The best burger on Ninth Street: A Chronicle taste test

For any student who craves a good burger—an essential college food—Ninth Street near East Campus provides tons of choices. However, with so little money and so many options, it is important for students to make an educated choice. I decided to put four restaurants to the test and visited The Tavern, Elmo's Diner, Dain's Place and Burger Bach to find the best burger on Ninth Street.

These burgers were rated in four different categories—the juiciness of the meat, overall flavor, bun quality and wow factor—on a scale from 1 to 5. These individual ratings were then averaged in order to come up with an overall rating.

All of the burgers were tested at the same time, and I had never been to any of these restaurants before, so hopefully I’m as objective as possible.

The Tavern

It’s not technically on Ninth Street, but it’s just a short walk away.

Because they didn’t have a “classic” burger, I ordered the Tavern Burger—it seemed like a good idea to get the sandwich that is named after the establishment. The burger is topped with chili, coleslaw and an onion ring, which is probably why it was the most expensive of the burgers I tried, priced at $10.95.

The burger was extremely robust. The meat wasn’t too juicy, but the chili more than compensated for the lack of juiciness. Different textures and flavors in the bun, the burger, the slaw and the chili balanced each other nicely. Full credit should be given to the bun. It was buttery and rich, which offset the tomato and chili. However, it was also a little sweet and added to the overall character of the burger. Plus, the chips that came with the meal were really good.

Juiciness: 3

Elmo’s Diner

Here I ordered a basic beef burger, which is a third of a pound of beef topped with lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo. It was the cheapest of the burgers at $6.55.

The first bite of the burger brought back memories of school cookouts. This burger is exactly what you would expect, truly a classic burger. The meat is slightly dry, and it seemed like Elmo’s tried to compensate for that with an ample amount of mayo. The bun is unassuming and pretty basic, making sure that it doesn’t get in the way of the meat. It was delicious, although extremely average.

Juiciness: 2

Flavor: 4

Bun: 3

Wow Factor: 3

Overall rating: 3

Dain’s Place

I ordered an eight-ounce angus burger with a couple of free fixings like lettuce and tomatoes, although they had many more toppings to choose from. The customizability of the burger was actually rather impressive, especially in contrast to the other restaurants I visited. Although the base price of the burger is $7.99, there were plenty of add-ons available either for free or two or three more dollars.

The first thing that I noticed about this burger is that it had a huge piece of meat. That meat did not let me down—it was extremely juicy and tasted fresh. However, the real star of the show was the bun. I cannot sing enough praises about it—definitely the best bun of the night. The bun was slightly salty, which complemented the rest of the burger. Despite its saltiness, it was subtlety flavored and didn’t get in the way of the rest of the meal. Overall, the burger was something classic and beautiful.

Juiciness: 4.5

Flavor: 4.5

Bun: 5

Wow Factor: 4

Overall Rating: 4.5

Burger Bach

I ordered the Basic Deluxe Burger, which was priced at a moderate $9.95 and included toppings like dill pickles, onions, lettuce and tomato. Interestingly, Burger Bach was the only restaurant out of the four that asked me how I wanted my burger cooked. (I requested well-done meat.)

Burger Bach knows what it’s doing with its meat. This burger had the best meat out of the four. It was brilliantly cooked, slightly smoky and a little sweet. Unfortunately, the rest of the burger was rather disappointing. The sauces—ketchup, mustard and mayo—were better than average, but the burger overall was overwhelmingly saucy. As a result, although the taste of the burger was bold, the flavors ended up being muddled together, leading to a rather mushy burger. It didn’t help that the bun was also lackluster. I found myself disappointed that the rest of the burger was uninspired after such a good experience with the meat.

Juiciness: 5

Flavor: 3.5

Bun: 2

Wow Factor: 3.5

Overall Rating: 3.5

The winner: Dain’s Place.

Based on ratings alone, my recommendation for a classic burger would be Dain’s Place. There, you can get a huge, great-tasting burger at a decent price. However, each of the burger joints has their merits. The Tavern presented a unique, tasty burger, but it's on the pricy side. Elmo’s has a classic, cheap burger, although it’s a little average. And Burger Bach is the place to go if you want good meat.