We were all winners in the 3rd annual Burger Days hosted by the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce. The chance to eat 15 creative and delicious burgers in 7 days?  Ya...all of us...WINNERS!  And the chance to support local restaurants who have felt the brunt of covid closures was extra icing on the cake or rather...ketchup on the burger...this isn't about cake...it's about burgers.  Here's hoping some of the burgers highlighted during Burger Days will make it onto the regular menu of the participating restaurants!

But...even while we were all eating our body weight in burgers, there was a competition going on!  Participating restaurants were vying for 3 awards; most creative burger, best-tasting burger, and best presentation.  Voting took place on the Steinbach Chamber of Commerce Website where diners were able to vote on their favourites and over 2500 people rated the burgers with the following local establishments winning the awards.

Most Creative Burger - Hespeler's Cookhouse and Tavern -"The Drunken Homesteader"

A juicy 8oz beef patty, goat cheese, fresh arugula, pickled grilled beet, red onion, spiced rum apple slices, and a sunny side up egg topped with Whiskey Maple BBQ sauce on a grilled brioche bun.

Mel Buhay was the creator of this delicious burger.  She credits the BBQ sauce and goat cheese mixture for setting the Drunken Homesteader apart to be awarded the 'most creative burger'.  She was very thankful for guests driving to Niverville and voting and says "come back for more...you've gotta try our "CodFather". It's a fish burger with an apple slaw on it with cheddar cheese, lettuce and tomato."

Best Presentation - Quarry Oaks - "Back Nine Burger"

Fresh cheddar bun dressed with garlic aioli, 6oz. ground chuck beef patty, fried onions, double cheddar cheese, ham sausage, crisp bacon, sliced pickles, fresh sliced tomato, and lettuce.

Angela Pitman said that Quarry Oaks had an amazing week with over double the traffic they had last year.  "We had a lot of fabulous feedback from our customers, our regular golfers, we saw a lot of new faces, it was a really great week."  When asked what pushed their burger to win 'best presentation', Pitman said "we strive to make all our food look beautiful as possible, while looking real. Everyone uses their eyes first so we don't want to serve something that you don't want to eat."  'If you wouldn't eat, then we're not going to serve it.' is something staff at Quarry Oaks Restaurant is reminded of often.

Plans are already in the works for next year's burger, but right now they're taking a little break from the chaos of last week.  Quarry Oaks turned their focus to in-restaurant dining this summer due to cancellations of golf tournaments (due to COVID restrictions) and had a burger of the week feature all summer long.  They took the ideas from the burger of the week feature into the "Back Nine Burger" and clearly it was very successful!

Best Tasting Burger - Bigg Smoak - "Big Smoak BBQ Burger"

Three 4 oz Wagyu smash burgers... the first patty topped with new Bothwell muenster cheese, and sautéed sliced mushrooms. The second patty topped with double maple smoked bacon and maple-smoked extra old cheddar. The third patty topped with black truffle Monterey Jack topped with maple chili bacon jam with smokey BBQ aioli, sliced tomato, and arugula. All placed between a grilled split butter brioche bun, pinned together with chicken fried brisket cubes and sliced dill pickle.

Rob Turner of Bigg Smoak thinks the wagyu beef is what set them on track to win 'best-tasting burger'. "You can't beat that flavour, there was no added seasoning, it was just 100 percent beef."  

Throughout Burger Days, staff frequently heard the question "will the beef brisket chunks (that were skewered on the top of the burger) become part of the regular menu?"  Turner wasn't completely committal on that answer "that's up to our chef Dustin, who had a hand in creating them and how to perfectly fry them to where they're at.  We're working on it and I can almost 90% guarantee they will be on the appie menu.".

Chef Dustin credits the quality of meat used at Bigg Smoak as part of the inspiration behind the winning burger. "It was about keeping it simple really. It's nothing different, your mushrooms, your bacon, your normal burger stuff, and high-quality product."

The response to Burger Days was overwhelming, shifts at Bigg Smoak usually run from 2 PM-10 PM, but staff were coming in at noon because they were getting buried with burgers and they also had a hard time keeping up with making bacon jam.  They sold just under 1700 burgers in the 7-day burger extravaganza and Turner credit the whole team at Bigg Smoak to their success.

Burger Days was a great success and we're already looking forward to the sights, sounds and of course flavours of Burger Days 2021!