Five Star Burgers in ABQ

This post marks the first stop on the ABQ Burger Quest at a burger joint going for the "gourmet" crowd: Five Star Burgers . Five Star's original location is in Taos, NM, but they recently opened an Albuquerque location at 5901 Wyoming Blvd NE near Academy (505-821-1909).

Part of Five Star's claim to a gourmet burger experience is offering wine and beer along with "all natural" beef and produce. Walking in on a Friday night, Five Star was not particularly busy. At the entrance you are met with a host station and a sign instructing you to wait to be seated. The decorations were quite sparse, probably a result of the recent opening.

Meal:

• Old Timer burger with American cheese - $8.25
• Mixed Cart of fries - $3.00
• Sierra Mist - $2.00

The burger was probably 1/3 lb. Ordered medium, it was very juicy with excellent flavor. The bun was a brioche and was quite spongy. The Mixed Cart of fries comes with both regular fries and sweet potato fries. Unfortunately, the fries were the big disappointment of the meal. They reminded me of school cafeteria fries: not very crispy and lacking flavor. They definitely didn't live up to any expectations. Hopefully I was just subject to a bad batch toward the end of the night.

Verdict:

• Type: Dine-in, table service, regional chain
  
• Burger: 9/10
• Fries: 4/10
• Price: $$$$$
  
• Overall: 81/100*

Five Star definitely offers good burgers. Put them on your list. Unfortunately they are a little bit on the pricey side. The fries were a big let down, but I am skeptical that their fries will always be of such different quality than their burgers.

*See the post on how the ABQ Burger Quest ratings work.

In-N-Out (sorry not in ABQ)

Visiting In-N-Out Burger in San Francisco. Truly a bitter-sweet experience, since I am fully aware with every bite that there are no official plans for an In-N-Out in NM in the foreseeable future...

Excellent as usual. No rating given.

Blake's Lotaburger: an Albuquerque institution

As one of the benchmarks for my burger ratings, I made a trip to Blake's Lotaburger. In most of Albuquerque you don't have to go far before you find one. I think there are three within a mile from where I live. Anyone who eats burgers in the Burque has eaten at Blake's, so it's a good place to put my ratings system to the test and let you know what happens when I put my taste into the ABQBQEQ and see what comes out.

I have eaten at Blakes many times over the years and have grown to appreciate their burgers and shakes. I once spoke to a senior manager who told me that the owner was a big fan of In-N-Out Burger and tried to emulate them in a number of ways. As far as regional burger chains in New Mexico, I think they are certainly hard to beat. (Maybe we'll find a surprise down the road...)

Meal:

• Itsa burger - $2.89
  
• - with cheese, mayo, lettuce, tomato
• Regular fries - $1.39
  
• Regular Sierra Mist - $1.59
  
• As a combo - $4.99 + tax

The burger tasted fresh overall. I am not sure if Blake's uses fresh or frozen patties (probably frozen), but all of the produce tasted very crisp. Blake's advertises using Certified Angus Beef Brand beef, which means a lot to the producers of CABB, but may or may not mean much to you and me. The burger is tastey though. The fries at Blakes are good, though nothing spectacular. I find that the ketchup they serve is always on the acidic side.

Verdict:

• Type: Fast food, dine in, drive through, regional chain
• Burger: 7/10
• Fries: 6.5/10
• Price: $$$$$
• Overall: 70/100 <-- according to ABQBQEQ
  

I will definitely be going back to Blake's. It is both unavoidable and worth it. Where does Blake's fit in to your ABQ burger quest?

How is this going to work, anyway?

I'm on a quest to find the best burgers in Albuquerque. That pretty much comes down to a matter of taste, of course. In the interest of burgerology, I'll try to throw in some method to my burger-madness. So here are some of the things I'm going to try to do to find the best burgers in ABQ.

