NCJ Burger Week winners
Not everything is a competition. But this year, NCJ Burger Week was. For the first time, diners were able to vote for their favorites among the 35 participating restaurants in three categories — Best Use of Local Ingredients, Most Creative and Best Overall — with winners scoring year-long custodianship of unreasonably large trophies for each, to be passed to 2026 winners. (If looking ahead to 2026 feels a touch optimistic, keep in mind Burger Week is a promotional event dreamed up and managed by our sales and marketing folks, a far sunnier group than the editorial department.)
None of us at the Journal were able to get to and get down all the entries — if you did (and hopefully you’re OK), hit us up and share your strategy/occult secrets. The 10-day binge was not without controversy, as the name of Eel River Brewing Co.’s salsa-garnished Gulf of America burger drew complaints online and in the Journal’s inboxes.
Onto the winners. Best Use of Local Ingredients went to Six Rivers Brewery (1600 Central Ave., McKinleyville) for its Not Flocking Around turkey burger on a brioche roll, topped with bacon, bleu cheese and caramelized onions. Apples and the blackberries used in chef Jeremy Shaffer’s pink aioli came from co-owner Meredith Maier’s Old Dog Farm. Evidently the berries are blowing up this year, so look for them in the restaurant’s mocktails, too.
Co-owner Talia Nachshon (soon to be sole owner as Maier transitions to heading up the Arcata Chamber of Commerce, says she knew customers would be up for the non-red meat option and that she did indeed see lots of new faces. Besides, she says, “Jeremy always likes Thanksgiving dinner — really it’s his creation,” and she loves bleu cheese. The Not Flocking Around was such a hit, they’re adding a turkey burger to the regular menu.
The trophy for Most Creative goes Michael “Cap” Campusano of Cap’s Food Shack (rotating locations, including the Local Cider Bar, 828 I St., Arcata), though he worries it would be banged up in the food truck he’s run since 2023, so he’ll likely leave it with the Journal. The name PB and J Burger may have undersold its creativity, what with the Thai-style peanut sauce and hot blackberry jelly schmeared on the char-grilled beef patty with bacon, fried onion tanglers and garlic aioli.
“I’ve been fine tuning this for about a month and a half,” says Campusano, adding, “I’ll be honest, it didn’t go great at first.” But after swapping in more flavorful Thai flavor and jelly with heat, as well as Cap’s signature tanglers, version No. 4 felt like a winner.
He tested out some competition, too, including the mountainous Dublin Double Oktoberfest Burger with corned beef at Gallagher’s. “It was verrrrry good,” he growls, noting it was worth the mess. “But you gotta be hungry to eat that thing.”
The Best Overall winner could have won Best Pun, too, for the Brie Here Now burger from Papa Wheelies (1584 Reasor Road, McKinleyville). The patty was Eel River Grass-fed, the shiitake mushrooms, shishito peppers, lettuce and tomato were locally grown, which is typical for owner and chef Scott McNeil. He says he knew he would choose brie cheese because he wanted to do something gourmet, and that staffer Andrea Conner had just come up with the jalapeño and shishito pepper jelly. The creamy cheese and zing of jelly went well together, he says. “I was like, we’re putting this shit on a burger.”
As much as they liked it, McNeil says he was still surprised by the golden burger trophy in the middle of the Papa Wheelies dining room. “I know I have a good product, but I have such a small place that it’s hard to get many people in as, like, a normal spot.” He’s grateful for his staff, “the ones who actually made this stuff happen,” and for the other restaurants around the county boosting each other, not just for Burger Week, but in person and on social media all the time.
Tough as it is to stay in business, McNeil says, the mutual support matters. “It’s a team thing we’ve got going here.”
Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106 or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky @JFumikoCahill.
This article appears in ‘What Else Can We Do?’.