2011 Amstel Light Burger Bash Slideshow

Spike made a strong showing with his beef burger topped with applewood smoked bacon, Cheddar cheese, beer battered onion rings, and chipotle BBQ sauce on a toasted bun. His toasted marshmallow milkshake is always badass, and it proved to be one of the night's best sides.

Chef Michael Schlow of Radius (Boston)

Chef Michael Schlow won the 2008 Amstel Light People's Choice Award. The Schlow Burger featured Vermont Cheddar, crispy onions and horseradish black pepper sauce and was served with potato salad with green onion and chipotle.

The White Label Burger from Ai Fiori (New York City)

Chef Michael White's White Label Burger from Ai Fiori featured black tomato, butter lettuce, and white American cheese. Bun and toppings were solid, the meat was nicely medium-rare and featured the funk of dry-aged beef. A decent burger, but nothing amazing.

Iron Chef Bobby Flay gets "crunchified."

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Team Eater

It wouldn't be a big-time food event without Team Eater now, would it? From left: Lockhart Steele, Amanda Kludt, and Raphael Brion. Check out Eater's Burger Bash coverage here.

Umami Burger (Los Angeles, California)

There was a lot of buzz around Adam Fleischman's Umami Burger — talking to people, it almost started to seem like there was a groundswell of support that might swing it into an award. The burger was about an inch thick and very rare. And unlike an experience with the burger in Los Angeles, on this occasion, the bun wasn't stale. 

Feeding the masses with a conveyor belt.

Members of the Florida International University Hospitality and Tourism Management program use a clever system to feed the masses at Burger Bash: a conveyor belt.

Rachel Ray and Lee Schrager kick off the 2011 Burger Bash.

Host Rachel Ray and festival founder Lee Schrager kick off the festival with the Amstel Light Burger Bash.

El Mago de las Fritas (Miami, Florida)

The local institution, El Mago de las Fritas made their Burger Bash debut by featuring their Frita Cubana, a Latin spiced burger topped with raw onions, matchstick potatoes, and El Mago sauce. Their side was a refreshing batido de mamey, a tropical fruit purée with ice, milk, and sugar. There was an assortment of squeeze bottles with hot sauces of varying degrees of heat. The burger was a tad over, but the "Magic Sauce" and the matchstick potatoes made this one of the night's more interesting burgers.

Danny Meyer serves up a Shack Burger.

Danny Meyer's Shack Burger won the first Burger Bash back in 2007, but this was the first year he'd personally done the event. He amiably handed out the always-strong Shack Burger, along with sunglasses and French fries coated in cheese and spotted with chorizo.

Iron Chef Morimoto with his Nikomi Burger

You love Morimoto. You love egg on burger action. And it appeared that the crowd did too — there was a line for this burger that stretched across the tent and nearly met up with the one for the burger on the other side of the tent. But this wasn't a great burger. A Wagyu beef patty stewed in Morimoto sauce and topped with a fried egg and served with a pickle. Gloppy sauce and no runny yolk.

José Garces serves his Village Burger

Iron Chefs everywhere I tell you. Chef José Garcs served the Village Burger from his restaurant, Village Whiskey in Philadelphia. A sesame roll, housemade Thousand Island, tomato, Boston bibb, and a side of poutine: duck fat fried potatoes with duck gravy, duck confit and farmer's cheese.

Geoffrey Zakarian, The National (New York City)

Chef Geoffrey Zakarian made his Burger Bash debut with The National Burger, a wood roasted Gruyère cheese, spicy pickles, and The National secret sauce. Read an interview with the chef about his plan of attack for this year's event.

Chef Michael Schwartz of Michael's Genuine Food & Drink (Miami, Florida)

Chef Michael Schwarz served his Genuine Bacon Egg & Cheeseburger with heirloom tomato chutney, white Cheddar, and quail egg on a rosemary biscuit.

Iron Chef Michael Symon defends his title.

Chef Symon was the 2010 Amstel Light People's Choice Award Winner. This year, he represented his Cleveland restaurant, B Spot with the Yo! Burger. It featured fried salami, provolone, shasha sauce, and pickled onion. He served it with a Nutella and hazelnut liqueur milkshake. It was a damn fine burger and Symon was mobbed by fans and long lines all night. Moments before winning he was characteristically self-effacing about his chances, "There's an amazing number of chefs here. We think we made a killer burger, but you never know. Bobby's here, Tim Love's here, Michael White, there's just a bunch of amazing chefs competing."

Jonathon Sawyer and The Greenhouse Tavern crew.

The Amstel Light Chef was Jonathon Sawyer, the National Contest Winner's Burger. It featured anchovy and Bucheron. "I think we're doing a unique burger with a personal touch that hopefully should turn some heads," he noted.

Marc Murphy takes the Judge's Award

Marc Murphy took the Judges' Award with Landmarc's The Big Marc, an all beef hamburger on a homemade black pepper and Cheddar bun with spiked ketchup and housemade pickles.

Iron Chef Michael Symon wins the People's Choice Award.

Iron Chef Michael Symon wins the People's Choice Award, "It's all about meat on meat, baby."