The craziest burger the members of the Omaha Burger Club have ever seen was dipped in wing sauce, then grilled, then dipped again in the sauce and topped with American cheese, honey-smoked ham and a free-range fried egg. The main condiment: a side of wing sauce, for dipping.

Club member An Vu ordered this customized version of the haystack burger at Dinker's Bar.

"That," Vu said, "was a very memorable burger."

The Omaha Burger Club is all about memorable burgers. A dedicated group of about 15 people get together once a month in the quest to identify, eat and critique the city's best hamburger.

OBC President Sarah Joy Lorsung Tvrdik started the club on a whim. At lunch one day (over burgers, of course) she asked a friend what she thought of the idea of a burger club. Would anyone come?

"She said we should ask our friend Neal, who is obsessed with McDonald's," Lorsung Tvrdik said. "And he was like 'oh, yeah.'"

The club started in January. So far, the group has eaten burgers at 11 restaurants around the metro area. Devoted members earn titles: "Minister of Gluttony" and "The Enforcer" and "Director of Burger Diversity."

At the end of each meeting (or "meating," as some members call them) the members pass around a notebook, scoring their burger on a scale of one to 10 and commenting on what they liked or didn't like about it. The restaurants earn a comprehensive score that gets posted on the OBC Facebook page.

I ate with the burger club at its most recent meeting, at Crave in Midtown Crossing. The group meets on a semi-regular schedule, or whenever anyone has the yen for a burger.

Lorsung Tvrdik reserved a table for 20. She said she's never sure how many people will show up. At press time, 107 people were part of OBC's Facebook group, where Lorsung Tvrdik and other members post about meetings, news and burger experiences outside Omaha.

Sometimes just a handful of regulars show at an event. Other times, strangers show up in search of OBC and sit at a nearby table.

"We're an intimidating group and a welcoming one at the same time," Vu said. "But we like it when people come and sit down with us and eat."

Crave invited the club to the restaurant's weekly Monday Burger Night. The restaurant has a special menu featuring an array of burgers, fries, onion rings and both plain and booze-spiked milkshakes.

Members trickle in slowly and greet each other exuberantly. At least two club members wear burger-themed T-shirts.

It's the group's October meeting and its Halloween party, so costumes were encouraged: Lorsung Tvrdik is dressed as Peggy Bundy of "Married, with Children" and Lynn Romero, another founding member, shows up with full "Day of the Dead"-style skull face paint.

The group skews young — most of the members at the October meeting were in their mid-20s to mid-30s. This night, 18 burger lovers show up.

Neal Obermeyer, the aforementioned McDonald's addict, is the only member who has been to all 11 meetings. He said it's too hard for him to name his favorite burger, though he can name at least one memorable one, from Joe's Cafe in Benson. The Ultimate Burger is a patty topped with ham, a fried egg, bacon and a second patty made of sausage. It comes with a side of gravy for dipping.

As the official "Minister of Gluttony," Obermeyer is known as the member who will usually order the biggest, weirdest burger.

Other club members also had a hard time choosing their favorite burger.

Joe Mickeliunas, a.k.a. "Captain Amburger," has been to about half of the OBC's meetings. His most memorable burger came from Stella's, in Bellevue, and he designed it himself: a patty topped with cheese, peanut butter, a fried egg, bacon and jalapenos.

"It was insane," he said. "The owner took our order and said that burger wouldn't have been complete without jalapenos. So I added them."

He said he keeps coming back to meetings because there's always a burger he hasn't tried, or a flavor combination he hasn't heard of.

At Crave, most members choose their burgers quickly. Some ask the two servers working the table for recommendations. Others modify the burgers on the menu to their liking.

Obermeyer orders the Jambalaya burger, a patty made of andouille sausage topped with smoked cheddar, chipotle aioli and tempura-battered shrimp. Lorsung Tvrdik orders the stuffed burger, a classic choice with cheddar, tomato and onion in the center.

Emily Brewer, a.k.a. "The Enforcer," asks the server for a recommendation and ended up choosing the spicy lamb burger, topped with harissa aioli (a spicy North African chili sauce), caramelized onions and goat cheese.

I embrace the OBC spirit of improvisation and ask for a portobello mushroom burger prepared in the style of another burger on the menu, the truffled mushroom burger, which comes with portobello and shiitake mushrooms on top along with gruyere cheese and truffle oil. My dining partner this evening follows Obermeyer's lead and goes with the Jambalaya burger.

"I'm starving," says Dasha Gatrost, a.k.a. "the Director of Burger Diversity."

"Me, too," Lorsung Tvrdik says.

Close to an hour passes between the time we placed our orders and the time the burgers start to arrive.

OBC members ordered their burgers at a wide variety of temperature points — rare to medium — and most of them arrive to the table well-done. Lorsung Tvrdik and Gatrost, who both ordered the stuffed burger, send them back to the kitchen, deciding they were inedible.

My dining partner's andouille burger is dry and crumbly and the outside looks almost blackened. Other than the burnt taste of the burger itself, he likes the sandwich. The mix of the chipotle aioli and the andouille, both spicy, with the mild, Asian-inspired tempura shrimp is something he says he'd have otherwise really liked.

I'm happy with my mushroom burger. A balsamic marinade took away the funky smell and texture that sometimes comes with a portobello mushroom cap on a bun. The additional mushrooms slathered on the top are flavorful and firm. My only complaints: I could have used more truffle oil. And my fries could have been hotter.

The table buzzes with diners talking about their burgers. Most are commenting that the meat is dry — the OBC generally agrees that it doesn't care for well-done burgers.

Joe Rosner, Crave's general manager, said later in an interview that the restaurant missed the mark on a number of levels during the OBC visit.

"When you have a group like the Burger Club come in, you have one shot. One chance to make it perfect," he said. "I don't like to make excuses. I'm really disappointed."

Rosner said the restaurant will take the club's feedback seriously and fix the problems. He said the restaurant plans to make staffing changes, both in the dining room and the kitchen, on Monday Night Burger nights.

"Staffing was the primary catalyst that night," Rosner said.

Nick Huff, Crave's marketing manager, initially invited the OBC. After the club's visit, he called Lorsung Tvrdik to offer each OBC member a $25 gift certificate.

"We just want to encourage them to come to burger night again," he said, "or for another meal at Crave. This was beyond embarrassing."

Not everyone at the table is disappointed with the meal.

Craig Dee bites enthusiastically into his Blackened Bacon Bleu Burger, topped with blue cheese and bacon. It is only the second burger he's eaten after 10 years of vegetarianism. "When I bit into the burger for the first time," Dee said, "it felt familiar."

After most of the burgers are gone, or close to it, Obermeyer passes around a little green notebook, where the diners log their scores for the burger. Scores range wildly — the lowest is a 5.4. The highest is an 8. Crave ends up earning a 6.6.

Lorsung Tvrdik said later that she spoke with Huff and told him it seemed like almost all the burgers were cooked incorrectly. She also said she'd encourage members to use the gift cards to try other burgers.

"I told him that, above all, we're a club in good fun," she said. "The club is really about meeting an interesting mix of people that you haven't talked to before. And eating burgers."

Contact the writer:

402-444-1069, sarah.bakerhansen@owh.com