Are you cooking the burgers only to medium there? Medium and beyond. That's because of the Suffolk County Health Department regulations. We have to cook them to 158°F.
What about future locations? If you open a BBP someplace that doesn't require cooking to 158, will you cook to medium-rare or rare? I can only comment about this location right now, since it's what I'm concentrating on.
I see you're griddling the burgers as opposed to flame-grilling. Why's that? I've always thought a griddled burger was a better burger. You don't lose the juices that way.
What about that squirt bottle you're using in the Newsday video? What are you laying down on the griddle before throwing the burgers on? It's proprietary. I'd be happy to talk about anything and everything at my other restaurants, but I don't want to give away secrets at this one.
So, the Crunch Burger looks awesome. What was the inspiration? First and foremost, I think a burger should be about flavor and moistness. After that, I think there should be a contrast of textures in there. It's like when you order a cheeseburger with the fries on the side and they get caught in the melted cheese and give the burger some crunch. The crisp potato chips with the melted cheese works like that.
The fact that the burger are only served medium and beyond is a major downer, and reason enough for me not to make the trip out to Smithtown. I wonder if there are any steakhouses or sushi restaurants in Suffolk county. Are they forced to serve steak and sushi at 158? Would not a simple warning about under cooked meat and eggs suffice as it does almost everywhere else?
It isn't your fault at all Adam, but that was one of the worst interviews I've ever read! I'm glad you went out of your way to get the interview, but Bobby couldn't give you any better than "I'm not commenting on future locations" and "That's proprietary"?? What a D-Bag.
As a side note, I know that the only cooking to medium thing has been a big problem for hamburger lovers everywhere, but it seems silly that folks are getting up in arms over it. At the Shake Shack they routinely cook their burgers all the way through (especially when they're busy, which I think you've written about before in the past), but the lines never subside there. Plus, this Bobby's place is clearly looking for the "American Burger Fan Who Wants To Go Out On A Limb By Putting Chips or Jalepenos on their 'Gourmet' Burger" as their target market, and it has been my experience that 98% of that group don't eat their burgers medium rare (or, sadly, even medium).
after having had food poisoning not once, but TWICE from undercooked burgers, I'm all for the 158 degree starting point for serving.
There's always some douche bag who wants it his/her way, gets sick, and is the first to call the health department or complain about food poisoning.
It's a CYA for them.
I still eat steaks rare though, but my burgers have to be cooked through, or it goes back.
I seem to recall a certain restaurant policy that if you wanted your burger cooked anything LESS than the FDA/Health Department/(insert other agencies here) recommendation for restaurants, you had to sign a waiver stating that you're aware of the law, but you want to be a douche and order it undercooked anyway, and if you get sick, you can not take action against the restaurant.
@ppohio & jimmyjojo: He was actually pretty friendly on the phone and had some good answers. He was hella busy at the time I talked to him, just before the dinner rush at BBP, so I didn't have much time. It's probably my fault on the transcription here, but on the phone, when he said things like "That's proprietary," it wasn't snippy. It was just matter of fact and to the point, which was fine. He was busy, and so I was I, so I appreciated the quick, simple answers. Whenever you talk to someone, you're gonna run up against things they don't want to share—especially food folks guarding recipes and techniques. As for the squirt bottle, my guess is clarified butter, too. In the Newsday video, you can *almost* make out the label on it.
To be clear Nick, my point isn't that the Shake Shack doesn't cook to order, it is that by and large because of the popularity and business, they don't often pull off cooking it properly.
was he trying to be funny with that proprietary line? Either the humor did not translate or he gave a lame answer. You figure someone with so much press experience would at least give a funnier and more disarming answer if he doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe he was having a bad day..
@foodinmouth: Like I said, he was really busy at the time. Yeah, it smacks of legalese, but it was to the point, which I appreciated because I was probably just as busy as he was—just in a different bloggish way instead of burgerish way.
There's a burger place near my house that will not take an order for a "rare" burger. If you ask fo one they'll tell you that by law it has to be medium.
So I order it medium and get it rare every time. Perfect!
And as far as that "proprietary" crap goes, BFD..like anything he squirts on the grill is a major revelation!
My guess would be either clarified butter infused with some type of essential oils, or a mix of butter and oil. Either way, it made you wonder, which is a good thing.
