Entries tagged with 'Manhattan'
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 13, 2008 at 9:45 AM
I stood on the corner of 43rd and Broadway waiting for NYC Food Guy to show up. We had a one o'clock at Brooklyn Diner. Or so I thought. The clock struck 1:20 p.m. Where was this ahole?
Turns out I was the ahole, having completely borked the rendezvous by going to the Times Square location rather than the West 57th Street spot. Oops. We rainchecked for the following week, and I met him at the right spot, where he was holding down a two-person booth under mini plaques inscribed with the names David J. Fiorina and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, among others. He was itching to plow through some burgerage.
Since this is one of Food Dude's favorite New York burgers and he knew his way around the fare, I let him guide me on the order, figuring I'd ape his style. He opted for the cheeseburger deluxe, menu description: "Custom ground beef, Vermont cheddar cheese, smokehouse bacon, frizzled onion rings, and served with french fried potatoes. 'Best Burger in New York, Gael Greene, New York magazine '07'." Food Guy ordered it medium-rare, so I didn't even have to break rank with him on the doneness.
From his report on the place, I knew that the "frizzled onion rings" were actually served on the burger. I already liked this place.
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Posted by Nick Solares, May 9, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Spitzer’s Corner unabashedly bills itself as a “gastro pub.” A perusal of the menu indicates that it's paying more than lip service to that concept, as it was created by Wayne Nish and includes such esoteric fare as foie gras–stuffed prunes, a duck confit sandwich and a sweetbread po'boy, as well as three different hamburgers.
The room is designed by Asfour Guzy of Blue Ribbon fame and, while I appreciate the Spartan design, some might find it rather austere. The walls, which are lined with wood from floor to ceiling, are supposedly made from recycled pickle barrels. Long communal picnic tables line the interior, and large windows provide plenty of light during the day and a good view of the local fashionista parade at night.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 27, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Says Nick from Beef Aficionado, who snapped the photo above: "Looks like a new burger spot called Black Iron Burger Shop will be opening in June on 5th Street between avenues A and B. Very classic looking."
I'm just guessing here, but I'm going to guess that the burgers here will be grilled. How can you name a place that and not grill them?
Posted by Adam Kuban, April 18, 2008 at 9:30 AM
Mr. Cutlets discloses his top ten burgers in New York City to the New York Daily News, and his No. 1 pick isn't even in the city. It's Hildebrandt's in Williston Park, out on Long Island. The rest of his list, however (with the exception of White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey), is within easy ranging for straphangers. AHT asked Mr. Cutlets about his top ten oh so long ago, and it's interesting to note how his list has changed in that time. (As it should; no top burger list should be static.) The head-to-head, after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Editor's note: Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a while since we grilled someone, and we couldn't get back in the groove with a better subject. You know that burger history book by Josh Ozersky that comes out this month? Andrea Murphy here worked as Ozersky's research assistant on it. We figured we'd get all kinds of dirt on "Mr. Cutlets" from her. So, without further ado, let's get Grillin'!
How to shape an imaginary burger patty, Andrea?
Name: Andrea Murphy
Location: New York City
Occupation: Researcher
You served as Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky's research assistant for his book "Hamburger: A History." What exactly did that entail? I spent a lot of time at the New York Public Library (and other libraries) looking through newspapers, books, academic papers, obscure food industry journals, and other sources. What would usually happen is that Josh would give me a topic and I would go find information. Sometimes he was very specific (a list of movies either from the 1950s or that took place in the 1950s where people eat hamburgers) and other times more general. There was a lot of photocopying.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 7, 2008 at 5:45 PM
The now-celebrated burger at this Lower East Side joint was on the chopping block, with chef Josh Shuffman wanting to kill it and co-owner Adam Cohn rejiggering it. Says Cohn: "Not only were customers few but back then our burger was even more idiosyncratic: topped exclusively with a whole roasted poblano pepper, Monterrey jack cheese and aioli. It was for the few, not the many. Shuffman had it in for the burger and I had to fight a valiant rear-guard action in its defense."
