3rd Annual Hamptons Burger Bloodbath

The Burger Bash was the perfect ending to summer.  The Burger Bash is a contest among a handful of chefs to make the best beach burger.  The line up this year was Mo Koyfman and Chef Jeff Schwarz, Jeffrey Chodorow, Josh Eden (Shorty's.32), Cobi Levy (Charles) and Peter Daversa (Hill Country) and the judges were Katie Lee Joel (winner of the Food and Wine Burger this past October), Mark Pastore (LaFrieda meat - all meat provided by LaFrieda), Kate Krader (Food and Wine) and Ben Leventhal ( who runs the event ). 


I was and more than likely will always be partial towards Mo and Jeff.  Over the course of the summer, Josh, Emily and I were asked to be involved in all of the pre-tastings.  Each afternoon was more fun than the next. There were only a few of us and they took our opinions seriously. 

Was it the right meat, should there be a cucumber or a pickle, does chopped lettuce make sense, is the onion crispy enough, is the size right, is the burger too small or too big, which bun goes better, cheddar or American, should we use bacon?


The event was catered by Hill Country who served up ribs, brisket, slaw, corn bread and a few other items. I never go out for that type of food as I do love my own ribs and indulge basically once a year.  I had been told this but I can now confirm that Hill Country's wet brisket is probably one of the best I have ever had and their bbq sauce is top.

Josh helped sell poker chips, there were only 100 of them. The money went to 2 charities (Share our Strength and Foodbank) which gave you access to taste the burgers yourself.  Some of the chefs did a much better job than others making sure the crowd got to taste their wares.  Mo and Jeff really made sure that there were plenty for the crowd to try and so did Hill Country. There was not such an abundance of the other burgers for tasting. At the end of the day, as I tasted all the burgers, I still think Mo and Jeff had the best beach burger. The chips were used at the end to vote from the crowd and Jeff and Mo were voted as best burger from the crowd.


Hill Countrys burger was a cheese burger with thick bacon and chipolte sauce, Chodorow was pan fried (every ingredient was pan fried) over the grill and made into a burger, Shortys was just a simple patty and Mo and Ben was the classic cheeseburger (still my favorite).

A great event.  Got to know a variety of people better this summer.  Ate lots of fabulous burgers.  And today, which feels like autumn,  I am ready to go back to the city.