The "Classic," with onion, lettuce, tomato, sliced pickle, homemade ketchup, Dijon mustard.
I've been wrong before. (Many times before.)
But I'm big enough (no, not from the cheeseburgers) to admit it.
Stand, which I complained about a while ago as having a bun that utterly undermined the burger, has redeemed itself. It now serves its delicious patties on a bun that suits them well. It's been using this new bun for some time, but I'm just now getting around to correcting myself publicly on AHT.
Out: the baguette-texture bun that forced you to use so much jaw power that the innards eventually slid out the back.
In: A softer, brioche-type bun that yields to the bite easily and does a fine job of soaking up the beefy-tasting patty's juice.
The "Hamburger," with green peppercorn sauce.
I went on Monday night with a friend who was eager to try the "Hamburger" ($10) described on the menu as "beef, lettuce, green peppercorn sauce," as he has read somewhere online that it was recommended by the chef there. Neither of us liked that sauce. If you like mainlining pepper, go for it. If not, it will completely obscure the flavor of the burger.
I went for the "Classic" ($9) described as having "onion, lettuce, tomato, sliced pickle, homemade ketchup, Dijon mustard." I added cheddar (American wasn't an option) for $1 more. Great burger it is, on a proper bun.
The "Mini Burger": Not a slider. Ultimately skippable.
We also split a "Mini Burger" ($4) just for the hell of it. It's ultimately skippable, as it's not a slider, with a delicious slurry of onion and pickle, but truly is a mini burger. My take on this nonsense: Just get a full-size burger and be done with it.
Onion rings ($4) and fries (small, $3) were great, as they have been since the place opened. The rings here are some of my favorites in the city.
Adam, I feel there needs to be an education campaign about the perils of poor bun choice, and how they can undermine otherwise good burgers. What can we do to address this? Brioche buns, ciabattas, baguettes, focaccias, pitas, and others more often than not make for horrible burger experiences. With a few and far between exceptions, this should be a known issue to burger purveyors. Education is the answer!
Ok, Adam, fair enough you like it now. But now I don't, when I used to recommend it to friends.
I've visited Stand a fair number of times since it opened and I have to say, I've seen it decline in its consistency and its overall quality.
Let me say that I know the chef who consulted on this job and I think she did a fairly good job designing the menu for what it is, and I hope that knowing her doesn't bias my opinion, but...
Since she's taken her hands out of the place and left it up to the owners and staff, as I'm sure her contract required, the food has gone downhill.
Let talk about the "perils of poor bun choice"
I like the brioche bun and i liked it when it was smaller. When we went the first few times back when it opened, the burgers were ALWAYS done to the perfect doneness, and while yes, the burger slipped a bit in hand, when I ate the damn thing, I could still eat a shake and drink a beer. I liked the size of the bun. I don't mind getting my hands dirty when eating a burger. I think people who whine about slippery buns on burgers are fucking weak and need to shut up and eat.
I loved the house burger and I loved the (albeit stupidly named) Bacon & Egg Cheeseburger (so named because of a hard-boiled egg mayo, woop dee do, stable mayo...yea, cool). Now...now its too damn big. I didn't want a shake and I was hard pressed to finish my beer. (from a restaurateur perspective dumb idea).
Onion rings, lets talk about the Onion Rings. Great? What is your standard of a "great" onion ring? Mine is this:
A Great Onion ring should:
1. Be Evenly Golden and have a good crunch on the outside.
2. Be well seasoned.
3. Be a nice sweet onion, like Vidalia, but sometimes that is too sweet, dependent on your batter... but quality ingredients are key.
4. Be even in doneness for the entire batch.
5. Be served immediately,and hot.
Stand's Onion rings were:
1. Too Salty (...and I sir, am a big fan of the heavy hand of salt)
2. Were uneven in doneness.
3. Had little crunch, in the fried part, but quiet a bit in the onion itself, i.e. not cooked.
4. Luke warm.
5. I couldn't really speak to the freshness of the ingredienst as I was underwhelmed in so many other ways that I stopped eating them.
A Great Burger:
1. Should be cooked to the requested doneness (especially when you have a snarky little wood toothpick that tells you its doneness).
2. Be well seasoned.
3. Not be too big.
4. Be a balanced ratio of bun to meat.
5. Not be overwhelmed or underwhelmed by other ingredients.
The Stand Burger:
1. Was not cooked properly.
2. Mine was seasoned well, my wife's was not (uneven cooking).
3. Was too big now.
4. The bun is also too big now.
5. The bacon tasted like it was cooked in an oven at 8 or 9am and sat on someone's station and was plopped onto the hot burger, cold. No re-warming, just a plopping of a cold greasy ring of bacon. Not ok.
