pengwen
12-30-2005, 09:52 AM
© 2006 Ben Moffett/Platt Labs Reprint Permission Granted
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/owl_vs_buckhorn.jpg
By Ben Moffett
Photos by Platt Labs
It is truly amazing to me that if you type "Owl" and "Buckhorn" or vice versa into the Goggle search engine, which claims to examine several billion websites, in less than a half second you'll get a range of selections and the first three are about two restaurants in San Antonio, N.M.
It's not like there are not several Owl Bars and Buckhorn Bars around the country from New York to Laramie, Wyo. And it's not like there are not thousands of stories about wildlife that would trump restaurants in Google's complex selection process.
But no. The Buckhorn and the Owl are right at the top, and always in the news. They are among New Mexico's most exalted private enterprises nationally. Both have been recently honored, in different media, as Top 10 restaurants in the 50 states for their burgers.
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/IMG_2156.jpg
In a 2005 issue, the high brow fashion magazine, GQ, formerly Gentlemen's Quarterly, called the Buckhorn Burger the seventh best in the nation. "It's the ultimate burger with a burn," said author Alan Richman in an article entitled "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die."
"No burger has bigger flavor than the legendary New Mexico green-chili cheeseburger," Richman wrote. "Basically, it's too much of everything on a bun: ground beef, green chilies, mustard, tomato, lettuce, chopped onion and pickle. Such a combination makes no culinary sense, but at Buckhorn, which makes the best green-chili cheeseburgers in a town devoted to little else, the result is spectacularly tasty and eminently coherent."
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/IMG_2158.jpg
The Owl Bar is on the Top 10 list of Epicurious, which I think is a sister of GQ, part of Condé Nast Publications. It lists the Owl as "one of America's top 10 hamburgers." Where in the top 10 it doesn't say. They are listed in alphabetical order.
"If you want a meat patty that sings of sunshine and fire and Southwest character go to the Owl Bar and have a green chile cheeseburger. It is a big hunk of meat, extending well beyond its bun...mounded with bright-flavored chiles. The Owl Bar is a colorful, full service eating and drinking establishment, beloved by burger fans since 1945.
My own observation, and I think I am qualified to give it since I'm been gulping burgers from both places since 1945, is that both publications are wrong. The Buckhorn and the Owl are tied for Número Uno. Maybe some of the other restaurants in the top 10 serve equally worthy burgers, but when you are making a comparison among 173,000 restaurants in the United States (2002 Census), most of which serve burgers, how do you differentiate?
(Ben Moffett is a San Antonio native, born about 1000 yards north of the two famous eateries and sipped at his dad's beer in both places when it was okay to do that).
Editor’s Note:
This argument has been going on for years now. It's high time we settle the issue once and for all without any bloodshed! Besides, these days, gunfights are illegal even here in Socorro County. Plus San Antonio no longer has a corral to hold a shootout in anyway!
So, Steppin' Out thinks we should be civilized about the whole thing and conduct a real-life reader poll. This poll will last for 75 days and at the end of it, we should all know the answer. You're the folks who visit these two local eateries and eat thousands of their fine burgers each year. So, drop by and eat a burger or two at each establishment and then you tell us, which burger do YOU think is best?
Just visit our reader poll at the top of this page and CAST YOUR VOTE for the best burger in New Mexico to tell us what you think.
We’ll announce the winner in our March – April ’06 issue. And may the best burger win!
http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/owl_vs_buckhorn.jpg
By Ben Moffett
Photos by Platt Labs
It is truly amazing to me that if you type "Owl" and "Buckhorn" or vice versa into the Goggle search engine, which claims to examine several billion websites, in less than a half second you'll get a range of selections and the first three are about two restaurants in San Antonio, N.M.
It's not like there are not several Owl Bars and Buckhorn Bars around the country from New York to Laramie, Wyo. And it's not like there are not thousands of stories about wildlife that would trump restaurants in Google's complex selection process.
But no. The Buckhorn and the Owl are right at the top, and always in the news. They are among New Mexico's most exalted private enterprises nationally. Both have been recently honored, in different media, as Top 10 restaurants in the 50 states for their burgers.
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/IMG_2156.jpg
In a 2005 issue, the high brow fashion magazine, GQ, formerly Gentlemen's Quarterly, called the Buckhorn Burger the seventh best in the nation. "It's the ultimate burger with a burn," said author Alan Richman in an article entitled "The 20 Hamburgers You Must Eat Before You Die."
"No burger has bigger flavor than the legendary New Mexico green-chili cheeseburger," Richman wrote. "Basically, it's too much of everything on a bun: ground beef, green chilies, mustard, tomato, lettuce, chopped onion and pickle. Such a combination makes no culinary sense, but at Buckhorn, which makes the best green-chili cheeseburgers in a town devoted to little else, the result is spectacularly tasty and eminently coherent."
http://www.steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/IMG_2158.jpg
The Owl Bar is on the Top 10 list of Epicurious, which I think is a sister of GQ, part of Condé Nast Publications. It lists the Owl as "one of America's top 10 hamburgers." Where in the top 10 it doesn't say. They are listed in alphabetical order.
"If you want a meat patty that sings of sunshine and fire and Southwest character go to the Owl Bar and have a green chile cheeseburger. It is a big hunk of meat, extending well beyond its bun...mounded with bright-flavored chiles. The Owl Bar is a colorful, full service eating and drinking establishment, beloved by burger fans since 1945.
My own observation, and I think I am qualified to give it since I'm been gulping burgers from both places since 1945, is that both publications are wrong. The Buckhorn and the Owl are tied for Número Uno. Maybe some of the other restaurants in the top 10 serve equally worthy burgers, but when you are making a comparison among 173,000 restaurants in the United States (2002 Census), most of which serve burgers, how do you differentiate?
(Ben Moffett is a San Antonio native, born about 1000 yards north of the two famous eateries and sipped at his dad's beer in both places when it was okay to do that).
Editor’s Note:
This argument has been going on for years now. It's high time we settle the issue once and for all without any bloodshed! Besides, these days, gunfights are illegal even here in Socorro County. Plus San Antonio no longer has a corral to hold a shootout in anyway!
So, Steppin' Out thinks we should be civilized about the whole thing and conduct a real-life reader poll. This poll will last for 75 days and at the end of it, we should all know the answer. You're the folks who visit these two local eateries and eat thousands of their fine burgers each year. So, drop by and eat a burger or two at each establishment and then you tell us, which burger do YOU think is best?
Just visit our reader poll at the top of this page and CAST YOUR VOTE for the best burger in New Mexico to tell us what you think.
We’ll announce the winner in our March – April ’06 issue. And may the best burger win!