best burger contest is back on!

The odds are that many of you have been just heartbroken since my last entry regarding The Great Food Court Project, in which I reported that Burger King had closed, giving Nathan’s Famous the “best burger in Lenox” crown by default. Well, folks, I am happy to report that what opened in Burger King’s spot is…a burger place!!!

The new burger place is called Flamers, and while I have absolutely no evidence to back this up, I’m betting that the person running Flamers is the same person that used to run Burger King. Flamers is likely a cheaper franchise and you don’t have to deal with the King getting all royal and up in your business.

So Flamers has burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, a fish sandwich, fries with various toppings and hot dogs. At first I got excited about pitting the Flamers hot dogs up against Nathan’s Famous hot dogs for a “best hot dog in Lenox” contest, but according to the Flamers web site, Flamers uses Nathan’s Famous hot dogs. Do you think that means that the burger patties are the same as well? It’s a concept I didn’t even consider when I was doing the taste-testing, although I did have a hard time picking the winner. Maybe they are the same. Maybe this is no contest at all. We’ll have to continue on as though it is.

Flamers offers more burgers with toppings, such as a mushroom swiss burger and a bacon cheeseburger and a lumberjack burger, and although I studied the picture for awhile, I couldn’t quite figure out what was on that. The menu shows all the burgers with two patties, so you have to specify that you just want one patty and that can make you feel like a wimp, but it was the perfect amount of food for me.

I got the mushroom swiss burger, which is kinda strange because normally I’m not much of one for mushrooms, but it was good. After they fix your burger there is a condiment guy standing at the end of the counter and you get to request the other toppings you might want. Sorta like Subway, but with fewer options.

The cheese was perfectly melted, and there were some sautéed onions in with those mushrooms, so I guess I have to give the best burger crown to Flamers, though I’m well aware that it really wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison, in that it’s a cheeseburger to mushroom swiss burger comparison, and those things just couldn’t be farther apart.

But don’t be too sad, Nathan’s Famous. I’m giving the “best French fry” crown to you, because the fries that I had at Flamers tasted like maybe Burger King had left a few old bags behind in the very bottom of a freezer somewhere, and the Flamers guy found them and cooked them improperly. Plus, Nathan’s Famous, you serve your fries with a little red fork and I find that frickin’ adorable.

While I was eating, Flamers did a pretty brisk business that did seem to outdo Nathan’s Famous. Also, I saw a guy walking around with a tape measure around his neck. He was dressed up and wearing a nametag so I guess he works in a department store nearby, but he’s so much of an important badass that he can’t even be bothered to take off his tape measure before he goes to Asian Chao. I found it amusing.