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.