Dirty Martin's

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  SO, I don't generally expect a lot from Dirty Martin's.  They are probably the weakest burger spot in the bracket at the final 8 and there are several places that didn't make it I would take over them.  But, that's how bracket's work, sometimes good teams/burgers don't always win when they should or bad teams/burgers have really good days.  Anyways, not expecting a lot, after eating at Dirty Martin's, I was not too suprised.  The burger was solid as usual.  I didn't really think the meat was very flavorful and the bacon was not either and was kind of soft and chewy and not crisp or tasty.  Their sides are as usual kind of weak and the onion rings weren't as good as previous trips.  The fries were pretty good.  Tots were the same as all tots, ever.  Yes, their special prize for best ice is still intact.  Love that ice. 

Box Score: 

	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	9	7
Meat	8.5	9	7
Toppings	8.25	8.5	6.5
Construction	8	9	7.5
Overall	8.25	8.75	7
Total Burger	61.563	66.25	52.5
Sides	8	7.75	7
Atmosphere	7	7	7
Value	7.5	8	7
Non Burger	18.75	18.75	17.5
Totals	80.31	85	70
Combined		78

Your Moms

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  Always look forward to a burger at Your Moms, especially the Buffalo Bill burger which is now what I always get.  I believe everyone else got this as well this time.  To me this is probably the most flavor in a burger in Austin going above and beyond just the meat/bread dynamic.  It's got cheese, and ranch, and bacon, and buffalo sauce, and tomatoes and it's all just coming at you and it's a good mix.  Their fries were much improved this time.  They seemed more battered and were really good.  Almost like a dessert from a state fair.  Rings are good too.  The atmosphere is still kind of meh, but when the main guy is working the counter he is really cool and that helps out.  Overall pretty strong score from everyone.

Box Score:  

Your Moms
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8	8
Meat	8.5	8	7.5
Toppings	9	8	9.5
Construction	8	8	8
Overall	8.5	8	8.5
Total Burger	63.125	60	62.5
Sides	8.75	8	8.75
Atmosphere	7	8	6.5
Value	7.5	8	8.5
Non Burger	19.5	20	19.5
Totals	82.63	80	82
Combined		82

Crown and Anchor

Zach:  We were sort of excited to come back to Crown and Anchor because they were such a surprise last time. Of course with expectation high, could they do it again?  School is back in and it was very crowded.  We were lucky to get there just ahead of a giant group and there was a steady line all the time we were there.  We did get a good seat inside though.  Burgers came out fairly fast even though they were crowded, maybe 10 or 15 minutes wait.  We got the same as last time - double meat, double cheese, bacon.  They were good and some of the great elements from last time were there, but overall there were some problems.  Meat seemed a little overcooked and the bacon was sort of tough and chewy.  This kind of diminishes the other aspects of a burger a bit.  The fries were bad.  We were probably generous giving them a 7, they were overcooked and did not have a good texture at all.  Probably had Brian and Dre not shared the pitcher of beer their scores would have been much lower.  They will probably read this like 2 months from now and be like hey! What are you talking about!  Still a fun place to go for a burger, even though they lost, we'll be back again some time.

Box Score:  

	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8	8.5
Meat	8	8.25	7.25
Toppings	7.5	7.75	7
Construction	7.5	8.5	7.25
Overall	7.75	8	7
Total Burger	58.125	60.625	55
Sides	7	7.5	7
Atmosphere	9	9	6
Value	8	7.5	7.5
Non Burger	20	20.25	16.75
Totals	78.13	80.875	71.8
Combined		77

Flat Top

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  Once again Flat Top crushes your appetite with a tasty burger.  My score was slightly lower than previous trips.  I did get the grass fed burger just to try it.  It is slightly less tasty than the regular but not a big difference.  Their atmosphere is still the same.  Nice since it's less hot outside now.  Same Willy Nelson and Patsy Cline on sound system.  Will be tough for Crown and Anchor to beat them this round with a score of 85.