Posted by Lauren Krueger, April 2, 2008 at 12:45 PM
CITY BURGER
Address: 1410 Broadway, New York NY 10018 (at 39th Street; map)
Phone: 212-997-7770
Website: Listed as cityburgerny.com but not operational at this time
The Skinny: A very decent burger for the neighborhood. It's still early, and they're working out the kinks. The staff is learning on the job. Irate, impatient customers in a small space is no fun.
Want Fries with That? Steak fries are $2.75 or $3.95 with cheese. The beer battered onion rings looked great.
The Fashion District is a great place to be if you're a clothes buyer and one of the last places you want to be if you're looking for a good meal. Within a four block radius of where I work there are five Starbucks, five Pax, two Hale & Hearty Soups, several McDonald's, and countless steam-table, pay-by-the pound delis. That's a lot of repetition and a lack of good choices. City Burger opened Monday, and I've been there twice already.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, April 1, 2008 at 2:30 PM
The weekly listings magazine examines the East Village spin-off of the Financial District's go-to burger spot:
The rest of the sleek chocolate-toned interior—wine bottles arranged neatly on horizontal racks, intricate floor tiling—is almost too pretty for what the restaurant hawks: big, succulent burgers served in quarter- or half-pound patties (choose from sirloin, kobe, veggie or turkey), tucked into chewy Portuguese muffins. We preferred the lean sirloin to the vaguely metallic-tasting Nebraska-raised “kobe,” and the suggested temperature (burgers emerge medium unless otherwise requested) was well suited to the juicy, grass-fed meat.
ZAITZEFF
Address: 18 Avenue B, New York NY 10009 (b/n 2nd and 3rd; map)
Phone: 212-477-7137
Posted by Lauren Krueger, April 1, 2008 at 1:00 PM
Enticed by the Smörgås Burger, optionally topped with Jarlsberg or Ski Queen goat cheese, we chose Smörgås Chef over a handful of restaurants we'd never visited. I should have walked out the door the second I realized the burger on the menu wasn't the one I had my heart set on, but at that point we had our drinks, and it would have meant being late to the awful play we had tickets to that night.
No, the burger on the menu was simply a burger, and no Ski Queen cheese was offered. It hardly mattered to me, as I happily asked for Jarlsburg. We also ordered Swedish meatballs and a herring plate, but that's only worth mentioning because later Mike asked if we were eating Polish food. He knows I love him because I thought really hard about whether or not to share that with the world. And you know I love you because I decided to share it.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 31, 2008 at 2:15 PM
New York magazine is reporting that the folks behind the Abitino's pizza mini chain are opening today the first of what they hope is a burger mini chain in City Burger. Like everyone and their brother these days, City Burger is using Pat LaFrieda beef.
CITY BURGER
Address: 1410 Broadway, New York NY 10018 (at 39th Street; map)
Phone: 212-997-7770
Posted by Adam Kuban, March 31, 2008 at 2:00 PM
THE BURGER SHOPPE
Address: 30 Water Street, New York NY 10004 (b/n Broad Street and Coenties Slip; map)
Phone: 212-425-1000
Website: burgershoppenyc.com
The Skinny: The space is beautiful—all 1930s retro charm on the burger-parlor ground floor with a cozy, well-worn bar on the second floor, but, on first taste, the fare doesn't live up to the fineries.
Want Fries with That? No. And don't bother with the onion rings, either.
The Burger Shoppe opened in the Financial District earlier this month to not a small amount of anticipation. With little in the way of spectacular eats around Wall Street, hopes were high that this newcomer would be, as Eater put it, the FiDi version of the Shake Shack. And shortly after opening, the reports started to stream in.
NYC Nosh says: "... the food does offer a kind of nostalgic, caloric satisfaction."
