"The craggy, salty crust is as thick as that on a prime steak and the impossibly juicy innards gush torrents all over the squishy bun."
HB Burger
127 West 43rd St New York 10036; map); 212-575-5848; hbburger.com Cooking Method: Griddled Short Order: Perfectly cooked juicy burger served on a potato roll. What's not to love? Want Fries with That? Potentially scrumptious home made tater tots failed to deliver—stale and tepid Price: Cheeseburger, $8
Thanks to Louis-Camille Maillard, we know why hamburgers are a compelling dish. Back in the 1910s, the French chemist and physician started researching amino acids and the way they react to sugars. The result of his research—called the Maillard reaction—was the discovery that when amino acids and sugars are made to react together (usually by heat) they release aromas and flavors as well as produce a browning effect similar to the non-enzymatic one that occurs during caramelization. This reaction does not so much intensify the taste of food as much as create whole new flavors and aromas. The reaction has been indispensable in our understanding of taste—indeed, it forms the foundation for the entire flavoring industry.
There has been some speculation that the browning of meat from searing—especially on lean white meats that contain very few of the reducing sugars required for the reaction—might not be the Maillard reaction at all, but rather a result of the "breakdown of tetrapyrrole rings of the muscle protein" (whatever that means). In defense of the notion that the Maillard reaction does occur during the cooking of high fat foods, such as the hamburger, I present the HB Burger—a hamburger so juicy, fatty, and toothsome, with possibly the best sear I have ever had on a patty that it could be used in place of a lengthy white paper dissertation to prove the point.
The La Cense Beef Burger Truck started serving up their grass-fed beef burgers today in Midtown, so Robyn and I ventured into the land of business suits to grab a bite at the latest food truck to hit the streets. Getting there just a little before noon and the lunch rush hour, there were only five people on line. By the time we left, around 12:30 p.m., the line was about forty deep and growing longer by the second. As Robyn was taking photos of the truck, she was approached by a P.R. woman who jumped the line and ordered burgers for us. Unfortunately, the burgers still took about ten minutes to get so cutting the line didn't really save us much time.
Chalk it up to the inefficient system inside the truck. There are two guys inside—one cooking the burgers, one handling the money and putting together the orders. With frequent glove changes and rookie mistakes like not having the already prepared food items wrapped in foil beforehand, service was understandably slow. Food truck aficionado Zach Brooks of Midtown Lunch has some suggestions on how they could improve their service.
55 Third Avenue, New York NY 10003 (b/n 10th & 11th; map); 212-420-9800; ctrnyc.com/THESMITH Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Sledgehammer execution compromises a hamburger that might be compromised anyway Want Fries with That? Included in price with but a case of quantity over quality Price: Bacon cheddar burger with the "works" and fries, $13
While I am generally a purist when it comes to hamburgers, preferring a simple preparation involving no more than salt, beef, cheese, and bread, I can appreciate the equally classic construction of a burger cast in the mode widely identified as Southern Californian—add lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, and special sauce to the above listed sandwich. At least when it is executed well. Applied sparingly and in proper proportion the additions can elevate beef and bun that are perhaps not of the highest quality to something greater than the sum of its parts. On the other hand, when applied with reckless abandon the result can be less than satisfying. Unfortunately that is what I experienced at The Smith when I recently sampled their burger.
That's right, Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays Hurley on ABC's Lost, is a huge, huge fan of P.J. Clarke's. On his blog, Dispatches from the Island, he says in a post titled "The Best. Period":
I know people have their favorite burgers out there. And that's great. But if you ever want the best. Go here.
If you get the burger there, get it how they make it. Just a plain cheeseburger. Don't put ketchup on it. Just take a bite. Trust me it doesn't need anything. The burger and bun will melt in your mouth.
299 Bowery New York 10003 (at 1st Street; map); 212-933-5300; danielnyc.com/dbgb.html Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Three variations on the burgers, the most simple of which is the winner, but the price of admission is relatively high Want Fries with That? Absolutely; golden, delicious and included in the price Price: Yankee Burger, $14 (bacon and cheese $2 each); Frenchie Burger, $17; Piggie Burger, $19
As someone who misspent the better part of their adolescents loitering outside the CBGB's hardcore matinees, I have misgivings about Daniel Boulud dubbing his latest downtown venture DBGB, but not about him opening his casual, "downmarket" restaurant in the neighborhood. Years ago "we"—the kids that hung around the New York hardcore music scene and lived in the neighborhood—would have met the arrival of a place like DBGB with suspicion bordering on hostility. It would be seen as an encroachment—an invasion even—of our urban dystopia. But the reality is that we actually cleared the way for the urban renewal projects, becoming the unwitting shock troops of the developer.
As surely as CBGB's was destined to close, so was it inevitable that a four-star chef would open a restaurant selling $16 six-ounce cheeseburgers on the Bowery. I don't have a problem with that—I have come to embrace many of the effects of gentrification, my nostalgia aside. But assuming the moniker DBGB sticks in my craw a bit, despite being a rather clever name. It feels like cultural misappropriation, as if the goal is to give the venture some unwarranted (and unnecessary) street credibility. The fact is that there is virtually no connection between the Bowery that was and the Bowery that is. But enough sentimentality.
New York City's Burger of the Month Club appeared on The Today Show on Sunday. Anchor Jenna Wolfe joined the group of seven at Royale to learn more about the club and eat her first burger in five years. Watch the video after the jump.
Burger of the Month has teamed up with their favorite burger joints in New York City to bring you these special deals when you order a burger, such as a free bottle of steak sauce at Peter Lugers or a free beer at Primehouse NY.
Tomorrow, June 10, food historian Andrew F. Smith, author of Hamburger: A Global History, will be giving a talk at Lily's Restaurant from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. accompanied by a burger tasting. Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door. For tickets, call 212-339-2097 or email ulrika@rogersmith.com. 501 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10017 (at 47th Street; map)
This week Serious Eats New York editor Erin Zimmer reviews Watty & Meg in Brooklyn and tries their grass-fed cheeseburger. I ate dinner with her that night to join in on the burgery goodness...and take photos. Autopsy shot after the jump.
Choo Choo's in Astoria, Queens, is holding their 3rd Annual Burger Eating Contest this Saturday, June 6, at 2 p.m. Eat as many burgers as you can in five minutes and victory might be yours. The prize is yet to be determined, but hey, you get free burgers!...and indigestion. Download an entry form at choochoousa.com.
233 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10003 (enter on 19th St., b/n. Irving Place & Park Ave. S.; map); 212-979-7800; angelo-maxies.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Big flame grilled steakhouse-style burger served on ill suited brioche type bun achieves a certain synergy but fall short of greatness Want Fries with That? Comes with superb cottage fries; shoe string fries available for $1 more are also good Price: Cheeseburger with cottage fries, $11.95; Kobe Burger with truffle butter and cottage fries, $14.95
I had an Apple iPhone for about a week. I loved the slick interface, the brilliant screen, the Safari browser, and the industrial design of the device, not to mention all the great software available through the app store. But as a telephone I found it dropped an inordinate number of calls, and as an email/SMS device its lack of both copy and paste and a physical keyboard made it a less than optimum choice for my needs. I soon returned the phone and went back to Windows Mobile, a platform that is far more customizable and, despite its flaws, I've been using for almost eight years. Since I was so impressed with the iPhone's non-telephonic functions, I picked up the iPod Touch. Most of the apps that I enjoyed on the iPhone work with it and when I travel away from home I can use it with a nifty little program that runs on my Windows phone and turns it in to a Wi-Fi router.
One of my favorite program from the app store is Urban Spoon. The application resembles a slot machine with three wheels representing neighborhood, cuisine, and price (indicated by a varying number of $ signs). Since you can lock each of the wheels to narrow down your choice, I naturally locked burgers in the "cuisine" setting while leaving "neighborhood" and "price" open. The app works off the location services feature of the iPhone/iPod Touch platform so even if you leave "neighborhood" unlocked it will find you restaurants within close proximity to your location.
You can either hit the shake button or, by using the iPod Touch's built-in accelerometer, just shake the device to set the wheels spinning. I shook my iPod with more vigor than was probably required, but once the dials stopped spinning they came up with Blue 9, which was indeed a nearby burger spot but one I had already reviewed. I shook again—Shake Shack. A great burger but again, one I had already reviewed. Another shake and Molly's Pub came up, also reviewed here by Adam. While the application works as advertised, it doesn't factor in the needs of burger bloggers. On my fourth try I hit the jackpot—well, not exactly, but I did come up with a place I had not reviewed: Maxie's Bar & Grill.
I had some drinks at the Double Down Saloon last week, but somehow the sign in the window completely eluded me. Walking down Avenue A yesterday I noticed that they are offering free burgers after 3 a.m. Have any you tried them? You know what they say about free things, but on the other hand we are talking about burgers here. Of course, one should remember the Double Down's only rule: "You puke, you clean."
Double Down Saloon
14 Avenue A, New York NY 10009 (b/n Houston and 2nd Street; map)
212-982-0543 doubledownsaloon.com
This week Ed Levine reviews Bar Artisanal in Tribeca and tries their lamb burger. A lamb burger may not fit the definition of what we usually review at AHT, but when we told the chef that we had ordered the regular burger, he insisted that we had to try the lamb burger instead. Ed explains that the burger is made with "ground American lamb shoulder mixed with Salumeria Biellese's merguez" and has a "molten goat cheese center." Autopsy shot after the shot.
