Traverse City burger joint named 5th best in country

An eatery in Traverse City is getting recognition for another item: Hamburgers.

Slabtown Café and Burgers came in fifth on TripAdvisor's list of "America's 10 Best Restaurants for Burgers."

The list by the travel website is based on "millions of reviews and opinions from TripAdvisor diners," according to a company press release.

"We have leveraged the feedback from diners browsing TripAdvisor to surface the best burger restaurants in America," said Brooke Ferencsik, senior director of communications for TripAdvisor in a written statement.

Slabtown Café is located in a house in the Slabtown district, "a west-side Traverse City neighborhood named after the housing style from logging days," the release said. "Slabtown Café and Burgers patties up to 800 pounds of burger daily."

The restaurant's signature burger is the "Slabtown Special" — a double burger with American cheese, lettuce and grilled onions topped with "Slabtown Sauce."

The release quoted a review by a TripAdvisor diner who said: "Great menus of specialty burgers - the toppings are flavorful without overwhelming the burger. Good quality beef cooked perfectly!"

The list was based on the reviews and opinions of TripAdvisor diners, "taking into account the ratio and quality of great burger reviews in comparison to overall reviews, along with quality and quantity of reviews received in past year (ending May 2018)," the press release said.

Featured restaurants were required to have a minimum of 4.5 out of 5 bubbles — the website's rating unit — 200 reviews and 10 locations or less as of June 2018.

Al's Burger Shack in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, came in first on the TripAdvisor list.

ghunter@detroitnews.com
(313) 222-2134
Twitter: @GeorgeHunter_DN