July 16, 2007
QBQ BBQ Take Two with Gothamist-Serious Eats/AHT
After the success of our Gothamist-A Hamburger Today QBQ BBQ last year (that's quality before quantity), we've decided to team up with Serious Eats/A Hamburger Today for another burger event at Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City. At last year's event, Chef Harry Hawk served up four regional burgers from around the nation. This year, you get to choose what burgers are served, with the top three vote-getters across Gothamist, Serious Eats, and A Hamburger Today making the menu.
First, the nitty-gritty details of the event:
Date: Saturday, July 28
Time: 5 p.m.
Place: Water Taxi Beach (map)
Cost: $13.50 for 3 burgers
Payment: Tickets are available through TicketWeb
Important Details: Please be sure to bring your ID when you come; no one is permitted on the beach without an ID or an of-age legal guardian.
Getting There: Water Taxis depart from E. 34th Street in midtown Manhattan on a varied schedule (visit nywatertaxi.com). Subway riders should take the No. 7 train to Vernon Avenue/Jackson. Walk along Vernon Avenue to Borden Avenue, turn right. Look for signs for Water Taxi Beach. For more travel options, visit the beach's site.
Instead of four burgers, we're serving up 3 burgers this year. What burgers will they be? Here's the list that you get to vote from:
The Motz Burger: A four-ounce fresh-not-frozen burger served with Schnack sauce. This burger hails from Long Island City and was invented by burger expert and filmmaker George "Hamburger America" Motz.The Onion Burger: Popular in El Reno, Oklahoma, the Onion Burger was born of frugality. Throw a half an onion on the griddle, add to that a ball of ground beef, and smash it all together with the back of a spatula. You've essentially extended your meat by mixing in onions. The onions caramelize as they cook embedded in the beef, giving you a sweet, crusty oniony patty.
The Pimento Burger: Pimento cheese is big across the South, usually as a spread eaten on celery stalks or as a filling between two pieces of white bread. But in Columbia, South Carolina, they use it as both cheese and condiment on the burgers. Pimento cheese, for all you Yankees here in New York City, is a mixture of grated cheddar, chopped pimento, mayo, hot sauce, and black pepper. (Horseradish, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce are three common options.)
The Guber Burger: We served this one at last year's bash, and it seemed to be a hit, so we're putting it on the ballot in 2007. Made locally famous by The Wheel Inn in Sedalia, Missouri, the guber burger features a heaping dollop of peanut butter applied to the burger right as the hot patty comes off the griddle.
The Nut Burger: George Motz discovered this candidate in while researching his upcoming burger book. It was, he said, "like eating sundae topping on a burger. It's coarsely ground peanuts mixed with mayo, topping a burger. It's great!"
The Butter Burger: A regional delight originating in -- where else? -- Wisconsin, the Butter Burger takes a very liberal dosing of butter after coming off the griddle. Those of you who have visited the Midwest recently may have had one at the rapidly expanding Culver's chain, where it's a specialty.
The Hammmburger: A burger topped with Jubilat Polish slab bacon‚ essentially Canadian ham, hence the extra mmmeaty name of this burger. This one is the creation of Water Taxi Beach's Harry Hawk.
Vote now for what you think should be on the menu. Voting closes on Friday, July 20th at 6 p.m. To keep it fair, one vote per person.
Special thanks to Six Apart, who have donated a keg of Orlio Common Ale for sponsoring the event.
Purchase your tickets to the event now! $13.50 for three burgers (you can mix and match your burger choices).
Photo of the Guber Burger from last year's Gothamist-A Hamburger Today QBQ BBQ
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This may sound like a stupid question, but is there a vegetarian option?
Indeed, a very stupid question. Organizers should turn away both the underage and vegetarians.
Toby: Adam Kuban from A Hamburger Today here. Sorry, but there's no vegetarian option for this particular event. If you are vegetarian and plan on coming with a meat-eating friend (or vice versa), Water Taxi Beach's regular menu has tofu dogs on it, so the vegetarians among your party could eat one of those. But just to be clear: The tofu dogs will be available at a different food-prep area and are not covered by the G'mist-AHT burger tickets.
sigh. I'm out of town that night. two years I've missed now.
What is Schnack sauce.?
I mean whats in it..?
Sounds fun. I might try to make it. Also, pimento burger all the way! Everything else is "it's a burger with X on it." The pimento burger is "it's a burger with X, Y, and Z on it!" (with the exception of the onion burger - which is a burger with X *in* it).
Even if X, Y, and Z are all ground into a fine, homogeneous paste.
Variety is the spice of life!
Can you pay at the door, and when does the event finish? Not sure if I can get there by 5pm so would like to know if I can show up later
Guest #7: Adam Kuban from A Hamburger Today here again. Unfortunately, tickets are by advance sale via TicketWeb only.
Guest #7: We'll start at 5 p.m., and each burger will be served for 45 minutes to an hour. Because of the small griddle at the beach, we can only do one type of burger at a time.
Most. Unappetizing. Photo. Ever.
I want to go and I want to bring a vegetarian friend. Does she have to buy a ticket? Or is the beach open to the public, with the tickets providing access to the burgers only?
yes, the beach is open to your vegetarian friend. so you could buy tickets and bring your friend.
That picture is disgusting. Who barfed on the burger?
peanut butter on a burger seems like a sacrilege to both foods
No veggie option??
Enjoy the heart disease!
On the one hand, that burger with the peanut butter on it looks kinda gross.
On the other hand, I'm SO still going to try it.
ITS A BURGER EVENT. WHY THE FUCK WOULD THERE BE A VEGETARIAN OPTION?
I FUCKING HATE NEW YORK SOMETIMES.
Seriously, would I go to Zen Palate and ask for a ribeye? No. Are you vegetarians asking because you really want to know, or do you just want to feel self-important?
while it may look gross, i can attest to the fact that the guber burger is actually very tasty. it was surprising to me as well.
and for what it's worth, the orlio beer is actually vegan AND organic. yes, vegan beer. apparently there's some additive that they add to beer at the end of the process.
Why no Luther Burger!?
Um...isn't all beer vegan? Water, barley, yeast, hops, malt? No animal products at I see in there...
http://www.veganconnection.com/veganbeer.htm
no, not all beer is vegan. while most beer manufactured in the united states is vegan, not all of it is. while not made here, guinness, for example, isn't vegan.
I'm from WI, and I just thought I'd let you know that the Culvers "Butter Burgers" refer to the butter they brush on the grilled bun. They don't put a dollop on the actual meat. Pretty big difference that isn't really clear.
correctionfluid: Culver's doesn't dollop the butter on top, but Solly's Grille does. And it's Solly's that the Water Taxi Beach butter burger is modeled on. Culver's weak wash of butter shouldn't be enough to qualify it as a "butter burger."
Oh, people think that's an unappetizing photo? Looks good to me.
See you all next weekend.