IT'S MORE THAN JUST EATING DOPE FOOD.
It's about the ingredients.
There's two things to say here. A dry-aged, Wagyu USDA Prime burger with black truffles sounds amazing. But ingredients alone don't make a burger — or any cuisine for that matter. Without the right care, preparation, and execution, even the best quality ingredients can fall flat. That said — quality ingredients are an important and often pivotal start.
It's about the craftsmanship.
We always order food per the chef's recommended preparation. The chef's intent is how an item was meant to be; similar to the meaning behind a work of art. It's harder to judge a menu item that has modifications, so we'll take that burger with the blue cheese and buffalo dressing on it, thanks. Here's to hoping the men and women at the pass know what they're doing!
It's about the attention to detail.
Preparation, execution, and presentation. These are the make-or-break moments for any item. If a cut of brisket hasn't been dry-aged in spices long enough, it'll be bland when you smoke it. If a six-minute egg sits in boiling water for six and a half minutes, it'll overcook once it's placed in the Ramen broth. And if those truffles are sliced too thick or too thin, they'll overpower or disappear, respectively. Attention. To. Detail.
The OG Burgerist Scorecard was burger-centric and had five general criteria that determined a burger's score:
- Quality of Ingredients
- Preparation
- Craftsmanship (or the Chef's Intent)
- Execution (or the Meat-to-Bun Ratio)
- Presentation
In fairness, our scorecard hasn't changed too much — we've just normalized this methodology for all food.