The weekend may have been brutally hot for humans, but it was an especially rough day for cows at the Boca Burger Battle 2019 in Boca Raton.
Hungry eaters at the hamburger patty-slinging contest on July 13 crowned Boca Raton-based food truck Cheffrey Eats the People’s Choice Winner. Meanwhile, judges awarded its best-tasting first-place burger to M.E.A.T. Eatery and Taproom in Boca Raton and Islamorada, second place to La Perrada Del Gordo in Boca and West Palm Beach, and third place to C.W.S. Bar and Kitchen in Lake Worth.
The eighth annual burger battle pitted 12 local chefs in a smoky throwdown at Boca Raton’s Sanborn Square Park, with top-scoring burgers hand-picked by a panel of five judges, including chef Rey De Las Osa of Publix Aprons Cooking School, chef Jason L. Smith of Steak 954 and local radio personality Ghia.
Cheffrey Eats, chef Jeffrey Lemmerman’s food truck permanently parked at Barrel of Monks Brewing in Boca Raton, won for its “My Boy Blue” burger. The creation is an Angus chuck blend topped with deglazed crimini mushrooms, bleu cheese sauce (crumbles, sour cream, celery seed, garlic powder, salt and pepper) and caramelized onions braised in Barrel of Monks’ Quadrophonic Belgian ale.
“I’ve convinced bleu cheese haters for years to purchase this burger, and they tell me it’s the best burger they’ve ever had,” Lemmerman says, explaining why he chose to enter the hamburger.
“My Boy Blue” – a nod to the 2003 dude comedy “Old School” – can already be ordered on Cheffrey Eats’ food truck, but with grilled portobello instead of deglazed crimini mushrooms.
Other competitors included Burton’s Grill & Bar (Boca Raton), TooJay’s Gourmet Deli (multiple locations), Crazy Uncle Mike’s (Boca Raton), Tucker Duke’s Lunchbox (Boca and Deerfield Beach), Legends Tavern and Grille (Deerfield Beach), Bru’s Room Sports Grill (Delray Beach), Double Roads Tavern (Jupiter) and Funky Buddha Brewery (Fort Lauderdale).
For more information on winners, go to BocaBurgerBattle.com.
