Cheeseburger Week

Celebrate the birthplace of America’s favorite food during Pasadena Cheeseburger Week January 13-18, 2013.

1821 people took the Cheeseburger Challenge and voted for their favorite cheeseburger at during Pasadena Cheeseburger Week 2103. Voting ended on Monday, January 21st.

It’s not too late to plan your Cheeseburger Crawl in Pasadena. You can plan your own or follow one of our suggested Cheeseburger Crawl routes. Check it out by clicking here.

The results list the top vote four getters in each category (unless there were fewer than four entries). Total votes received by each of the favorites are also listed..

Pasadena Cheeseburger Week was sponsored by the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce with support from the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America and was a California Restaurant Month event.

This year we had almost twice as many restaurant entries and about 50% more voters. We did notice that some of our participating restaurants are getting very savvy about motivating their patrons to go online and vote for them.

Here are the results of the 2013 Cheeseburger Challenge:

  1. Favorite restaurant for a burger
    1. Slater’s 50/50 (18.6% / 173 votes)
    2. The Counter (15.4% / 139)
    3. Dog Haus (15.1% / 136)
    4. Pie ‘n Burger (14.3% / 127)
  2. Favorite lunch counter burger
    1. The Counter (37.6% / 338)
    2. Pie ‘n Burger (30.3% / 272)
    3. Clearman’s Galley (12.2% / 110)
    4. Burger Continental (9.4% / 84)
  3. Favorite traditional cheeseburger:
    1. Dog Haus (17.9% / 186)
    2. The Counter (17.5% / 182)
    3. Slater’s 50/50 (17.3% / 179)
    4. Pie ‘n Burger (15.8% / 165)
  4. Favorite sliders
    1. Dog Haus (24.3% / 102)
    2. Ruth’s Chris Steak House (22.3% / 94)
    3. Kings Row Gastropub (16.6% / 71)
    4. POP Champagne and Dessert Bar (12.9% / 58) – tie
    5. Café 140 South (12.9% / 58) – tie
  5. Favorite Gourmet Burger
    1. Dog Haus (22% / 117)
    2. Slater’s 50/50 (21.4% / 114)
    3. The Counter (20.5% / 109)
    4. Umami Burger (18.8% / 99)
  6. Favorite alternative burger:
    1. Slater’s 50/50 Cheeseburger Salad (26.6% / 244)
    2. The Counter Bison Burger (26% / 237)
    3. Umami Burger Ahi Tuna Burger (12% / 110)
    4. Kings Row Gastropub Mars Rover Burger (9.4% / 86)
  7. Favorite turkey burger:
    1. The Counter (29.8% / 260)
    2. Slater’s 50/50 (25% / 117)
    3. The Original TOPS (9.6% / 84)
    4. Umami Burger (9.4% / 81)
  8. Favorite sit-down/white table cloth cheeseburger:
    1. redwhite+bluezz (23.2% / 94)
    2. Green Street Restaurant (14.8% / 60)
    3. Beckham Grill (13.3% / 54)
    4. Vertical Wine Bistro (11.8% / 48)
  9. Favorite new restaurant for a burger:
    1. Slater’s 50/50 (46.3% / 201)
    2. Umami Burger (25.3% / 110)
    3. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse (16.8% / 73)
    4. Trattoria Neapolis (11.5% / 50)
  10. Favorite ethnic burger:
    1. El Portal (33.8% / 163)
    2. Burger Continental (28% / 69)
    3. Yahaira’s Café (25.4% / 61)
    4. CREPE studio (14.1% / 34)
  11. Favorite Kobe burger:
    1. redwhite+bluezz (30.4% / 112)
    2. The Original TOPS (28.7% / 106)
    3. Vertical Wine Bistro (15.2% / 56)
    4. Toro Sushi Bar Lounge (13% / 48)
  12. Favorite bar burger:
    1. Dog Haus Biergarten (17.6% / 101)
    2. Slater’s 50/50 (16.5% / 93)
    3. Kings Row Gastropub (16.1% / 74)
    4. Beckham Grill and Crown Pub (14.4% / 66)
  13. Favorite veggie/vegan burger:
    1. The Counter (19% / 69)
    2. Real Food Daily (17.6% / 64)
    3. Slater’s 50/50 (17.3% / 61)
    4. Umami Burger 11% / 40)
  14. Favorite draught beer with a burger:
    1. Kings Row Gastropub (23.2% / 37)
    2. Haven Gastropub ( 16.3% / 26)
    3. Dog Haus Biergarten (16.3% / 26)
    4. Slater’s 50/50 (15.1% / 24)
  15. Favorite dessert after a cheeseburger:
    1. Pie ‘n Burger (21.8% / 188)
    2. Slater’s 50/50 (20.2% / 184)
    3. BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse (12.3% / 112)
    4. POP Champagne and Dessert Bar (10.3% / 94)