Regarding steaks being served at less than 158 degrees, as a rule, as long as the steak has been properly stored and handled and has not been mechanically needled/tenderized (yes, this is done), any bacteria that is on the surface of the steak is generally expected to be killed off during the searing/cooking process. With burgers, chopped beef, or tenderized steaks, surface bacteria can get mixed in. I've also seen research that found one cannot rely on the internal color of the meat - a burger can look well done when it's not. Thus the safety regulations around internal temp.
That said, I love carpaccio, steak tartare and rare burgers.
I'm very curious about what the price of some of the signiture burgers will be....if B. Flay can keep the price down to a somewhere reasonable, like under $10 or $12, this sounds like it might be a fun spot, and really popular.
Adam, great Q&A with BF...i am a huge fan (of yours) and just read your text in the June or July Martha Stewart Living...i just read them both back to back and passed them on, now i can't remember which one, duh...but it was great...
I'm sorry but is potato chips on burgers really such a revelation? That's something I started doing when I was a kid. I really don't see the wow factor. (Doritoes with cream cheese on a bagel is great if you are interested in adding crunch!) Maybe I was just really ahead of my time. haha
Also, if the idea piques your interest why not save yourself the gas money and just add chips to your burger at home?
The more important question about his "medium" response about cooking burgers to a minimum of 158 degrees - that ain't medium. By 140 degrees, beef will have lost most of its pink color, and anything above 145 is considered well done. 158 is beyond well done. So if he's really cooking his burgers to 158 and they're still pink in the center, he's either got some really odd GM beef, or he's bending the rules anyway.
Either way - I disagree that burgers have to be medium or rare to be good. A freshly ground, loosely packed patty can be cooked to well done (especially on a griddle), and still be very tender and moist. In fact, for a thin griddled burger, I prefer them that way - you get a crisper, more flavorful crust. Like someone already pointed out, Shake shack's are regularly medium or beyond, and they're plenty juicy and tender. It's only when you're dealing with heavily packed meat, preground meat, or really thick patties that taking it beyond medium-rare is an issue.
Especially for fatty burgers, they'l actually be juicier if taken to medium, because the fat will start to liquefy and lubricate everything. Just like cooking an extremely well marbled kobe steak to rare isn't taking advantage of its fat content. Same principal.
secret oils in little bottles are not my thing , also if you are confident to order a steak rare you should feel the same way about a ordering a burger rare.. if you sense you are going to get sick why the hell are you in the joint ?
@le bump- there's a big difference between eating a cut piece of steak and beef that's been ground up and mixed. Any bacteria that's lingering on a steak will be killed when cooked/seared on a grill/hot surface, where the any bacteria that's on a piece of meat that's to be ground up, no longer just has surface bacteria, it's mixed in with the grinding process, thus, if the meat is improperly cooked, any bacteria still is alive and excited to enter your body and have a party.
I very rarely eat hamburgers anymore, because as I mentioned earlier, I've gotten food poisoning TWICE from burgers, I have yet to get sick from a rare steak or carpaccio, raw beef, which is my weakness.
JUST playing my favorite role of Devil's Food Advocate here:
We are such a forensic culture! ("CSI: Burgers")...That "It's proprietary" line may seem terse, but...it's true (plus, Adam made the context clear, following up). Restaurant practices are not like our own medical records, for heaven's sakes, where we're entitled to them.
My guess would be Bobby Flay makes his own burgers Medium-Rare.
I don't want to hector the point, but it occurs to me that we (and I'm guilty of this, because I LOVE to deconstruct dishes) tend to assume we're entitled to information, simply because we assume someone COULD tell us if they WANTED to. When you own a business, people ask you the most oddly intimate (and what could be more intimate than "what's in one's squeeze bottle?..") questions, with a look of complete entitlement on their faces. Sometimes you can tell them, sometimes you can't, and sometimes you're just drawing an arbitrary line in the sea-salt.
At the risk of being dismissed as a Flay-struck female, or appearing to receive a stipend from BF PR, my own experience "interviewing" Bobby, he was nothing but generous, witty, AND gave me a personal recipe, to boot. And I'm no one.
He took a lot of time with me--because he had it just then. My guess is he's flat-out tired, as the current Trojan Workhorse of the Food Network.