That said, we went to Burger Joint at Le Meridien last week, again, and had a good burger, satisfying and the right size. No change, same quality, different staff, good burger, cooked right, and meeting all aforementioned standards. The fries were also well seasoned as expected, and golden with and even crunch.
No BS, but a good burger. I choose to STAND, somewhere else...
Based entirely on the weight of your re-review on Thursday, I made my first visit today for lunch. Let me spoil this right up front my saying I loved everything about my experience today except the burger.
I arrived at about 12:15 PM and was warmly welcomed by two young women at the host stand. I told them I'd sit at the bar. There were only about 5 or 6 other people in the restaurant at this time. I again was warmly greeted at the bar by the young gut tending bar and placed my order - a classic burger w/cheddar, small fries and a small root beer ($14.00 before tip).
The physical space at Stand BTW is wonderful - modern, clean, cool and comfortable. It's really an appealing minimalist design.
The burger, ordered medium rare arrived cooked perfectly medium. It was on a brioche bun just a tad smaller than the burger circumference - stacked on top of the burger were hopefully-not-killer tomatoes, raw onions and a unnecessarily high pile of shredded lettuce. Under the burger were crinkle-cut dills and a small squirt of their ketchup & mustard. Like you I did not like the red peppercorn sauce that was served on the side. I did, however, add a squirt of "Japanese mayonnaise" to the burger half way through. That condiment was a nice surprise - it's sweet and went well with everything else.
The burger was one of the most beautiful, well-charred, and juicy I have ever seen. The problem was not only was it cooked medium it was absolutely tasteless - I mean absolutely - no hint of salt, pepper, or, gawd-forbid, fat. If this was the 80/20 % lean to fat version, they need to return to the 70/30 version. This was the most tasteless burger I have ever eaten and makes me appreciate the Shake Burger even more, which is a salt lick compared to Stand's version.
The fries, on the other hand, were perfection, golden brown and crispy on the outside, soft and hot on the inside. Some of the best I've had.
If the burger I had today is representative then they should rename Stand Bland.
Livetotravel, have to compliment your use of the terms "young gut" and "salt lick" - that could have been ripped from William Goldman's superb "Harper" screenplay, but wasn't. Are you Larry McMurtry?
While the food has improved in the time that this establishment opened its doors, the service has plummeted beyond hope. It's a pity that the tasty fare in this clean, noisy and open space is spoiled so much by an unapologetically surly, unkempt, and utterly uncaring staff, from the moment you walk in to the moment you pay the relatively hefty check and leave. Perhaps this presentation to some translates as hip or cool, but many of us still believe that service is just as important to the visit as the food. Do not go expecting to feel welcome; read the menu thoroughly to understand the local lexicon (as it will not be explained to you in any detail); and any misunderstandings with your order are your fault...not theirs (and with much eye-rolling, they will go to lengths explaining why it's your fault, stupid customer). Nice space, interesting food...definitely not worth the attitude. Too many other far better choices in this neighborhood!
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7 Comments:
Adam, I feel there needs to be an education campaign about the perils of poor bun choice, and how they can undermine otherwise good burgers. What can we do to address this? Brioche buns, ciabattas, baguettes, focaccias, pitas, and others more often than not make for horrible burger experiences. With a few and far between exceptions, this should be a known issue to burger purveyors. Education is the answer!
simon at 11:07AM on 06/19/08
oh man, those onion rings look crispy.
too many things to eat!!! ahhhhhh
foodinmouth at 3:16PM on 06/19/08
Ok, Adam, fair enough you like it now. But now I don't, when I used to recommend it to friends.
I've visited Stand a fair number of times since it opened and I have to say, I've seen it decline in its consistency and its overall quality.
Let me say that I know the chef who consulted on this job and I think she did a fairly good job designing the menu for what it is, and I hope that knowing her doesn't bias my opinion, but...
Since she's taken her hands out of the place and left it up to the owners and staff, as I'm sure her contract required, the food has gone downhill.
Let talk about the "perils of poor bun choice"
I like the brioche bun and i liked it when it was smaller. When we went the first few times back when it opened, the burgers were ALWAYS done to the perfect doneness, and while yes, the burger slipped a bit in hand, when I ate the damn thing, I could still eat a shake and drink a beer. I liked the size of the bun. I don't mind getting my hands dirty when eating a burger. I think people who whine about slippery buns on burgers are fucking weak and need to shut up and eat.
I loved the house burger and I loved the (albeit stupidly named) Bacon & Egg Cheeseburger (so named because of a hard-boiled egg mayo, woop dee do, stable mayo...yea, cool). Now...now its too damn big. I didn't want a shake and I was hard pressed to finish my beer. (from a restaurateur perspective dumb idea).
