Just thought I'd drop in today with a quickie on Brgr in Chelsea—on Seventh Avenue at 26th Street.
I've never done an in-depth look at the place, in part because it ended up being a go-to spot for me and the rest of the folks at the AHT–Serious Eats offices. And you know that old adage about not deficatin' where you do your domesticatin', right?
Not that I would slag the place—It puts out a solid burger.
Anyway, we've now been a number of times since the original mastermind behind the operation, Chris Russell,was ousted late last year, and I figured I'd blab about the changes and the state of the burger there. Burger blabbitation begins after the jump.
What's Changed
Most important: The patties have gotten bigger and now use Pat LaFrieda beef
Simplified menu: Gone are the array of confusing preconfigured choices. You can either build your own, get "The Brgr," or choose from some two nonburger sandwiches—"The Trky" and "The Vgbrgr" should be self-explanatory
For the worse: The soft, white squishy bun Brgr used to use is gone. It's been replaced by a larger, more firm, and beef-overwhelming model. Not a good thing
The Song Remains the Same
Reliably unreliable: Under Russell, the joint was terribly hit or miss for cooking burgers to temp. After a while, I gave up on getting a medium-rare burger. I chalked it up to the thin fast food–style nature of the patties. But with the thicker patty and LaFrieda meat, I expect a bit more. The beef bar has been raised. Unfortunately, the joint hits medium-rare only rarely.
Shake it up: The Ronnybrook Dairy–based shakes have not changed. They were named "the best shake in New York," by one of the local rags, as a window display says. Why fix what ain't broke?
My favorite burger there is one that burgerman George Motz turned me on to—just a simple burger with blue cheese and grilled onions (above). I'd ask the place to go light on the blue cheese, so it's not absolutely overpowering.
Brgr
287 Seventh Avenue, New York NY 10001
212-488-7500 brgr.us The Short Order: A respectable burger; good for the hood—for lunch or an uneventful dinner Want Fries with That? Hand-cut, fresh, skin-on fries are available here. I'm not a fan, although Serious Eats head honcho Ed Levine loves them. I'm usually a huge fan of deep-fried onion products, but the anemic "onion hay" is skippable Cost: $11, with a side and a drink; around $8 with just burger and drink
Right on Adam. For the record, just before his departure Chris had me in to taste his 'future ground beef supplier' and it was of course Pat La Frieda. He wanted to switch to ground beef he could get locally, not from Montana.
the shakes are great. but the place seems horribly managed, wait times can be horrific, even when they're not busy. and considering the price, you should be able to get a burger cooked to order without so much trouble.
odd that both brgr and jimmy's burger shack are so diabolical
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3 Comments:
Right on Adam. For the record, just before his departure Chris had me in to taste his 'future ground beef supplier' and it was of course Pat La Frieda. He wanted to switch to ground beef he could get locally, not from Montana.
Hamburger America at 7:33PM on 05/29/08
Is the beef grass-fed? Where exactly is it raised?
izzy's mama at 8:57PM on 05/29/08
the shakes are great. but the place seems horribly managed, wait times can be horrific, even when they're not busy. and considering the price, you should be able to get a burger cooked to order without so much trouble.
odd that both brgr and jimmy's burger shack are so diabolical
norman at 8:08AM on 06/01/08