Except for cupcakes, what's better than a burger?

DC is known for two foods: cupcakes and burgers.

Though not nearly as cute or compact as their cupcake counterparts, DC's delicious burgers have helped spawn the gourmet burger. Five Guys originated in Arlington in the mid-80's and put DC on the map as a burger destination. Since then, the burger scene has grown exponentially and shows no signs of slowing.

Ray's Hell Burger is phenomenal. Definitely worthy of visiting heads of state or your Uncle Bob. Though it would be nice if fries were on the menu.

The Burger Joint is impressive too. I especially like it because it's walking distance from my house, though I'll admit, walking is the last thing I want to do after I've eaten there. Sometimes it is not physically possible, and the Burger Joint staff is forced to cut me off and call a cab.

In spite of multiple visits to Ray's and the Burger Joint, burgers have taken a back seat to my cupcake addiction, and I haven't covered a lot of ground in the burger community.

So, I was excited to finally try Good Stuff Eatery with Amanda, in hopes of redeeming DC after our traumatic Bangkok Joe's experience.


I was relieved to find that Good Stuff's burgers lived up to the hype. Though it doesn't offer the range of gourmet cheeses as Ray's, Good Stuff holds its own. The eatery takes a more basic approach to the burger, sticking with simple, quality ingredients prepared well. As weird as it sounds, the burger made me nostalgic for fast food joints, even though it was 100 times better than anything you could get at McDonald's.

Sadly, McDonald's definitely comes out ahead on the fry front. Good Stuff's fries were soggy. There's no excuse for that.

Amanda and I were so shaken that the only way to get over it was to order a milkshake The s'mores milkshake is supposedly out-of-this-world, so we were disappointed to learn it is seasonal. Apparently summer is not the season for camping outside and making delicious toasted marshmallow, chocolate, graham cracker sandwiches.

Fortunately the cookies n' cream and black and white milkshakes were incredible. I almost forgot all about s'mores.