Hasta La Ideas

London’s one-night-only art exhibit and pop-up dinner dedicated to all things hamburger

One of the few meat menu items that even tempts health nuts and vegetarians, burgers are not just a ubiquitous dish but in recent years have been taken to new culinary heights. Burgerac, a burger detective on the creative blog of the same name that’s dedicated to the sandwich itself, as well as burger-inspired art and design, sniffs out the best of these around London and NYC. To celebrate the beloved beefy treat, Burgerac tapped a slew of talented artists and food critic Daniel Young for a one-night-only burger bonanza and exhibition, called Burgermat.

While Young’s BurgerMonday events are a staple for London gastronomes, as Burgerac’s NYC correspondent (known as Colonel Mustard), I can attest to the level of extra energy put into the upcoming. Burgerace’s founder has selected 24 illustrators to each manifest their original work in the form of a paper placemat, on which BurgerMonday attendees will dine. At the end of the three-course meal, you can keep your ketchup-laden placemat or turn it in for a personalized Burgermat to take home.

The artist lineup includes Crispin Finn, South African vegetarian Richard Hart, Rob Flowers, James Joyce, The Lazy Oaf’s Gemma Shiel, Jon Boam (who also designed the Burgerac logo) and many more. Combined with chef Fred Smith’s cooking up a bold bacon cheeseburger and fries on the flat-top griddle, the night promises to enrapture the 64 lucky guests in full burger bliss.

Those hoping to join the fun should act quickly—Young’s previous four BurgerMonday events have sold out within hours of going on sale. Tickets will be available the morning of Monday 13 June 2011 and are £40, which gets you the print, burger and plenty of wine and beer. To keep in the loop, follow the Burgermat Twitter feed. Those who can’t make the show can try to snag their favorite giclée print of the Burgermat works through Print-Process.