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Ames restaurant wins Iowa’s Best Burger competition

An Ames restaurant is the winner of the 2018 Iowa’s Best Burger competition.

The award goes to Café Beaudelaire, a Brazilian-inspired restaurant also known as Café B, located in the heart of Iowa State University’s campus-town. Owner Claudio Gianello says he has tried several different renditions of his now-famous burger over the years, finally settling on a simple combination of salt, pepper and oregano on a hand-made patty of Certified Angus Beef.

The award is sponsored by the Iowa Cattlemen’s Association (ICA) and the Iowa Beef Industry Council (IBIC). “The contest is a fun way for us to show our appreciation to Iowa’s beef farmers for the work they do to provide great-tasting beef, such as the burger served at Café B,” says ICA communications director Katie Olthoff.

The designation as Iowa’s Best Burger comes after a two-phase competition. The first phase is all based on votes from the public. For a month, burger lovers went online and voted for their favorite Iowa burger, submitting nearly 10,000 votes representing around 700 restaurants. At the end of the month, the ten restaurants with the most votes are declared the “Top 10.”

From there, anonymous judges visited each of the restaurants, focusing on the burger patties and scoring them based on taste, doneness and presentation.

Café B joins previous winners including The Smokin’ Hereford BBQ of Storm Lake, which took home the title last year. Winners in previous years are: 2016 – The Chuckwagon Restaurant Adair; 2015 – The Cider House of Fairfield; 2014 – Brick City Grill in Ames; 2013 – 61 Chop House Grille in Mediapolis; 2012 – Coon Bowl III in Coon Rapids; 2011 – Rusty Duck in Dexter; and 2010 – Sac County Cattle Company of Sac City.

Link to ICA news release