Roadhouse wins best hamburger in town

Times Reporter

 

The votes are in and Strathmore’s Best Hamburger has been named. The contest began June 3, and on July 2 the best burger was announced. The Roadhouse took the title with their Smokehouse Burger. 

“That one stood out, because we’ve got a few other burgers and some of the girls (said), ‘ah, the chuck wagon’, and I go, ‘no, the smokehouse.’ I just picked it – that’s what was in my head, it just came out,” said Belinda Derraugh, general manager for the Roadhouse.

“It was a lot of fun. We got over 300 nominations back and that just tells me that the people in the Town are interested, and it’s helping local businesses by doing this,” said Councillor Earl Best.

Best said they wanted to do something for Centennial so the Town, the Strathmore and District Chamber of Commerce and the Strathmore Times joined forces to bring Strathmore’s first Best Hamburger in Town contest. 

They got the criteria together, took it out to all of the restaurants and then people from the general public nominated their favourites. The top three burgers were tested and then the winner was chosen. Best said he hopes the contest can become an annual event. 

Derraugh said she was at the restaurant when judges Earl Best and Mario Prusina were sampling the smokehouse burger. After asking them how it was she decided to leave them alone and head up to the office. While working away she got a call from Best asking her to come back, and that’s when she was told the Roadhouse had won the contest.

Derraugh has been at the restaurant for 16 years, since it opened. She said that’s where she eats.

She believes the fact that the burgers are specially made is why it won. 

“We make up our own patties. We don’t make them at the restaurant, we have a butcher in Calgary where we get all our meat from and the owner tells the butcher what to put in the burgers, and how much fat to put in the burger, and they make them up how we want them,” said Derraugh.

“I think our food is the best. I think our food is the best overall, because we do a lot of prep. We don’t open cans, we don’t open packets. We make our own soups, our own salsa, our own gravy…we make everything.”

The smokehouse burger is a regular item on the menu, so for those who haven’t tried it yet, there’s still time.