433 East 6th Street, New York NY 10009 (b/n Avenue A and 1st Avenue; map); 212-388-0882; deathandcompany.com
Please Don't Tell
113 St Marks Place, New York NY 10009 (b/n Avenue A and First Avenue; map);
212-614-0386; pdtnyc.com
It used to be that if you wanted a drink in the East Village it would be served by a beefy Slavs with meat hooks for hands and was invariably a shot of something from the well, chased by a soapy domestic beer. Later on, the bartenders become pretty tattooed girls or aging singers from punk rock bands, and the liquor options widened, featuring offerings from a higher shelf and beers from foreign countries. Somewhere along the line the bartender morphed into the mixologist—now young men in tight waist coats sling exotic cocktails in dimly lit bars.
You can still find the first type of bar in the East Village, but to experience the truly avante garde you need to seek out the new breed of cocktail lounge that have sprung as of late. Death & Co. and Please Don't Tell (PDT) are two of the best example of these, and coincidentally they both serve food. Even better, both of their menus feature hamburgers.
Death & Co.
Located on East 6th Street, Death & Co. operates on a first-come, first-served basis and accepts no reservations. Assuming that there is room, you will be led through the heavy wooden door and through the heavy drapes leading into the dark, wood-paneled confines of the room that is not unlike the interior of a coffin. I am sure that the mid-20 to 30-year-old hipsters that frequent the joint have no problem reading the menu in the candlelight, but to my aging eyes the fine print is hard to decipher. When I have to pull out my mobile phone and bathe the menu in its blue glow to read it properly, I begin to feel like one of those geezers in the Owl Wallet Light infomercial.
The menu has some interesting options such as short rib empanadas, lamb quesadilla, bacon-wrapped filet mignon (a waste of good bacon in my opinion) and Kobe Sliders 2 Ways. I asked the bartender—I mean mixologist—for the most milkshake-like cocktail to go with the Kobe sliders that I order and he recommends something from the flips section: cocktails blended with organic egg. I expect to like the Pit Stop Flip the best, a frothy concoction featuring Lairds bonded applejack and maple syrup spiked with nutmeg, but find the cinnamon-infused Jack Sparrow more to my liking.
In Ed Levine's weekly review on Serious Eats New York, he heads to Greek restaurant Kefi on Manhattan's Upper West Side. You might expect a lamb burger or some such there, but it's a beef burger that has some brisket in the mix, "for moistness," one of the folks there said.
As Ed says, "It's tasty enough, with its manouri cheese and sun-dried-tomato topping, but give me Psilakis' killer lamb burger and chickpea fries at Anthos any day."
Ladies and germs, welcome to the AHT delivery showdown. This is an elimination bout for the NYC Delivery Belt. In the red corner, weighing in at 7 ounces of flame-broiled goodness, fighting out of Union Square, is Goodburger! And the opponent in the blue corner, weighing in at a reported 8 ounces of flame-broiled beefiness, fighting out of Greenwich Village, give it up for Stand! Scoring will be on the 10-point mustard system, where the winner of the round is awarded 10 points and the loser 9 or fewer. And now, let's get ready to sizzle...
Goodburger
870 Broadway, New York NY (17th/18th; map); 212-529-9100; goodburgerny.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: A nicely balanced juicy burger travels well and fulfills the promise of flame-grilling Want Fries with That? No, soggy and tepid Price: Cheeseburger, $6.75; fries, $2.50; shakes, $5.50 Notes: Delivery, 10 a.m. to 11 p.m., 7 days
Stand
4 E. 12th Street, New York NY (Fifth Ave/University; map); 212-488-5900; standburger.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: High-quality beef somewhat hampered by a cloying ketchup Want Fries with That? Not for delivery, probably better in restaurant Price: Cheeseburger $10; fries, $3; shake, $6 Notes: Delivery, 12 to 11:30 p.m., 7 days
Getting a hamburger delivered is not ideal. It is obviously far better eaten moments after it's scooped off the grill or griddle, slapped down on a bun, and deposited in front of you. Wrap it in foil, wax paper or shovel it into a cardboard box, and throw it into a plastic bag before taking it on a bumpy bicycle ride through Manhattan's potholed streets and your chances of achieving burger perfection go down exponentially by the block—the patties cool, cheese congeals, lettuce wilts and buns become soggy.
But of course there are times when you have no choice but to get delivery because you are too hungover, because it's pouring rain outside, because you are waiting for a delivery or because you are just too damn lazy to go out. As it turns out I recently found myself fulfilling all of these conditions and decided to pit Stand and Goodburger, two of my neighborhoods dedicated burger spots, in a head-to-head delivery battle.
Yes, we've seen the story. Thanks to everyone who emailed us the link. Would have had it up on the site earlier in the day, but AHT editor Robyn Lee is out, leaving a skeleton crew to run this here burger boat.
Every month on a Monday, eight New York City guys have gotten together to rate a different burger. They've been doing it since the summer of 2005. And they have a site, burgerrankings.com, which is down as of today (May 6) due to all the traffic the Times is sending its way.
174 Fifth Avenue, New York 10010 (22nd/23rd streets; map); 212-675-5096; eisenbergsnyc.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: This circa 1929 lunch counter offers a decent burger in a pinch, but it's probably not worth traveling too far out of the way for Want Fries with That? No, they are generic steak fries; the generic onion rings are only marginally better but still not worth your time Price: Cheeseburger, $7; cheeseburger deluxe, $8.50
"At Eisenberg's eating a cheeseburger," read my Facebook friend's status update. "How is it?" I posted on his comment, to which he replied, "Not bad." I might have left it at that had I not recently watched Anthony Bourdain on TV enjoy a tuna sandwich and lime Ricky at the circa-1929 sandwich shop located in the Flatiron District; he promised me a nostalgic sojourn replete with "1970s prices." He was right about the nostalgia, but I doubt the cheeseburger cost $7 here in the 1970s, if they even sold them.
Eisenberg's Sandwich Shop is one of the last of the great lunch counters that once dotted the city. It is a literal hole in the wall, occupying a thin sliver of real estate on Fifth Avenue and serving a throwback menu that includes egg creams and pastrami sandwiches.
Every Monday in May, Irving Mill is offering Ryan Skeen's burger, a Pint of Sixpoint's Bengali Tiger, and a cocktail with Hornitos Reposado tequila for only $15. Prune is serving their burger with a Bloody Mary for $15 on Monday through Friday nights, 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. Related:Irving Mill's Flap-Meat Burger
May 1 marks my one year anniversary of reviewing hamburgers for AHT. During the past 12 months I have reviewed almost 60 hamburgers, mostly in New York City, but also in New Jersey, Long Island, Washington D.C., Connecticut, Los Angeles, and London, England. Despite publishing that many posts I must admit that I still get a tingle of excitement when, at 10 a.m. on Tuesday morning my review goes live and I get to see how the final layout looks.
My appetite for burgers has not waned in the least—far from it. In fact, at the first pang of hunger my first instinct is to eat a hamburger, an impulse I have to deny as I am fighting a losing battle with a rapidly expanding middle aged spread. These days I try to limit myself to a single hamburger per week.
After sifting through my posts, I now bring you an overview of my year in hamburgers.
Editor's note: New York City-based AHT reader Frank Luciano shares his review with us today out of a love for eating burgers (he has a list of over 80 places in the city to hit) and a lack of outlets for getting burger recommendations out to the masses. Hopefully he'll have more reviews to come!
Waterfront Ale House
540 2nd Avenue New York, NY 10016 (at 30th Street; map); 212-696-4104; waterfrontalehouse.com Short Order: Delicious burger, perfectly cooked and place on a bun with just the right amount of bounce in its step Want Fries with That? You better believe it. Can't go wrong either way you choose with waffle fries and hand cut sweet potato fries on the menu Price: Hamburger (comes with fries), $11.95; toppings, $1 each Notes: Make sure to check out the Wild Selections, the wings, and the always interesting beer list. The French Dip is almost as good as the burger here
Unless you’re a recent college graduate, there’s a good chance you consider heading into Manhattan’s Murray Hill/Kips Bay neighborhood as on par with visiting the plains of South Dakota. However, hidden away on the border of these badlands, just outside the shadows of the Bellevue and NYU Medical Centers, is one of the city’s top beer halls and burger joints. Waterfront Ale House has been proudly proclaiming “warm beer, lousy food and an ugly owner” since 1989 and while it's certainly not as well known as some of the big guns, it quickly becomes a favorite of all who step through the front door.
Walking in from Second Avenue, the bar is set up railroad-style with a large yet slightly dark front room, narrowed by tables on your left and a long bar on the right, and a more open back room set for sit down dining. A self-serve popcorn machine makes fresh popped kernels round the clock and the multiple televisions make it a suitable spot for watching games or just chatting with friends. Waterfront has over 20 beers flowing from their taps (including a seasonal rotation) and many more unique names in bottles and small batch alcohols—it’s obvious in more than name where the Ale House places its priorities.