Bobby Flay gives away plenty--I adore him and even I will let his squeeze bottle remain sacred.
Not that I won't wonder....
Well I just ate there and had a terrible overall experience.
First, you stand in line and order your food. Well they have 3 registers at the front desk area, but only staffed by one person. The line moves VERY slowly, and when it was my turn to order the cashier said I'll have to wait awhile as the retaurant was very busy. I explained to him I don't need a table that counter service was fine. So I place the order for my son and I,($27.00 for 2 burgers, 2 fries and soft drinks)and go wait. The way it is set up is you order, they give you a plastic number, you find your own seat and the waitress looks for you when the food is ready. This from a place that charges 27 for lunch. I don't think many Long Islanders will come back for service like this, especially when you can have a larger and better meal at the other Smith Haven Mall franchise eateries.(Houlihans, TGIF's,)
Well the give you a glass bottle of soda but no cup of ice to keep it cold. They are afraid if you get a cup you'll ALSO hit the fountain machine for more. So we waited about 20 minutes for the food and of course the drinks are now not cold.
Food was OK...I had the Dallas burger, VERY SMALL for 7.50 and my sons burger was SMOTHERED in hot wing sauce and blue cheese making it IMPOSSIBLE to pick up. Do they give you forks to eat this mess with the food...NOPE...had to ask for that too. Fries were OK, nothing special. Once the waitress brings the food, she's ghost as they are trying to hustle the food to all the tables and churn business. No water, no service?
That was and will be my 1st and last visit to Bobby's Burgers!
I work in the area and had seen the lines out the door so I ordered to go. I had the Napa Valley burger (watercress, goat cheese and meyer lemon honey mustard) and a few co-workers ordered various other burgers. We all agreed that the burgers seemed very small, thrown together, with fancy sounding ingredients that didn't really make a difference. The buns were basic supermarket potato rolls and came soggy. Also, the lettuce on one of the burgers was old and wilted and the watercress on mine was also very wilted and the taste almost unnoticeable. I thought that may have been due to it being take out but it has never happened with take-out from other restaurants in the area (Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, Fridays) and another co-worker ate there and was equally disappointed.
As for sides (not included in the price of the burger), the fries were ok and the onion rings were pretty good but nothing special. I made the mistake of ordering the Hot Potato Chips as a side. I was expecting thinly sliced fried potatoes, something along the lines of butterfly fries. What I got was a single serving bag size of lays-ish potato chips that were warmed (I probably should have asked about them before ordering). The milkshakes were alright, but considering there is a Carvel and Haagen Dazs in the mall food court (the restaurant entrance is right next to the mall doors to the food court) I wouldn't bother again.
It cost about $16-$17 per person (with a burger, side and shake). I would place the burgers somewhere between Wendy's or Burger King quality and Ruby Tuesdays or Applebees quality (more towards the fast food level). Also the "medium and up" cooking level is strange because Ruby's offers "Pittsburgh Rare" which is completely red.
I know this may sound a little harsh but it was truly disappointing. I may give it one more chance after it has been around for a while and gotten its act together, though I doubt that much of the problems were due to being a new restaurant.
Never go to a restaurant the first month of opening with any expectations other than low. No matter what the restaurant, or who the restaurant owner may be. Soft opening or not there will be lots of issues & lots of disappointment.
I wished, I waited and hope springs eternal . . . . . however the Iron Chef was not to deliver on his promise.
God, I hate disappointment. Actually I have been to BBP on three ocassions, always varieing my order and never being very pleased. Too
many flaws. Perhaps I'll wait a year to return. It was stated earlier 'hope springs eternal'
By the way, does anyone know what ever happened to Jackie Malouf ?
I also agree with Storm Cadet. Just ate there (7-22-2008 @ 5:30 pm) and it was terrible. NOT WORTH THE PRICE. We waited on the line and only one person was behind the register. Then the place was FULL of flies...everywhere. We finally found seats and waited for our food. I ordered two cheeseburgers, fries, and an order of onion rings. The hamburgers are small and the fries were just okay...nothing great. Where are the napkins??? For the amount of money I spent ($30) I really expected something quite different. Very disappointed and I wont go back.
I sought guidance from the Talmud.
