Burger Month: Burger Baka Vol. 9

Another Burger Baka has come and gone. This year had a ton of burger tents, live music, strong winds, and lines. This is my report on Burger Baka Vol 9.

Let's Get Ready to Burger!

Burger Baka took place last Sunday, March 17th, at Kasama's Geijutsu no Mori Park. We decided to get there earlier than last year. Our group was my wife, our friend, and myself coming from Hitachinaka. We got to the park at around 9:30am. The event started at 10:00am. We parked our car, walked up to the event, put our stuff down at our little picnic spot in the park, and looked out at the Burger Baka event. The burger grilling smell that wafted through the park was a great start to my day. Then, I saw a sight that made my eyes widen in horror.

Lines, Lines Everywhere...

9:30am and there were already huge lines!! I know I was expecting this, but we hurried and prepared thinking we would beat the lines. We had not. My wife and I wanted to try a new burger place called Agopakann, which means breaking your chin, but that line was already a 40 minute wait time before the event started. So we gave up. My wife headed to Montana, which had an hour wait time! Even so, my wife was determined to get a burger from Montana. I headed to the Bordertown Burger tent which only had a 30 minute wait time

Bordertown's Chili Cheeseburger

I had Bordertown at Tsukuba's craft beer festival before. They make delicious craft beer and a tasty burger. This time, Bordertown didn't have any of their craft beer available which was disappointing. They did have a new burger which I hadn't tried before which was the Chili Cheeseburger.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity. I got my chili cheeseburger and headed to my wife who was in the Montana line. She was halfway at this point. We both gave it a try and it was a very tasty burger. The beef patty was excellent. It had that meaty taste to it, which you can tell it means they use 100% beef. There was a bit of cartilage but it was barely noticeable. The cheese was a winner and the chili was delicious. I do wish that the chili was a bit more spicy and that it had more beans. Other than that, this was a great burger to start with. After we finished that burger I headed to another tent that had no line and a very interesting burger.

Emy's Spicy Tacos Burger

Emy's is a restaurant located in Oarai City. They do burgers, taco rice, desserts, and hot dogs. They are a small outside dining place close by the beach.

For Burger Baka, Emy's had two burgers available, the Saba Burger and the Tacos Burger. My wife and I were interested in the Tacos Burger so that is what I ordered.

I went back to my wife, still halfway through the line, and showed her the burger. The burger brought tortilla chips (nice), jalapenos (very nice), guacamole (loving it), cheddar cheese, and a ground beef and pork patty. This burger was...interesting. I liked the tortilla chips and the guacamole but the taco sauce just tasted weird and the patty did not help. I think a regular beef patty would have been a better choice. It felt like I was having a patty that tasted like nothing and the taco sauce just covered everything up. I do want to give Emy's a chance one of these days in the summer, but probably won't be asking for the Tacos Burger.

Mosh Under the Diners Stand's Mosh Burger

My wife was still in line when we finished our Tacos Burger. So I decided to head to the next tent over. This place has never disappointed me. They do burgers, Tex-Mex tacos, and craft beer. I have written about them before, and I am in love with their mac and cheese burger. The next burger tent over was Mosh Under the Diners Stand. If you would like to read about my post on Mosh Burger, here is the link:

https://regaladom24.wixsite.com/website/post/burger-month-pulled-pork-and-a-beef-patty

Mosh also had no line which I found to be appalling. They make great burgers, why is no one lining up? But this did work in my favor. I said my greetings to the head chef and ordered the Mosh Burger. This burger brings a beef patty and pulled pork with melted cheddar cheese. I went back to my wife and we both had our Mosh Burger while she was inching closer to Montana. This burger was so meaty and beautiful. The pulled pork with that melted cheese and beef patty was heaven in between two hard buns which kept everything together. I need to go back to Mosh sometime soon. Just writing about them is making me want to have their burgers again.

Montana's Diablo Burger

Finally! We were three customers away from ordering our burger from Montana. Then suddenly, a gust of strong wind blew by and started to make things difficult for all the burger tents. After a few minutes, another strong gust of wind, and Montana's tent almost flew away completely. Luckily, a lot of good customers came to their aid and held the tent down, myself included. All the burger tents had to take down some of their signs, and parts of their tents which delayed the burger making process.

After all that, we ordered the Diablo Burger. The Diablo brings two beef patties, cheese, a pineapple slice, and a dark BBQ like sauce. We grabbed our burgers, we ordered two, and headed back to our picnic area. We took a bite out of our Diablo burgers and automatically my mind was flooded with memories of the first time I had a Montana burger in their restaurant. The meaty patty with that sweet and strong BBQ sauce is something everyone should try in their lifetime. This burger was fantastic and made my resolve to try the rest of Montana's menu even stronger.

I have written about Montana before. Here is the link if you want to check it out:

https://regaladom24.wixsite.com/website/post/burger-month-can-you-take-on-the-grand-slam

Mori Pan's Double Cheeseburger

The Ibaraki Eats Duo needed a break. My wife and I had just shared four burgers between the two of us. We headed back to our picnic area where I promptly laid down on our hammock and passed out.

About twenty minutes later, I was awakened by an amazing smell of a newly cooked cheese burger. I got up from the hammock and was pleasantly surprised that our friend went to the Mori Pan tent and got us a double cheeseburger.

Mori Pan is a famous bakery in Kasama near the park where Burger Baka was being held. They make great hamburgers and hot dogs. It had been a while since I had a Mori Pan burger. I bit into that cheesy burger and was happy that it still tasted as great as I remembered. The buns were amazing, the melted cheese was fantastic, and the patties were delicious. The patties were a little thinner than I remember but still great. I am glad I got to have a Mori Pan burger and hope to have one again when I visit Kasama in the future.

I tapped out. Threw in the towel. I couldn't handle another burger. I did however, buy a Hi-5 Burger to take home to my in-laws, (2 hour wait time for a Hi-5 Burger by the way) and the meat sauce sandwich from Hot Sandwich Cube for dinner later.

Burger Baka was a great event and our group had a lot of fun. What surprised me was, even though the lines were extremely long, it was less extreme than last year. Last year, you were lucky if you could even get one burger. It seems like adding more burger shops was the right call. I do hope they have more drink tents and a bit more burger places next year. Overall, Burger Baka Vol. 9 was a huge success and I look forward to attending next year.

Thank you Burger Baka and I will see all you burger bakas next year!

I Am All Burgered Out

Honorable Mention

Peace Grill's Gorgonzola Pineapple Burger

You are going to laugh when you read this. On Saturday, March 16th, I went to a Tsuchiura event at Suigo Park called Bikelore. It was a huge and fun event with different activities for cyclists and an obstacle course for mountain biking. It also had a wall climbing gym for kids and a petting zoo. There were also plenty of food stalls and food trucks. One food stall was Peace Grill who was also at Burger Baka Vol. 9. So I had a burger on Saturday, and then 6 burgers on Sunday. I might have a burger addiction problem.

Anyway, Peace Grill makes excellent burgers and I was happy to see them at the Tsuchiura event. I ordered their gorgonzola pineapple burger and was extremely happy with my choice. The sweet pineapple with that strong taste of gorgonzola cheese and that meaty patty was an amazing breakfast for my Saturday morning. (Yes, breakfast) I was sorry I couldn't have Peace Grill at Burger Baka but was glad I had them the day before. Thanks Peace Grill!

Next week is the last Burger Month entry. Hope you enjoy it!