Posted by Nick Solares, April 21, 2009 at 10:15 AM
"Unfortunately there is one major flaw in the design of the hamburger at Great Jones..."
Great Jones Cafe
54 Great Jones Street, New York NY 10013; (b/n Bowery and Lafayette; map); 212-674-9304; greatjones.com Cooking Method: Broiled Short Order: Outstanding beef, perfectly seasoned and cooked, hampered by sugary bun. Go for the mini burgers: same beef, better bread Want Fries with That? Absolutely. Both the regular and the spicy sweet potato varieties are great Price:Cheeseburger, $10.95; fries, $1.75; sweet potato fries, $2.75
The Great Jones Cafe opened just off the Bowery way back in 1983. The neighborhood was quite different back then—the cafes, restaurants, and boutiques that line the Bowery were but a developer's wet dream and the area was widely considered a rather seedy part of town with its flophouses, dive bars, and the legendary CBGB's. With the latter now shuttered Great Jones Cafe represents one of the few remaining links to a very different era, one that existed under dire economic circumstances but at the same time produced vibrant art, music, and fashion scenes. Thankfully, Great Jones remains unchanged, despite the gentrification that has gone on around it. It remains what it always was—a great neighborhood joint serving honest American food.
The decor is unpretentiously kitschy yet spartan, the jukebox still plays vinyl records (remember those?), and you have got to love a place that paints its hamburger menu on the walls.
Posted by Nick Solares, April 15, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Clockwise from top: Flip, City Burger, Black Iron
The New York Times'Oliver Schwaner-Albright weighs in on three burgers for under $25 in New York City, two that use beef from Pat La Frieda—Flip and City Burger—and one—Black Iron Burger—that used to but has now switched to "a less vaunted supplier." His findings are closely aligned with ours here at AHT.
He found City Burger at its best to be "bloody, juicy and rich. It was a porterhouse in a bun," he says, but notes that on a subsequent visit it was over cooked, mirroring the inconsistency that I noted in my City Burger review. He liked Black Iron Burger far more than I did but still found it "maddeningly inconsistent" and notes the burgers can be underseasoned. As for Flip, Schwaner-Albright finds it pricey, as did our own Robyn Lee, but is more concerned with the tyranny of choices. My advice? Keep it simple—the point of the article was at least partially that the "meat is the star." Why am I not surprised that "Japanese-beef blend on a cherry pepper and asiago bun with pesto and mozzarella" failed to impress?
One particular point of interest raised in the piece is an important distinction between the Black Label served at Minetta Tavern and what is now called the City Black Blend served at City burger. I placed a late night call to Pat La Frieda Jr. who confirmed that the Minetta Tavern blend uses rib-eye as the dry aged component as opposed to the New York strip used in the City Black.
5 East 51st Street, New York NY 10022 (b/n Madison and 5th; map); 212-759 4730; primeburger.com Cooking Method: Broiled Short Order: Classic 1960s décor and effusive service do not compensate for a hamburger that is past its prime. The modern palate asks, "Where's the beef?" Want Fries with That? No, no you don't Price: Cheeseburger, $5.95; fries, $3.75; onion rings, $4.50
I can't have it both ways. I love to wallow in nostalgia and I love a hamburger that has remained unchanged for decades. But I also love what the hamburger renaissance has brought us in terms of custom hamburger blends. Increasingly I tend to find that our contemporary vision of the hamburger—our expectations regarding meat-to-bun ratios and the quality and cut of the beef itself—tends to render even cherished and revered institutions passé. I found this when I tried Bob's Big Boy a few weeks back: The burger was too heavily balanced in favor of the bread. This is not surprising considering the Big Boy sandwich was conceived in the days when skinny two to three ounces were the norm. But obviously in this day and age we have become accustomed to bigger burgers with more emphasis placed on the beef itself.
Prime Burger, a decades-old diner that I want to love for its food, suffers from a similar malady: The patty is so skinny that it is in danger of being obscured by the cheese. But Prime Burger has other charms: service that hearkens back to a more genteel era (the waiters still wear white coats); decor that has remained unchanged since at least the mid 1960s, including a unique seating scheme dubbed "the track"; and to top it all off, a James Beard Award.
Terminal 5, JFK Airport, Jamaica NY 11430 (map); otgmanagement.com Cooking Method: Griddled and broiled Short Order: Classic 10-ounce steakhouse burger in an unexpected place Want Fries with That? Yes, regular fries are good but so are the thick truffled variety. Home made potato chips are also available Price: Cheeseburger with choice of fries, $17 Notes: Open from 11 a.m until the last flight leaves the terminal. Accessible to ticketed passengers only
Last week I complained about the lack of decent food—particularly hamburgers—in airports, specifically in Burbank. In fact, I had to venture outside of that airport to satisfy my craving for a breakfast burger, ending up at Bob's Big Boy. I liked the sandwich just fine at Bob's, but found it a bit too bready.
About six hours later I arrived at JFK Airport in New York and decided to try to redress the imbalance. I headed straight for 5ive Steak located in the swank new Terminal 5. While I would normally head home from the airport—I mean, who eats in an airport when they have a choice?—I was curious about 5ive Steak since flying into Terminal 5 on its first day and perusing the menu. Since 5ive Steak is situated behind the security checkpoint the only way to dine there is to fly Jet Blue, something I had cause to do last week.
5ives Steak is located in the main food court of the thoroughly modern Terminal 5. The menu is a contemporary steakhouse affair—think Dylan Prime or Primehouse New York rather than Peter Luger—with prime steaks served along dishes a bit more evolved than creamed spinach and hash browns, such as a large seafood selection and lots of dishes with truffle oil. The burger at 5ive Steak shares more than a passing resemblance to the one served at Primehouse. That is a good thing. I may not be the biggest fan of over-sized burgers, but the one at 5ive Steak makes a compelling case for them. Clocking in at a meaty beaty big and bouncy 10 ounces of custom beef from Pat La Frieda, this is one big hamburger. Forget about getting one to go and attempting to board a plane with it unless you want to take it on as luggage.
Time Out New Yorklive-blogged its Eat Out Awards last night. Taking best new burger was Five Napkin Burger in Hell's Kitchen: "Fans of the ground-beef patty, take note: 5 Napkin Burger earned the [award] for its veritable juice bomb on a bun. Readers preferred it over Black Iron Burger, City Burger, and Petey’s. Explained the 5 Napkin guys, 'It's not a new burger, it's an old burger. It comes with fries, that's why it's $15.'"
In his latest New York City restaurant review, Ed Levine reviews the double patty burger and sliders from Halfsteak:
Anything between two pieces of bread should be avoided here: the sliders ($6.50) were dry and mealy, as was the burger ($11.50). Neither patty had the slightest bit of internal moisture.
505 West 23rd Street, New York NY (at Tenth Avenue; map); 212-462-4300; thehalfking.com The Short Order: A good eight-ounce pub-style burger on a nice, squishy bun. Made of sirloin, so not as juicy as its hefty patty would have you believe. Comes "deluxe"—with lettuce, tomato, onion, and half-sour pickle—and a side of fries Want Fries with That? They come with the burger; ours weren't great Price: $12
It all started with an email exchange that began a few months ago:
---------------
AHT,
Had a fantastic burger at the Half King yesterday. You are right in the nabe and should stop in.
—BHG
---------------
BHG,
Will have to re-check it out. I've always enjoyed it (used to go with coworkers in my old job when I worked on 26th and 11th). Just never had sufficient lighting to shoot the damn burger there. Thanks for the nudge!
Chars,
Adam
---------------
Hey,
Still waiting for you to hop down to the Half King for one awesome burger, great fries, and an addictive chipotle dipping sauce.
—BHG
Despite its seeming heft, the double-decker construction is actually a boon for aficionados of thinner, crisper patties. The beauty of the double, some say, is that the top patty effectively bastes the bottom one with its juicy drippings. And with half the bread, doubles are typically less filling (and less conspicuously gluttonous— well, maybe) than two singles.
A Midtown Lunch reader reports that the Five Guys in Midtown raised their prices for the second time in the last year—80 cents for fries and 30 to 40 cents for burgers. "Burger and Fries now is $12 (including tax) up from $11 which is still crazy.”
Posted by Nick Solares, March 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"Clarified butter is drizzled on top of the patty and copious amounts of salt and pepper are added throughout the cooking process. This is one pampered burger."
In the months before Minetta Tavern re-opened under the auspices of Keith Mcnally and chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr it seemed that there was almost as much focus on the possibility of the restaurant serving the Black Label burger as on its renovation and other menu items. Since its opening last week, the hype has only intensified—virtually every account of the place mentions the Black Label burger.
Not that it was inevitable that the blend would be served at Minetta Tavern. Hanson and Nasr literally tried a dozen different blends from New York's top meat purveyors, including four different ones from La Frieda alone. Nasr recalls one tasting in which a large table at Balthazar—one of the duo's other wildly popular restaurants—was completely covered in bisected burgers. So many, in fact, that the exercise required notes like a wine tasting. But once the results were tabulated it was clear that the Black Label from La Frieda was far ahead of its competitors.
