[media-credit id=6522 align="alignleft" width="640"][/media-credit]The Test
We bought two burgers and two vanillas shakes from each joint and presented them to two volunteers. We didn't tell them where anything was from.
The Volunteers
Deepak Prabhakak: This recently graduated bioengineering major says he spent Flight serving tequila marinated burgers. Tomatoes are pretty much the only thing he doesn't like to eat. Deepak's perfect burger is topped with bacon,caramelized onions, bleu cheese, and a spicy sauce. His perfect milkshake is a black and white shake with bourbon and bacon [ed note: check out our Drink of the Week. It was quite a coincidence]. The most delicious burger he’s ever eaten was from the New York Burger Company in New York City.
Deepak sat down to a Plain Cheeseburger ($6.75) and Vanilla Bean Milkshake ($5.00) from Bobby's, and a Hamburger ($3.55) with cheese ($0.50) and Hand-spun vanilla shake ($5.00) from Shake Shack.
Jayson Weingarten: Jayson is a Penn graduate who once cooked over five hundred burgers for campers at Skylake Yosemite camp. He likes his burgers done medium, with fried onions, bacon, lettuce, bleu cheese, pickles, and Russian dressing. Jayson takes his milkshakes chocolate, thick, and wants whipped cream. The most delicious burger he has eaten to date was from In-N-Out, after he was forced to be a vegan for a weekend.
We gave Jayson a Palace Classic Burger ($6.75) and Shake Shack's ShackBurger ($4.55). His shakes were the same as Deepak's.
First Impressions
Deepak predicts that the Bobby’s burger will be better because of the seeded bun, but notes also that the cheese and meat on the Shake Shack burger look very appealing
Jayson believes that the Bobby’s burger will taste better by its appearance and smell. He wasn't so explicit.
Results
After devouring both burgers and shakes, Deepak concluded that the Shake Shack burger was more delicious due to better quality meat (Shake Shack is meticulous about its chuck) and “extra melty” cheese. Jayson disagreed. He found the Bobby’s burger to be better overall, a devotee to seeded bun. Though we ordered a medium Bobby’s for Jayson, he called his burger medium rare, even bridging on rare. A Jayson-conducted comparison of buns led us to believe that the Shake Shack bun was steamed rather than toasted.
While they disagreed on meat, Both volunteers agreed that the Bobby’s vanilla shake had an exponentially better consistency than Shake Shack's, which Jayson described as “processed-tasting and liquidy — as if you left your McDonald’s shake out in the sun.” He felt sure that the Bobby’s shake was made with real ice cream, where as the Shake Shack one was not.
Further Suggestions
Though they enjoyed their respective burger choices, both Deepak and Jayson believe that other restaurants around Philadelphia, and some right near campus, serve better tasting burgers. See our burger listings below.
Copabana: Best Sirloin Burger (half-pound to order), $6.95
Smokey Joes: Burgers (custom-made served with potato salad or cole slaw, plus one topping), $6.95
Blarney Stone: Cheeseburger (half-pound with choice of cheese and toppings), $7.00
City Tap House: Tap House Burger (farm raised black Angus beef, choice of two toppings), $12.00
New Deck Tavern: Classic Burger (half-pound sirloin with cheddar), $6.75
Local 44: Burger (lettuce, tomato and onion), $9.00
Cavanaugh's: Cheeseburger (seven ounce ground sirloin with American), $8.99
