11.13.12- Black & Orange vs Stoney's (the wildcard!)

Black & Orange vs Stoney's (the wildcard!)

Black & Orange

This one is located just south of Dupont Circle. It's hard to tell if it's supposed to be a good burger place, that was just empty on a Tuesday, or one of those after-2-am kind of burger places. Their thing is that you can order the burger "Pink" or "Not Pink," which pleased those among us who prefer their burgers really cooked. The Pink is like an average medium, the Not Pink is like gray. You can also choose between the welterweight and the heavyweight (quarter pound vs half pound). We did the welterweights, in the interest of watching the cals. Sweet potato fries were delish, not salted. (But they do have Old Bay in the pepper shakers at the tables, nice touch). We had two burgers- the first was the "Pardon my French," a truffle oil and thyme burger, pink, with lettuce, tomato, grilled onions and provolone. The truffle oil was amazing. The other was the "Rogue State," Black & Orange's former name. This one was Not Pink, with lettuce, tomato, raw purple onion, and pickles. (The Rogue State is a burger with the house spice blend, chipotle, and cilantro- fyi, I had to look those ingredients up online because the flavors were not clearly apparent when we ate the burger, and therefore not memorable). And, not to focus on the negative, but the bun was super stale. The kind of stale where when you poke it, it leaves a hole in the bread. Overall, more of a 2 am burger. With an Allagash White. 

T.K. Taste 3.0, Bun 0, Condiments 0.8, Presentation 0.1, Service 0.7, Doneness 0.8. Total 5.4

A.H. Taste 1.0, Bun 0.2, Condiments 0.8, Presentation 0.6, Service 0.8, Doneness 0.8. Total 4.2

H.W. Taste 3.0, Bun 0.1, Condiments 0.9, Presentation 0.4, Service 0.8, Doneness 0.8. Total 6.0

Overall weighted score: 5.28

Stoney's (the wildcard!)

Not going to lie, this place came up because of their ridiculous slab of chocolate cake that they have, or used to have... unfortunately no longer on the menu. But either way, it is one of my favorite bars in D.C. Cozy like Cheers. We asked the waitress whether we should go with the Texas Burger or the Stoney Burger (with Stoney's special sauce)... the answer was a definitive Texas Burger- bacon, cheddar, BBQ sauce, grilled onion, and cole slaw. It was very tasty, one of those messy burgers. One of our tasters is a bit of a minimalist, and felt that there was "too much going on," and was "overwhelmed." The same taster was throwing numbers around when it came time to score, so take the final numbers with a grain of salt. (FYI, their Super Grilled Cheese is the claim to fame... not to be missed.)

T.K. Taste 3.5, Bun 0.2, Condiments 0.8, Presentation 0.8, Service 0.4, Doneness 0.3. Total 6.0
A.H. Taste 3.0, Bun 0.4, Condiments 0.1, Presentation 0.7, Service 0.4, Doneness 0.3. Total 4.9
H.W. Taste 4.0, Bun 0.2, Condiments 0.8, Presentation 0.7, Service 0.3, Doneness 0.3. Total 6.5
Overall weighted score: 5.88

Stoney's wins!