2011 SoBe Burger Bash: Michael Symon Wins Rachael Ray's Annual South Beach Throwdown (PHOTOS)

A showcase event at the 10th annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival, the 5th annual Rachael Ray Burger Bash wrapped up late Thursday night in a veritable beef sauna on the sands of South Beach.

Nearly 30 chef & restaurant competitors served up their signature burgers to throngs of fans, including Michael White and his Ai Fiori dry-aged 'White Label' burger, 2009 winner Spike Mendelsohn (dressed as the Hamburglar), Lonesome Dove's Tim Love serving up a well-received elk burger with foie gras and huckleberry jam, Morimoto and his wagyu burger with fried egg, Michael Schwartz, Laurent Tourondel, the esteemed Shake Shack burger (and winner of the inaugural Burger Bash in 2007), and the GQ-named best burger of 2010, Umami Burger out of LA.

In the end, though, these worthy competitors took the top honors:

The 'Best-Dressed' Burger, for achievement in condiments, went to Michael Symon and his shasha sauce topping, a hot mustard sauce with hungarian peppers.

The 'Judges Award' went to Marc Murphy and his 'Big Marc' burger, of New York's Landmarc restaurant.

And, envelope, please... the coveted 'People's Choice Award' went to last year's winner Michael Symon, marking the first ever back-to-back Burger Bash wins, and surely rendering Symon a shoo-in for the as of yet non-existent Burger Bash Hall of Fame. His winning burger was dubbed the Yo! Burger, which had fried salami, provolone cheese, the aforementioned winning shasha sauce and pickled onion.

Accepting the award, Symon credited his meat-on-meat strategy, explaining, "Last year it was the pastrami, this year it was the salami. It's all about meat on meat, baby!"

Congrats to Chef Symon on his big win, and for some iPhone-quality (viewer beware) photos of Thursday night's event, check out the slideshow below (Update: now includes higher quality photos as well!), and for more behind-the-scenes photos check out Slashfood's excellent set of photos here.

And be sure and visit HuffPost Food's liveblog from the South Beach Wine & Food Festival for on-the-ground updates through the end of the weekend.

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Photo courtesy WorldRedEye.com / South Beach Wine & Food Festival

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Photo courtesy WorldRedEye.com / South Beach Wine & Food Festival

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Comments

[Jbar11]

03:05 PM on 03/02/2011

Mix YAYA-B Greek Seasoning into ground beef, with diced some yellow, and a little feta cheese for a nice Greek burger. You can always top it with tzatziki sauce and place in a pita bread with tomatoes.

[edgraham]

10:21 AM on 02/28/2011

Burger Taster.

That would be my fantasy job If my other two choices (which I can't print here) fall through.

[johnnygoodwud]

06:06 PM on 02/27/2011

went to rachael ray's pick for the best hot dog in the country today, here in chitown. the line was 80 people deep. the dogs were the size of a large pencil, and you could only get mustard, relish, onions, peppers. now i'm no ketchup fan, but when i asked for some extra salt, i was told, 'it's on the fries'. yes, the casing snaped when i took a bit, but it was so thick i felt like i was eating a rubberband. i've had better hot dogs at the 7-11 store,,,,the moral of my story, find your own 'favorite', 'best' places, don't listen to this phoney food critics.

[fourthestatepost]

01:25 PM on 02/27/2011

NOthing but food network hacks instead of real cooks. no thanks

[Grace Hulbert]

02:02 AM on 02/27/2011

After the article on the vegans I crave a big juicy burger and don't forget to add the damn bacon.

Everything in life is better with bacon!

[MammaLu]

03:39 PM on 02/26/2011

The celebrity chef craze has had its 15 minutes. Very few of their "presentations" are dishes everyday people would want to prepare, let alone eat.

Nobody I know cooks like they do, for family or for guests. I live in a home with 3 generations of amazing Italian cooks who know a thing or two about good food & wine, & we can't believe some of the over-wrought and over-thought concoctions they usually come up with. It's style over substance and looks over flavor.