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Posted by Adam Kuban, March 24, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky, editor of New York magazine's Grub Street and author of upcoming book The Hamburger: A History, says you can find the perfect burger at Veselka, in New York City's East Village:
VESELKA
Address: 144 Second Avenue, New York NY 10003
Phone: 212-228-9682
Website: veselka.com
Link: Mr. Cutlets's Perfect Hamburger [Chow]
According to Page Six in the New York Post today: "Danny Meyer just signed a lease to open its first branch at 366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street), which formerly housed Cajun eatery Jacques-Imo's NYC. Unlike the original open-air serving stand with the endless lines of customers in Madison Square Park, the new location will serve its brown bag fare in year-round comfort." But will it still be a "shack"?
Posted by Lauren Krueger, February 13, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Or, 'But What Do They Call it in France?
Hype never moves me the way it should. In fact, it turns me off. I refused to see Pulp Fiction for three years after its initial release for that very reason, and even then wasn't that impressed. But when multiple trusty sources of mine collude to recommend a burger, I feel I owe it to myself to at least give it a try.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, February 4, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Blue Ribbon Bakery
View Larger Map »
Address: 35 Downing Street, New York NY 10014 (Greenwich Village, b/n Downing and Bedford; map)
Getting There: 1 train to Houston Street; B/C/D/E/F/V to West 4th Street
Phone: 212-337-0404
Cost: $14.50, comes with fries
Website: blueribbonrestaurants.com
The Skinny: Very good thick and expansive burger with potential for greatness, were it cooked to order and more juicy. Excellent custom house-made bun.
Want Fries with That? Yes. Even if they didn't come standard with this burger, they're hand-cut and quite good, with a crisp salty exterior and fluffy moist interior.
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According to Eater, the heat lamps are finally on at Shake Shack. Sweet deal, but it's kind of a bad news, good news thing (but mostly good). The bad: The heating technology will encourage more people to visit. The good news ...
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 22, 2008 at 6:00 AM
The recent cold spell here in New York City had me wondering what effect below-freezing temperatures would have on the infamously long line at the Shake Shack, which just this year began operating year-round. But if I was going to stand around and wait for a burger in bone-chilling weather—and then eat it outdoors in the park (the Shake Shack offers only outdoor seating)—I needed a strategy. I'll share it with you—along with some winter Shack observations—after the jump.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, January 14, 2008 at 6:15 PM
Peter Meehan, in "$25 and Under," on the burgers at Seymour Burton:
But the patties, beefy and salty and made with meat from the fashionable and estimable Pat LaFrieda Wholesale Meats (you may know its meat from such fine sandwiches as the Shackburger and the hamburger at Market Table), had a crisp, grill-charred exterior and a moist, medium-rare middle that dripped fatty juice in the nooks and crannies of the Thomas’ sandwich-size English muffins that held them.
Burgers ($12) at Seymour Burton — which occasionally flirt with greatness — are served, default, with Cheddar cheese and raw onions (and a side of fries), a decision that Josh Shuffman, the chef de cuisine, who has handled the day-to-day cooking since September, said was “the most and the least we needed to do for a burger.”
Seymour Burton
Address: 511 East Fifth Street, New York NY 10009 (East Village, at Avenue A)
Phone: 212-260-1333
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 10, 2008 at 10:30 AM
I'm probably going to get ripped by some of you out there who will say the following "burger" is not a burger, but I'm going to mention it anyway 'cause it's interesting.
Zach Brooks, our weekly Serious Sandwiches contributor at Serious Eats, paid a visit to a new vegetarian fast food joint in Midtown Manhattan for his blog, Midtown Lunch. The place is called Zen Burger, but don't let that fool you. It's not about hippie whole food; its mission is to re-create the experience of McDonald's but with meatless products—with veggie burgers, crispy "chicken" sandwiches, fried "shrimp," and more.
The owners have plans to snowball the concept into a nationwide chain, so within a few years there could be one opening near you. The next one is slated to open on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood later this year.
But don't look to the place as a diet panacea. Says Zach, "The food is not healthy, just healthier. 30 percent fewer calories than McDonald’s is still pretty fattening."
Zen Burger
Address: 465 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10017 (map)
Phone: 212-661-6080
Website: zenburger.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, January 3, 2008 at 6:30 PM
Grub Street reports under the headline "Shake Shocker: No Lunch Line on Opening Day" that there was no line at the Shake Shack today, despite this being the first day of its winter operation. I hope that's mock shock on Grub Street's part, because it's absolutely freezing today and nobody in his right mind would queue up for anything in this weather.