' To say too much is to say nothing ', so my commentary is to kvetch about the frozen french fries. So the young prince is so lazy or uninspired that he thinks his customers don't deserve fresh, hand cut fries ?
He should realize that 50' away in the Food Court is a Nathan's which has
delicious ones and could be sneaked in by an irate customer who feels insulted by the drecky ones he serves !
The more I type the angrier I become, he thinks we're fools, and I thought he was a classy guy. Ego blemishes judgement. He should talk to his Rabbi also about the small portions of everything. What a long conversation that would be !!
Recently visited Bobby's burgers! It left me flat...they are sissy mary burgers! The Good Steer a mile down the road beats them hands down..and you get fries or onion rings with them! If you love a real burger..don't bother..Bobby this is Long Island...We take our burgers seriously! Go visit the Good Steer! They have been in business for over 50 years and still going strong..bet you can't pass it without stopping in!
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Just got off the phone with Bobby Flay. I had some questions regarding Bobby's Burger Palace, which officially opened Tuesday, after a soft launch that lasted about a week.
36 Comments:
The branding is really cute and simple. I wonder who did it?
hungrychristel at 11:01AM on 07/17/08
I definitely smell a CHAIN! Hope one opens in my neighborhood.
PerkyMac at 11:05AM on 07/17/08
The fact that the burger are only served medium and beyond is a major downer, and reason enough for me not to make the trip out to Smithtown. I wonder if there are any steakhouses or sushi restaurants in Suffolk county. Are they forced to serve steak and sushi at 158? Would not a simple warning about under cooked meat and eggs suffice as it does almost everywhere else?
Nick Solares at 11:34AM on 07/17/08
It isn't your fault at all Adam, but that was one of the worst interviews I've ever read! I'm glad you went out of your way to get the interview, but Bobby couldn't give you any better than "I'm not commenting on future locations" and "That's proprietary"?? What a D-Bag.
As a side note, I know that the only cooking to medium thing has been a big problem for hamburger lovers everywhere, but it seems silly that folks are getting up in arms over it. At the Shake Shack they routinely cook their burgers all the way through (especially when they're busy, which I think you've written about before in the past), but the lines never subside there. Plus, this Bobby's place is clearly looking for the "American Burger Fan Who Wants To Go Out On A Limb By Putting Chips or Jalepenos on their 'Gourmet' Burger" as their target market, and it has been my experience that 98% of that group don't eat their burgers medium rare (or, sadly, even medium).
ppohio at 11:43AM on 07/17/08
Shake Shack does cook burger to order, and in fact their burger served rare is amazing, far less so cooked all the way through.
Nick Solares at 11:50AM on 07/17/08
BF sure was giving it his all, wasn't he? Mr. Charming...
I have a guess as to what's in the squirt bottle: clarified butter.
Am I right? COME GET ME BOBBY FLAY!
jimmyjojo at 11:51AM on 07/17/08
God, I loathe Bobby Flay. His answers here realllly don't do anything to change that.
sarahlucy at 12:08PM on 07/17/08
after having had food poisoning not once, but TWICE from undercooked burgers, I'm all for the 158 degree starting point for serving.
There's always some douche bag who wants it his/her way, gets sick, and is the first to call the health department or complain about food poisoning.
It's a CYA for them.
I still eat steaks rare though, but my burgers have to be cooked through, or it goes back.
I seem to recall a certain restaurant policy that if you wanted your burger cooked anything LESS than the FDA/Health Department/(insert other agencies here) recommendation for restaurants, you had to sign a waiver stating that you're aware of the law, but you want to be a douche and order it undercooked anyway, and if you get sick, you can not take action against the restaurant.
Southern_bella at 12:08PM on 07/17/08
@ppohio & jimmyjojo: He was actually pretty friendly on the phone and had some good answers. He was hella busy at the time I talked to him, just before the dinner rush at BBP, so I didn't have much time. It's probably my fault on the transcription here, but on the phone, when he said things like "That's proprietary," it wasn't snippy. It was just matter of fact and to the point, which was fine. He was busy, and so I was I, so I appreciated the quick, simple answers. Whenever you talk to someone, you're gonna run up against things they don't want to share—especially food folks guarding recipes and techniques. As for the squirt bottle, my guess is clarified butter, too. In the Newsday video, you can *almost* make out the label on it.