Posted by Nick Solares, March 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM
The official start of spring may be at the end of the week, but the recent warm weather has meant that the lines at the Shake Shack in Madison Square Park have begun to lengthen. It might be a good time to start checking the trusty Shack Cam via the Shake Shack website
Speaking of the Shake Shack website, it recently announced that the Shack's third location at the newly mined Citi Field is set to open April 13.
Posted by Nick Solares, March 13, 2009 at 12:30 PM
Josh Ozersky and I have a friendly rivalry. He refers to me as the "second best meat writer in NY" and as a "Cutlet's Cadet" while I have rechristened him Nosh Absurdsky and claim that I write about food and he about salacious restaurant gossip. But I must give credit where credit is due—the video of his interview and blind tasting on Always Hungry is absolutely superb. Josh expounds on the definition of a hamburger as well as conducts a blind test of some of the New York City's top rated burgers. His strict orthodoxy is music to my ears, but may ruffle the feathers of some of our readers. Watch the video at Always Hungry.
If you love stuffing your face in the name of a free meal, you might want to try the “Hulk” Steak Burger Challenge at Ottomanelli Brothers in East Harlem. Finish their 24-ounce steak burger, fries, and a 20-ounce soda within 20 minutes to get a free lunch on your next visit. New York Times blog City Room follows three men as they take a stab at the challenge. [Tip o' the hat to Barry Popik]
Yvo of Feisty Foodie was initially annoyed when her Ultimate Stuffed Burger ($10.99 with fries or salad, and soda) from Burger Burger in the Financial District appeared to be missing barbecue sauce and cheddar cheese, but as she ate it she realized the cheese and barbecue sauce were stuffed inside the patty, along with bacon. Although she gave the burger a thumbs up, she took issue with the burger's doneness and its impact on the cheesy filling:
The inside was medium rare, but this meant the cheese didn't melt and instead I had little cubes of cheese in my mouth and sandwich that would have been that much better had they been melted, oozing into the patty and each other. So it would probably have been best to skip asking me how I want my burger and in the case of the stuffed one, just serve it properly cooked.
This is related to the reason I don't like stuffed burgers: I prefer my burgers medium rare, but in a stuffed burger that would result in non-gooey cheese filling. However, to get gooey cheese the meat has to be cooked past medium rare. I suppose with a stuffed burger it's better to go with the overcooked meat than cubes of cheese.
Burger Burger
77 Pearl Street, New York NY 10004 (at Coenties Alley; map)
212-269-9100 burgerburgerny.com
"... a preposterous statement in light of the fact that we live in a universe that has Kobe and USDA Prime beef in it."
Organique
110 E 23rd Street, New York NY 10010 (b/n Lexington and Park Ave S; map); 212-674-2229; organiqueonline.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: All-natural organic burger served on a whole wheat bun. It's far better than it should be but is still hard to recommend, given the price Want Fries with That? They serve "air-baked" potatoes that they call fries. I didn't dare try them Price: $7.95
I can think of no concept more abhorrent than that of a "healthy" hamburger. To try to make a burger healthier and leaner is to abrogate what a hamburger is—a highly processed and refined food. It is quite the opposite of the agrarian, organic, back-to-the-land idealism of the contemporary local-food movement. The hamburger, which began to manifest itself in the American culinary zeitgeist during the first half of the last century, is by its very nature a reflection of the post-industrial modern age. It is a physical manifestation of one of the great organizing principles of the last century—commoditization.
I am thus highly skeptical that an organic burger using grass-fed beef and a whole wheat bun could even approach what a hamburger should be, let alone actually be edible. I admit I was expecting the burger at Organique to be laughably inferior. I imagined a dry, leathery hockey puck of a patty and a completely inadequate bun. In defiance of expectations, or indeed perhaps because of them, what I ended up eating was perfectly adequate. And I say that not as a back-handed compliment but in admiration of the way Organique has turned something fundamentally anti-nutritious into something you could at least convince yourself is somewhat nourishing.
James, the man behind The Eaten Path, visits Burger Joint in the Parker Meridien and walks out with a scathing take on the place:
As I made my way through the burger, however, the illusion began to slip from my senses. I took another look around and noticed the details of the decor: a Heroes promotional poster was followed by Indiana Jones and the Legend of the Crystal Skull, posted alongside a stock second-era blowup of the Ramones. These tossed off splashes of popular culture continued their dance all the way around the dining room, ironically revealing in their placement just how carefully this "joint" had been planned. New York has a way of packaging "home" as a commodity and pricing it as a special occasion, and this meal, planted in the heart of Midtown Manhattan and shrouded by perfectly articulated mystique on the grounds of one of the neighborhood’s prominent luxury hotels, was, in fact, an illusion. It was a tasty illusion but an illusion all the same—after all, I don’t remember having ever paid $7 for a burger grilled in my backyard.
While James' postings on The Eaten Path are uniformly thoughtful and insightful—this one, too—I think he misses the point here. I'm not quite sure the place is really supposed to feel like "home." I've always thought Burger Joint has worn the trappings of a 1970s suburban rec room with a bit of a smirk.
How could Burger Joint, with a straight face, possibly try to convince you it's recreating "home" when it's inside the lux interior of the Meridien? I think the point exactly is that it is out of place there.
And it's not like the place feels any more comfortable for its homey atmosphere—not with the anxiety you feel about getting a table and the pressure you feel to eat and leave quickly as patrons hover for a seat.
Posted by Adam Kuban, February 24, 2009 at 12:45 PM
What you'll be in for at the new place we're about to blab about just below. This autopsy shot is from the Rare Bar & Grill on Bleecker Street.
I'm pretty jazzed about this one, since this is about two blocks away from the AHT office. The New York Postis reporting that the owner of Rare Bar & Grill has leased a 4,000-square-foot space in the new Wyndham Hotel on 26th between Sixth and Seventh.
If you're familiar with the Rare location at the Shelburne Hotel (Lexington and 37th), owner Douglas Boxer says in the paper, the new place will be like that—different styles of burgers using different types of meat.
At 26th and Seventh, Brgr is near the site of this hotel and upcoming giganto burger joint. If Rare can match it for price, Brgr will have something to worry about.
Posted by Nick Solares, February 24, 2009 at 10:30 AM
People are always asking me what the best burger is in New York City. I respond that since I have not eaten every burger in the Big Apple I could not possibly know. When the question is re-phrased to which burger is my favorite burger I still have a hard time answering, but it usually revolves around Shake Shack, JG Melon, or the La Frieda Black Label at City Burger. Conversely, no one ever asks me which the worst or which is the most average burger I have tried in the city. Even though no one asked, I am going to tell you anyway. I will get to the worst in a moment, but let's start in the middle.
Coopertown Diner
Coopertown Diner
339 1st Ave, New York NY 10003 (b/n 19th & 20th St; map); 212-677-7811 Cooking Method: Flame broiled Short Order: Average diner serving average burger Want Fries with That? Not unless you are hungry—average frozen fries Price: Averagely priced: Cheeseburger, $5.20; Deluxe, $7.85 Notes: Did I mention just how average this burger is?
Coopertown Diner is as good example of a Greek diner as you will find. It dates back to 1984, which in automobile terms makes it a classic. Of course, there are plenty of cars that may be a quarter century old, but will never be considered true classics simply because they happen to be uninspired and mundane. That pretty much describes the hamburger at Coopertown Diner. There is nothing really wrong with the burger here—fresh ground chuck (delivered to the diner in patty form) is flame broiled and served on a generic, lightly seeded bun. Get it deluxe and you receive a heaping portion of frozen fries, some pale looking rabbit food, and a couple of onion rings that curiously come served on top of the burger.
Today, upscale build-your-own burger joint Flip opened its first location in Bloomingdale's flagship store in New York City. Three of us Serious Eaters headed to Midtown East during our lunch break to bring you a quick look at their burgers.
But first, you have to find Flip. Since it was the first day of operation, there were no signs to guide us to its location, which was tucked in a corner near what looked like an errant an escalator in the mid-level of the lower level men's department. Huh? If you get lost, just ask an employee for help. It's not marked by much aside from the "Wait to Be Seated" sign, although by the time you reach that sign you would have already noticed the seats.
Corey Kilgannon of the New York Times attended the grand opening of Hollis Famous Burgers and the Hollis Hip Hop Museum. The museum is a new addition to the burger joint, which opened last year. While waiting for their burgers, customers can view over 100 items on the walls from local rap legends, like Run-DMC, Ja Rule, LL Cool J, and Irv Gotti, the founder of hip-hop record company Murder Inc. [Tip o' the hat to Barry Popik]
Posted by Robyn Lee, February 18, 2009 at 10:00 AM
In his latest New York City restaurant review, Ed Levine reviews the burger from Txikito. He says:
The truly delicious if untraditional (it's not served in the Basque region of Spain) Txikito burger ($11) features two thin patties of well-marbled (20 percent fat) freshly ground chuck cooked a la plancha (on a flat-top griddle); melted Idiazábal, a smoked Basque sheep's milk cheese; a special sauce that according to Alex is half mayo and half creme fraiche-based with pickled guindilla peppers, pickled onions, and cornichon, all on Tom Cat Bakery bread. Wholly untraditional but seriously delicious.