It also points to something larger I've thought about since it was reported that the Shack would remain open all year. In doing so, I think the Shake Shack loses part of its charm and appeal. Sure, the burgers will still be great, but part of what was so fun about the place was that annual opening on the first day of spring and all the stupid hype that surrounded it.
That is all. Oh, and Happy New Year!
Posted by Lauren Krueger, November 12, 2007 at 1:00 PM
Welcome to the world, Jimmy's Burger Shack. I'm Lauren, and I'm also new here. Hopefully, I'm doing a little better than you are.
For one thing, you're a lot sturdier than a shack (right).
We all know that combining burgers and the word "shack" brings drool to the corners of many a New Yorker's mouth, but that doesn't mean you should sling it around like that.
Small potatoes, I know; on to the food! Jimmy's serves mini burgers (beef, turkey, or veggie) on pillowy potato rolls. The mini burger, of which I was previously unaware, occupies the space on the burger spectrum between "slider" and "burger," hovering around the size of a slider but adorned like a full-sized burger. I'm making this up, but it's true.
My thoughts on the burgers themselves is that they're too big for the buns, and that if they were made smaller, they'd be too expensive at that price. Typically I am all about putting everything you can grab on a burger, but not on a mini. If you're going to be toppings mad, do it with a reasonable playing field. And I'm really sorry for eating Ed's grilled onion burger, both because he missed out and because I don't care that much for onions. They're OK if they're cooked, but not something I'd seek out most of the time. Out of two bleu cheesed mini burgers I ended up eating, neither one was worth ordering again. Why then, you ask, did I? I didn't! I ordered a regular burger with no cheese, and it came back bleu. Bleargh!
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Posted by Adam Kuban, November 1, 2007 at 8:28 PM
More info at Midtown Lunch, where the photo above comes from.
And, even more at NYC Eats.
Five Guys (Midtown)
Address: 43 West 55th Street, New York NY 10019
Phone: 212-459-9600
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 29, 2007 at 8:45 AM
It's only mentioned in passing, but this Q&A on real estate trade website Globe St. mentions that the California-based Fatburger is coming to Manhattan's Greenwich Village:
What we’re looking for mostly is a high-traffic environment where we can have good exposure and work with a relatively small footprint. Big-box centers with outparcels where we can get good exposures and get an endcap seem to be the dominant type of location that we’re looking at currently. That gets the traffic and gives us the visibility. Quite often those centers are built side by side with lifestyle centers. If we had to choose we would go with the way I just described. That’s not to say we can’t be successful in other venues. The other location that we think works well in urban settings is storefront retail where there is sufficient traffic driven by adjacent retail and nearby parking, or alternatively very high density, as would be the case in the Village.
Of course, if you can't wait for that location, there's always the Jersey City one, at 286 Washington Street.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 29, 2007 at 4:03 PM
Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine says:
Market Table, the new market-cum-restaurant from Little Owl's Joey Campanaro and Mike Price, is now open, and, based on one thoroughly enjoyable lunch shared with Serious Eats's Alaina Browne, is certainly worthy of attention. The burger, supposedly made with a mix of meat similar if not identical to the Shake Shack, is absolutely killer, though because it's charcoal-grilled and because its accompaniments—everything from the condiments, toppings, and bun—are completely different from Shake Shack's, you can't make a direct comparison.
Market Table's burger comes with gorgonzola cheese, bacon, and caramelized onions, which are the holy trinity of burger toppings, as far as I'm concerned. The house-made roll has just a little bit of crunch on the outside, and it may be the best hamburger bun in New York at the moment.
Ed brought back a half of a burger to the Serious Eats/AHT office on Friday, and, even though it was cold and a little worse for the trip back, it did taste damn good, even with the froufrou toppings.
