Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

It's a good burger but in danger of falling out of my South Florida top 5 after trying the burgers at Red Light and Michael's Genuine recently.
http://thechowfather.blogspot.com/2009/04/burger-tour.html

Le Tub can be hit or miss. Sometimes the burger is worth the wait and other times you wonder why you waited. We have have been there many times as we lived down the street. The last time we had a negative experience and will never go back. Our burgers were overcooked...they took over an hour to get to our table, which is something we know to expect, but it was dark and the back tables have no lighting. My husband and I were hungry and anxious to eat, but something didn't taste right and we confirmed they were overcooked by the light of a cell phone. Told the waitress about it, but evidently management decided we had eaten almost half of the sandwich, and therefore had to live with it. Treated us like a couple of tourists that just stumbled in and wanted to scam a meal. Jerks.

@Blork, if you think a 1/2 pound (8oz) is too much, this burger would destroy you at over 3/4 pound (13oz).

I personally, like 1/2 pound burgers as the upper edge of my size. 1/4 - 1/2 is perfect. And I agree with many others, this burger looks way too rare for my tastes.

To answer the question...of course not! Never say never and never say always. I must not be eating enough local food (anybody who knows me would laugh hysterically at this point) as I haven't gotten burned badly enough to feel like this...or my standards are awfully low!

Am I down with eating bad food produced by good people? No, but I'd like to help them become better producers with feedback. We need all the good growers/food entrepreneurs we can get. I had an experience where I bought pickles made by a CSA farm I love. They looked great but were kinda mushy. I spoke to the farmer and they realized what happened and learned what to do next batch/time. I think they decided to stick to being growers and not continue with value added items as it can be harder than it looks. I used them in tuna salad, etc and they were fine but not good for plain eating. Unless something is down and out manky/nasty, I can find a way to improve and use a challenging purchase. And if it is manky, any decent food seller will want to know, feel dreadful about it, and make restitution.

Ask for samples, if no samples ask what they'll do if you don't like their food (out of luck, money back, exchange). If you have an issue, speak up...though like others have said, one person's salt lick is another's just right - food is sooooo subjective. If you don't want to speak up, don't go back.

As far as thanking my lucky stars for Smuckers & Oscar Mayers? Food is better than no food however, I'm an upper lower class blue collar person who's been buying local/organic/natural for too long to feel very celebratory about agribiz and industrial food production. Not ungrateful mind you as I was raised on it and once I'm eating out and about...who can keep track of where everything comes from? I'm watchful and do what I can but don't get mental about it.

1-I have a couple of farm stands I go to regularly to buy fruits and vegtables and the occasional dairy product. They also sell various baked goods, and once in a while I'll buy a baked good thinking it *has* to be good cuz its from the farm. It never ever is good. I should just stick with my local bakery -- or even myself!
2-This is kinda along the lines of why I don't buy grass-fed beef and such from my local farmers just because they sell it: I wonder "who's inspecting this stuff"? "How do I know its safe and handled properly"? I wish I would have some assurance so I could bring myself to buy it, but so far, I see none.

I've had some truly amazing artisanal salumi and cheese, and I have had some truly awful meat and cheese. The awful stuff inspired me to step out on my own and cure some meat. I have had really good luck with smoked bacon, pancetta, guanciale. My luck with sausage has been less impressive. I even had some success with making what amounts to venison prosciutto.
The one thing that I never do is rate my own products. I might really love the salt level in my bacon, someone else might think they are eating a salt-lick.
So before I decide that I can open my on charcuterie stand at the market, I'll make sure that my products are the best I can make if not the "best in the world".
I think finding and supporting artisanal food producers is as important as finding sustainable farmers.

Chris

You're all pointing out something wonderful about local, artisanal foods--they are unique, they are different as night & day from one another, and although they can be good, bad or ugly, they are "self-regulating".

If you get a hairy, nipple covered, salty slab of bacon you don't like, will you buy from that producer again? Probably not. He has just lost a sale. If enough people stop buying from him, he will dry up and blow away. Or...Perhaps you should provide him feed-back. As a consumer, help him become a better producer. Take it as an opportunity to explain why you didn't like the food he was producing. If he's smart he will take it on the chin, adapt and try to do a better job at producing a quality product and providing what the market will buy.

There are going to be some bumps and ruts on the road to local, sustainable, quality foods. Too long we have been lulled into a palate deadening wasteland. We are going to have to re-learn to cook foods which our grandparents knew how to prepare instinctively. Producers are going to have to experiment and learn what works, what doesn't and to rediscover how to make excellent artisanal foods--which once upon a time were standard fare.

And producers--give your customers a feedback form. Offer free samples & tasters. Open yourselves up to criticism. Ask you customers to help you be better. Learn from other producers. Have tasting competitions amongst one another. Earn the right to sell you Mother's Jam recipe or "the Best bacon in the world" Do this, or you will find your products marginalized, your sales figures weak and you farm broken. A free market, a self-regulating local system means the best get better and they get the business while the rest loose money or earn nothing at all. Don't give up. Strive to be better! And if someone does have a complaint, if your product falls short of your sales pitch, your standards or reputation, offer to replace it, exchange for something else or give them their money back.