Broward’s new 954 Burger Month: Feasts, Burger Beast sightings & a wrestling-themed sandwich

In the brawl for tastiest hamburger in Broward County, Sef Gonzalez thinks he’s found a winner.

It’s dubbed El Cruz Diablo, and the spicy double-smashed patty will star in a new sandwich celebration called 954 Burger Month, a series of events happening May 1 to 19 at eateries from Fort Lauderdale to Pembroke Pines. The burger-centric showcase is programmed by Visit Lauderdale, the county’s tourism arm, and coincides with May’s National Hamburger Month.

Gonzalez, better known to South Floridians as comfort-food blogger Burger Beast, has reason to be biased about that burger: He created it. El Cruz Diablo is a tribute to his late grandfather, a Cuban pro wrestler he never met. Since childhood he’s held on to the wrestling tights, boots and black luchador mask that once belonged to Serafin Gonzalez, along with newspaper clippings that charted his famed exploits as a “rudo,” or heel, fighting foes across Mexico, Venezuela and pre-Revolution Cuba under the moniker Cruz Diablo (“The Devil’s Cross”). After the Cuban Revolution, Gonzalez stopped wrestling to move his family to New York and then Miami, where he died of pancreatic cancer at age 35 in 1968, six years before his grandson was born.

“I have this clipping where my grandfather met the president of Venezuela, who had asked him to remove his mask,” Gonzalez recalls. “Once he did, the president gave him some gold pieces because he wanted to meet the only man more popular than he was.”

El Cruz Diablo (the burger) will make its Broward debut at the Burger Beast Feast, a showcase of Gonzalez’s favorite burgers that will take place May 19 at Gilbert’s 17th Street Grill in Fort Lauderdale. The half-pound smash burger is crowned with crispy onions and jalapeños, two American cheese slices and Cruz Diablo sauce, a spicy fusion of cayenne pepper, chili powder, jalapeños and other ingredients. It will be served with juicy handhelds from three other restaurants, along with fries, soft drinks and ice cream.

The Burger Beast Feast, one of four official 954 Burger Month events, is the invention of Gonzalez and Phillip Marro, a producer who also cofounded January’s star-studded Visit Lauderdale Food & Wine Festival.

Marro says a showcase of Broward’s top burgerati could not happen without the expertise of Gonzalez, a man he describes as South Florida’s “foremost hamburger authority.”

“People get caught in their own little bubble sometimes when it comes to burgers,” Marro says. “They’re loyal to certain places, and this is a chance to go out and explore new restaurants. And we’re also doing these events to see if people will come out to see Sef.”

Gonzalez, 50, already has a robust Miami-Dade County following as a sandwich tastemaker. The blogger’s cross-country burger excursions are mapped across his 16-year-old Burger Beast blog and in his 2019 book, “All About the Burger: A History of America’s Favorite Sandwich.” He’s thrown multiple comfort-food feasts across the county, including Frita Showdown and Croqueta Palooza, and once ran a Burger Beast Museum filled with troves of fast-food restaurant memorabilia. And he’s the reason why customers see “Burger Beast Approved” stickers adorning the front windows of patty joints from Charm City Burger Co. in Deerfield Beach to Chug’s Diner in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood.

Which made Gonzalez the perfect tag-team partner for 954 Burger Month, Marro says.

“If you’re doing burger-themed events and you don’t get Sef involved somehow, I think that’s foolish,” Marro says. “You wouldn’t buy a Ford from a Cadillac dealership. You want the real thing, and he just wants to see everyone succeed and do well.”

Gonzalez, who offers El Cruz Diablo during monthly Burger Beast pop-ups at Mojo Donuts in Miami, says he came up with the idea of saluting his grandfather’s legacy through food a decade ago. After years of tinkering with the flavor, in 2023 he adapted El Cruz Diablo’s beef blend from an old recipe he found in a 1940s Walgreens luncheonette cookbook.

“It doesn’t really taste like any other smash burger out there because of the blend,” Gonzalez says.

While 954 Burger Month will involve four Broward venues (and won’t take up the whole month), the event’s website offers a map of 75 participating restaurants that have either created a specialty burger for May or will offer a “unique burger” on its menu, Marro says. Restaurants labeled in green offer a vegetarian or vegan burger while venues highlighted in red have the “Burger Beast’s stamp of approval,” says Marro, who plans to add several more events in 2025 if May’s celebration is successful.

Below, find a breakdown of the four 954 Burger Month events and when they take place. Every event except the Burger Beast Feast has free admission, with separate food and drink costs.

954 Burger Month Kick-Off Party

6 p.m. Wednesday, May 1, at LauderAle Brewery, 3305 SE 14th Ave., Fort Lauderdale; 754-779-7470; LauderAle.co

Food truck BMC Smash Burgers will anchor this free brewery burger blowout, accompanied by gourmet donuts from Miami pop-up Luchadough. BMC will sling its specialty burger The Frita Cubana, a 3-ounce, onion-smashed patty topped with American cheese, roasted garlic sauce, Burger Beast’s guava-sriracha ketchup and Chifles plantain sticks piled on a hefty Cuban roll.

Pop-up at North South Grill

6 p.m Wednesday, May 8, at North South Grill, 154 S. Flamingo Road, Pembroke Pines; 954-404-8308; NorthSouthGrill.com

One of Burger Beast’s favorite patty joints, which earned a lofty No. 5 ranking on Yelp’s “Top 100 Places to Eat in Florida 2023,” North South will feature the 954 Burger, two quarter-pound smashed patties topped with grilled onions and North sauce. The pop-up event is free.

Pop-up at The Food Truck Store

6 p.m. Wednesday, May 15, at The Food Truck Store, 1417 NE 26th St., Wilton Manors; 954-928-8973; Toasttab.com

The Pride Burger is the name of The Food Truck Store’s specialty handheld for 954 Burger Month, which will be served at this free pop-up event. It’s two 4.2-ounce patties topped with a cheesy condiment rainbow of American and Swiss, plus mayonnaise, mustard, ketchup and Thousand Island dressing on a Martin’s potato roll. The Food Truck Store also has a North Miami location, but this burger will be offered through Sunday, June 30, in Wilton Manors only.

Burger Beast Feast

Noon Sunday, May 19, at Gilbert’s 17th Street Grill, 1821 Cordova Road, Fort Lauderdale; 954-768-8990; Gilberts17thStGrill.com

This $50 ticketed event via Eventbrite.com features servings of four burgers, french fries, soft drinks and dessert from Sweet Aloha Ice Cream, along with a meet-and-greet with Burger Beast Sef Gonzalez. Burgers include El Cruz Diablo along with juicy handhelds from Cuban Guys (a frita Cubana), Pincho Burgers + Kebabs (Bacon Me Gouda burger), and Gilbert’s 17th Street Grill (Havarti burger).

954 Burger Month will be celebrated from May 1 to 19 at four venues across Broward County. Go to 954BurgerMonth.com.

Staff writer Phillip Valys can be reached at pvalys@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @p.v.guide and X/Twitter @PhilValys.