A Hamburger Today
Openings: BLT Burger
BLT BURGER
Address: 470 Sixth Ave., New York NY 10001 [map]
Getting There: F/V trains to 14th Street
Cost: $7 for burger with lettuce, onion, tomato, pickles; cheese, ¢50 extra; cash and credit accepted
Short Order: A respectable fast-food style burger; beefy flavor, pleasantly salty taste
You Want Fries With That? Beats me. They offer hand-cut fries made from Idaho potatoes, but I opted for the Vidalia onion rings, which could use some work—a little too much batter
Eater put it on its BurgerWatch. Friends IMed me about it. But when an AHT reader wrote, asking if we had any reports on BLT Burger, I was duty bound to act. I hightailed it down to Sixth Avenue and 12th Street for some quick B-search™
BLT Burger is Laurent Tourondel's new burger joint in the Village. (That's BLT as in Bistro Laurent Tourondel.) Although reports were that it was to open next Tuesday, it actually opened yesterday, apparently to the surprise of even the wait staff—if tipsters are to be believed.
Despite my assumptions that this would be a fancypants burger, it's actually a fast food–style burger more in the vein of New York City's Shake Shack or Burger Joint. Eyeballing it, I'd say the patty is about five ounces. The beef is "certified Black Angus" and is a combo of sirloin, short rib, chuck, and brisket, with a medium-coarse grind.
It's a good burger. Plenty beefy, nicely salted, and with an adequate amount of crunchy charring on the exterior. I ordered mine medium-rare, and it arrived at table cooked to order, complete with a cute little plastic doneness marker in the shape of a cow.
It's sandwiched in a soft hamburger bun, as close as you can get to any sort of regulation hamburger bun. I had been expecting brioche or ciabatta or some such fancy-ass thing and was mighty happy to find quite the opposite. The bun is toasted but could probably use some more attention as BLT Burger fine tunes its game. Mine was a little floppy and cold by the time it reached me. Lettuce, tomato, and pickle were high-quality and as fresh as you'd please.
There are anywhere from three to six burgers on the menu, depending on whether you count lamb, turkey, or veggie patties as "burgers." Traditional burgers include a Kobe burger made with Snake River Farm Kobe-style beef; the "classic burger," which includes iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mustard, and mayo; and the "BLT" burger—a second patty, Applewood smoked bacon, and green peppercorn sauce differentiate it from the "classic."
The "classic," which is what I had, costs a whopping $7 for the burger alone. Want cheese? Cha-ching: ¢50; extra (blue, Vermont cheddar, American, Swiss, and Monterey Jack are your options). Why this burger costs 71 percent more than a comparable Shack Burger is beyond me. The BLT classic burger is very good, but for the price, I don't know if I'd opt for it with the Shack just a 10-minute walk away.