As I mentioned in a recent post here, Duffy's Cherry Cricket has the best burger I've ever had in my life. Ever since my first visit last year (see that post here), I've been on an almost evangelical rant to anyone who will listen about how great the burgers are at Duffy's. I have to say that I've had a number of people who I've either told or who have read about Duffy's on my blog who have gone to Duffy's and have affirmed it's the best burger they've ever had.
During my recent trip to Denver, I knew that I wanted to have a Cricket burger at least a couple of times during my visit. We had a hospitality room after the CEDIA Expo show floor closed during the first three days of the show. I was sentenced to have to go and do that each night. Actually, the last thing I wanted to do is sit and entertain dealers after talking for nine hours straight about our products. But it's part of the job and we have food and lots of beer.
Except I hardly ever ate there. I knew that I wanted to go to Duffy's and get a Cricket burger afterward.
The first night, a Thursday, we got out of the hospitality room a little after 9 p.m. On the way back to the hotel, I announced to the people in our van that I was going to Duffy's for a burger. And anyone who wanted to go could come with me.
Well, last year, five of us ate at Duffy's at least once. The others were intrigued and the first night we had six of us heading down to Duffy's for a burger.
In short, the Cricket Burger was as good as I remember. It was absolutely great. The 85% lean ground chuck burger was cooked to perfection. The bun was fresh and flavorful. The great taste sensation was evident from the first bite. Along with a Smithwick's beer, I was in heaven. Everyone raved about how great it was. We knew we'd be back.
The next day, each of us who went the night before were just raving about how great the burger was. Being a cheeseburger aficionado, they knew that if I liked it, it had to be good. So after the hospitality room cleared out about 9:30 on Friday night, we went back to the hotel and dropped the non-believers off. Then we filled up the SUV with eight of us this time and went back down to Duffy's.
Here's a picture of the motley crew in one of the backrooms at Duffy's with our beer glasses held high praising the Duffy's cheeseburgers we'd just eaten. Three of the guys in this picture were Duffy's rookies. They finally figured out what we had been raving about.
On Saturday, the talk about Duffy's began at the breakfast table. It continued all through the day on the show floor. I was even talking to dealers about the place, and a group of guys from one of my dealers in St. Louis went to the place later that day. They have now thanked me a minimum of seven times since then for turning them on to the place.
Saturday night, we got out of the hospitality room early - about 8:30 p.m. Oh, we were definitely going back to Duffy's. We had talked this place up so much that we had even more rookies going this time. Twelve of us piled into two vehicles and went down to Duffy's. This time, we sat outside in the little beer garden area and had a waiter that looked exactly like Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Here's a picture of the group from Saturday night. In the foreground in the brown shirt on the left is Fraser Robertson from Focal. A Brit, Fraser said he'd never had as good of a burger in his life. I said, "Buddy, I had never had one this good, either, until last year at this time."
Believe me, if you ever go to Duffy's Cherry Cricket you'd completely understand why nearly a dozen grown men would throw caution at the wind, damn all the medical reports that say cheeseburgers are bad for you, and go to the place three nights in a row. The Cricket Burgers are absolutely fantastic and I know you'll think so, too. You gotta go there if you ever have the chance.
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