I will glady pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today

Our BOTM club decided to venture out into the big, bad burger world. We knew that the first choice of a burger location would be critical to the success of the Burger of the Month. We couldn't take any chances with this first choice.

So, we let the one vegetarian in our group choose.

Now, I know what you are thinking. How can a vegetarian (at least a vegetarian when it comes to red meat) be a part of the exclusive Burger of the Month? I guess my screening process wasn't as strict as I thought.

Veggie Victoria (names have been changed to protect the innocent) picked a local favorite called B&D Burgers. She claims that the B&D stands for big and dirty. We piled into the car (NASCAR Ned actually had to ride in the back of the SUV in the cargo hold) and went to the B&D Burgers up by the University of Utah.

Unfortunately, B&D Burgers did not live up to the hype. Maybe we just caught them on a bad day. The hamburgers were average, the fries were better (other BOTM members said that the zucchini fries made the trip worthwhile), and the shakes weren't shaken.

Here is a look at the final results (all results are on a scale from 1 to 10, where 1 is "I think I just threw up a little in my mouth" and 10 is "I have died and gone to heaven!":

Meat: 5.33
Bun: 7.67
Cheese: 5.33
Condiments: 4.83
Overall Taste: 5.17
French Fries: 5.33
Restaurant Experience: 3.83
Returnability: 4.50

Best. YouTube. Video. Ever.

This has to be the best music video ever. I vaguely remember the Knight Rider TV show, but I think this has permanently changed my view of The Hoff.

The start of something wonderful

A few weeks ago, some coworkers and I read an article about a group of businessmen in New York who started an exclusive club called the Burger of the Month Club (BOTM for short). You can read all about it in this article from the NY Times.

We decided that we wanted to be as cool as a group of businessmen from New York (and our cholesterol levels have been dangerously low lately), so we decided to form our own BOTM club (pronounced Bottom Club...but don't assume that we have big ones). The original BOTM club offered the opportunity to form an officially licensed BOTM club. But, my application was never returned. I assume that we were rejected. Maybe they didn't think there were any good hamburger joints in Utah. Well, we decided to form our own non-licensed (or insured, for that matter) BOTM club. Throw caution to the wind!

Our goal is to find the best hamburger in the greater Salt Lake City area. And, also we just want to have an excuse to take long lunches.

Once a month, a BOTM Club member is responsible for choosing a hamburger restaurant that they think is the best. We figure that there is quite a bit of pressure with this decision because if they choose a lousy restaurant, they are going to be met with ridicule and derision for an entire month.

I created an evaluation form that our founding Bottom Feeders (my pet name for my coworkers) would fill out after each burger excursion. The evaluation form would cover such areas as meat, condiments, bun, and overall taste. I also included a category for french fries...because who eats a hamburger without french fries?

I'll document our various hamburger experiences. Feel free to suggest places you would recommend.