A Hamburger Today
Link Roundup: NYC Edition
Closer to home—my home, anyway—here's a roundup of burgerness going down around the Big Apple.
I'll have a burger with a side of hyperbole. New York magazine's Underground Gourmet column declares the meatwich at Resto the "Best Burger in New York":
Would it be demeaning to Skeen and Resto to lavish the most praise on the burger? Maybe. But this one is world-class, a loosely packed, modestly sized house-ground masterpiece of beef cheek, hanger steak, and fatback, nicely accessorized with onion, pickle, mayo, and slightly pungent Timberdoodle cheese from Vermont, all on a squishy white bun from Rockland Bakery. It might be the best burger in New York, including Shake Shack’s.
Best burger until next week, burgerfans.
Water Taxi Beach soft-opened for the season last weekend. Once Memorial Day rolls around, WTB will once again be making one of my favorite burgers—the Motz Burger, four ounces of coarsely ground, loose-packed beef, cooked on a severely hot griddle that imparts a deliciously crunchy crust. Though technically the Motz Burger is specced out without cheese (its namesake and creator, George "Hamburger America" Motz prefers it that way), I recommend ordering it topped with a slice of easy-melting American. (Until Memorial Day, WTB will only be serving beer and hot dogs.)
More best burgers. This time in the Borough of Kings. 1 Stop Over in Brooklyn's Jon Cronin rounds up his list of the Best Burgers in Brooklyn. The usual suspects (Schnäck, DuMont, Hope & Anchor), along with some otherwise unchampioned names (Salonike, Pit Stop, Chicory, Ceol, White Castle), and some headscratchers (McDonald's, White Castle).
Friend of AHT "Famous Fat Dave" Freedenberg (aka The Hungry Cabbie) visits Louis' Lunch, the New Haven, Connecticut, joint either famous or infamous (depending on your level of burger purism) for its claim that it invented the burger. Let's just say that if a Louis' Lunch burger was a fare in need of a cab, Dave would cruise by with his for-hire light still on:
They tasted good though. Not great. They certainly would benefit from better bread or a basic bun. The thin slices of bread did have the effect of highlighting the quality of the meat, but a small, soft sesame seed bun would have had the same effect and tasted much better. Still, I’m not going to tell them to stop serving burgers on toast if that’s how they’ve been doing it for a century and a decade. You gotta respect that.
I do not respect, on the other hand, that schmuck behind the counter. Although he was a man a few words (all of which came in a nasty tone of voice) with us, he had plenty to say to his coworkers. While Melissa and I tried to enjoy our burgers on toast, we had to listen to this man spew forth the vilest lies and obscenities about the Yankees I’d ever heard. We were on our way to Boston, and I’d been there many times before, but I’d never heard Bostonians say anything close to what this man was spitting up.
From the Central Park Boathouse, a burger. The New York Post reports: "This year, chef Anthony Walton has added an awesome new fast-food area to the Boathouse, with a new outdoor seating area. 'It’s the sort of thing we want people to use like their corner deli,' says Walton, whose menu includes coffee, croissants and muffins for early morning dog-walkers and bird-watchers, as well as a lunch menu of house-ground burgers ($5), hot dogs ($3.25).... "