Prize-Winnin' Blazin' Flashover Bacon Burger at Kidd Valley

I've been on a bit of a burger binge lately.

Part of the reason: USA Today asked me to pick a best (though not necessarily the best) burger in Washington for a national feature. So I ate a few from around the state, and even sampled what turned out to be the best in our adjoining state of Idaho, and you can find my pick here.

In the midst of this, Kidd Valley asked me to judge their 35th Anniversary Burger Battle. It was a fun event, featuring six local firefighters serving up their specialties in a friendly competition to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Our judging panel picked a clear winner: Mike "Suey" Sulak's Blazin' Flashover Bacon Burger.

The best part of the contest: The general public gets to taste a version of the winning burger, which hit the Kidd Valley menu this week. While the competition burger featured a whopping 22 ingredients, including Third Degree Burn Doritos ground into the patties and fabulous double-smoked bacon that Suey (from Engine House Number 8, at the top of Queen Anne) got from a Hungarian butcher in Chicago, the one you can buy has been scaled back a bit for service purposes.

Still, it's a reasonable replica of the real thing, consisting of two quarter-pound beef patties, two slices of pepperjack cheese, jalapeno bacon, jalapenos, red onions, yellow peppers, pickles, lettuce, tomato, spicy sauce, and spicy Doritos. But act fast. The burger, which costs $5.94, is available at all Kidd Valley locations—but only until the end of the year.