Adam Kuban at 12:13PM on 07/17/08
To be clear Nick, my point isn't that the Shake Shack doesn't cook to order, it is that by and large because of the popularity and business, they don't often pull off cooking it properly.
ppohio at 12:13PM on 07/17/08
Yeah I'm a douche bag that orders a burger the way I want it. If it's over cooked I send it back and probably never order a burger there again.
chazmo at 12:14PM on 07/17/08
was he trying to be funny with that proprietary line? Either the humor did not translate or he gave a lame answer. You figure someone with so much press experience would at least give a funnier and more disarming answer if he doesn't want to talk about it. Maybe he was having a bad day..
foodinmouth at 12:15PM on 07/17/08
@chaz, you're only a douche bag if you order it like that and get sick ;) otherwise, that just makes you lucky :P
Southern_bella at 12:17PM on 07/17/08
@foodinmouth: Like I said, he was really busy at the time. Yeah, it smacks of legalese, but it was to the point, which I appreciated because I was probably just as busy as he was—just in a different bloggish way instead of burgerish way.
Adam Kuban at 12:27PM on 07/17/08
There's a burger place near my house that will not take an order for a "rare" burger. If you ask fo one they'll tell you that by law it has to be medium.
So I order it medium and get it rare every time. Perfect!
And as far as that "proprietary" crap goes, BFD..like anything he squirts on the grill is a major revelation!
RichardCrystal at 12:34PM on 07/17/08
My guess would be either clarified butter infused with some type of essential oils, or a mix of butter and oil. Either way, it made you wonder, which is a good thing.
Boscompb at 12:36PM on 07/17/08
Think that crunch burger sounds great.
Regarding steaks being served at less than 158 degrees, as a rule, as long as the steak has been properly stored and handled and has not been mechanically needled/tenderized (yes, this is done), any bacteria that is on the surface of the steak is generally expected to be killed off during the searing/cooking process. With burgers, chopped beef, or tenderized steaks, surface bacteria can get mixed in. I've also seen research that found one cannot rely on the internal color of the meat - a burger can look well done when it's not. Thus the safety regulations around internal temp.
That said, I love carpaccio, steak tartare and rare burgers.
OliverRanch at 12:58PM on 07/17/08
In South America they seem to be big on hot dogs and hamburgers with potato chips on them.
eatorama at 1:44PM on 07/17/08
"He was hella busy at the time I talked to him, just before the dinner rush at BBP"
Yeah, like he's even at the restaurant, let alone behind the line.
superdlux at 2:13PM on 07/17/08
Did you see what I see? Frozen patties slapped onto the grill?
chicagophil at 2:15PM on 07/17/08
He was at the restaurant, superdlux.
Adam Kuban at 2:18PM on 07/17/08
I'm very curious about what the price of some of the signiture burgers will be....if B. Flay can keep the price down to a somewhere reasonable, like under $10 or $12, this sounds like it might be a fun spot, and really popular.
JudgeFudge at 2:35PM on 07/17/08
Adam, great Q&A with BF...i am a huge fan (of yours) and just read your text in the June or July Martha Stewart Living...i just read them both back to back and passed them on, now i can't remember which one, duh...but it was great...
triza at 2:36PM on 07/17/08
I'm sorry but is potato chips on burgers really such a revelation? That's something I started doing when I was a kid. I really don't see the wow factor. (Doritoes with cream cheese on a bagel is great if you are interested in adding crunch!) Maybe I was just really ahead of my time. haha
Also, if the idea piques your interest why not save yourself the gas money and just add chips to your burger at home?
lexophile at 2:55PM on 07/17/08
The more important question about his "medium" response about cooking burgers to a minimum of 158 degrees - that ain't medium. By 140 degrees, beef will have lost most of its pink color, and anything above 145 is considered well done. 158 is beyond well done. So if he's really cooking his burgers to 158 and they're still pink in the center, he's either got some really odd GM beef, or he's bending the rules anyway.
Either way - I disagree that burgers have to be medium or rare to be good. A freshly ground, loosely packed patty can be cooked to well done (especially on a griddle), and still be very tender and moist. In fact, for a thin griddled burger, I prefer them that way - you get a crisper, more flavorful crust. Like someone already pointed out, Shake shack's are regularly medium or beyond, and they're plenty juicy and tender. It's only when you're dealing with heavily packed meat, preground meat, or really thick patties that taking it beyond medium-rare is an issue.
