PrintBelcourt: A Hamburger for the Locavore and the Purist
"As the Belcourt burger aptly demonstrates, grass-fed beef can make for a great burger as long as the beef is not overworked or too finely ground."
Belcourt
84 E 4th Street, New York NY 10003; map); 212-979-2034;
Cooking Method: Grilled
Short Order: Grass fed, house chopped beef served on a flawless home made fulfills the desires of both the locavore and the burger purist
Want Fries with That? Yes! Superb skin-on fries come with homemade ketchup and mayo included in price
Price: $12 for a hamburger and fries. Choice of goat cheese, blue cheese, cheddar, grilled red onions, or housemade bacon, $2 each
I recently had a disappointing meal at Blue Hill, the Obama and locavore-approved seasonal New American restaurant. It wasn't that the ingredients were not fresh—they certainly were—it is just that the food, despite compotent execution, was not that inspired. The restaurant has a laudable ethos—all of the food is produced on small farms within a 250-mile radius of NYC—but ultimately if the food doesn't wow me, I don't really care how local or enviromentally correct it is.
Call me a Philistine, but I am in it for the taste. I mention this in relation to hamburgers because it is rare to find a "locavore" hamburger that actually fullfills both the criteria of using responsibly sourced ingredients and tasting good. The hamburger at Belcourt, an unassuming little Pan European restaurant in the East Village, manages to do both. The ingredient are locally sourced and everything on the plate is housemade, even the bun and condiments. More importantly, it tastes good.
The burger is made from 100 percent chuck, grass-fed Piedmontese cattle sourced from upstate New York, and is far more tender and voluptuous than most grass fed burgers I've eaten. In general, it's harder to make toothsome burgers out of grass-fed beef because the beef is inherently leaner than grain-finished cattle. But as the Belcourt burger aptly demonstrates (as Diner did before), grass-fed beef can make for a great burger as long as the beef is not overworked or too finely ground.
The Belcourt burger was very coarsely ground—it was almost chunky in consistency—and it was apparent that it had been ground recently due to its fresh flavor and the fluffiness of the patty. It was delivered perfectly rare with some decent grill marks. While the outer crust was not quite as burnished as I would have preferred, it was nevertheless pleasingly crunchy and provided a nice contrast to the tender inner flesh. The beef did not betray the herbaceous, grassy flavor that can be part of the grass-fed experience, but rather had a robust, meaty flavor and a bawdy mouth feel. Although not drip-down-your-sleeve juicy, it retained moisture where it counted: in the beef itself.
The homemade bun was almost flawless but for being a little too small for the large eight-ounce patty. Apart from that, it really was the platonic ideal of the hamburger bun—soft, airy, compliant, and golden domed. Served simply with some tangy home-cured zucchini pickles (they taste close enough to cucumber pickles even for the purist), the seemingly simple combination of beef-bread-pickle is deceptively complex in its flavor and texture profiles.
The skin-on fries that come with the burger are superb—they are a deep golden brown in color and are supremely crispy. The spicy, almost marinara sauce-like ketchup, and mayo (both housemade) are not required on the burger itself, but make for a good dipping sauce for the fries. I must admit that I used to be a Heinz/Hellman's man, and while both companies provide solid and dependable condiments, as a reviewer I seek out the distinct and unique. This is why I appreciate the extra effort Belcourt takes with their condiments—they could have easily slapped down a bottle of Heinz and be done with it, but they didn't.
The Belcourt hamburger fulfills the desires of both the locavore and the hamburger purist alike. The ingredients are locally and responsibly sourced, and the remarkable bun—and even the condiments—are housemade. Despite the Pan-European leanings of the menu as a whole, the hamburger is refreshingly local, not just in its ingredients but aesthetically as well. Subscribing to the simple beef-bun minimalism, with the zucchini pickle adding a twist on the familiar, the burger achieves a level of synergy that the purist will find heartening. If you want something more complex, add some bacon (housemade, of course), cheese, onions, mayo, or ketchup, and you will be equally rewarded. And not just from an enviromental standpoint.
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7 Comments:
glad to see grass-fed beef making the grade.
BurgerSeeker at 11:53AM on 07/14/09
When did they add the option of a beef burger? They were lamb burgers only for the longest time.
kathryn at 1:48PM on 07/14/09
"Not too finely ground"? That think looks like nice hunks of meat loosely held together. Looks like a great burger, Nick.
Adam Kuban at 7:25PM on 07/14/09
I second Adam's comment - that's about as "not too finely ground" as it can be without it being the original slab of meat.
gwong at 7:53PM on 07/14/09
is this burger grass fed AND finished or grass fed and grain finished? it is my understanding that a grain finish on a grass fed animal is relatively humane (only for a few weeks before slaughter, not long enough to sicken the animal and thus necessitate antibiotics) and can really bridge the gap between 100% grass fed beef and grain fed beef (which we associate with the taste of great american beef). worth checking out... but great to see a grass fed burger getting props here from the burgermeister...
frankbooth at 8:33PM on 07/14/09
@frank; cows' hooves aren't meant to be on concrete; they're meant for softer ground. Add in the fact that most modern mass-production beef cattle have been bred to put on as much weight as possible as quickly as possible and I'm sure you can imagine their discomfort on a feeding lot. A sad fact is that both mass-production cows and chickens will break their legs under their own weight if not slaughtered.
One reason we find grass-fed beef to taste oddly is that we weren't raised on it, as our grandparents were. It's better for the animal and better for the beef. It's like fine wine, or vintage champagne; it takes time to appreciate, but it's worth it in the end.
NotAmerican at 12:59AM on 07/15/09
Had it tonight and it was superb. Skip the cheese when ordering this one, this meat stands on its own. Fries were a bit undercooked, oil not hot enough, but the fried scallions were great.
jakeyd at 11:47PM on 09/08/09