More people sent me Kevin Alexander’s most recent story for Thrillist than have ever sent me anything before. Last year, Alexander published a fantastic list of the best burgers in America. Six months ago, his top choice (a local family place in Portland, OR named Stanich’s) closed. This article revisits the list, and how the extra attention he brought to the place helped to close it. Alexander meditates on how his article turned Stanich’s from a restaurant into a thing. A thing to be visited, consumed, and ranked by a legion of outsiders. Alexander is honest about his own place in all this. It would be easy for him to blame the hoards of Instagramming scensters who flooded the place (*looks aggressively in mirror*), but he’s very open that he pointed them in that direction! Also, he admits he isn’t all that much better than them. The burger is good, but he also liked the story and the authenticity.