Posted by Nick Solares, February 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"The burger is a big, bawdy-looking affair. You can hoist it with one hand, but good luck in eating it that way; it definitely requires both of your mitts to tame."
Wildwood Barbecue
225 Park Avenue South, New York NY 10016 (at 18th Street; map); 212-533-2500; website Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Impressive flame-grilled burger in the vein of Blue Smoke using a custom La Frieda blend Want Fries with That? Heavens no, get the superb chips instead Price: $11.50
When it comes to barbecue and hamburgers the methods of preparation could not be more drastically different, nor could the culinary zeitgeist that the cherished foods represent. Barbecue requires the fabled low and slow technique to make cheap, tough cuts of meat palatable. It is a cuisine born of austerity and hardship and is arguably one of the few authentic American styles of cooking. It is reflective of an agrarian, preindustrial age when time was not strictly metered and one could wait until the brisket was good and ready.
Hamburgers are quite the opposite: They require rapid, violent, searing over high heat and are born of the urban, post-industrial age, whose unifying principle is laissez faire capitalism and in which the pace of life is breakneck. Despite their appearances as seemingly disparate threads, barbecue and burgers are actually deeply entwined in the tapestry of American life and, perhaps surprisingly, they are both finding high expression in the center of the most cosmopolitan of cities: New York.
New York Times food critic Frank Bruni eats at New York City burger favorites Corner Bistro and the Upper West Side Shake Shack in the same day, with Shake Shack being the home of the better burger. The Corner Bistro's nine-ounce patty had "dull flavor, and was flabby through and through, with no crispness whatsoever on the edges," while the Shake Shack burger's thinner patties "weren’t dried-out or tough in the least, and they were loaded with beefy, fatty flavor."
The Philippines' most popular fast food chain, Jollibee, is opening its first East Coast location this Saturday in Woodside, Queens. Serious Eats contributor Joe DiStefano mentioned the Jollibee opening on our New York site but didn't say too much about the burgers. According to its website, there are six burgers to choose from:
Amazing Aloha: two beef patties, bacon, cheese, lettuce, and a slice of pineapple Cheesy Bacon Mushroom: two beef patties, bacon, mushrooms, and cheese Champ: third-pound patty, lettuce, tomato, and cheddar Yum! with Cheese: single patty with cheese and special dressing Yum! with TLC: single patty with tomato, lettuce, cheese, and special dressing Yum!: single patty with special dressing
Posted by Nick Solares, February 10, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"Try to resist the impulse to press down on the patties with a spatula while they're cooking. This not only presses the juices right out of them, it compresses the meat, and that combination defeats the point of everything you've done up until this point" —Kenny Shopsin
Stage Restaurant
128 Second Avenue, New York 10003; map); 212-473-8614 Cooking Method: Griddled Short Order: A potentially great hamburger ruined by being pressed into the griddle with merciless force Want Fries with That?Not available. Choice of home fries or boiled or mashed potatoes Price: Cheeseburger, $4.40; $5.70, deluxe
Stage Restaurant occupies a tiny sliver of real estate next to the seemingly eternal and infernal production of Stomp. When the show lets out the crowd that spills onto Second Avenue virtually obscures the little diner's entrance from view, the only indication that it exists being the weather-worn sign that hangs above the storefront. The sign is very useful because it indicates that the Stage is not only a restaurant but one that serves food, specifically dairy and meat. Despite the fact that it looks about 50 years old, Stage actually dates to 1980. The room is a classic lunch counter with an open kitchen facing the only seats available—a tidy row of stools. The interior is worn to a dull patina, and the menu, despite some expected price hikes, is as classic as the place—Polish comfort foods (pierogis, blintzes, stuffed cabbage) are listed along traditional American diner fare—eggs, sandwiches, and hamburgers.
I immediately sensed the potential for a great hamburger when I walked into Stage and plopped down on one of the stools as close to the griddle as possible. The place just exudes the aura of a wellspring for burger perfection. It is thoroughly nondescript, completely utilitarian in form and function, and, despite the ascension of the surrounding neighborhood to bourgeoisie-dom, it remains thoroughly rooted in the past. It is perhaps the last of the pure breed of Eastern European restaurants that once proliferated in the East Village in the days when the neighborhood was referred to as the Lower East Side. Kiev and Leshko's are distant memories, Odessa has adapted by adding a late-night bar, and Veselka serves an elevated, fancyfied slant on Ukrainian cooking—Slavic food would have a far better reputation if it all tasted like Veselka's recipes.
Because nothing is safe from the clutches of Valentine's Day, this Friday and Saturday (13 and 14) Wall Street Burger Shoppe in New York City is offering heart-shaped burgers to help you "get your love on." You can get one burger for $4.50 or a box (which is heart-shaped, of course) of 12 for $49. Sharing a dozen burgers with a loved one? How romantic. [via Restaurant Girl]
Wall Street Burger Shoppe
30 Water Street, New York, NY 10004 (near Broad Street; map)
212-425-1000
Telepan used to only offer their burger at brunch and lunch, but starting this weekend (February 8th) they'll also serve it for dinner on Sunday nights. For $17 you'll get their burger with house-made pickles, bacon, cheese, and a "volcano" (an onion ring bowl filled with french fries). It's one of Ed Levine's favorite fancy-pants burgers in New York City.
We're always skeptical when someone starts making "best burger" proclamations, but any blog that uses the tag "Corner Bistro is overrated" deserves the benefit of the doubt when making such a bold claim. From Zeitgeisty:
The meat - ordered medium rare - was perfectly cooked and expertly seasoned. As I bit into it, the velvety beef combined with the firm brioche, crisp onion and my own saliva instantly delivering me to the absolute pinnacle of gustatory ecstasy. Size-wise, it is on the smaller side, not as miniscule as a slider, yet definitely not a ‘house burger’. As far as ‘patty manageability’ goes, this is not a messy proposition. The juices, although plentiful are not exceedingly so, and the bun retained its firmness nicely - never falling apart in soggy resignation. I chose not to add any condiments to my sandwich, rather wanting to taste the beef in an unadorned state. Luckily, nothing additional was required, as the seasoning was subtle yet sophisticated - the complex savory overtones achieving a perfect harmony with the delicate sweetness of the brioche. I’m also pleased to say in these tough economic times, at $9.99 - for the burger, fries and salad - it was not a bank-breaker.
Anyone else out there second Zeitgeisty's rec?
Lyla's Cafe Creperie
1270 Amsterdam Avenue, New York NY 10027 (b/n 122nd and 123rd; map)
The overwhelming response to my "Would You Send Back an Overcooked Burger?" post caused me, a virgin to sending back overcooked burgers, to keep the option in mind for future burger-eating excursions. During a recent meal at French restaurant Bacchus in Brooklyn's Boerum Hill neighborhood I immediately noticed the lack of pink in my bisected cheeseburger despite ordering it medium rare. I took a bite; unsurprisingly, it was too dry.
"Well you should send it back," said my friend.
"Uh..." I responded while staring into the heart of the burger, hesitant to eat any more of it.
Posted by Nick Solares, January 27, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Shopsin's General Store
Stall 16, Essex Street Market, 120 Essex Street, New York NY 10002 (b/n Delancey Street and Rivington Street; map); 212-924-5160; shopsins.com The Short Order: The sliders remain excellent, but the reworked burger using "Big Marty" buns is also worth getting and a big improvement over the ciabatta that was formerly used Want Fries with That? Yes, the skin on, hand cut fries are irresistible Price: Sliders, 3 for $10; hamburger, $10; green chili cheeseburger, $12 Notes: Tues. to Sat., 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.
When I reviewed Shopsin's last September I raved about the sliders, but found the ciabatta bunned burger to be less than desirable. It was thus with some trepidation that I ventured back to Shopsin's to try his cheeseburger soup and Conan Burger for my piece on hamburger variations and inspirations. I half expected to have a ciabatta roll thrown at me, but Kenny did not even mention the review until I had finished eating and he had plunked himself in a chair next to me to write out the check.
I don't think Kenny likes giving out the check—he finds it somewhat distasteful. It is the one thing that Shopsin's has in common with every other restaurant in the world: They have to charge for the meal. It's not that Kenny wants to give away the meal for free; it's that as far as he is concerned the significant transaction occurred when you decided to eat at his restaurant and he allowed you to do so. As he says of new customers, they "have to prove it to me that they are okay to feed." Shopsin considers the relationship between new customers and his restaurant essentially adversarial until a particular threshhold is met—once you eventually become an old customer—at which point the relationship becomes "really intimate and family-like." I am almost getting there. At least, I think I am.
Burger stuffed with American cheese and sauteed onions taken by Tina Wong.
Tina Wong of The Wandering Eater features some cheese-laden burger porn in her review of the Stumble Inn, a restaurant that specializes in stuffed burgers, on the Upper East Side in New York City. Her evaluation of their burger is pretty much the same way I feel about stuffed burgers: "The burger is cooked too well for my preference (I like medium rare burgers) but I know their intention is to heat and melt the cheese within the burger." In exchange for a core of molten cheese, you get an overcooked patty. Still sounds pretty tasty though.