Especially for fatty burgers, they'l actually be juicier if taken to medium, because the fat will start to liquefy and lubricate everything. Just like cooking an extremely well marbled kobe steak to rare isn't taking advantage of its fat content. Same principal.
kenjialtci at 4:04PM on 07/17/08
secret oils in little bottles are not my thing , also if you are confident to order a steak rare you should feel the same way about a ordering a burger rare.. if you sense you are going to get sick why the hell are you in the joint ?
le bump at 4:54AM on 07/18/08
@le bump- there's a big difference between eating a cut piece of steak and beef that's been ground up and mixed. Any bacteria that's lingering on a steak will be killed when cooked/seared on a grill/hot surface, where the any bacteria that's on a piece of meat that's to be ground up, no longer just has surface bacteria, it's mixed in with the grinding process, thus, if the meat is improperly cooked, any bacteria still is alive and excited to enter your body and have a party.
I very rarely eat hamburgers anymore, because as I mentioned earlier, I've gotten food poisoning TWICE from burgers, I have yet to get sick from a rare steak or carpaccio, raw beef, which is my weakness.
Southern_bella at 8:50AM on 07/18/08
JUST playing my favorite role of Devil's Food Advocate here:
We are such a forensic culture! ("CSI: Burgers")...That "It's proprietary" line may seem terse, but...it's true (plus, Adam made the context clear, following up). Restaurant practices are not like our own medical records, for heaven's sakes, where we're entitled to them.
My guess would be Bobby Flay makes his own burgers Medium-Rare.
I don't want to hector the point, but it occurs to me that we (and I'm guilty of this, because I LOVE to deconstruct dishes) tend to assume we're entitled to information, simply because we assume someone COULD tell us if they WANTED to. When you own a business, people ask you the most oddly intimate (and what could be more intimate than "what's in one's squeeze bottle?..") questions, with a look of complete entitlement on their faces. Sometimes you can tell them, sometimes you can't, and sometimes you're just drawing an arbitrary line in the sea-salt.
At the risk of being dismissed as a Flay-struck female, or appearing to receive a stipend from BF PR, my own experience "interviewing" Bobby, he was nothing but generous, witty, AND gave me a personal recipe, to boot. And I'm no one.
http://www.happyhoarfrost.blogspot.com/2008/03/bobby-flay-apple-of-my-ribeye.html
He took a lot of time with me--because he had it just then. My guess is he's flat-out tired, as the current Trojan Workhorse of the Food Network.
Bobby Flay gives away plenty--I adore him and even I will let his squeeze bottle remain sacred.
Not that I won't wonder....
HappyHoarfrost at 9:11PM on 07/18/08
Well I just ate there and had a terrible overall experience.
First, you stand in line and order your food. Well they have 3 registers at the front desk area, but only staffed by one person. The line moves VERY slowly, and when it was my turn to order the cashier said I'll have to wait awhile as the retaurant was very busy. I explained to him I don't need a table that counter service was fine. So I place the order for my son and I,($27.00 for 2 burgers, 2 fries and soft drinks)and go wait. The way it is set up is you order, they give you a plastic number, you find your own seat and the waitress looks for you when the food is ready. This from a place that charges 27 for lunch. I don't think many Long Islanders will come back for service like this, especially when you can have a larger and better meal at the other Smith Haven Mall franchise eateries.(Houlihans, TGIF's,)
Well the give you a glass bottle of soda but no cup of ice to keep it cold. They are afraid if you get a cup you'll ALSO hit the fountain machine for more. So we waited about 20 minutes for the food and of course the drinks are now not cold.
Food was OK...I had the Dallas burger, VERY SMALL for 7.50 and my sons burger was SMOTHERED in hot wing sauce and blue cheese making it IMPOSSIBLE to pick up. Do they give you forks to eat this mess with the food...NOPE...had to ask for that too. Fries were OK, nothing special. Once the waitress brings the food, she's ghost as they are trying to hustle the food to all the tables and churn business. No water, no service?
