Handicapping the Odds for NOLA Defender's Burger Brawl

So this should be fun: NOLA Defender is doing a Burger Brawl, a big ol' meta-poll pitting all of New Orleans' favorite burger joints against each other in a four-round burger battle royale.

16 burgers are competing in thematically appropriate brackets, like Tru Burger vs Cowbell in Best Oak Street Burger, Buffa's vs Igor's in Best Bar Burger. The winner of each bracket will go on to the quarterfinals next week, where they''ll be paired up with another favorite.

With the general burger craze we've got going on, that led to the opening of Tru Burger, MVB, Cowbell, Company Burger, and Juicy Lucy's, plus the rabid local love for landmarks like Port of Call, Buffa's, and Yo Mama's, this should get pretty heated.

Local bookies (ok, so actually just us here at Eater NOLA) have handicapped the odds for the various competitors. The likely winners and losers:

· Esplanade neighbors Port of Call and Buffa's appear to be the early favorites at 2-1 odds.
· Newcomers Tru Burger and Cowbell's odds suffer a little because of their tough opening round contest against each other, coming in at 6-1 and 8-1, respectively.
· Bourbon Street drunk food fast food eatery, Krystal Burger, is the big money long shot at 20-1 odds, largely because of the tough early match up against Port of Call.
· Look for Bud's Broiler—with an okay burger but several decades' worth of love—to be the bracket-bustin' Cinderella story.

Also, all of those odds are totally made up, but we're just going to run with it. We'll check back in next week to see how the competition's going. So get on over to NOLA Defender and vote!

· NOLA Burger Brawl 2011 [NoDef]

[Photo: flickr / infrogmation]