Happy National Hamburger Month! Great way to spend a month – celebrating everyone’s favourite meat sandwich. May is also Asparagus month, Flower Month, National Egg Month, National Salad Month, National Physical Fitness and Sports Month and National Strawberry Month. But who cares? I can only celebrate one thing a month, and I choose burgers. May is also National BBQ Month, but it’s easier to find a good burger than a good BBQ in the city.

I’ve been known to enjoy a frozen burger now and then, especially if cooked over an open flame (fire beats ice), but we all know when it comes to burgers, the fresher the better. My buddy Mark Tang is a burger aficionado. Trust me – he’s obsessed. He even has his own YouTube channel all about Toronto burgers. I plan to make the most of National Hamburger Month by visiting Mark’s Top 5 T-Dot Burger Joints.

Mark Tang’s Top 5 T-Dot Burger Joints:

1)      Allen’s http://allens.to/allens/, 143 Danforth Ave – My absolute favourite burger.  The patty is the best you’ll ever have and they grind the quality meat fresh on the premises, so they’re able to serve it to you the way you want (rare, medium rare, well done, etc.).

2)      The Burger’s Priest (http://www.theburgerspriest.com/), 1636 Queen St. E AND 3397 Yonge St.– Toronto’s most popular burger.  It has an insane amount of hype, but it lives up to it.  Probably the best American-style cheeseburger you’ll ever have. 

 3)      The Stockyards (http://www.thestockyards.ca/, 699 St. Clair Ave. W – People tell me the fried chicken here is incredible, but I wouldn’t know!  I’ve only had the burger, and it’s delicious.

 4)      The Queen & Beaver Public House (http://queenandbeaverpub.ca/, 35 Elm St.– The burger patty is actually chopped sirloin kept together with bone marrow… it’s different but it’s really good. 

 5)      Real McCoy Burgers & Pizza 1033 Markham Rd. – I might be partial here because I grew up in Scarborough… but this is one of my favourite “greasy-spoon”-style burgers in the whole city.  Cheap too!