Petey's Burger in Astoria, Queens, specializes in California-style burgers, à la In-N-Out (the red and yellow color palette seems to allude to the West Coast burger chain). I visited Petey's last November shortly after it first opened with the intention of returning before posting about it, but I never got around to that second visit. However, since we've recently received a handful of emails from AHT readers alerting us to Petey's existence, I'll share my first impressions, most of which are hopefully no longer valid. (Of course, we appreciate the emails! Sometimes we need that push to get things done.)
I ordered a single (it also comes in double and triple) cheeseburger, ($3.99), which came topped with cheese, lettuce, tomato, raw onion, and "special sauce" on a toasted bun. Autopsy shot after the jump.
Posted by Nick Solares, January 20, 2009 at 10:00 AM
"Nick, on the other hand, is a de-nuder. He strips his meat and slaps it around before getting to the straightforward business of eating it."
Editor's note: In today's review, resident burger expert Nick Solares collaborates with Serious Eats contributor and burger lover Tam Ngo to bring you twice the opinions in one spot.
Photographs by Nick Solares and Tam Ngo
Wollensky's Grill
201 East 49th Street, New York NY 10022 (at 3rd Avenue; map); 212-753-0444; smithandwollensky.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Big overstuffed, under-seasoned steakhouse burger served on an undersized bun with overdue fries Want Fries with That? They come with the burger but should have come with a burger served the previous day Price: $16 Notes: Open every day, 11:30 a.m. - 2 a.m.
It is a tale as old as time itself: The perpetual perceptual divide between woman and man. It may be a cliché, but in affairs of the heart and of the mind the truth often lies somewhere in the middle between what she said and what he said. But what about hamburgers? Could there be some universal truth, some detente between the sexes to be found between the buns?
To find out I enlisted the esteemable Tam Ngo, who had recently rocked the burger world with her review of the Lever House burger. Tam likes grilled burgers dressed with all manner of condiments and loaded with big flavors—quite the opposite to the way I like them, which is griddle-cooked with nothing on them but cheese. What could be more perfect for a "She Said / He Said" piece? This is the story of our lunch at Wollensky's Grill.
Starting next week, Irving Mill in New York City is launching Burger + Beer Mondays where you can get a flap-meat burger and a Sixpoint beer for $15. [via Grub Street]
In his latest New York City restaurant review, Ed Levine reviews the burger from Daddy-O. He says:
I ordered my cheddar burger as always medium-rare. Alas, there wasn't a hint of pink to be found, much less red. It still tasted reasonably juicy and moist and beefy, but there was no burger greatness to be found, at least in our burger. The tater tots that came with the burger were crunchy on the outside and tender on the inside, just as they should be.
There are many seriously delicious bacon cheeseburgers to be had in New York City, especially of the fancy-pants variety, but rarely have I seen a cheeseburger as well put together as the stylish beauty Joey Campanaro is serving at The Little Owl.
Let me break down Campanaro's burger for you in loving and admiring detail:
It is made from fresh, not aged, short rib and brisket from Manhattan's uber-meat purveyor Pat La Freida Meats (of Black Label fame). There is a little too much of this supremely juicy and flavorful meat for my taste—it's eight ounces—but in this case Campanaro makes the big ol' mound of beef work.
The cheese, as you can tell, is a veritable blanket of good aged cheddar.
The bacon is maple-cured and just smoky enough. Bacon maximalists might quibble with the amount of bacon on the burger, but those people are just being silly. There is just the right amount of bacon on this burger.
Serious Eats intern Michele Humes recommended that we try the Popsie mini cheeseburger from Snacky, an appropriately named restaurant and bar that mostly serves small plates of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean-esque dishes. "Esque" because I'm not sure you'd go to Snacky if you were actually craving Asian food, considering that the Popsie was the best thing that fellow Serious Eater Erin and I ate out of the five dishes we ordered. However, if you're roaming the streets of Williamsburg in search of a little cheeseburger snack, it's great.
Posted by Robyn Lee, December 15, 2008 at 12:00 PM
Clicking in to the AHT inbox recently, we've got this bit of juicy intel. Eat up!
So my wife and I have been going to Zum Stammtisch for the last year or so and its one of our favorite burgers in the city. And we have tried a bunch. Had my camera with me yesterday so I snapped some quick shots. These pictures do not do it justice, but its a house ground griddle cooked burger with the perfect amount of outside crunch and inside loose crumble. Always cooked just right (pictured burger was ordered medium) Definitely worth the trip to Queens.
Posted by Robyn Lee, December 12, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Photograph by Nick Solares
I recently asked a friend to go out for burgers, but I didn't have a place in mind. Until now. When AHT's New York City burger fiend Nick Solares showed me this photo of a cheeseburger from Joe Junior, I knew where I'd be getting my next burger. I can taste the meat juices and crispy meat crust just by staring at the photo. I can almost touch it. Come to mama.167 Third Avenue, New York NY 10003 (at 16th Street; map); 212-473-5150
"So much talk about burgers & so much of it focuses on the usual suspects (Corner Bistro, Shake Shack, Stand, BLT, Brgr, Royale, etc, etc), but I'm looking for the other spots. Ones that are not necessarily burger-centric or designer-burger. A good example might be The Stoned Crow. I've heard good things. My underrated pick would go to Bar 6. I had a fantastic burger there recently. What's your fave?" [Chowhound]
Hon Cafe looks like a cleaner-than-average Chinese bakery in the front, but in the back there's a dining room serving inexpensive Hong Kong-style diner food—that is, somewhat Western, somewhat Chinese. On the menu you'll find potentially unfamiliar dishes made with familiar ingredients such as minced beef with egg over spaghetti, baked ketchup pork chop, and corned beef with egg sandwich. When I saw a garlic burger I thought two things: "This can't be good," and, "I have to get it." Perhaps it was due to my lack of expectations that burger was surprisingly delicious. Innards shot, after the jump.
After hearing about the greatness of Five Guys over and over again and possibly being the only burger writer who had never eaten there (yes, I'm full of shame), I finally visited the burger chain for the first time a few weeks ago. If I were really lazy, I'd tell you to read Kevin Pang's review at the Chicago Tribune because my experience was pretty much the same—in a nutshell, the fries are awesome and the burger is alright. But I'm only kind of lazy, so I'll throw up some pretty photos accompanied by commentary.
Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky is on a roll (or should that be a bun?). Hot on the heels of his tip about City Burger selling the vaunted La Frieda Black Label, he now reports that "Flip (no relation to Richard Blaise’s Flip Burger Boutique) will debut at Bloomingdale’s in January. And, get this: it will feature an entire line of La Frieda burgers!"
Do you folks know what the story is with the Jumbo and Jimbo's burger chains in Harlem and the Bronx? There seems to be a Jimbo's or a Jumbo every few blocks north of 116th Street. The two restaurants are virtually identical in every way: menu, awning, signs, decor, fonts, cooking technique (grill then steam), etc. I've eaten at one of each. The burgers and fries were decent, the staff was friendly, and each was well-kept and clean. They aren't destination locations but they make for a good neighborhood burger shop.
Are they the burger equivalent of Ray's Pizza or might they have the same owner? If the same owner why the different names? If different owners why go through the trouble of looking exactly like a competitor? There seems to be more Jimbo's than Jumbos.
I've got pictures and locations of four of them here. There are at least four more locations.
390 Park Avenue, New York NY 10022 (entrance on 53rd Street; map); 212-888-2700 leverhouse.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Flavor of 73/27 La Frieda beef approximates char of summertime barbecue. Served on panino. Topped with fried egg upon request Want Fries with That? Good crisp, decent flavor, but consistently plated lukewarm Price: $22 Notes: Served only at lunch (M-F, 11:45 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.)
In a platonic world, my burger has just come off the grill, tasting of smoke and cancer. Even if I'm not enjoying it off of a deck in July, my burger-hero invokes the pleasure and ease of crickets, sunsets, and whole afternoons of tall-boys. No burger is ever worth the indignity of a 45-minute wait. But like all things once enjoyed, New York turns the leisurely act of burger ingestion into a fiercely competitive activity.
Burgers are best served with minimal pomp or ceremony. Though you'll encounter a little bit of both at Lever House, these offenses are ultimately pardonable for the sweet luxuries they afford.
In case you don't already know, there is a Juicy Lucy-style burger living right here in NYC. I ate at The Stumble Inn the other night and on their menu are stuffed burgers. Mine came with American cheese and bacon inside the patty. It was good, not great, but the cheese and bacon oozed out all over the place. If you're ever craving that style burger here, I'd check it out. It's certainly not a travel-worthy burger (especially considering it is right near J.G. Melon's). I haven't seen it offered anywhere else in Manhattan.
- Jon
The Juicy Lucy is an American cheese-stuffed burger that originates from Minneapolis. The Stumble Inn lets you customize your stuffed burger with American, cheddar, bleu cheese, Swiss, bacon, jalapenos, sautéed mushrooms, or sautéed onions.
