Monday, June 23, 2008

the quest begins

sam, friend and former co-worker who abandoned cincinnati for the wilds of wisconsin, posed a question to me recently. where are the best burgers in cincinnati? zip's is often mentioned, but while i enjoy them, i don't think they are the best (i think many agree). arthur's came to mind first, but i felt it was definitely a topic that required further investigation. i sent sam a link to the cincinnati burger guys, who plainly have consumed copious amounts of beef around the city. but beth and i decided we could still do a little digging of our own.
so, the unicorn hunt for the great cincinnati hamburger begins.
some ground (haha, ground, get it?) rules:
1) friday's, applebee's, mcdonald's, etc, are ineligible for obvious reasons
2) we're going to try to stick to beef burgers, but a veggie or turkey may creep in. sorry.
3) burgers will be graded on a scale of taste, texture, presentation, thickness, price, and whatever else strikes us.
4) ratings are 1-6, 1 being the beef would have been better off staying on the cow, 6 being divine bovine.
5) we can make up other rules and regulations at whim and blatantly ignore the ones we already have. except rule 1.
6) we want suggestions!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

So glad I made it into your blog! That's not why I'm writing, though; your "burger rules" reminded me of the Cincinnati burger I probably miss most. In fact, I made a point to get one each of the last two times I was in town.

If you haven't tried it yet, you must get the veggie burger at J. Alexander's at the Norwood Commons or whatever that place is called. Eat it in the bar area, though, with the rest of the slopping peasants. And don't be afraid to be geneorous when spreading the condiment they provide, but take care to not over-indulge.

Oh, and a couple of bonus points to you, Ms Krissy:

1) The menu misspellings. That's the kind of stuff I'll stop and shake my head at for (literal) minutes.

2) Admitting that the umbrella thing makes you an old fogey. It's true, it's pathetic, and I do things like that all the time now.
Can't even remember the last time I came home drunker and/or later than my wife expected.

It's sad, really.

Unknown said...

I think my favorite burger that I've had around town is from Tina's (downtown, on 4th and Central). Just a basic burger, but I've never had a bad one!

JKNEPFLE said...

I had a suprisingly great burger at The Holy Grail over on Ebenezer, near Cleves Warsaw. Plus, they have blueberry beer and Blue Moon on tap. What could be better with a burger?!

Amber said...

Would J. Alexander's meet the ground rules? I think you were trying to eliminate chains?

If not, Rock Bottom has a Bourbonzola Burger that has Gorgonzola cheese, bourbon sauce, and oh my fried onion rings on it! Yummy.

Put Univeral Grille on the list. Lots of variety and their meat comes from one of the Findley Market vendors.

Oh this is fun! Can't wait for the reviews!

k said...

thanks for all the suggestions! i can't wait to try them all!

jknepfle- have not been over to the holy grail on ebenezer, only to clifton, but i do love that blueberry beer!

JKNEPFLE said...

Cool! The menu is rather small, but both the burger and chicken sandwich are pretty darn good.

Anonymous said...

4 very good burgers, and one highly overrated one

in no particular order

1) Terry's Turf Club\East End - greater burger, cooked to order, skip the fries

2) Arthur's\Hyde Park Great burger, and if you get it on Burger madness days, a great price

3) Zola's\Mainstrasse Covington. Great burger, wonderful fries. Unlimited toppings on (I think) Wednesday

4) Quatman's\Norwood. Very underrated place. No frills. Haven't been there in a while.

Overrated: Zips. Very blah, nothing special, and I've gone back several times to re-try, figuring the light would come on for me eventually, but each time was a disappointment. No idea why this place has such a great rep and is constantly voted a local favorite.

Best fast food burger locally:
-Sonic is suprisingly good.
-The burgers at the sole remaining local Roy Rogers in Eastgate, cooked on a well seasoned griddle, are also pretty good.