you like and maybe learn about a new one.

    Reply
  3. Ron O

    Ah – spread out over a month, fully-paid for by customers – one at a time.
    Then again, I guess you need a “memory” to compare, that way.
    I dunno, but if I was running one of these businesses, I’d (try) not to charge customers for a self-promoting event. (Same thing with the gift cards – I’d try to discount them.)
    Anyone can purchase any of these burgers anytime, without doing it on a schedule on behalf of a business contest. (Except for perhaps the “special” burgers)
    But what do I know, anyway.

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  4. Roberta L. Millstein

    You’d give out free burgers for a month?

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  5. Ron O

    No – I wouldn’t set it up that way.
    But I’m failing to see why very many people would want to participate in this – just as I don’t see the appeal of overpaying for a gift card.
    Maybe make it some kind of partial charity event – something like that.
    But if they’re getting the type of results they want (not sure that they are), I guess there’s no reason to change it.

    Reply
  6. Roberta L. Millstein

    I already explained it. It’s fun, you get to try some new burgers — what’s not to like? But if you don’t like it, don’t do it. The fact that these kinds of contests are very common suggests that many people do like to get involved.
    Perhaps consider that you are in some respects different from others, Ron, which is no reason to be a nattering nabob of negativism.

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  7. Ron O

    I intend my comments as “constructive criticism”, as someone who periodically patronizes restaurants in Davis.
    But again, if the folks running this are happy with the results, there’s no reason to listen to those suggestions.
    But I do suspect that they’re only attracting a fraction of the 65,000 or so residents in Davis – for reasons I already mentioned. I sometimes hear that businesses downtown are “struggling”, though I don’t know if that’s true for restaurants.
    I suspect that most people do not view businesses downtown as a “charity”, themselves. As such, customers generally ask, “what’s in it for me”? (Or perhaps, “what’s in it for a charity I support”?) I’m not seeing either one, here. And they can already support businesses downtown simply by patronizing them, periodically.
    I’m not “discouraging” anyone from attending as is. That’s their decision to make, not mine.

    Reply
  8. Ron O

    As a comparison, there’s a “honey festival” in Woodland every year, now. And I believe that they give out free samples, thereby encouraging purchases.
    Wineries “used to” give out free samples, but they’ve cut back on that.
    CostCo gives out free samples – often of items that are also on sale. (Sometimes, this includes portions of “burgers” of some type or another.) Granted, this is not as easy to do if the ingredients/add-ons become more complex.
    All of this generates good will (which is the first step in encouraging business, I would think). It is a form of advertising, which is popular with potential customers.
    It’s kind of amazing to watch people “line up” for free samples.

    Reply
  9. Roberta L. Millstein

    The phrase “burger battle” (not to mention other such contests) has 5,390,000 hits on Google. Better get cracking if you want your constructive criticism to be heard.

    Reply
  10. Ron O

    I’m not going to be researching “burger battle”. But if you say it’s popular in Davis via the model that they’re currently using, then “bon appetit”, I guess.
    I’ve got no “burger in this battle”.
    Hey, maybe you can use the downtown business gift card (which costs more than its retail value) to support it, as well.
    🙂

    Reply
  11. Tuvia ben Avraham Aharon ve Sima Rivka

    This all looks very tasty.
    BUT to be truly relevant in terms of the high science of burger battles, which like the highwheeler bicycle was invented in Davis – yet is not its symbol – it would seem that a burger from every participating venue would need to tested.
    How many people here can afford a dozen visits, or more than one a week? At least six? Probably enough people can, so the “pickles” and “lettuce” that is the rest of us are not relevant. Yes, how many who receive EBT will be participating? Will people who line up for an hour for Yolo Food Bank-directed surplus be involved?
    But then, okay, can these restaurants afford a donation to charity per-burger? Perhaps some can, perhaps some owners can? Will they at least donate extra burgers to the Night Market?
    Leaving aside the BovineApocalypse – and yes, it can be tasty – I will swear on my grandmother’s boiled brisket on challah with fermented beets and horseradish that no possible ethical crimes inherent and/or as described herein compare to the traffic violence induced by In & Out on and near the corner of Richards and Olive. That’s the real battle, and many hits are also possible.

    Reply

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