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.
- Try to keep it consistent, both with ratings and burgers.
- Stick to the burgers.
- 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.