Get together with your “tribe” — teammates, faith groups, graduate groups, institute buddies, service clubs, classmates, hiking clubs, next door neighbors, close kin, and besties  — and form a COOL Cuisine Burger Battle tasting team, today!

COOL Cuisine, a partner of Cool Davis, has organized 17 eateries in Davis to compete for your taste buds by adding plant-based burgers on their menus throughout the month of March. It’s a delicious contest where diners rate every burger they taste and every rating is entered into a raffle for prizes! Scores will be compiled in April for a series of awards for the competing chefs.

Remember to rate every burger you taste!

All diners will rate burgers here! (or visit tinyurl.com/RateBurgers)

Diners will rate burgers on seven different criteria on a five-point scale from “okay” to “awesome”:

  • Taste
  • Presentation
  • Creativity
  • Texture
  • Unique flavors
  • Juiciness,
  • Similarity to real meat

Remember, every time you rate a burger, your name will be entered into a raffle for cool prizes, like a one-night stay at the Animal Place guest house in Grass Valley! Join the conversation by posting your burger pix on social media #coolcuisineburgerbattle.

Some restaurants will be offering their creations during limited time periods so check coolcuisine.net for locations, times, and burger photos and descriptions. Detailed descriptions and locations of competing burgers will be posted at coolcuisine.net by February 28.

Tasting teams forming now

In addition to individual ratings, diners are forming tasting teams! Get at least five teammates on board and plan to eat together at least four times over the course of the month. Sounds like a full social calendar! We suggest pacing yourselves throughout the month. But for the procrastinators among us, teams can be formed as late as March 31 (it’s a Sunday) then hit four restaurants in two hours with members splitting a burger at each one. Sounds like a downtown Davis burger blast!

Tasting Teams – Register here

To make your Burger Battle team a reality,

  • Gather up five or more individuals
  • Pick a team name
  • Designate one contact person
  • Register the team (or visit tinyurl.com/TastingTeams)
  • Taste at least four burgers in March (together or separately)
  • Rate every burger you taste as an individual (but indicate your team name)
  • Savor the mouth-watering, climate-friendly repasts
  • Have fun!

Feeling especially hungry? You can form or join as many teams as you want!

Team awards

After March 31, teams that are especially motivated can design and grant their own awards to a particular favorite burger. This is completely optional, but will definitely up the excitement ante. Make it a fun night out and provide a moment of closure on an exciting month of dining.

  • Once the battle is over (starting April 1)
  • Decide together which burger deserves an award
  • Create a fun or descriptive name for your award
  • Submit the award name, winning burger/restaurant, and your logo (optional) to coolcuisinedavis@gmail.com
  • Awards will be presented to chefs at an awards ceremony

Resources for businesses looking to get involved

Looking for ways your club or business can participate? Need a letter for an HR rep or a group leader? Download and email these letters, today:

“Dear Davis Business/HR Leader” letter

“Dear Community Leader” letter

Why plant-based?

COOL Cuisine hopes to inspire Davis residents to eat plant-based meals a little more often, and help our City reach its climate action goals. Every one of us can be part of that! Imagine if 5,000 plant-based burgers are served instead of beef in a one-month period—it adds up and has real, positive environmental impacts.

All diners rate burgers here! 

Tasting Teams register here!

Participating Restaurants

  • Bistro 33
  • Chay Corner
  • deVere’s Irish Pub
  • Footnome
  • The Hotdogger
  • Solomon’s Delicatessen
  • Smokin’ Ewe BBQ (at G St. Wunderbar)
  • Redrum Burger
  • UC Davis Food Service
  • Yeti Restaurant
  • Zumapoke & Lush Ice

 

Learn more about plant-based eating on this Cool Davis Plant-Based Eating web page.

Anya McCann is the founder of COOL Cuisine, a partner (and working group) of Cool Davis.