The gimmick behind Market Table is that it's also a market, so you can buy the same meat that they make the burgers with. Ed picked up some of that, too. It was $18 for four pre-made patties that seemed to be about a third-pound in weight.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 10, 2007 at 8:08 AM
"Beef Aficionado" Nick has the story on his blog. A mixed review, but it's early still.
The patty had plenty of flavor and juice but just needed a little more fire. Despite some nice grill marks the surface was just a little light in color.The rest of the ingredients were wonderfully fresh however. With the line at Shake Shack being so absolutely incomprehensibly long these days (It is a great burger but I wouldn't wait for Kobe beef as long as some people wait for a burger) Goodburger is a viable alternative in the area. And I would argue that it is a comparable, albeit different burger vis a vis the Shack. Many I am sure will prefer the flame grilling cooking method, and I doubt the line will be as long.
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 8, 2007 at 12:21 PM
We mentioned it on AHT in passing a couple weeks ago, but today Grub Street is reporting more details on the new Pop Burger coming to Midtown Manhattan:
... come September a new outpost — three times the size of the current location — will take over all three stories of a building at 14 East 58th Street between Fifth and Madison Avenues, with the first floor dedicated to counter service; the second floor serving as a lounge decked out with speakers, projectors, a bar, a D.J. booth, and raw-oak paneling; and the third floor acting as a private party space with pool table.
While AHT founding editor Honey P. liked the Pop Burger we visited, I typically find the burgers there a bit dry and a bit overpriced.
Related: Pop Burger
Address: 14 East 58th Street, New York NY 10022 [map]
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 25, 2007 at 6:04 PM
Photograph from Midtown Lunch
Friend of AHT Zach Brooks highlights what he believes to be the best burger cart in Midtown Manhattan. Zach should know—he's the dude who does Midtown Lunch, the ultra-useful blog that directs Midtown desk jockeys to the best hidden spots in what's often thought to be a food wasteland.
Anyway, Zach says the best Midtown burger cart is Carnegie John's:
He cooks the burger perfectly medium rare, and I have heard more than one person say that if they had fries at this cart, the Burger Joint would be out of business (it’s a very short walk away). The burger does have a great flavor, and I think most of that is due to the fact that John cooks them on the same griddle where he cooks the sausage, and finishes them off on the same griddle where he cooks the steak, chicken and gyro.
The burgers at Carnegie John's are $3.50, $4 for a cheeseburger.
Carnegie John's
Address: 56th Street and Seventh Avenue
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 23, 2007 at 3:40 PM
New York magazine looks back at a year in burger-joint openings in the Big Apple. Resto takes top honors. Also on the list: Prune, Five Guys, Stand, Brgr, BLT Burger, The Stoned Crow, and Borough Food & Drink.
Posted by Adam Kuban, July 19, 2007 at 12:30 PM
The Rare B.E.T.: Winner of last night's burger recipe contest that Ed and I judged at.
Last night, Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine and I had a tough assignment—judging at a burger-recipe competition. Called "Between the Buns," the contest was hosted by Rare Bar & Grill in New York City. It was a promotion in which the joint's customers submitted a recipe for Rare to cook and send out to the panel of five judges (also on the panel were Sopranos star Jerry Adler, food writer Andrea Strong, and Jeanine Ramirez, Brooklyn reporter for local cable news station NY1).
Four finalists were winnowed down from 400 applicants. All burgers were thick eight-ounce patties. They were ...
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Posted by Adam Kuban, December 14, 2005 at 10:48 AM
Over on Slashfood, Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky writes about some exciting news in the world of tiny hamburgers. That news is the innovative approach that David Burke of Burke Bar brings to the grill. Here are the first mad, mad steps to Mr. Burke's method:
1) A miniature English muffin is sliced so that the bottom part is three times as thick as the top. This bottom part is then hollowed out.
2) The meat, of the finest Creekstone beef, is formed and placed inside the bottom bun. The bread now covers its whole upper hemisphere; the bottom hemisphere gets smashed into a hot griddle.
3) The meat juices cook into the bread. And there are a lot of meat juices: Creekstone produces some of the juiciest beef around, and I would be surprised if these burgers were more than 80% lean (Burke says they are.)