1. Try to keep it consistent, both with ratings and burgers.
2. Stick to the burgers.
3. Use the formula!

1. Keep it consistent.
I usually get burgers in two variations: cheeseburger with only ketchup for a thick patty and cheeseburger with sauce (mayo, etc), lettuce, and tomato for thin patties. So for example, at McDonald's I like the Big Mac the way it is (minus pickles and onions), but get the quarter pounder with cheese with only ketchup. Of course I mix things up sometimes. To compare things more evenly I will try to stick to the same couple burgers as much as possible. And sorry, I'm not a green chile person.

2. Stick to the burgers.
The score for a overall score for a burger will only be based on two criteria: taste and price. Fries and sides that I rate are just side ratings, not counted in the overall score. My definition of perfect, 10/10 fries are ones that don't need any ketchup (or mayo or whatever) to go with them. So a lot of incredibly excellent fries my be a 9.5/10 on my scale.

3. Use the formula!
To rate Albuquerque's burgers I've invented a super special formula called the Albuquerque Burger Quest Equation or ABQBQEQ. It looks like this:

Score = 100 x (b/10) x (0.8 + 0.2 x (5 - p)/4)

This mathematical super burger equation gives taste and quality 80% of the total score and cost 20% of the total score. In it, b is the burger rating out of 10 and p is the price score out of 5.

Price rating is based on these categories for the basic burger (usually 1/4 pound cheeseburger range):

$$$$$ - $0.00 - $3.50
$$$$$ - $3.51 - $6.00
$$$$$ - $6.01 - $9.00
$$$$$ - $9.01 - $12.00
$$$$$ - $12.01+

These price categories are likely to change.

As an example, I would probably give In-N-Out 10/10 and $$$$$ = 100/100 overall, because I think their burgers are excellent and the price is in the lowest category. Sadly In-N-Out doesn't exist in ABQ. On the other hand, if I found a truly excellent burger (10/10), but it cost $20 ($$$$$), it would not be something that I would buy that often, therefore it would get docked quite a bit in the scoring and rate an 80/100.

I may update the ABQBQEQ at some point and I will update the scores in my review to reflect that.


I am slowly compiling a list of burger joints to visit to find the best burgers in Albuquerque. If you want to suggest a place, please leave a comment or send me a tweet @abqburgerquest.

Hope you enjoy this as much as I am.

Five Guys in the 505

The first stop on the burger quest was at ABQ's newest burger joint: Five Guys Burgers and Fries (6650 Holly Ave. NE, (505) 797-4600) near Paseo del Norte and Louisiana. Five Guys is a national burger chain claiming a TON of hype and followers.

Meal:

• Little Cheeseburger - $3.99
• - with mayo, lettuce, tomato
• Regular fries - $2.69
• Regular Cherry Coke - $1.79
• Peanuts in the shell - Free

On Friday night at 9pm they were packed and the music was loud. The cashier explained that a "little hamburger" was one patty and a "hamburger" was two patties. Also a regular fries was enough for two people, while a large fries was enough for 3 or 4. I have to believe them. I ordered the regular fries (probably a 12-16 oz cup) and they put about twice as many fries in the cup/bag as the cup could actually hold. The fries were excellent, although possibly a little salty for some people. The burger was also very good. Everything definitely tasted fresh and the bun and patty had a toasted quality to them. For a fast food joint the prices were a bit steep by ABQ standards. The high school kid in front of me was yelling at his friends for dragging him out and making him pay $7.50 for dinner. I also had a bite of a hot dog which was very good, but this is ABQ Burger Quest...

Verdict:

• Type: Fast food, counter service, national chain
• Burger: 9/10
• Fries: 8.5/10
• Price: $$$$$
• Overall: 86/100

Have you eaten at Five Guys in ABQ? Leave me a comment!

P.S. Some people have complained about Five Guys not serving green chile and think they are shooting themselves in the foot by not having it on the menu. I'm actually not a green chile guy (I know, I know...), but I think it's just a matter of time before they start serving chile, joining McDonald's, Wendy's, Sonic, etc.

The Quest begins...

I'm the Burger Guy and I've decided to start this blog to chronicle my quest to find the best burgers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. I hope some people will come along on my quest both as readers and as fellow burger seekers.

I don't expect everyone to agree on what the best burger is, but hopefully we can all find our own burger bliss in ABQ.