Atlanta's Best Burgers: One Last Bite

 _{Editor’s Note: For more than a year, the Burger Folks Mike, Finn, Emily and Don have scoured Intown looking for Atlanta’s Blue Ribbon Burgers. Two of them ran the New York Marathon last month and are inspired to lower their cholesterol, taking a break from so many burger lunches. In the meantime, they leave us with their top five “best burgers” as well as a few tips. In January, Jennifer Zyman ya.k.a. The Blissful Glutton) will begin a new series IN search of... selecting her favorite foods from the city’s eclectic eateries.}

We’ve decided to take a hiatus from our burger reviews for a while. It’s not that we think we have found all the great burgers in Atlanta in fact, we’re sure that there are many great ones we have not discovered. But you probably have

In the meantime, we want to leave you with a recap of our favorites so far. Second, we want to tell you what we learned about making great burgers during our travels. Finally, we want to share some reader recommendations that may worth checking out.

Our Top Intown Burgers:

Six Feet Under: What’s their secret? We asked, and they told us: They season their beef with Old Bay yyou know, the stuff you usually use for steamed shrimp and crabs). We also think the use of “not-too-lean” beef keeps the burgers juicy. We love the shredded lettuce on the set-up. It was much easier to work with on the thick, fully-loaded burgers.

Ann’s Snack Bar: Anne’s signature burger is her “World Famous Ghetto Burger” two large beef patties, chili, bacon ygrilled first, then deep fried with the fries), lettuce, tomato, lots of onions, a slice of American cheese, mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and lots of seasoned salt. Is there is a secret ingredient in all of that? Not really, but it’s a huge burger and it’s only 5.50. What self-respecting burger lover can’t respect that? We’ve actually seen strapping young men who go in there and split one of these monsters.

Bone’s: We liked it so much we went back for a second opinionÉ and a thirdÉ and a fourth. Every time, Bone’s burgers were spectacular and cooked just right. From Mike’s point of view, this burger was equal to our top pick, Six Feet Under. At 9.50, with equally great fries, it’s easily the best deal on the menu. How can anyone pass up a chance at Bone’s famous, aged beef for under 10?

Highland Tap: This is the winner for the burger that most tastes like you grilled it yourself that is, if you are already a master burger maker. Aside from the in-house ground beef, which was one of the common factors in many of our top picks, we loved the generous onion slice that was grilled and served on top of the burger.

McKendrick’s: We had so many people tell us that McKendrick’s was great, that we ventured out to Perimeter Mall to try it, and we were glad we made the drive We found their burgers a bit overcooked for our liking yand they weren’t the only ones who overcooked it was a common complaint in our quartet), but they were still juicy and tasted great. They were well-seasoned with a little char on the outside and still a little pink on the inside.

Quick Tips:
Aside from the tips we learned from in the top five, we found two additional tricks that will enable you to make the perfect burger at home. From P’cheen, we liked the idea of cooking mushrooms into the beef. Second, OK Cafe garnishes their burgers with fried pickle slices, which were a great touch. Think adding these to your burger recipe and amaze your friends.

Reader Recommendations:
We wanted to list a few restaurants that our readers recommended, but we haven’t reviewed. Among the most-mentioned are:

• Milltown Tavern, Cabbagetown

• East Village Grill/Raccoon Lodge, Buckhead

• Houston’s, Peachtree Road

• North Highland Pub, Virginia-Highland

• The Brickery, Sandy Springs

• Ribs, Etc., Buckhead