Sidetrack Bar & Grill, Ypsilanti, MI

So it's #19 on the list of "20 Burgers You Must Eat Before You Die". The list is compiled by a) a Men's magazine (GQ) and b) Alan Richman a writer for GQ and NPR correspondent (so maybe take it with a grain of salt). I've talked about burgers with a lot of people and here are, in order of importance, my top requirements in a great burger:

1. Healthy meat (no hormones, antibiotics & preferably ground on-site)

2. Tasty, not dry bun - and it should be heated and/or toasted on the grill

3. Fresh condiments - fresh, clean lettuce & a slice of ripe red tomato with dijon mustard & fresh ground pepper available

4. Fries must be included - What's up with having to order fries separately? (Yes, Burger Bar at Mandalay Bay, not ok!)

The rest are no-brainers. It should be cooked how you order it, it should arrive hot (meat hot, veggies cool) and the meat should reach the edges of the bun. I get that the meat is often weighed, but it's not a meatball sandwich, it's a burger!

My favorite burger (and Dave concurs) is probably at the original Mo's in North Beach in San Francisco. Mo's grinds their own meat, cooks it over an open flame (rotating grill), provides fresh veggies (romaine lettuce), bun is better than average (doesn't fall apart) and the meat reaches the edges of the bun! So yummy. And, they make hand-dipped shakes there (I don't usually order one, but the sips I've had are delish!). A close second is Burgermeister (multiple locations). Niman Ranch beef, decent bun, fresh veggies (green leaf lettuce) and good fries.

Ypsilanti is right over the highway from Ann Arbor so we decided to check it out. The place is cute - kind of a bar slash grill with an extensive menu. It was early afternoon but pretty much everything coming out of the kitchen was a burger and fries. So the verdict? Well, it arrived hot and cooked to order (check!) and it came with fresh veggies (in winter, in MI? check!) and fries (just ok, not crispy enough for me). But it had that Burger Bar problem where the meat didn't reach the edges of the bun and sort of crumbled when I ate it. On the plus side, they let me drink the caffeine free diet coke I had in my bag (I know, so dorky!) and they had a nice big parking lot out back. Definitely tasty and satisfying, but I don't know about being the 19th best in the country. . . .