HANSON – So, who serves up the Best Burger in town?
Frank Milisi took the honors at the inaugural Hansoncontest hosted by Chimney Chap. He’s not only active on town boards and committees, he grills a mean burger, evidently.
The inaugural grill-off, held on the front lawn of the Chimney Chap, at the intersection of routes 27 and 58, was dedicated to deciding that very question, as local residents put their grilling skills to the fire. Streamed and recorded for rebroadcast on the Whitman-Hanson Community Access TV channels and website, the contest was also part of the service’s commitment to doing more “one-off” programs, rather than regular series shows in an effort to get more residents to use the service they invest in each month through their cable bills [See story Page 1], according to Executive Director Eric Dresser.
As the winner of the burger contest, Milisi took home a free grill and cart.
“This is a new location for us,” Rania and Scott Sarras, owners of Chimney Chap told WHCA-TV’s Ryan Tully said about the genesis of the July 29-30 event. “We would just love to hold events like this so the community can come together and have fun.”
Rania said the contest will return next year.
“It’s going to be an annual thing,” she said. “We hope to get bigger and better and hope to see everybody next year.”
Scott Sarras said the company also held a tax-free weekend event this past week during which they were grilling up goodies for customers.
Their once-home office for their business, is now at one of the more visible corners in Hanson. They took over the company in 2010, as it was passed on to them by the previous owners.
“When we took over, it was strictly chimney sweeping,” Rania said. “We took it from sweeping to full-service, A to Z, chimneys and fireplaces.”
That A to Z includes hearth stoves which run on wood pellets and gas-fueled stoves.
“We do outdoor living, meaning outdoor fireplaces, kitchens, patios, furniture and now we have electric fireplaces as well as infrared heaters,” Scott said.
Burger chefs were given free rein with the topping and condiments, but the “canvas” of this food art was a “basic burger – a patty on a bun.”
“That’s all that matters,” Scott told the grillers, in reference to the burgers.
The grills were impressive samples of Chimney Chap’s build-in outdoor kitchen work, as chefs prepared burgers and the accompanying go-withs, such as “over-salted bacon” as Milisi described the grilled pancetta on his burger, along with arugula and compound butter on a brioche bun.
“I have no idea what I’m doing,” said as he offered up his creation for judgement, but he said he was something of a burger connoisseur. “There’s a reason I look the way I do,” he joked.
A trio of judges sampled the contestant’s recipes and rated them on scorecards.
Another contestant on day one was frying up eggs to top off his burger, and still another used bacon cooked up on the grill’s cook top, yet another added sliced pineapple to their burger.
Milisi led in the two-day contest, after round one on July 29’s contest, with a score of 82 from the judging panel, with the competition trailing with scores of 68, 66 and 53.
Round Two the next morning saw ingredients and condiments such as spicy aioli, grilled onions, featured in a delightfully messy “Oklahoma Onion Burger.” Another day two offering featured savory seasoned Rueben burger, served on marble rye toast.
Milisi won with a score of 154.
John Snell, with a score of 145, took second place.
A dunk tank was featured and a raffle was also held during the event on both days.