Chaffetz seen as Congressional expert … on hamburgers

WASHINGTON — It surely would be nicer to be seen as Congress' top expert on foreign affairs or defense. But freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, may at least settle for being seen as perhaps its top expert on hamburgers.

Roll Call, a newspaper that covers Congress, decided to do some blind taste testing on hamburgers available around the Capitol and its office buildings. It decided to use Chaffetz to judge the burgers, videotape his munching/judging and post it on the Internet.

It chose Chaffetz because he is "a self-proclaimed burger aficionado" who has "serious beefy bona fides: He's made a study of the town's best burgers, proclaiming his favorite to be from Five Guys, and often tweets about his burger runs." He also lives in his office (sleeping on a cot), so who better to judge the Capitol complex's burger possibilities?

Roll Call had him taste a new burger available there in vending machines, one from the House takeout grill and one from the Cannon House Office Building carry-out (that building was named for former House Speaker Joseph Cannon, and not for former Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah, whom Chaffetz unseated).

Chaffetz said the best burger was from the Cannon building. (But he has always devoured things associated with the name of Cannon.) He ate all of it.

He said the worst was from the vending machine. He ate only one bite of it. He waved that burger at the camera and said, "This is disgusting. Don't eat it."

Chaffetz also told Roll Call about that burger, "If there was a nuclear war," and no other food was available, "I don't know that I would actually eat this."

Roll Call's story and video is available at www.rollcall.com/issues/55_98/hoh/43826-1.html.

This story was reported from Salt Lake City.

— Lee Davidson