Burger Photo Gallery (click pictures to enlarge)

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THE JOINT

After Party is a mobile food truck in Orlando, FL that serves a Columbian inspired menu consisting of burgers, sandwiches and fries to the late night crowd. It operates a bit differently than other food trucks that I’ve visited. Instead of moving around from location to location, you can always find After Party in the same spot in parking lot of International Drive and Carrier Drive. Usually seating around a food truck stop is at a premium, but there were picnic tables and chairs outside of the After Party’s location. The truck even had a huge flat screen HD TV mounted to the side for diners to check out the latest sports while they ate.

This was my first time in Orlando, and my new tradition is to ask my Twitter friends for burger recommendations. Both of my Orlando burger recommendations came from @JuliusMayoJr who run the great food blog Droolius. His first recommendation of Junior Columbian Burger was spot on, so I figured I’d trust him for both my Orlando Burger adventures.

Unfortunately, the day I was supposed to head to After Party, some shady McGrady stole my iPhone from the trade show I was attending. I spent most of the day trying to track down the thieving mofo using the Find My iPhone app from Apple. I even tracked them to a McDonalds across the street from the convention center, but by the time I got there, they were gone. I spent most of that day getting my geek on trying to track down my phone…but that’s a tale for another time. Needless to say, I was pretty bummed and worn out, but I figured…what better way to improve my mood than with a good burger:)

THE BURGER

It seems fitting that I’m writing a burger review for a burger called “xtravaganza” on May 1st since it marks the beginning of National Hamburger Month. This month will be filled with an extravaganza of burgerness, including some local #sacburgermonth celebrations that I’m putting together de Vere’s, the best local Irish Pub here in Sacramento.

First off, let me say that this burger truly lived up to its xtravagana name. It may be the most ridiculous burger I’ve ever tried. And that’s saying a lot considering I ate The Behemoth (the smorgasbord of a burger fromthe Grill ’em All Burger truck in Los Angeles), not to mention the peanut butter and sriracha craziness of the Dee Snider burger I had from the same truck.

There are 16, count ’em, 16 ingredients on this burger feast (not counting the bun):

• hamburger patty
• cheese
• bacon
• shredded chicken
• sausage
• fried egg
• ham
• lettuce
• tomato
• onions
• garlic
• mayo
• ketchup
• peas??
• corn
• potato sticks

The fact that there are 4 meats on top of the beef patty should make this burger qualify for the extravaganza title, but nooooo…they had to take it 50 steps further by adding at least 4 vegetables as well. I think when they threw on the potato sticks and fried egg, the E in extravaganza couldn’t hang on any longer so they just dropped it. Or it could be that the burger just needed to start with an X because of how obscene it is :)

Taste wise, the burger held its own pretty well. The mass of ingredients almost performed like a tasty burger salad. Surprisingly, all the ingredients worked together for me except for the peas. That was the only flavor that felt out of place on this mega sandwich. It could be because I’m not much of a fan of peas in the first place, but it gave the burger a sickly sweet aftertaste that I could’ve done without.

THE VERDICT

Somewhere along the lines of the Behemoth and the Squeeze Inn burger, the Xtravaganza is one of those burgers you have to experience at least once in your life. Eat it, if for no other reason than to say that you conquered it. I’d actually go to the After Party again if I was in Orlando, FL…I’d probably go for the Xtravaganza again…just hold the peas please.

What’s the craziest burger you’ve ever eaten?

Tags: extravaganza, featured, food truck, national hamburger month