Posted by Robyn Lee, November 26, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Photograph by Zach Brooks
In an interview at Midtown Lunch, eGullet.com co-founder and author of Asian Dining RulesStephen A. Shaw revealed that his favorite burger in New York City is from the six-seat Burger Bar at Beacon. Shaw's description:
For $12.95 you get the Beacon Burger, which in my opinion is the best burger in New York City—and I think I’ve sampled most every contender for that title. It’s an 8 oz. grilled burger made from Niman Ranch Certified Natural Black Angus beef, served on country toast and garnished with (all on the side) grilled red onion, lettuce, tomato, house-made pickles and ketchup, and very good garlic fries. I have been going pretty much weekly for the past year.
The Burger Bar is only open from noon until 2:30 p.m.—Shaw recommends getting there at noon or after 1:45 for the shortest wait. He also adds that Beacon is kid-friendly.
Burger Bar at Beacon
25 West 56th Street, New York NY 10019 (b/n 5th Avenue and Avenue of the Americas; map)
212-332-0500 beaconnyc.com
Posted by Nick Solares, November 25, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Pat La Frieda
601 Washington Street New York, NY 10014 map); 1-888-LaFrieda (523-7433); lafrieda.com You can try La Frieda burgers at: Shake Shack, Primehouse, Kenn's Broome Street Bar, Spotted Pig, Little Owl, Market Table Notes: Wholesale only
For over nine decades Pat La Frieda Wholesale Meat Purveyors have sold steaks, chops, and hamburgers to restaurants in New York City. Originally located in the Meatpacking District on West 14th, the company founded by patriarch Pat La Frieda has moved to three locations and has been handed down through an equal number of generations. Pat La Frieda's son, also named Pat, now runs the company with his son Pat Jr. (technically Pat the III) and cousin Mark Pastore. Because Pat La Frieda supplies the beef that make some of the city's most celebrated burgers they have become synonymous with quality. Using La Frieda beef does not guarantee a great burger, but it is a good start.
A Hamburger Today was recently given a tour of the La Frieda facility located on the corner of Washington Street and Leroy street, which is also known as Pat La Frieda Way. The plant runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, and a bank of phone operators take orders late into the night while next door burgers are custom ground to order. La Frieda offer up to 25 different burger blends including ones using short rib, American Kobe, and dry-aged beef. But even the standard La Frieda blend is exotic by most standards, being comprised of USDA Prime chuck, shoulder clod, and brisket sourced from Nebraska and Creekstone Farms, Kentucky.
Posted by Nick Solares, November 20, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Having to review a burger a week is both an honor and a privilege, but it also means that I am not necessarily eating for pleasure. Such was not the case two nights ago when I ventured back to Veselka for a late night bite. Since I am off to the UK today, I thought a burger might make a good send off meal—I could not have chosen a better place to get it than Veselka.
The burger, which I should note (before he sends of irate missives to the management) is one of Josh "Mr Cutlets" Ozersky's favorites, and is, as I reported back in August, "balanced in all parameters—texture, size, flavor." My enthusiasm has only grown since this recent burger; it was even juicer and more flavorful than when I last ate it. Just look at the torrents of juices that emanated from the patty! In fact, as I type this I can think of nothing else. Now that is the sign of a great burger. Bravo, Veselka: You have not rested on your laurels—the burger is better than ever.
Veselka
144 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (corner of East 9th Street; map)
212-228-9682 veselka.com
Posted by Nick Solares, November 18, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Ziggiz
333 3rd Avenue, NY NY 10010 (at 25th Street; map); 212-683-3662; ziggizonline.com Cooking Method: Griddled Short Order: Decent burger hampered by use of frozen beef, somewhat redeemed by pleasing balance of flavors and textures Want Fries with That? Maybe; showed potential but a tad too greasy Price: Single $3.95, double $6.25, triple $8.25, Home Run $10.25, w/cheese +$0.60, w/bacon +$1.20 Notes: Open 24/7 including delivery
Ziggiz serves what could best be described as Pan-American fast food. The menu is populated with such culturally and geographically diverse comforts as Philly cheesesteaks, Buffalo wings, the more obvious Tex-Mex staples—burritos, tacos and quesadillas—and, for our purposes, hamburgers. If you're wondering why pizza is missing, they actually did at one time—it was recently stricken from the menu. What was it that they said about a jack of all trades?
To be frank, Ziggiz is a little run down and seems somewhat at odds with its neighbors, which include an upmarket wine store, a quaint Irish pub, and the chic Bar Milano. Its not that the confines are that old—in fact the white tile and dark wood looks quite new—but the place is in serious need of some upkeep. The floor is strewn with leaves, errant french fries, and deflated packets of ketchup. The tables look as if they get cleaned about once a day, if that, as they are invariable streaked with salsa, hot sauce, or ketchup.
Posted by Robyn Lee, November 12, 2008 at 10:30 AM
In his latest New York City restaurant review, Ed Levine reviews the burger at West Branch. He says,
The fancypants burger ($16) is a fine, fine burger specimen, though it strikes me as the one discordant, out of step with the times-priced item on the menu. It's made with ground in-house chuck with a secret ingredient divulged to me with the promise that I would never reveal it. All I can say is that the secret ingredient adds a fine, funky tang to the burger. The fries that come with the burger are of the excellent, not-too-thick-not-too-thin variety, and the housemade pickle is a lovely touch.
In his Irving Mill burger the beef cheek and fatback are back, but what they’re rounding out is flap steak from Niman Ranch that’s been aged for five weeks. It’s seven ounces of meat, while Resto’s was six.
And it’s another winner — juicier than its Resto forebear, and tucked wisely into a fluffy potato roll that’s just substantial enough not to disintegrate as the burger’s juices seep into it but not so heavy and intrusive that it muffles the burger’s thunder
As you can see from the photo above, the burger has a very course grind. Skeen told Bruni that he grinds the burger differently from what he did at Resto: "The burger has a better texture, almost like a hand-chopped burger."
Bruni doesn't say much about the rest of the menu, apparently not as into praising the lard as Serious Eats' Ed Levine, but they can both agree that the burger is delicious.
Posted by Nick Solares, November 4, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Olives
201 Park Ave South, New York NY 10003 (at E 17th St; map); 212-353-8345; toddenglish.com Cooking Method: Flame grilled Short Order: Uninspired burger seems to be an after thought on an otherwise inventive menu Want Fries with That? Comes with "Bistro" fries Price: $16 Notes: Only available during lunch and brunch
When it comes to hamburgers there are two types of chefs: those who put hamburgers on their menus because they want to, and those who do so because they feel that they have to. The former, despite the misgivings I may have about the end result (truffle oil anyone? How about foie gras?) are at least driving burger craft forward by redefining the genre in a deliberate and reasoned manner. The latter chefs feel compelled to placate unadventurous diners or children, or feel that having a burger on their menu is expected because their restaurant is located within the confines of a hotel. The results are invariably uninspired.
The fact is that there are some menus on which a hamburger simply does not belong. Such menus treat our favorite sandwich as a mere afterthought, an obligatory nuisance like sales tax, and shoehorn it in alongside menu items to which a burger has little relation. Such a menu can be found at Olives, Todd English's Mediterranean-inspired restaurant located in the W hotel.
If there is a tastier burger ($15 with fried potatoes) being served in New York, I haven't had the pleasure of meeting and eating it. Skeen mixes wet-aged flap beef, beef cheek, and, yes, some fatback and creates a wonderfully funky, almost gamey burger. At Resto he used hangar steak and brisket, and the result was a not-very-juicy but still flavorful burger. At Irving Mill the burger is juicy as hell and even more flavorful.
Stare into the heart of the burger with this autopsy shot, after the jump.
"Will there be lines? Yes, there will be lines. We just hope people will be as patient to try to vote as they would be in waiting for a hamburger at one of the more fancy hamburger places. I understand the lines can be up to 2 to 3 hours."
Although the Shake Shack on the Upper West Side was scheduled to open today, it already opened during the weekend. Its owners, Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, had been a bit coy about announcements, one assumes in the hopes of a) not giving any one journalist a jump on the story and b) generating as much excitement as possible.
The powers that be gave me a walk-through of the new Shack last week. Well before it took place, we continued our "Why do you serve frozen french fries when you know fresh are better?" debate. When I saw Danny Meyer at a book party last week he gave me his best "I'm a smoother politician than Barack Obama" answer; he said, "Because people love our french fries."
While it is true that people love just about any french fries except for the ones made with potato particles, that's not the point. The Union Square Hospitality Group would never sell frozen french fries at the Union Square Cafe. Why? Because the ultra-classy organization knows deep down in their food soul that fresh french fries are way better. They have very high standards and they know what good is, but they've obviously made a business decision I don't happen to agree with.
The debate continues at my walk-through after the jump. But even at this point I want to know: Do you agree with me that the Shake Shack french fries should be fresh and not frozen?
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 17, 2008 at 11:55 PM
Woo! Reader E. C. Stephens (aka Mamacita13) sent in these photos from earlier this evening, saying, "Hey, Shake Shake UWS had a soft opening tonight!"
Apparently this was a friends and family thing, so there's no guarantee that the new location is going to officially open early this weekend, as hinted at in this email from SS officialdom. After the jump, more photos of the joint.
