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