Box Score:  

Flat Top
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8.5	8
Meat	9	9.5	9
Toppings	8.75	8.5	8
Construction	9.5	9.5	8.5
Overall	9	9.25	9
Total Burger	66.563	68.125	64.38
Sides	8.5	8.5	7
Atmosphere	7.5	7	6
Value	8	8	8
Non Burger	20	19.5	17
Totals	86.56	87.625	81.4
Combined		85

Nau's Enfield Drug

Brian:

Dre:

Zach: Nau's is a small drug store that has been around for, well, I don't really know how long, I could look it up but I'm in a hurry.  Let's just say a long time.  You can tell it's old because the chairs and booths are made for when Americans were wee tiny people.  We expected a lot and Nau's did not disappoint.   It took probably 15 minutes for the burgers to be made as they carefully buttered the buns and toasted them and cooked the patties and bacon on the flat top.  This burger is bursting out of it's paper wrapper with flavor.  I thought this bread was some of the best around.  Probably just cheap hamburger buns but prepared just right and very soft just enough to hold in the ingredients.  The patty was really thick and flavorful.  We also agreed the bacon was some of the best we had had.  They don't have fries, just chips, but we had room for malts so we decided malts should count towards sides - why not? I love this atmosphere.  It reminds me of our drug store in Iraan when I was in grade school and high school.  I decided I really don't like having a waiter or waitress at all while at Nau's.  They are usually not there when you need them, and there too much when you don't need them.  Let me just tell someone what I want, sit down, and then you bring it to me, like at Nau's.  Well, here is the score, way to go Nau's for keeping the old school flattop burger and ambiance alive.

Box Score:  

Nau's
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	7.5	9
Meat	8.5	9.5	7.5
Toppings	8.5	9.5	8
Construction	7.5	7	7
Overall	8.25	8.75	8
Total Burger	61.25	63.75	59.38
Sides	8	8	7
Atmosphere	7.75	6.5	9
Value	7.5	8	8
Non Burger	19.5	18.5	20
Totals	80.75	82.25	79.4
Combined		81

Little Red Wagon

Little Red Wagon

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  We almost didn't go back to LRW since it's in Round Rock and for three of us to go there not that easy.  Don't think it's open late either.  But we talked Brian in to meeting up there since I already work in Round Rock and Dre works near Cedar Park.  Probably good we did, everyone really like the burger - they were definitely on, on this particular day.  Most everything else about this place is just OK - sides - atmosphere - etc but the burger, especially for the price is amazing.  Very juicy even though it was cooked through.  Lots of flavor.  Good bread. Everything working.  I didn't like it as much as the others, but it posted a solid score and is probably a burger we would not have guessed would be here as a second round winner.

Box Score:  

Little Red Wagon
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8	7.5
Meat	8.5	9.5	8.5
Toppings	8.5	9	7
Construction	9	9	8
Overall	8.5	9	7.75
Total Burger	63.75	66.875	58.13
Sides	8	8.5	7.25
Atmosphere	7	8	6.5
Value	9	9.25	9
Non Burger	19.5	21.125	18.25
Totals	83.25	88	76.4
Combined		83

Black Star Co-Op

Black Star Co-Op

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  Black Star was not in the bracket before but we slipped it in to replace Stack which went out of business.  We had had the burger before and didn't think it would be a strong competitor, but this place has beers, great fries, and it was convenient to meet at so we picked it over some other bubble burgers who did not make the bracket. The burger here is made from good ingredients.  The meat is fresh ground and bread is fresh baked, but somehow it doesn't quite add up to an amazing burger like it should.  The ratio isn't there.  The flavor isn't there.  I added bacon and it got lost in the burger and didn't really help much.  We can all say their fries are great.  They are large slices of potato with heavy garlic, chunky salt bits, and I think Parmesan or some other cheese sprinkled on.  Whatever they do they are delicious and put a lot of fries to shame.  I can say on this visit they were not as good as usual.  Sometimes Blackstar gets absolutely slammed and I think their service and consistency goes down when they get very busy.  It can be either a fun place because it's so busy or kind of annoying because it's so busy, depends on what kind of person you are and what mood you are in.  Me, being old and crotchety, find it kind of annoying most times. Still, Black Star posted a decent score overall despite it's shortcomings.

