New York City Wine & Food Festival's First Burger Bash Tie

Well, one of the most anticipated food events of the year resulted in more drama than ever if you consider that never before has there been a tie. That's right. There were three winners at the New York City Wine and Food Festival's Burger Bash! 

Two chefs shared the most coveted prize, the People's Choice award, none other than Josh Capon, a four-time winner, and Food Network zeitgeist  Guy Fieri. The ever-mysteriously determined judges' favorite award went to Paul Denamiel of Le Rivage. Congratulations to all three winners!

For those at home keeping score of the win, Capon's Burger & Barrel Burger Bash burger featured caramelized onion and bacon jam, shaved pickles, American cheese, and secret sauce (with a bonus side of salt-and-vinegar chips, something that seemed to be on most chefs' minds). Guy's American Kitchen and Bar's Bacon Mac 'n' Cheese Burger was perhaps the worst line of the evening, but one that scored a crispy applewood-smoked bacon, creamy four-cheese mac and cheese, all-natural ground beef, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, super-melty cheese, garlic butter, and toasted brioche burger. Whew, what a mouthful. 

Thomas' English Muffins presented Le Rivage's French-Onion Soup Burger, a Pat LaFrieda–blend burger with stewed onions, béchamel, and Emmental cheese, served on a toasted English muffin with a bonus side of potato chips dipped in Jacques Torres chocolate.

Guy's line was worse than ever, so this post can't attest to it, but every other burger on the menu was tasted, and on The Daily Meal's scorecard the best burgers were Capon's, Burger Joint's, and Schnipper's. That being said, Shake Shack's Smokestack tasted even better than all the ones noted above. Then again, that seems to be the case at every Burger Bash, so maybe we just can't taste the Shake Shack for the trees. Or something like that. You get the point.