Onion rings, lets talk about the Onion Rings. Great? What is your standard of a "great" onion ring? Mine is this:
A Great Onion ring should:
1. Be Evenly Golden and have a good crunch on the outside.
2. Be well seasoned.
3. Be a nice sweet onion, like Vidalia, but sometimes that is too sweet, dependent on your batter... but quality ingredients are key.
4. Be even in doneness for the entire batch.
5. Be served immediately,and hot.
Stand's Onion rings were:
1. Too Salty (...and I sir, am a big fan of the heavy hand of salt)
2. Were uneven in doneness.
3. Had little crunch, in the fried part, but quiet a bit in the onion itself, i.e. not cooked.
4. Luke warm.
5. I couldn't really speak to the freshness of the ingredienst as I was underwhelmed in so many other ways that I stopped eating them.
A Great Burger:
1. Should be cooked to the requested doneness (especially when you have a snarky little wood toothpick that tells you its doneness).
2. Be well seasoned.
3. Not be too big.
4. Be a balanced ratio of bun to meat.
5. Not be overwhelmed or underwhelmed by other ingredients.
The Stand Burger:
1. Was not cooked properly.
2. Mine was seasoned well, my wife's was not (uneven cooking).
3. Was too big now.
4. The bun is also too big now.
5. The bacon tasted like it was cooked in an oven at 8 or 9am and sat on someone's station and was plopped onto the hot burger, cold. No re-warming, just a plopping of a cold greasy ring of bacon. Not ok.
That said, we went to Burger Joint at Le Meridien last week, again, and had a good burger, satisfying and the right size. No change, same quality, different staff, good burger, cooked right, and meeting all aforementioned standards. The fries were also well seasoned as expected, and golden with and even crunch.
No BS, but a good burger. I choose to STAND, somewhere else...
angrywayne at 8:47PM on 06/19/08
Based entirely on the weight of your re-review on Thursday, I made my first visit today for lunch. Let me spoil this right up front my saying I loved everything about my experience today except the burger.
I arrived at about 12:15 PM and was warmly welcomed by two young women at the host stand. I told them I'd sit at the bar. There were only about 5 or 6 other people in the restaurant at this time. I again was warmly greeted at the bar by the young gut tending bar and placed my order - a classic burger w/cheddar, small fries and a small root beer ($14.00 before tip).
The physical space at Stand BTW is wonderful - modern, clean, cool and comfortable. It's really an appealing minimalist design.
The burger, ordered medium rare arrived cooked perfectly medium. It was on a brioche bun just a tad smaller than the burger circumference - stacked on top of the burger were hopefully-not-killer tomatoes, raw onions and a unnecessarily high pile of shredded lettuce. Under the burger were crinkle-cut dills and a small squirt of their ketchup & mustard. Like you I did not like the red peppercorn sauce that was served on the side. I did, however, add a squirt of "Japanese mayonnaise" to the burger half way through. That condiment was a nice surprise - it's sweet and went well with everything else.
The burger was one of the most beautiful, well-charred, and juicy I have ever seen. The problem was not only was it cooked medium it was absolutely tasteless - I mean absolutely - no hint of salt, pepper, or, gawd-forbid, fat. If this was the 80/20 % lean to fat version, they need to return to the 70/30 version. This was the most tasteless burger I have ever eaten and makes me appreciate the Shake Burger even more, which is a salt lick compared to Stand's version.
The fries, on the other hand, were perfection, golden brown and crispy on the outside, soft and hot on the inside. Some of the best I've had.
If the burger I had today is representative then they should rename Stand Bland.
Livetotravel at 1:33PM on 06/20/08
Livetotravel, have to compliment your use of the terms "young gut" and "salt lick" - that could have been ripped from William Goldman's superb "Harper" screenplay, but wasn't. Are you Larry McMurtry?
Sandro at 11:56AM on 06/24/08
@angrywayne & livetotravel: Maybe I need to revisit my revisit.
Adam Kuban at 12:11PM on 06/24/08
While the food has improved in the time that this establishment opened its doors, the service has plummeted beyond hope. It's a pity that the tasty fare in this clean, noisy and open space is spoiled so much by an unapologetically surly, unkempt, and utterly uncaring staff, from the moment you walk in to the moment you pay the relatively hefty check and leave. Perhaps this presentation to some translates as hip or cool, but many of us still believe that service is just as important to the visit as the food. Do not go expecting to feel welcome; read the menu thoroughly to understand the local lexicon (as it will not be explained to you in any detail); and any misunderstandings with your order are your fault...not theirs (and with much eye-rolling, they will go to lengths explaining why it's your fault, stupid customer). Nice space, interesting food...definitely not worth the attitude. Too many other far better choices in this neighborhood!
outny at 9:31AM on 07/15/08