Where the Magic Happens: Water Taxi Beach burgers, in situ.
Last night's Battle of the Burough Burgers. Part of the Cuisine of Queens (and Beyond) event in Astoria. Four boroughs pitting their burgers against one another. (Staten Island was snubbed, apparently.)
No surprise that the Queens-native burger from Harry's at Water Taxi Beach won. The Water Taxi Beach burger, as made by Harry Hawk, was up against Resto (Manhattan), 67 Burger (Brooklyn), Coals (The Bronx), and Brgr (also Manhattan). IMHO, Hawk's totes-awesome burger deserves the win. It's made exactly how I love my burgs: loosely-packed; on the thin, manageable side; served on a soft white bun; and with a great crunchy seared bits on the patty surface. If you've not had a Water Taxi Beach burger, you owe it to your lazy-ass self to get out there and try one. The view and the burger make the trip worth it.
Take the 7 train to Vernon-Jackson (first stop in Queens), get out and walk along ... oh, forget it. Here's a Google map.
Joe's Best Burger of Flushing, Queens was also a contestant in the Burger Battle of The Boroughs and from what I saw prepared and from the reactions I witnessed from the judges, their double bacon cheeseburger looked delicious and performed well. The Farm on Adderly was also competing. They're burger is the model of simplicity, no ingredients past burger and bun. They were really cool people too but their burger went first and that's always a tough spot to be in.
Harry Hawk's winning burger is a collborative effort between him and Hamburger America author/filmmaker George Motz, who was as surprised as anyone that they're burger won. It's actually called the Motz Burger.
I had a taste of it after the competition ended and it was tasty as hell. Buttered and grilled bun, schmeared with Schnack sauce. I'll be at the Water Taxi Beach this summer for sure.
Here's George Motz's own article on the win. Here's NYC Food Guy's Burger Tour.
George is always very clear he isn't a chef. However, he has a clear idea of what he wants in a burger.
When the Motz burger was designed we had the cooking method and Sauce & Salt from Schnack. But basically I gave George veto power over everything.. for example I wanted to do a 1/4 # burger and it turns out he did as well, but if he had wanted something bigger or smaller we would have done that..
I had never ground meat before, and that is where George provided a lot of help; the grinding process is/was all his design.
Without George the Motz burger would not have been possible as he is 100% correct when he says he designed it to suit his own tastes.
Harry: Thanks for the reminder. The Motz Burger with cheese is on my very short list of favorite burgers in NYC. I think you and George have really captured the style of burger I grew up with in the KC area.
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6 Comments:
Joe's Best Burger of Flushing, Queens was also a contestant in the Burger Battle of The Boroughs and from what I saw prepared and from the reactions I witnessed from the judges, their double bacon cheeseburger looked delicious and performed well. The Farm on Adderly was also competing. They're burger is the model of simplicity, no ingredients past burger and bun. They were really cool people too but their burger went first and that's always a tough spot to be in.
Harry Hawk's winning burger is a collborative effort between him and Hamburger America author/filmmaker George Motz, who was as surprised as anyone that they're burger won. It's actually called the Motz Burger.
I had a taste of it after the competition ended and it was tasty as hell. Buttered and grilled bun, schmeared with Schnack sauce. I'll be at the Water Taxi Beach this summer for sure.
Here's George Motz's own article on the win.
Here's NYC Food Guy's Burger Tour.
NYC Food Guy at 5:52PM on 05/21/08
Thanks for the clarification Food Guy!
Hamburger America at 11:45PM on 05/21/08
I still think the Motz Burger needs cheese.
Adam Kuban at 12:33AM on 05/22/08
Adam,
Cheese is an option (AM only) at WTB.
George is always very clear he isn't a chef. However, he has a clear idea of what he wants in a burger.
When the Motz burger was designed we had the cooking method and Sauce & Salt from Schnack. But basically I gave George veto power over everything.. for example I wanted to do a 1/4 # burger and it turns out he did as well, but if he had wanted something bigger or smaller we would have done that..
I had never ground meat before, and that is where George provided a lot of help; the grinding process is/was all his design.
Without George the Motz burger would not have been possible as he is 100% correct when he says he designed it to suit his own tastes.
hhawk at 1:31AM on 05/22/08
Harry: Thanks for the reminder. The Motz Burger with cheese is on my very short list of favorite burgers in NYC. I think you and George have really captured the style of burger I grew up with in the KC area.
Adam Kuban at 3:15AM on 05/22/08
Oh yes, and next we'll need to smash some onions into that burger for the real KC treat from Town Topic...
Hamburger America at 5:30PM on 05/23/08