Newport Chef Wins 2023 Burger Bender Contest With Portuguese Inspired Burger

NEWPORT, RI — Newport's 2023 Burger Bender contest took place earlier this year, and a chef at a restaurant in the competition's home city took home the ultimate prize.

Chef Erica Costa from The Mooring in Newport won this year’s trophy for best beef burger: The Feast. It featured a half-pound Angus beef patty with cacoila, port wine cheese spread, fried potato sticks, a sunny side egg and a red Portuguese hot pepper served on Portuguese pop bread.

As a whole, Newport’s 2023 Burger Bender contest broke records and sold thousands of burgers. The Newport Burger Bender contest, which ran Feb. 17 to 26, featured a record-breaking 56 burgers from 42 restaurants, according to Discover Newport, which sponsors the event.

Competing restaurants served more than 6,200 burgers. The most people ever — 1,800 — voted for their favorite burger.

The Newport Burger Bender, established in 2017, encourages chefs to create unique and mouthwatering beef and non-beef burgers for the contest. Visit Discover Newport for a full list of competing restaurants and burgers.