That was and will be my 1st and last visit to Bobby's Burgers!
storm cadet at 3:18PM on 07/20/08
I agree with storm cadet, Terrible.
I work in the area and had seen the lines out the door so I ordered to go. I had the Napa Valley burger (watercress, goat cheese and meyer lemon honey mustard) and a few co-workers ordered various other burgers. We all agreed that the burgers seemed very small, thrown together, with fancy sounding ingredients that didn't really make a difference. The buns were basic supermarket potato rolls and came soggy. Also, the lettuce on one of the burgers was old and wilted and the watercress on mine was also very wilted and the taste almost unnoticeable. I thought that may have been due to it being take out but it has never happened with take-out from other restaurants in the area (Ruby Tuesdays, Applebees, Fridays) and another co-worker ate there and was equally disappointed.
As for sides (not included in the price of the burger), the fries were ok and the onion rings were pretty good but nothing special. I made the mistake of ordering the Hot Potato Chips as a side. I was expecting thinly sliced fried potatoes, something along the lines of butterfly fries. What I got was a single serving bag size of lays-ish potato chips that were warmed (I probably should have asked about them before ordering). The milkshakes were alright, but considering there is a Carvel and Haagen Dazs in the mall food court (the restaurant entrance is right next to the mall doors to the food court) I wouldn't bother again.
It cost about $16-$17 per person (with a burger, side and shake). I would place the burgers somewhere between Wendy's or Burger King quality and Ruby Tuesdays or Applebees quality (more towards the fast food level). Also the "medium and up" cooking level is strange because Ruby's offers "Pittsburgh Rare" which is completely red.
I know this may sound a little harsh but it was truly disappointing. I may give it one more chance after it has been around for a while and gotten its act together, though I doubt that much of the problems were due to being a new restaurant.
rockinsurfer714 at 9:29PM on 07/20/08
Never go to a restaurant the first month of opening with any expectations other than low. No matter what the restaurant, or who the restaurant owner may be. Soft opening or not there will be lots of issues & lots of disappointment.
Kim Nyland at 6:58PM on 07/21/08
I love steaks rare, but to be honest I really don't like burgers rare. I simply don't like the texture of it and never order them below medium.
Anyone else like that or am I the exception?
neilb at 9:01PM on 07/21/08
I wished, I waited and hope springs eternal . . . . . however the Iron Chef was not to deliver on his promise.
God, I hate disappointment. Actually I have been to BBP on three ocassions, always varieing my order and never being very pleased. Too
many flaws. Perhaps I'll wait a year to return. It was stated earlier 'hope springs eternal'
By the way, does anyone know what ever happened to Jackie Malouf ?
Schlomo from Nesconset at 1:40AM on 07/22/08
I also agree with Storm Cadet. Just ate there (7-22-2008 @ 5:30 pm) and it was terrible. NOT WORTH THE PRICE. We waited on the line and only one person was behind the register. Then the place was FULL of flies...everywhere. We finally found seats and waited for our food. I ordered two cheeseburgers, fries, and an order of onion rings. The hamburgers are small and the fries were just okay...nothing great. Where are the napkins??? For the amount of money I spent ($30) I really expected something quite different. Very disappointed and I wont go back.
Lill2441 at 8:44PM on 07/22/08
I sought guidance from the Talmud.
' To say too much is to say nothing ', so my commentary is to kvetch about the frozen french fries. So the young prince is so lazy or uninspired that he thinks his customers don't deserve fresh, hand cut fries ?
He should realize that 50' away in the Food Court is a Nathan's which has
delicious ones and could be sneaked in by an irate customer who feels insulted by the drecky ones he serves !
The more I type the angrier I become, he thinks we're fools, and I thought he was a classy guy. Ego blemishes judgement. He should talk to his Rabbi also about the small portions of everything. What a long conversation that would be !!
Schlomo from Nesconset at 1:51AM on 07/27/08
Recently visited Bobby's burgers! It left me flat...they are sissy mary burgers! The Good Steer a mile down the road beats them hands down..and you get fries or onion rings with them! If you love a real burger..don't bother..Bobby this is Long Island...We take our burgers seriously! Go visit the Good Steer! They have been in business for over 50 years and still going strong..bet you can't pass it without stopping in!
pherlihy at 8:38AM on 08/09/08