Reykjavík Grapevine - 13.07.2012, Blaðsíða 24

24
The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2012
our BeSt oF reYKJaVÍK lISt is
here! again we’ve spent count-
less hours compiling the thing [via
your suggestions, e-mails, Face-
book comments and bar-talk],
and as always we are sure you are
more than ready to contest and
challenge every single entry.
and this is the point. we should
strive to spend our time having
conversations about stuff in our
environment that contributes to
our quality of life. we need to care
about our surroundings and show
love for the things we are thank-
ful for.
as we like to lazily copy/paste
on this occasion: “we love the
great city of reykjavík. we really
do. In fact, we love it so much, we
named our magazine after it—and
most of us choose to live here
for extended periods at a time. It
really is an excellent little city, all
things considered. of course it’s
lacking in many things a city will
need. Decent public transport,
actual neighbourhoods, a variety
of ethnic eateries, clubs for late
night partying on weekdays and
about a million people, to name
but a few. But we still swear by it,
and if you’re reading this, chances
are you do too.”
what follows are some nice tips
on some of what makes reykja-
vík-life worthwhile, some good
entries into a hopefully neverend-
ing discussion. the primary pur-
pose of this BeSt oF reYKJaVÍK
thing is celebration! It’s about big-
upping stuff, giving mad props to
it and patting it on the shoulder.
our list is of course by no means
a scientific one, and it is certainly
contestable. It should be used as
a starting point for a conversation;
something for you to read, verify,
distrust, totally disagree with,
argue over, send us angry rants
about and enjoy.
Here’s how we do it: Ever since
spring 2009 we’ve been accept-
ing readers thoughts on what’s
BEST at bestof@grapevine.is,
as well as conducting random
polls on our Facebook, on the
street and at the bar. Using your
suggestions and arguments for
guidance, we then assembled a
couple of panels of tasteful folks
that represent most genders, in-
come brackets and political af-
filiations. Below are the results.
Enjoy, and remember to send
your suggestions to bestof@
grapevine.is for consideration in
our 2013 edition.
Grapevine readers, friends, enemies and staff do the choosin’!
By: the usual gang of idiots
BEST BURGER:
GRILLMARKET
Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar has won this
category ever since we started com-
piling our BEST OF list back in aught
nine, and for good reason: they make
delicious burgers. While Búllan is still
a popular choice among Reykjavík’s
burger lovers, there’s a new burger in
town that simply can’t be ignored—its
sheer tasty, meaty, juicy, burgery, ba-
cony deliciousness ensures its status
as Reykjavík’s best burger bar none.
We are of course talking about Grill-
market’s hamburger, what with all its
glorious 220 grams of high quality, fire-
grilled ground beef topped with crispy
bacon sandwiched between freshly
baked, mustard-smeared buns (served
with a side of curly fries, pickles and a
cherry tomato!). Anyone who has tried
it will attest that the Grillmarket-burger
is leagues beyond any other burger in
town, and at 1,890 ISK it comes at a fair
price. The only downside is that it’s only
available as part of the restaurant’s
lunch menu, served ‘til 14:00 daily.
Runners-up: Hamborgarabúlla Tó-
masar (“They reintroduced proper
burger culture to Iceland, and they still
kick ass”), Vitabar (“A no-fuss, qual-
ity burger served in a neighbourhood
bar”), American Style (“The classic
Icelandic burger, whether you like it or
not”)
(2011: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
2010: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar
2009: Hamborgarabúlla Tómasar)
BEST VEGGIE BURGER:
HAMBORGARABúLLA TÓ-
MASAR
As our food critic says: “Veggie burg-
ers are a science and the journey to
the perfect veggie burger will teach
you every major food principle worth
knowing...along with some chemistry
and basic nuclear physics.” It was cer-
tainly not an easy choice, but we think
Hamborgarabúllan is doing something
right these days. Sindri Már Sigfússon
of Sin Fang tells us that it’s especially
good when you top the patty with Búl-
lan’s fries, pickles and Béarnaise sauce.
Previous winners, Hamborgarafab-
rikkan (which gives you the option of
replacing the meat from any of their
burgers with Portobello mushrooms)
and Saffran (which goes the extra mile
to make their veggie burger vegan) are
still pretty good, though.
(2011: Hamborgarafabrikkan
2010: Saffran
2009: Drekinn)
BEST ‘SPECIALTY BURGER’:
VITABAR’S ‘FORGET-ME-
NOT’
Slathered in delicious blue cheese
and garlic, Vitabar’s ‘Forget-me-not’
burger is the gold standard that other
non-standard burgers will eternally
be judged by, and it takes the cake yet
again. With its divey, authentic charm,
Vitabar remains a reassuring place
to feast on a burger and a beer—if
that feast happens to contain mas-
sive amounts of rich blue cheese, then
that’s all the better. Their regular burg-
ers are pretty great too.
Runners-up: Roadhouse (“The donut
burger and the Empire State are lus-
cious, tempting and kind of evil”) Fab-
rikkan (“The Rudolf burger, made out
of reindeer, is only available around
Christmas, and it is SO YUMMY”), Búl-
lan (“Búllan is overrated, but their steak
burger is a wondrous concoction.”)
(2011: Vitabar
2010: Hamborgarafabrikkan
2009: Vitabar)
BEST SLICE: DEVITOS
Deli’s sporadic opening hours seem to
be working against them in the ‘best
slice’ category this year (along with
our eradication of the category ‘best
drunken slice’), keeping them from
winning for the fourth consecutive year.
After much debate, our panel of experts
declared Devitos Pizza by Hlemmur as
the king of the Reykjavík slice, noting
that “their slices are always consistent
in quality,” and “they were the pioneers
of pizza by the slice in this country, and
they are still the best at it.” As always,
Devitos get bonus points for the deli-
cious oils and spices on offer.
Runners-up: Deli (“Varied toppings,
never stale, always delicious.”).
(2011: Deli
2010: Deli
2009: Deli)