Earlier this month, Justin Harper and Zach Etengoff accomplished something previously thought impossible: They tried all 63 Burger Week specials.
In the interest of disclosure: Burger Week is a promotional event put on by FW Publishing Events, the events department of the Scene’s parent company. This year’s lineup featured Burger Week’s widest variety of patties yet, from established classics to adventurous experiments, from across the greater Nashville area. What started as a playful suggestion during last year’s event — that the duo try every Burger Week burger — became a reality this year.
“There was a moment, probably three months ago, where we were like, ‘Are we going to actually commit to this?’” says Harper. “But it was so much fun.”
The pair created a ranked tier system and tracked their progress on their Instagram account (@the_nashville_cut). After Burger week, we spoke with the East Nashville residents, who both work in the local video production industry, about how they accomplished their feat. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your process like?
Etengoff: Luckily, with us both being freelancers, we just didn’t accept any work for the week. I knew that it was going to be a pain in the butt to figure out how and where we’re going to go. So I actually put [the locations] into Claude, and it created almost a map for us on each day. It sectioned everything out. … The goal was nine burgers a day to put us on track.
Harper: The worst day was Thursday. We did 13 burgers.
Were you eating the entire burgers?
Harper: We did half-burgers, and by half, [I mean] Zach would usually eat two or three bites. I would eat the half, and then maybe a little more, depending on if I liked it.
Etengoff: At Gray & Dudley on our first day, we both had our own burger right off the bat. We were like, “We cannot have our own burger.” It was going to be bad because we were both already full. It was a pretty hefty burger.
Did you eat any non-burger items?
Harper: The first day I had little Chobani yogurts, and then we had that full burger, and I was still like, “Dude, I’m so full.” So literally the only thing I had was burgers for the rest of the week.
Etengoff: Same here, just burgers and a few coffees.
Did you ever consider giving up?
Harper: No, there was never a point. I think the only contingency was, “Do we try to hit all 63, or do we miss a couple?” But it was always a matter of, “We’re going to go all seven days and get as many as we possibly can.” … People would have come after us. They were like, “Where are those reviews, burger boys?”
How did your tier system for the burgers work?
Etengoff: Our biggest goal was [to reach] people like us from last year — when we only had time to do like three or four burgers, we couldn’t really find exactly what burgers were popping, so we guessed at it on which ones we thought would look good. We were just thinking that we can help the people who just want to quickly get a burger. They can see the S-tier. They know that these are the top hitters. And then for some of the people who are trying a bunch of them, that A-tier can give them a map for their own little Burger Week quest.
Was there a unique burger that stood out?
Harper: I think the one that really took us the most by surprise was Perfectly Fine’s burger because it had that stuffed poblano on it.
Did you land on a shared favorite?
Harper: I think we [went] back and forth a little bit with what our favorites were until we had Stoke Haus on Thursday, and we were both like, “This is by far the best one we had.” It was nuts.
