Shireen on the Scene
BURGER BASH CHAMP
Forget rocky and the russian. This year at the south beach wine and food festival there's another battle of epic proportions. The burger bash's reigning champ verses a home town hero warning deco peeps! This story may be too juicy to watch!
In this corner the 2009 reigning burger bash champ and top chef break out star, spike mendelsohn from washington as in dc.
Shireen: "How we feeling?"
Spike: "I need to stretch it out a little bit take my morning run."
In the same corner: But shot to look like a different corner: Home town favorite, challenger thomas connell.
Shireen: "You gonna bring it home for the home team?"
Thomas Connell: "Absolutely, this is the fourth year that we are in it..we've been the host now for four years, since it started, we've come close, we've had a lot of close seconds, but this year, we feel we're going to do it."
Thomas connell is the executive chef of the ritz carlton south beach. Where we shot this meaty story.
The ritz is home to the extra, juicy event *burger bash) .. One of the more popular events at the south beach wine and food festival.
Thomas Connell: "Burgers are a comfort food, and it's probably the highest level of burgers that you are ever going to taste in your life."
Where 27 of the best chefs in the country compete for burger bragging rights!
Spike: "I think what the trick is, is that every thing is really fresh ingredients."
This year the bb is bigger and better than ever, hold the onions honey, i have a date tonight.
Shireen: "Who is your biggest competition?"
Thomas Connell: "My biggest competition, there's too many that i respect honestly, to say politically, but spike was the winner last year so i want to take him down."
I v-ill crush u. Spike keeps his burger deliciously down-home, and simple.
Spike: "This year, we are switching it all up and doing a bacon cheeseburger, and a cotton candy shake."
Thomas - goes for finger lickin, sophistication.
Spike: "Apple smoked bacon, and then just technique we toast both sides of the bun, we melt the cheese.. it's crispy bacon, we just have to make everything perfect."
The contestants remained calm and cool as cucumbers pickled ones of course, during the deco judging round you can't win adrian! Unless you know how to cook a burger like this..