Farm Burger Memphis – Memphis Flyer

We Saw You: Burger Week Winds Down

I thought I was doing pretty good eating more than one hamburger a day during Memphis Flyer’s Burger Week, which ends today, July 26th.

But after talking to Jack Heston, 60, I think I’m burger weak.

I ran into Heston at Grill Grabz food truck in front of the old Steak ‘n Shake on Hack’s Cross Road. I’ve been going around to the different participating restaurants and taking photos of people with their $6.99 burger specials. Heston, who was carrying a copy of the recent Burger Week issue of the Flyer with him, can eat the hamburgers several times a day during Burger Week. “I’ve done four a day,” he says. “This year, only three a day.

“I usually try to get an early lunch, most times an early dinner, and sort of a later dinner.”

And all of them featuring hamburgers.

Jack Heston at Grill Grabz (Credit: Michael Donahue)

If it’s his day off like it was that day, Heston says he eats four. “I haven’t eaten more than four in a day. Usually it’s three. It’s sort of hard.”

Heston is a dealer at Horseshoe Tunica. “Craps, usually.”

He makes Instagram posts about the hamburgers he eats during Burger Week. “I try to give a positive spin on all of them.”

Heston had to work the day Burger Week began, so he started the trail the next day at Pimento’s Kitchen & Market.

The Sweet Heat Burger at Pimento’s Kitchen & Market (Credit: Michael Donahue)

He then went to Farm Burger Memphis, which featured a hamburger topped with peaches and peppers. Heston describes the burger as “sweet and hot. I’d never had a Serrano pepper before.”

The Peach Burger at Farm Burger (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Heston and his buddy, James Griffith, usually hit the Burger Week spots, but Griffith had to go to Hot Springs, Arkansas that weekend. “He’s a nice guy. He can eat five times as much as me.”

Why does Heston like Burger Week so much? “I just think it’s a fun thing to do — go to places you probably have never been to.”

Tenero Cafe and Butcher was a new one for him. “That burger was monstrous. I was flabbergasted. Two patties.”

Stopping by Tenero Cafe and Butcher to try the Butcher’s Burger (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Heston usually orders more than the Burger Week special. “I almost always get a side or a beer. With a beer and a side I think I can burn off more beer calories than food calories.”

Here are more Burger Week photos taken around town:

Zoe Ungren enjoys a Huey Burger during Burger Week. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Danielle Chavers at Grill Grabz (Credit: Michael Donahue)

World Famous Huey Burger (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Dallon Cheesman at Grill Grabz (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Chowing down at Pimento’s Kitchen & Market (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The Royale at the Downtown location of Flying Saucer Draught Emporium (Credit: Michael Donahue)

A Grill Grabz fan, Patrick Liggins ordered ribs on this visit. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Alesia Ingram and the Smokehouse Burger at Grill Grabz (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The classic burger from Tops Bar-B-Que (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Grill Grabz. I ate two of the Burger Week specials the same afternoon. (Credit: Michael Donahue)

The Grill Grabz Smokehouse Burger (Credit: Michael Donahue)

Merry Burger Week to all! And to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, I stopped by restaurants participating in the annual Memphis Flyer event to take photos of merrymakers who ordered the $6.99 burger specials. That’s about half the price of what a burger sells for before and after the (hamburger) holidays at many places.

I ran into photographer Keith Renard at Belly Acres on Poplar. I didn’t know this at the time, but, after I talked to him, I realized Renard could be the Flyer’s Burger Week poster boy.

This was on Thursday, June 21st. He says he had the Burger Week special the night before at Pimento’s Kitchen & Market. The burger has “sautéed pepper,” Renard says. “It was good.”

He also liked the Belly Acres burger. “The crispness of the fried green tomato on it was pretty amazing.”

Renard is going to Burger Week restaurants — every day. Friday, he was going to Loflin Yard, Saturday, Tops Bar-B-Que, Sunday; Huey’s, Grill Grabz food truck on Monday; and Tenero Cafe & Butcher and maybe Farm Burger Memphis on Tuesday.

That’s a lot of hamburgers. “Listen. I’ll eat fish and chicken the rest of the year.”

Renard, who has participated in Burger Week for three years, says, “I like to see what people do differently with burgers. Plus, it’s for a good cause.” Burger Week benefits Memphis Tilth.

Here are photos from my visits to Burger Week restaurants. I’ll be visiting more places and posting more photos later. (And where are the women Burger Week fans? We want to see you, too.)