From an email from Theresa Mullen, marketing manager for Union Square Hospitality Group:
We told you we'd share opening day news the second we knew, and here we are: Our official opening day for the Upper West Side Shake Shack is this Monday, 10/20. Shack’s hours on the Upper West Side will be in flux for the first few weeks (11:00 AM - 9:00 PM), but once the Shack is really shakin’, it will be open seven days a week from 11 AM - 11 PM. Our site will keep tabs on any hour changes.
Depending on how practice sessions go, Shack may open it's doors to the neighborhood a little sooner than Monday. But the official (read: definite) opening is Monday at 11:00 AM. Our full release will follow later this afternoon. Thanks for taking the time this week to come by and check out our new digs!
Yours in Shack, Theresa Mullen
Shake Shack UWS
366 Columbus Avenue, New York NY 10024 (at 77th Street; map)
Every few weeks, some joker comes along and proclaims he has just eaten "New York City's best new burger." This time it's Andrew Knowlton, of Bon Appétit magazine [emphasis, mine]:
[Bobo chef Patrick] Connolly takes D'Artagnan ground beef (80/20 ratio of lean to fat) mixes it with salt and pepper, minced shallots, and a bit of olive oil. The burger is first seared on the griddle and then finished in the oven. To the bottom half of a Balthazar bun, he layers leeks pickled in Champagne vinegar and simple syrup. Gruyere cheese is melted on the burger and fried leeks are piled on top.
AHT says: NO. No, this isn't NYC's best burger.
Call me cranky, but after a Rachael Ray Burger Bash full of gussied-up fancy-pants burgers that proved to be utterly disappointing, I just can't imagine that anything with Champagne vinegar and simple syrup pickling is going to be THE BEST IN NYC.
We will, of course, be trying it.
Bobo
181 West 10th Street, New York NY 10014 (b/n Seventh Avenue South and West 4th Street; map)
212-488-2626 bobonyc.com
AHT/Serious Eats's own Robyn Lee took this photo. It's the most beautiful photo of a Veselka cheeseburger I've ever seen. It's one of the most beautiful photos of any burger I've ever seen.
Ever see Weird Science? I want to hook up some electrodes and jumper cables to my computer and make this thing a reality IN MY HOUSE NOW.
The Eater blog has its knickers in a knot about the new Shake Shack location on the Upper West Side, with not onebut two posts giving readers a "walk-through" of the almost-completed space. Thanks, but call us when the burgers actually start coming off the griddle.
Posted by Nick Solares, October 11, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Rachael Ray's Burger Bash, part of the NYC Wine & Food Festival, took place last night, and for once the pimple-faced, grease-stained burger geeks became the beautiful people. While Ed and I had full tickets to the event, Adam came along last-minute and got in on a 20-minute press pass, complete with an escort.
From left: Tom Colicchio of Top Chef fame, burgers from New York City's Market Table restaurant.
Luckily, Ed managed to eventually pull a few strings (AHT is, after all, America's favorite hamburger weblog and anticipated, and indeed helped foster, this veritable burger renaissance that we are enjoying at the moment), and Adam was allowed to stay for the duration of the event, which was fortunate because there was a lot of ground to cover, with almost as many burgers to try as the number of minutes he was originally allotted.
I am sure you will read numerous accounts about all the celebrities who were at the event, but for me the real stars of the show were a handful of burgers and the minds behind them. Meet the burgers, and the burgermeisters, after the jump.
Everything about Molly's seems wrong. The service is slow. When the cheeseburger hits your table, you're worried they've cooked it way beyond the medium-rare you've ordered, because the patty is black and glistening with grease. In fact, it looks like an oily, oversized hockey puck.
But, oh, is Molly's oh so right.
The exterior of the gigantic (10-ounce) patty has a crunchy-chewy char that complements the juicy yielding interior cooked perfectly to order. Though the Molly's burger could be a bit more flavorful (I still prefer nearby Shake Shack for its brisket-sirloin mix), add some bacon to this thing, and you've got a damn satisfying sandwich.
The coarsely ground and loosely packed beef comes served on a perfectly toasted white sesame seed bun. If you order a cheeseburger, that patty is topped with an appropriate helping of cheese—two slices of gooey American in my case (Swiss, mozzarella, and blue cheese are also options).
At $10, the cheeseburger comes with choice of fries, potato salad, mashed potatoes, or onion rings. This is one place where I'd opt for fries over rings. (The onion rings are greasy and have too much breading.) So basically, as my dining companion put it, you're paying a dollar an ounce for meat and getting some bread and sides for free. And you get to eat it in a sawdust-on-the-floor classic Irish pub setting, where the bartender greets you with a thick Irish brogue. You can't beat that.
Molly's Shebeen
287 Third Avenue, New York NY 10010 (b/n 22nd and 23rd; map)
212-889-3361
Posted by Carey Jones, October 8, 2008 at 12:30 PM
Photo courtesy of RachaelRay.com
This Friday night at the New York City Wine & Food Festival, Food Network fixture Rachael Ray will be hosting a "Burger Bash," pitting sixteen of the city's best burger-flippers against each other, as the New York Postreports. But the juiciest tidbit to come from this article? Ray plans to open her own burger joint, right in Midtown, some time next year.
Does Rachael know her burgers? Given the 46 different recipe renditions offered on her website, one might hope so. (Her reported favorite? A sirloin-pork blend with garlic, fennel, hot pepper and Worcestershire, topped with Provolone and an EVOO-heavy tapenade.) Contrary to her super-casual home chef image, she's going for "fine dining in ground form"—a place that caters to a high-class lunch crowd looking for martinis with their sliders and white tablecloths under their plates of fries. No word yet on whether they'll be in and out in under 30 minutes.
That's either a very tiny burger or a giant woman. From Burger Club NY.
If you're tired of monstrously huge burgers, how about trying a one-bite burger? Burger Club NY posts about "the downsized burger" spotted at a catered party on Wall Street in New York City. The meatball-sized burger—topped with lettuce, plum or cherry tomato, and blue cheese—was fantastic, according to blogger Bex, and earned the rating of five out of five cows. She doesn't say how many you have to eat to feel full, but she downed at least ten of them.
If you haven't read Nick Solares' great post about New York City's hamburger variations and inspirations, then you missed Kenny Shopsin's new Conan Burger, first mentioned in Shopsin's appearance on Late Night With Conan O'Brien. The Conan Burger is "a cheeseburger combined with pancakes and served with real maple syrup and hot sauce." According to Nick, the combination works!
Posted by Nick Solares, September 30, 2008 at 2:00 PM
This week I am taking a break from a full review to cover some variations on hamburgers found in New York City restaurants. The following are either foods inspired by the hamburger that are not themselves hamburgers, or hamburgers inspired by other hamburgers.
Lure Fish Bar
As Adam noted in his review of the Lure burger, it is probably counterintuitive to order a hamburger in a fish restaurant. I have to say, however, that the burger at Lure Fish Bar is impressive in almost every regard but two: It comes on a brioche bun and is nothing like the burger it is patterned after, namely the venerable In-N-Out Burger. The Lure Burger is quite tasty, made with quality loose-packed beef and topped with fresh ingredients. But aside from the Thousand Island dressing, the burger bears little resemblance to an In-N-Out Burger for being served on a brioche bun and having a far thicker patty than even an In-N-Out double-double has. It also comes topped with onion rings and is bisected by default, further extricating it from resembling a California-style burger. It's a good burger hampered by poor bun choice, but don't expect it to bring you any closer to California. 142 Mercer Street (at Prince Street; map); 212-431-7676; lurefishbar.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 25, 2008 at 10:45 AM
The Bonbonniere cheeseburger special.
La Bonbonniere. Yeah, I had to look it up, too. It's a wedding favor—a crystal or porcelain trinket box that traditionally held a few sugar cubes back in the day when sugar was expensive and symbolized wealth.
Is La Bonbonniere a box? You could say that. Does it or its contents symbolize wealth? Not these days. It's a typical greasy spoon coffee shop with formica counters and padded vinyl stools.
Meg Hourihan first tipped me to its burger, saying, "I think what makes it so perfect is they put cheese on both side of the bun, so the juicy, flavorful meat is sandwiched between bread and cheese. I used to live nearby and went there often. Now it's not so convenient, so I don't just drop in for lunch. I really miss that burger." Meg and I made vague plans to visit but never did, so I finally went on my own yesterday.
That's right, Jorge Garcia, the actor who plays Hurley on ABC's Lost, is a huge, huge fan of P.J. Clarke's. On his blog, Dispatches from the Island, he says in a post titled 
Tomorrow, June 10, food historian 
Organic Virginia-based burger chain 
A 
Starting next week, 
There are many seriously delicious bacon cheeseburgers to be had in New York City, especially of the fancy-pants variety, but rarely have I seen a cheeseburger as well put together as the stylish beauty Joey Campanaro is serving at 
Racked reports that as of yesterday, every Ricky's location in New York City 
"So much talk about burgers & so much of it focuses on the usual suspects (Corner Bistro, Shake Shack, Stand, BLT, Brgr, Royale, etc, etc), but I'm looking for the other spots. Ones that are not necessarily burger-centric or designer-burger. A good example might be The Stoned Crow. I've heard good things. My underrated pick would go to Bar 6. I had a fantastic burger there recently. What's your fave?" [
Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky is on a roll (or should that be a bun?). Hot on the heels of his tip about 