If that whets your appetite, click over to Slashfood for the details: The Slider Reinvented. If you're a belly-bomber fan, the read is well worth your time.
A Hamburger Today will be visiting Burke Bar tomorrow with none other than Mr. Cutlets. Look for a report (with juicy photos) soon.
BURKE BAR
Location: At the original Bloomingdale's store, 59th Street and Lexington, NYC
Getting There: 4/6 trains to 59th Street. Burke Bar has its own separate entrance on 59th Street.
The Slider Reinvented [Slashfood]
AHT on Sliders [AHT 'Tiny Hamburger' Archives]
Posted by Honey P., May 17, 2005 at 10:05 AM
Pop Burger is still as hot as ever with celebs. According to our fave gossip column, Page Six, Leo DiCaprio and Gisele Bundchen made a casual appearance there last Thursday. They were "chowing down at the counter," proving that beautiful people eat burgers too (at least mini ones). We'd kinda noticed Leo's consumption of something was up, but it's good to know he's chosen to get fat and old on burgers and Bundchen and nothing too notorious. While that would make for better gossip, we were satisfied to also read that comeback comedy king Bill Murray was simultaneously enjoying his time at the neon establishment chewing the fat with owner Roy Liebenthal. (And who can forget Mr. Murray—along with John Belushi and Gilda Radner—in the famous "Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger, Cheeseburger" sketch on Saturday Night Live?)
Posted by Adam Kuban, May 7, 2005 at 9:40 PM
NOTE: This location has closed, and the name "Lucky Burger" was purchased by new owners who have sinced revamped the menu and opened in Midtown.
NEW YORK CITY
Always keen on restaurants whose menus include nothing but burgers—Burger Joint, Blue 9, and Corner Bistro come to mind—I was thrilled to run across Lucky Burger on a recent Saturday in New York City's East Village while on my from purchasing a bicycle. (Pizza and hamburgers have started to take their toll on my waistline.) I vowed to return at a later date, unburdened by two-wheel conveyance.
At work the following Monday, I mentioned Lucky Burger to A Hamburger Today senior editor Honey P., who had heard good things about the place. "It's said that these guys strive to make the best burger and are very concerned about freshness." That sounded good, but I just couldn't make the time to hit the place up, and so for the rest of the week I dreamed about what goodness might lie ahead.
But when a friend and I finally made it to Lucky Burger, we couldn't have been more disappointed. Though a hand-lettered sign on the door read, "The best burger in town. No question. No doubt," they were anything but. First, there was an odd barbecue flavor to the burgers. At first, I thought it was only present in the special "Lucky Sauce." A taste of the concoction by itself confirmed this, but, breaking off a piece of the actual patty to taste alone, I noticed it there, too. Having grown up in Kansas City, I've got nothing but love for the BBQ, but I don't want it on my burger. And with the flavor infused in the meat at LB, there's no avoiding it.
Moreover, my friend and I found our patties dry and tough. Perhaps this was a function of not specifying our preferred doneness when ordering. Then again, shouldn't a place specializing in burgers ask you how you want them done? In trying Lucky Burger again, I'll be sure to make my request at order time. Still, it will do nothing to alleviate the strange barbecue flavor in this burger.
Breaking my own rule about not ordering fries when taste-testing burgers (that aforementioned expanding waistline prohibits it), my friend and I split an order of the golden crisp delectable potato product (left). They were very good, of the thick-cut, crinkly variety. Meaty yet light, and perfectly salted. Unfortunately, they don't begin to make up for the hamburgers here. After all, the place is not called Lucky Fries. With such a long build-up and so quick a let-down, I felt truly unlucky.
LUCKY BURGER
Location: 91 Avenue A, New York City NY 10009
Phone: 212-358-1079
Hours: Daily, 11 a.m. to 5 a.m.
Payment: Cash only
Short Order: Strange barbecue flavor in both special sauce and meat and dryness of patty left A Hamburger Today feeling anything but lucky.
Menu: Click here for offerings
Correction: The owner of Lucky Burger responds to our review, noting that barbecue sauce is not added to the burgers.
