<<< THURSDAY, MARCH 27 GAMES CLOSED >>>
Low and behold, today marks the closing of the Tournament of Burger's First Round. After today's battles, the bracket will officially be down to 32 area burger joints. If what we learned from our taco, pizza, breakfast and sandwich tournaments holds true, the remaining burger joints will hire cheerleaders for their Second Round games. Honestly, if it gets any more exciting we'll start to understand why Dick Vitale is always yelling.
Without wasting anyone's time with patty-related basketball innuendo, on to a recap of yesterday's games and today's Tournament of Burgers action.
Game 1: Flipping Out Burgers and Fries vs. Classics Cafe at LeMay
Flipping Out must have flipped out. It was quiet during its game with Classics Café, the diner embedded at LeMay - Amerca's Car Museum. Classics included a Facebook post as part of its game plan, a plan that also included cooking tasty cheeseburgers. Classics Café grabbed 78 percent of the vote and moves into the Second Round.
Game 2: Friesenburgers vs. Crown Bar
In the closest battle of the day, Crown Bar grabbed 55 percent of the vote for the win. Surprisingly, Friesenburgers team of Gluten-free burgers wasn't really a factor. Once Crown's Crispy Onion burger got hot, it was over. The Crown Bar moves into the Second Round with a March 31 date with Classic Café.
Game 3: Herfy's Lakewood vs. Herfy's Olympia
The Herfy's in Lakewood beat the Herfy's in Olympia with 78 percent of the vote. Somewhere there's photo-realistic cow's face with a tear.
Game 4: Dirty Oscar's vs. Red Robin
Yesterday, I was accused of over hyping Dirty Oscar's. It's funny. One of the highlights of my childhood, besides spending summers in Rangoon, was post-Husky games outings at Red Robin. The family would gather around ginormous burgers at the Montlake Seattle Red Robin and discuss Joe Steele's rushing plays. It was always a disappointment if the car diverted instead to the Salmon House. I guess I might have gone Vitale on Dirty Oscar's Dead Elvis Burger. Its deliciousness is hard to ignore. Anyway, Dirty Oscar's smoked Red Robin with 90 percent of the vote and moves into the Second Round to face the Lakewood Herfy's March 31.
Let's weed through the condiments. The following are advancing to the Second Round:
The daily burger battles on Walkie Talkie are sponsored by Ricky J's Restaurant and Lounge in Puyallup.
OK, let's dive into today's First Round burger battles. Vote for one burger joint per game. Voting for today's burger battles ends at 11:45 p.m.
Game 1: Eastside Big Tom (2023 Fourth Ave. E., Olympia) vs. Steel Creek American Whiskey Co. (1114 Broadway, Tacoma)
Game 2: Chalk Talk Bistro (2301 Pacific Ave., Tacoma) vs. Pick-Quick Drive-In (4306 Pacific Hwy. E., Fife)
Game 3: The Westside Tavern (1815 Harrison Ave. NW, Olympia) vs. Pacific Grill (1502 Pacific Ave., Tacoma)
Game 4: Bootlegger's Bar & Grill (29285 State Route 410 E., Buckley) vs. Best Burgers (7714 Custer Road W., Lakewood)
Confused? Read our Tournament of Burgers introduction here.