7TH ANNUAL LE BURGER WEEK
Locals competing for top honours
A praline double burger with fleur-de-sel caramel and raspberry ice cream, sandwiched between two cheesecake buns? A fresh Charlevoix lamb patty stuffed with Guinness corned beef and smoked Gouda on a peppercorn bun with a Guinnessglazed onion sour cream?
Say what?
Yup, these are the respective Montreal entries from Juliette et Chocolat and McKibbin’s Irish Pub for the seventh annual Le Burger Week, which kicks off Saturday and which should also come equipped with a canister of antacids for tasters. The aforementioned emporiums are but two of the 45 local burger joints competing for top honours in this year’s event.
Launched by surprisingly svelte Montrealers Na’eem Adam and Thierry Rassam, Le Burger Week has mushroomed into something massive over seven years. More than 400 restaurants in two countries (Haiti as well as Canada), six provinces and 13 cities will be vying for their city’s best burger.
Clearly, these are not your grandma’s burgers. More like creations from your slightly twisted hipster cousin for whom the word “cholesterol” is not yet a serious issue.
Put it this way: If your idea of a really rad burger entails a slice of processed cheese and perhaps a pickle on a beef patty, your world — and tummy — is about to be really rocked.
Adam and Rassam are holding court at the N.D.G. location of Notre-Boeuf-de- Grâce, where its chefs are diligently working on their entry for the event: the seemingly more moderate Le Flores Burger, six ounces of ground beef topped with adobo chicken, buffalo mozzarella, pickled papaya slaw, fried garlic chips and, for good measure, a fried egg on one mountain-sized bun.
Adam and Rassam, also the founders of the annual La Poutine Week, claim to be conscious of cholesterol, but they allow themselves two weeks a year to give in to their more gluttonous instincts.
Adam, a marketing exec, actually claims to have lost weight in the last year, largely due to his cycling and workout regimen. Rassam, a lawyer, is an avid cyclist, soccer and hockey player — except during burger and poutine weeks.
“We understand that some people and restaurants opt for simplicity and we respect that,” Rassam says.
“But it seems that most of the restaurants participating in Le Burger Week feel that they have to go for something outrageous and exaggerated in terms of ingredients, size and taste, and we encourage that.”
“I can’t even get my mouth around some of these burgers,” Adam says. “They’re monsters. And where do these chefs come up with burgers with shrimps, crabs, duck, spanakopita, chocolate and raspberry ice cream?
“Every year, the makers go to a new level of creativity. They just love the challenge and never fail to rise to it. We want the chefs to have fun and the people eating the burgers to have fun.”
There are four award categories in the contest: People’s Choice, Judges’ Choice, Most Creative Burger and — you’ve got to be kidding — Healthiest Burger.
“No, seriously, there are even some vegan burgers entered this year that are a little less bad for your heart,” Rassam claims. “And
there are lots of healthy ingredients in some of the others — like avocados, mushrooms, eggplant, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, cheese …,” counters Adam, who somehow neglects to mention the ice cream, caramel and praline.
It might come as a surprise that Rassam subsists primarily on a vegan diet — 50 weeks of the year — and that Adam is primarily a pescatarian — also 50 weeks a year.
It might not come as a surprise that Adam and Rassam first met at a downtown resto eight years ago, when they got into a heated argument about the relative merits of a particular burger they were separately devouring. Rather than coming to blows, they hit upon the concept of a citywide, then countrywide burger competition, where the public would decide which creation was best.
“Really, who doesn’t love a burger?” Adam asks.
“It’s one of the most accessible foods there is. And with the new vegan-style burgers, almost no one is left out.”
“I’m more traditional,” Rassam says. “I prefer the simple burger and (Adam) likes the extravagant burger.”
“That’s not true at all,” Adam retorts. “It’s the exact opposite. I’m more of a purist.”
Whoa. But, mercifully, before another burger war can break out, the boys dig into a couple of Notre-Boeuf-de- Grâce specialties, L’Orozco — beef with avocado, cheese curds and homemade chimichurri — and Thou Shalt Bacon Cheeseburger: Death, which speaks for itself.
“I’m ready for the Immaculate Conception now,” the nearly satiated, smiling Rassam says.
Of course, he is referring to the Notre-Boeuf-de- Grâce version — beef patties, salami, egg and secret sauce.