There comes a point in a person’s life when the desire to be a healthy, civil, and productive human being gives way to something much greater. When the fabric of our meaningless, individual existences are superseded by a force more powerful than the combined will of society. When even the strongest beings must bow down to the power of nature itself and admit their weakness in one short, defeated breath.
“I am hungry.”
Maslow said it best himself in constructing his Hierarchy of Needs: we are slaves to our physiological needs. And the standard for evaluating physiological need? Hunger.
Of course, there are many ways to fill this need. A Georgetown student can walk into the Leavey Center and purchase a muffin from Uncommon Grounds, stroll outside the front gates and grab a sandwich from Wisey’s, or even head down to M street and get a Sweetgreen salad. But for a hunger larger than life, an appetite greater than average, there is only one food that will truly satisfy the aching stomach: A big, juicy burger.
There is something truly transcendent about a great burger. The combination of tender, succulent, meat in a crisp, yet delicate bun garnished with an infinite combination of toppings explodes in the mouth, providing the taste buds with nothing more than dietary ecstasy.
But I’ve found— in my personal quest for a great burger— that the options for these perfect blends of protein, carbs and fat are actually few and far between here in Georgetown. Sure, there is The Tombs, where the food is good and the atmosphere is fun, the new Bulldog Tavern (still a bit of a wildcard at this point), and Leo’s, which is just sad. But in order to truly find a great burger, one must be willing to venture a bit further, in order to see what DC’s culinary scene has to offer.
That is why am I proud to introduce Halftime’s Burger Bracket Bonanza!
Over the next few weeks, the Halftime leisure staff will judge eight different restaurants in the DC/Georgetown area to find the best burger around. After countless internal discussions and a highly scientific polling process, we’ve ranked the following eight restaurants based on rudimentary expectations about the quality of their burgers:
- Farmers Fishers Bakers
- Burger, Tap & Shake
- Thunder Burger and Bar
- Good Stuff Eatery
- Ray’s Hellburger
- 5 Guys
- The Tombs
- Black and Orange
We then placed these eight restaurants in a March Madness style bracket:
The results of these matches will be determined by members of our staff, who will work in teams of two. Each team will visit their two restaurants together and will order whatever burger is deemed “the best burger on the menu” by their server. They will then rank these burgers on a 30-point scale, based on the following categories:
The restaurant with the highest point total for its “best burger” will move onto the next round, one step closer to being crowned the winner of Halftime’s Burger Bracket Bonanza!
All this talk of burgers and sweet, sweet victory has probably got you hungry for some competition. So join us! Tweet to us @halftimegu with your Burger Bracket predictions! Print out a version of the bracket and fill it out with who you think will take home the imaginary trophy! And be sure to tune in over the next few days as we announce the winners of the Round 1 matches.
Until then, happy Burger Week! Let’s eat!
Graphics: Daniel Varghese/The Georgetown Voice
