When Hot Dog Mike set up his food cart outside the Democratic Party headquarters in early 2011, the local Twittersphere joked, “It’s OK. We all agree hot dogs are bipartisan.”
“Yes, but what about hamburgers?” someone quipped.
“They are, too,” was the consensus.
Then someone publicly wondered, “Where is the best burger in town?” and while you might expect that question to cook up a debate, when posed in the context of politics and foodie banter, the Burger Caucus was born.
“With a bunch of reporters, political geeks, and just general ne’er-do-wells, the idea of calling it a Burger Caucus happened,” says Joel DiPippa, 35, Burger Caucus organizer and Little Rock lawyer.
It became a monthly meeting of the minds on an insatiable quest to taste, and sometimes rank, the many burgers in the Little Rock area. The inaugural gathering met at Doe’s Eat Place for lunch.
“The second meeting was at Midtown [Billiards] for dinner, and then it got into the monthly rhythm, where we’d switch between lunch and dinner,” DiPippa says.
The caucus was organized using a Twitter hashtag at first but as interest grew, gathering the parties became easier on Facebook.
“When it started it was smaller and easy to organize the 10 or 12 people who were interested, but when we started getting to 20-plus people interested, whether they make it or not, setting up a Facebook group and using Facebook invites made it a lot easier to manage,” DiPippa says.
“These days, we’ve ranged from three or four people showing up to 30-some-odd showing up, so there’s no rhyme or reason.” THE BURGER BLOC
A recent Burger Caucus meets for a steamy summer lunch at Leo’s Greek Castle. The new ownership has revamped the menu’s burgers, and a smallish bloc assembled on the chairs outside. DiPippa usually alerts the restaurant ahead of time,so it’s no surprise inspection.
“When we have larger groups, I really do prefer to tell the restaurants we are coming,” he says. “It isn’t fair to the establishment to just show up with a dozen people in the middle of a lunch or dinner service. I don’t recall a disastrous adventure by failing to tell a place, except the one time we made it to Heifer Cafe and they had only one burger for about six to seven people who were there.”
He’s not overly concerned about caucus members getting special treatment from restaurant kitchens anticipating a visit.
“It is as much about getting the people together over the burgers as it is about the burgers. Sure, letting them know a big group is coming in may make a difference, but I think most of them treat us no differently than any other large party,” he says.
The Leo’s Greek Castle outing is by no means a large party. It includes only four: DiPippa; accountant Jason Tolbert, 36; website builder Greg Henderson, 30; and graduate assistant Shannon Frazeur, 31.
It is Frazeur’s first time and Henderson’s second, but the other two are veterans. Tolbert and DiPippa joke about how they usually put other caucus members to sleep with talk of tax law.
Their work-related gossip: oddities in the state’s cigar tax.The potential penalties for under reporting your sales tax. The characters jumping into political races. Eventually it swings back to meaty, burger-related news and advice, from “Jonathan Wilkins is leaving the White Water Tavern’s kitchen” to DiPippa’s admission that “Boca actually makes a pretty good [veggie] burger patty.” CLOSE RANKS
How do they rank Leo’s burger?
One offers a grade of 7 out of 10. Another says 6 or 6.5.
“It’s got a good texture to it. It’s not too seasoned, not too salty, and has a little bit of grease,” DiPippa says. “It’s a lot better than it was before the [management] changeover. I’m pretty sure before it was a frozen, premade patty. This is real ground meat.”
“It could have been seasoned just a little bit more,” Henderson adds. “I would’ve thought a Greek restaurant would have overseasoned, but maybe they compensate.”
Members of the caucus typically use one burger to talk about another, to compare and contrast.
“[The caucus] gives us a common ground to talk about, ‘Well you remember when we had that one at The House or at White Water Tavern?’ It’s kind of like that but …,” DiPippa says.
They have different opinions about what makes a great burger. In fact, if this were an actual caucus in a two-party system, the sides would be divided between those in favor of high-quality, hand-made burgers and those supporting the greasy-fried ones. And, of course, you have the moderates working on both sides of the aisle.
“That’s one of the hardest things to do because to make a good meaty burger sometimes you lose the greasy and to make a good greasy burger you might lose the meaty, and that balance is what I look for, what I love,” DiPippa says. “I think the Southern-style, salt crust, highly seasoned greasy burgers are a beautiful thing, especially late at night or the following morning, but I also love the ‘chef-y, how good of a meat, what exact balance can we get’ experimentation.”
Henderson takes a third-party view. For him, it’s often about experimentation and toppings.
“I like something a little bit different, and I think Big Orange, for example, does a really good job of experimenting with their burger flavors. I think Capital Bar also does a great job. They throw pimento cheese on a burger, and it’s pretty fascinating, and Big Orange does a great blue cheese burger. Just diversity with the flavors I think is amazing,” he says.
It’s really about where you’re going and your expectations, Frazeur says.
“If I’m going someplace that’s more upscale, I wouldn’t want the burger to be greasy or have the fake cheese, but high class or drive-in type, I’m good either way,” she says.
Though some order burgers dressed up, some very plain, and some with buns, some without, the only real sin when dining out with the Burger Caucus is not ordering a burger at all.
“People have ordered chicken sandwiches, and we just mock them,” DiPippa says.
They think the draw of a burger is that it’s almost a blank canvas upon which you can build food art. And like art, you can find or create the one that suits you best. It’s customizable, diverse and quintessentially an American food.
“Hamburgers have had such a huge impact in the last few years with so many places wanting to do them right, whatever that means,” DiPippa says, “and with the caucus, it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, we could try all of these different ones.’”
But as for why burger sampling is more enjoyable in a group, well, Henderson can’t really explain the draw: “It’s always crazy how stuff like Burger Caucus just takes off.”They’ll be the judge of that
The members of the Burger Caucus are an opinionated bunch, and they have a right to be. They’ve been tasting and judging the well-known and unknown hamburgers of the area for two years now. Whether they’re greasy or traditional or experimental, here are some of their favorite burgers:
“I think the burger at Hillcrest Artisan Meats was the best burger. I don’t know if it was necessarily my favorite because I like it a little bit greasier than that, but that was clearly the best quality meat, and the best quality ingredients. Heifer Cafe had really good meat. And of course, I like greasy burgers like David’s Burgers.”
- lawyer and Burger Caucus organizer Joel DiPippa
“I like a greasy burger. When I want a burger, I either go to David’s or Buffalo Grill. Those are the two places I go, but I like trying new places. And I’ll throw Big Orange in there. I would’ve never guessed Heifer Cafe would have a good burger. I consider David’s to be a good-quality Five Guys burger. It’s cooked that same way, fried, but better quality meat.”
- Burger Caucus member and accountant Jason Tolbert
“It’s hard to pin down just one thing I look for in a burger. An ideal burger for me really depends on the type of mood I’m in …. Normally, I like a good amount of meat and a moderate amount of grease with my burgers. And cheese is always required,usually extra cheese. My goto place for a burger is Big Orange. They consistently have the best burgers in Little Rock for me, and I love the different options available there. My other standby is a cheddar and pepperjack burger from Midtown [Billiards].” - original Burger Caucus member and Associated Press reporter Andrew DeMillo
“It’s gotta kind of melt a little bit. Cotham’s used to do a really good job of that, but they’ve changed up their burger ever so slightly and it doesn’t seem to have that texture anymore. My go-to places are Big Orange and Capital Bar and Grill.”
- Burger Caucus member Greg Henderson
- Melissa Tucker
Style, Pages 27 on 07/30/2013