Box Score:  

Black Star
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	7.5	7.5	8
Meat	8.5	9	8
Toppings	9	8	7.5
Construction	8	7.5	8
Overall	8.5	8	7.5
Total Burger	62.5	60	58.13
Sides	9.25	8.5	8.5
Atmosphere	7	7	8
Value	6.75	7	5.5
Non Burger	19.625	19	19.25
Totals	82.13	79	77.4
Combined		80

Hopdoddy's

Brian:

Dre:

Zach: Well, the day has finally come to judge what would seem to easily be Austin's most popular hamburger joint (not counting McDonald's).  I have never really enjoyed a burger at Hopdoddy's.  I've been 5 times now although on one occasion I had a tuna burger which I didn't like either.  I was actually hoping that my burger team would agree with me that it wasn't that stellar.  And I do have a lot of faith in them, even though we don't always agree, I think after as many consecutive weeks as we have had out in the field, we have a pretty good idea of what is good and what is not.  Sure enough, no one was too impressed with this burger.  We all got different ones.  We all thought the patty lacks flavor.  It does sort of have a flavor, but it's not really a good burger flavor.  They didn't really cook it like we asked either (more done than medium or med rare as we asked).  Their toppings are quite fresh, no doubt.  Bread is cooked fresh, but I really don't like the texture or flavor of the bun either.  The fries were good, and when they brought out the queso con carne they were REALLY good but most times putting queso on something does make it really good.  We also discounted heavily for their confusing atmosphere, long wait times, and for messing up our order in a few different ways.  All in all I think we all think it's too bad people are lining up like cattle in a chute for this burger which scored very low on our scale and wouldn't have even gotten out of the first round had it not gotten a by. 

 

Box Score:  

		2/15/12		VS
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8.25	7
Meat	6.75	7.25	7
Toppings	7.5	7.5	8
Construction	6.75	7	7
Overall	6.75	7	7
Total Burger	53.125	55	53.75
Sides	7.25	7.5	8
Atmosphere	5.25	4.5	6
Value	7	7	7
Non Burger	16	15.5	17.5
Totals	69.13	70.5	71.3
Combined		70

Crown and Anchor 

Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  Crown and Anchor was solid when we ate here pre-burger club, but I have to say the numbers it posted in our official visit was somewhat surprising.  It should be noted that we all opted for an extra patty and bacon and some of us extra cheese and other add-ons.  We never had any strict rules whether this was legal or if all burgers should compete in some 'basic' configuration.  I can also say though that even with all addons, the C&A burger + fries still costs less than a lot of other burger places and tasted a whole lot better.  They do the old school burger quite well.  The fries are usually solid here although this time around mine were not quite right.  It was probably 100 degrees on the patio and keeping the ketchup outside means that it's also probably 100 degrees.  Next time maybe I'll fetch a bottle from inside as I don't really dig on warm ketchup on a burger of fries.  All in all they came out of nowhere and posted a great score and we all agreed it was a great burger - props to C&A.

 

Box Score:  

Crown & Anchor		2/15/12
	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8.5	7.75
Meat	8	9	7.25
Toppings	9	9	8.25
Construction	7.5	9	7.75
Overall	8	8.75	7.75
Total Burger	60.625	66.25	58.13
Sides	7	8.5	7
Atmosphere	8.5	9.25	8
Value	9	9	8.25
Non Burger	20	22.25	19.13
Totals	80.63	88.5	77.3
Combined		82

Sputnik

PICS

Matchup X



Brian:

Dre:

Zach:  


Back to Sputnik where we had a somewhat surprisingly good first round of burgers.  There were some quirks for me last time though like the weird tasting ketchup which kind of happened here again.  I had actually gone to Sputnik outside of the bracket with my wife to have a burger and have to say it was better then than this official trip.  My burger was good, but considering all this stuff is supposed to be made from scratch and what not, I can't really say that it's as good as it should be.  I mean throwing an egg and some bacon on a burger can make it good but I feel like you almost have to do some sort of add-on at Sputnik to get a really good burger.  Overall this burger was solid but just not outstanding for me.  It seems whatever seasoning they use on the meat is a bit salty and if you have pickles or any mustard on the burger it may seem double salty as mine did.  There was also a slight twang, maybe the ketchup again I don't know.  Sadly our fries were nearly inedible by way of extreme overcooking.  They were hard and dry inside.  Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meal much more than I did and I'm sure that will be reflected in the scores.

Box Score:  

	Andre	Brian	Zach
Bread	8	8.5	7
Meat	7	6.5	7
Toppings	8.75	8.5	6.5
Construction	8.5	7.5	7
Overall	8	7	7.25
Total Burger	60.313	56.25	52.5
Sides	7	3.5	4.5
Atmosphere	8.5	9	7.5
Value	8	8	6.5
Non Burger	19.5	16.5	15.25
Totals	79.81	72.75	67.8
Combined		73