Being a huge fan of many bad-for-you foods, I was pumped when I heard about the Elevation Burger Food Blogger event. After all, don’t most all of us get a craving for a big, juicy burger once in a while? (Granted we don’t always want a giant 10 patty burger like the one pictured above – this one was just a prop for photo purposes).

In the increasingly crowded Austin burger scene, new burger joints are popping up all over the place next to established favorites. With all of these choices, how do Elevation’s burgers stack up? (bad pun I know…)

Elevation Burger’s claim to fame is using all natural, hormone free, grass fed beef (similar to Terra Burger, Mighty Fine, and P Terry’s). Elevation takes it a bit further with the environmentalism, claiming to recycle all fryer oil into bio-diesel fuel, use recycled paper in all of the paper products, and purchase offset credits to reduce their carbon footprint. Additionally, the ingredients are supposed to be mostly organic as well – they mentioned their butter and eggs are organic and that the fries are cooked in 100% natural olive oil.

While all of there points are great, what’s the bottom line… how do the burgers taste?

I got the Elevation Burger which comes with 2 all natural beef patties and a giant piece of cheese. I have to say that my first bite was amazing – I thought that it might be one of the best burgers in town. The burger was juicy, I could taste the distinct grass fed beef flavor, and the cheese was clearly high quality. I was very happy.

As my meal went on though, I realized that the burger is definitely best when warm – right when it comes out. I think this has to do with the fact that Elevation Burger’s meat is less than 15% fat, so it dries out more quickly than other burgers. During my meal too, my burger quickly fell apart – it was over packed with a lot of stuff. I think there was a bit too much lettuce in the burger, and my pickles were very cold compared to the meat, so that was a bit odd. Also, the cheese, while delicious squeezed out of the side of the burger, making a big mess on the wrapping paper.

The fries are also amazingly good when they first came out as well. They are fried in 100% olive oil so they are healthier, but I am guessing because of the low fat content of the oil, they just don’t taste the same once they go cold.

In summary, the taste was great for the first 5 minutes, but the experience wasn’t as good later into the meal. My tips to you are as follows: eat fast to maximize enjoyment and you will have no regrets. Also, I’m just going to get a single patty if I go back so I don’t have to worry about my burger breaking apart.

I think overall, this place is pretty solid. If you live close to Elevation burger or you have never been, you should definitely check it out. If you are concerned about your food being all natural, Elevation Burger is also a very good fit for you. For me though, P Terry’s, Players, and Five Guys are much closer to my house, so I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to Elevation.

The Hungry Engineer, Cooking for Engineers, and Eating in a Box

Photos by Peter Tsai Photography