B.O.M.B. Awards: Best Burger

Bradenton is burger town. Say it loud and say it proud. It sometimes surprises me that many lifelong locals, while treasuring their favorite joint, don’t really seem to grasp what a hamburger heaven this place truly is. Philly has its cheesesteaks, New York’s got the world’s best pizza, Buffalo is home of the chicken wing, and Chicago has its famed beef sandwiches, but if you want the best burgers, you’re coming to B-town.

This year we were all set to crown a new king of the burger. Don’t get me wrong, Shake Pit (last year’s B.O.M.B. recipient) is still slinging tasty beef at the beloved ice cream stand on Manatee Avenue West. It’s just that Sandi Wagner and Kimberly Duffy, the new owner’s of Bradenton burger institution Council’s Recreation, really found their groove after taking over the reins when third-generation burgermeister Lawton Smith decided to hang up his spatula after decades at the helm.

Dare we say that the new Council’s might even be the best incarnation yet. That said, a recent stop by S.O.B. Burgers changed everything.

I’ll freely admit that it was pure burger snobbery that had kept me from stopping by this strip mall gastro pub on U.S. 41 since it opened in 2014. I try to limit my red meat intake to twice a month and with Council’s, Shake Pit, Skinny’s, Duffy’s and the occasional jaunt down to New Pass Grill already in my rotation, the inconvenient location and gimmicky impression I’d gotten of S.O.B. were enough to keep me at bay.

I am a man who can admit my mistakes, however, and I could not have been more wrong about S.O.B., where my son and I serendipitously landed for dinner a few months back. It was a Friday, and after closing that week’s edition of TBT (where he recently came on as a copy editor and social media manager) we were ironically trying to make Council’s for a quick bite to eat. However, they had literally just turned off the grill, they told us when we entered at five minutes before five, so we were turned away with our hankering for a good burger still intact.

At first, we were just going to hit Shake Pit on the way back to West Bradenton, but my mind was already set on having a beer with my burger, something you can do at Council’s but not at the Pit. It was a beautiful day, the top was down on the car, and we decided a ride down 41 wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, hunger pangs notwithstanding.

It ended up being a fortunate, if ironic outcome. We discovered a burger paradise like no other and Dad was able to choose from a very formidable craft beer selection that was discounted for happy hour, while the events would ultimately lead to S.O.B. earning its first B.O.M.B. Award.

Justin Swisher, who started S.O.B. (South of Bradenton) Burgers with his wife Amy, isn't your typical burger chef. A graduate of the esteemed Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts in Pittsburgh, he first made his bones cooking at one of Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans restaurants. Still, when it came to opening his own spot, he knew he was a hamburger man, and Bradenton is better for it.

I had the Shroom, a beefy burger slathered with sauteed mushrooms and Swiss cheese, topped with lettuce, tomato and onion. Sullivan had the Brewmaster, which is topped with caramelized onions, bacon and Swisher's famed Brewmaster cheese sauce, served on an impeccable pretzel roll. Both were world-class burgers that could have gone up against any I've had from LA to NYC and all points between.

Other favorites include the Voodoo, which features a Cajun cream cheese spread, the Holy Grail, which adds mac and cheese and bacon on top of the burger, and the Cubano, which is a Cuban-sandwich inspired burger offering. The Hangover is a bacon cheeseburger topped with an over easy egg that's meant to cure a big head after a bender. S.O.B.’s brioche buns are far better than anything gracing a local burger elsewhere, and the fresh cut, fried-in-peanut oil french fries are every bit as good as Five Guys, while Swisher's gourmet tater tots are the best side item since Dave Shiplett was making his to-die-for truffle tots at SOMA.

As far a gimmickry, Swisher does have a we-dare-you-to-eat-it burger, and it's one that makes Skinny’s famed Mid-Island pounder look like child’s play. The Punisher is a 2.5 pound burger layered with six slices of cheese, six slices of bacon, grilled fresh jalapenos, mushrooms, caramelized onions, one pound of homemade fries, topped off with mac and cheese sauce, an egg, lettuce, tomato and onion on the brioche bun. Anyone who eats it all in 30 minutes gets it for free, along with their picture on the S.O.B. Wall of Fame (attempts must be scheduled in advance).

In addition to Shake Pit, previous winners of our Best Burger award (which predates the B.O.M.B.s) include Skinny's, Councils (twice) and Duffy's. Some burger purists will surely disagree with our departure from the local classics in this hallowed category, but unless you've been down to S.O.B. as of late, try one before you take offense. Nearly five and a half years after launching, this joint seems destined to stand the test of time and become an equally-revered Bradenton burger institution.

S.O.B. Burgers is located at 5866 14th St. West. They are open Tuesday and Wedensday 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday 11:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and are closed Sunday and Monday.

What can I say, all of those previously-mentioned burgers would probably be the very best in 99 of every 100 towns in America. And even beneath the big four (or big five now), you can get top-shelf burgers at a number of other Manatee County restaurants from little holes in the wall like Charlie’s on Cortez and Annie’s Bait shop in the Cortez Village, to more upscale restaurants like Pier 22’s Angus Burger and the Barbeque Bacon Burger at Norma Rae’s.

Our burger prowess is truly a regional thing shared with Sarasota, though I'd definitely give Bradenton the edge. Nonetheless, our neighbors to the south have a number of elite beef slingers, including blue collar haunts like New Pass Grill, Hob Nob, State Street, Patrick’s and Shakespeare’s Pub. Where SRQ really excels, however, is with upscale offerings; exotic burgers in the $15-20 range and worth every penny at swanky places like Art Ovation, Indigenous, Made, Libby’s, and Shore Diner.