Roly Masferrer's winning burger. Photo by: Marcela Gonzalez

Now that I’ve awaken from my Memorial Day fat kid coma, I can clearly and consciously say that judging food is a lot more difficult than judging people.

For my first official seat on a panel of judges for Monday’s Burger Throw down, I got to pick apart six different burgers, from six different professional and amateur chefs, and then rate them. The 80 other people in attendance just got to eat in enjoyment that it was Monday and they weren’t at work.

As judges, The Burger Beast, Chef Dennis Ortiz from The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale and I ate, dissected, and finally crowned Roly Masferrer with first place. His winning burger was actually the closest thing to a simple cheeseburger. A light cream sauce, a slice of cheese, and a hot burger: it was the epitome of Memorial Day.

But we didn’t just give the burgers a yay or nay. We had to dig into why the burger wasn’t worth taking the extra bites or why it was. Why did I put it down and move on as opposed to taking another bite? My stomach was really pissed at my psyche.

The building of a burger is a double-edged sword: its biggest advantage is also its biggest downfall. You can make absolutely anything into a burger. With that being said, not absolutely everything should be made into a burger.

I’m a simple girl: I don’t need much to make me happy. While other entries were doused with barbecue sauce or bland guacamole, Roly’s Brioche Burger was easy, which is probably why he was so surprised to see that he had one first place. Other competitors seemed like they piled high the ingredients because it would make them stand out. In reality, Roly had the least-complicated burger of them all. Definitely worth the extra bites and slipping me into my fat kid coma.