The Best Burger in the Bay Area Reader Poll: Critics' Favorites

One of the most important parts of Burger Week is determining—through a highly imperfect bracketing and voting system—which burger is the best burger in all the Bay Area. Based on our reader submissions over the past week and our own editorial savvy, we've chosen 16 burger contenders and placed them into four categories. (NB: Massive shilly write-in campaigns did not guarantee inclusion in the bracket). The four categories are critics' favorite burgers, classic-style burgers, new school burgers and high class burgers.

So without further ado, it's time to choose the best burger in the Critics' Favorites Conference. A special condolence to our runner-up that just missed the cut: Absinthe.