Hamptons Burger Bloodbath

When Ben Leventhal, NYC restaurant power broker and cofounder of Eater.com, hosted his annual Burger Bloodbath in the Hamptons last year, it looked like a scene out of MTV’s The Real World (including a shirtless Cobi Levy of Charles Restaurant, who spent so much time getting his photo taken that he neglected to light his grill). This year, it was slightly more like a grown-up version of Melrose Place. Cobi kept his shirt on most of the time and cooked a very good Gruyère-topped bacon burger. Returning champion Mo Koyfman—a venture capitalist by day—also presented a pretty great cheeseburger. But, surprising some of us judges (including LaFrieda meats VP Mark Pastore and cookbook author Katie Lee, winner of last year's Burger Bash at the NYC Wine & Food Festival), the winner of Bloodbath turned out to be restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow. Chodorow ordered extra brisket in his ground beef mix, so it was slightly sweet and extra-juicy, and he topped it with American cheese, spicy pickles and a Sriracha-spiked special sauce. "It's good that there's controversy over the winner," said my new hero, hotelier Sean MacPherson. "More interest for next year's Bloodbath." Gotham Gal has all the details, for anyone who might want to recreate the Burger Bloodbath at home.