Most seem more concerned about marketing themselves, their TV shows and cook books, than
anything else.

Bunch of phonies.

[Maddox01a]

11:35 PM on 02/26/2011

Fantasy sells, always has, always will.

[spacegod]

03:25 PM on 02/26/2011

Ah, the age-old conundrum between meat-eaters and veg-heads.

On one hand, animals run away when you try to put them in your mouth.
On the other hand, dead ones on a grill smell and taste so good.

Plus, as someone always points out, our teeth are omnivorous, so there.
I go both ways, balance being the key. I don't eat meat every day.

But we are all born to die.
And if I gotta go, at least I'm going with a good taste in my mouth.

I don't want to die on a treadmill drinking diet water and holding a unflavored rice cake.

[zest]

05:44 PM on 02/27/2011

What if your the good taste in someone elses mouth?

[liberalbug]

09:50 PM on 02/25/2011

The best burgers are simple and cooked on a back yard grill with a good fresh bun. Celebrity chef worship is going to be the downfall of the food network and, well, the celebrity chefs themselves.

[Halsey]

03:26 PM on 02/25/2011

Pt. 2 (please moderator..both parts or neither or there's no segue..thanks).
I WISH cow (ducks,chickens, etc) were plant life. They are not. I didn't plan on becoming a vegetarian. I liked burgers, excellent fried chicken, etc etc etc. For me, I simply can't pretend most food-stuff animals exist in an environment that simply is not justified, regardless of how good they taste. 40 years ago, hamburgers were rare in China. Today..y'all know the story. Forests, grasslands all taken over so the rest of the world (even the 3rd) can eat like us glutons.

I know every person has a choice; I just wish more would consider giving up meat. Yes you WILL miss it. How about this, Christians(including Catholics)...give it up for Lent. 'kay?

[Meathead]

04:53 PM on 02/25/2011

It is so counterproductive to your cause that every time someone writes something about meat the vegan evangelists show up like the door to door evangelists who ring my doorbell when I'm in the shower. You don't see omnivores complaining that vegetable recipes should please please add some meat do you? You're just hurting your cause. The title of this article has the word burger in it. Why did you even click on it?

[MirageRF]

05:47 PM on 02/25/2011

Just like a junkie who can't resist thinking about the good ole days getting high.
Ah! Juicy burgers............
Wants everyone else to be as miserable.

[liberalbug]

09:48 PM on 02/25/2011

Meat eaters are like smokers to vegetarians now. society's pariahs. I agree. The high horse attitude instead of a lack of reasonable dialogue completely kills their cause.

[fourthestatepost]

01:27 PM on 02/27/2011

Really people in the 3rd world eat like gluttons. Your kind are the worst.

[Halsey]

02:29 PM on 02/27/2011

4th. I already apologized for going off on a tangent. It is a personal choice.

[playsindirt]

01:43 PM on 02/25/2011

Can't stand Rachael Ray. It's a shame Oprah didn't throw her money at somebody who can actually cook.

[VerizonCells]

02:15 PM on 02/25/2011

You got that right...

What is it people say, her old show 30 minutes meals:

Take away her fake smiles and it's 5 minutes meals...

[tygr49]

12:15 PM on 02/25/2011

I'm kind of a burger purist-- just quality ingredients, a little salt and pepper. No razmatazz.

Tho I'd be lying if I said I wouldn't give that white label burger a try.

[RageVsMachine]

12:10 PM on 02/25/2011

I'm glad someone used their cell phone camera to document the occasion!

[cwfutureboy]

09:46 AM on 02/25/2011

Foie gras? How is this is STILL okay to these people?

How can you make another living thing suffer unimaginably every day of its life so you can it its liver because you think it tastes good?

[playsindirt]

01:42 PM on 02/25/2011

I really think people eat it because they have no clue what it is. That, and they think "it's expensive so it must be good!"

[GraceNotes]

09:20 AM on 02/25/2011

I was actually planning on burgers tonight, no elk meat, just Angus beef, lettuce, red onion, and a smear of pimiento cheese. (It's a Southern thing.)