It should be noted that not every voter participated in each category and different categories had widely divergent numbers of entries.

The Cheeseburger Challenge is a fun way for people to support their favorite Pasadena area restaurants. We are also very pleased with the addition of so many more restaurants to this year’s event. Whatever someone might have wanted in a cheeseburger could be found among our participating restaurants.

The original Rite Spot in west Pasadena: home of the cheeseburger circa 1924

Even CNN is on the story: click here to see Casey Wian’s story on Cheeseburger Week.

Details. Details. Details. You’ll have to be patient. We’ll get you all the info when it’s available. For now, we’re just whetting your appetite (and teasing you a bit, too). 

We’ll host the second Cheeseburger Challenge. Once again, you’ll get to vote for your favorites in a number of categories, from traditional lunch counter burgers to white table cloth an alternative cheeseburgers. We’ll also have an alternative cheeseburger category or two, as well.

Plan to come to Pasadena for a Cheeseburger Crawl, take the Cheeseburger Challenge and celebrate Lionel Sternberger’s culinary legacy in the city where the cheeseburger was first served to a customer.

Check out the Cheeseburger Challenge by clicking here. Voting is live on Sunday, January 13th for one week only

Here are our participants for the 2013 Cheeseburger Week in Pasadena and the gamut of burgers they each serve (click on the name to go to the web page, click on the menu item for the full restaurant burger menu):

a/k/a An American Bistro

Beckham Grill

BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse

Burger Continental

Clearman’s Northwoods Inn

The Counter

Cousins Maine Lobster

  • 115 East Colorado in Old Pasadena
  • (626) 768-1472
  • Lobster BLT

Crepe Studio

Del Taco #508
  • 230 South Rosemead Boulevard in east Pasadena
  • 626-793-2840
  • Cheeseburger Week special: Double Del Cheeseburger which is made fresh to order, with shredded lettuce, freshly sliced tomatoes, diced onions, American Cheese, burger sauce, on a sesame seed bun.
  • For Cheeseburger week Del Taco in east Pasadena will offer buy one, get one free.

El Portal Restaurant

  • 695 East Green Street, Pasadena
  • Call (626) 795-8553 for reservations
  • Zacatecas Burger

Gale’s (lunch only)

Green Street Restaurant

Haven Gastropub

  • 42. De Lacey Avenue in Pasadena
  • 626-768-9555
  • The Haven Burger
  • The Lamb Burger
  • and a cocktail to accompany your cheeseburger: One-Ninety Manhattan
    bulleit rye, carpano antica, bitters

IX-tapa Cantina

For Cheeseburger Week, IX-tapa offers a Chile Relleno: poblano pepper stuffed with ground beef.

Jersey Mike’s Subs

Kings Row Gastropub

M Local Mediterranean Grill

Magnolia Lounge

The Market on Holly

New York Deli

Noir Food and Wine

Pie ‘n Burger

POP Champagne & Dessert Bar

Robin’s Wood Fire BBQ

Slater’s 50/50

Soleil at the Sheraton

Three Hundred Pasadena (300 Pasadena)

Togo’s (Green and Lake)

Toro Sushi Bar and Lounge

Trattoria Neapolis

 Twohey’s Restaurant

Umami Burger

Vertical Wine Bistro

Villa Sorriso

  • 168 West Colorado Boulevard  Pasadena, CA 91105
  • Telephone: (626) 793-2233
  • Sorriso Burger

Yahaira’s Cafe

It’s too late to vote in the 2013 Cheeseburger Challenge, but we’ll be back in 2014 with new participants, new categories and lots of fun:

Check out some of our media coverage:

View more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.