Entries tagged with 'Manhattan'
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
Related: Manhattan: Joe Junior
Posted by Robyn Lee, December 9, 2008 at 2:00 PM
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.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, December 5, 2008 at 2:30 PM
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.
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Posted by Tam Ngo, December 4, 2008 at 10:00 AM
A post-mortem examination.
Lever House
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.
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Posted by Nick Solares, December 3, 2008 at 11:30 AM
A patty of Pat La Frieda's Black Label blend.
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky takes a break from celebrity chef gossip and brings burger lovers the news that they have been clamoring for since AHT announced the final blend of the vaunted La Frieda Black Label last week: The special burger mix will be available to the public this Friday at the revamped City Burger. While we will cover the event, expect a full AHT review when the hype has died down and the restaurant has been open for a month.
Posted by Robyn Lee, December 1, 2008 at 1:30 PM
Clicking in to the AHT inbox recently, we've got this bit of juicy intel. Eat up!
Photograph from The Stumble Inn
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.
The Stumble Inn
1454 2nd Avenue, New York NY 10021 (at East 76th Street; map)
212-650-0561
nycbestbar.com/stumble
"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."
—Frederic M. Umane
David Wertheimer of Ideapad gives a short overview of the new Shake Shack on the Upper West Side. Of course, it's good! Related: Shake Shack UWS Madness On Tap: Let the Frozen Fries Start Flowin' in My 'Hood
Posted by Ed Levine, October 20, 2008 at 10:00 AM
Fries from Shake Shack in Madison Square Park
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?
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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.
Thank you for the photos, E. C.! CHARS!
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Posted by Adam Kuban, October 17, 2008 at 5:45 PM
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)
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 17, 2008 at 4:00 PM
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
Posted by Adam Kuban, October 15, 2008 at 11:00 PM
Photograph by Robyn Lee
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 one but 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 Adam Kuban, October 9, 2008 at 11:25 AM
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 Adam Kuban, October 8, 2008 at 8:00 PM
AHT's Nick "Beef Aficionado" Solares emails this pix and says: "Burger Creations. Dreadful name, but let’s see how the burgers come out."
Burger Creations is slated to open next week, according to a gentleman I spoke to there just now.
52 East 8th Street, New York NY 10003 (b/n Mercer and Greene streets; map)
212-539-1909
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.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, September 23, 2008 at 4:00 PM
Page Six features cheeseburger spring rolls in their article on new classics—comfort food with a modern twist—found in New York City's restaurants. More about the spring rolls, which you can get at Delicatessen:
What’s not to like about the crispy, golden crust of a Chinese spring roll? Or the savory fillings of a juicy cheeseburger? Now imagine them combined. Together, they make a delectable appetizer that has quickly become the signature dish at Delicatessen, the hopping new SoHo spot manned by chef Doron Wong. “I really invented them for a children’s menu. They were always meant to be a gimmicky kid’s item, but adults just couldn’t resist,” Doron says.
[via Fred S.]
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 18, 2008 at 3:00 PM
At 1 2 3 Burger Shot Beer in New York City's Hell's Kitchen, burgers are $1, shots are $2, and beers are $3. That's not a bad deal even if you have to order at least three slider-style burgers. For those craving more than burgers, the menu includes fries ($3) and wings ($5)—for those craving intoxication, there's a $30 beer tube. [via Urban Daddy]
1 2 3 Burger Shot Beer
738 10th Avenue, New York, NY 10019 (b/n 50th and 51st; map)
212-315-0123
123burgershotbeer.com
Posted by Ed Levine, September 17, 2008 at 2:00 PM
Photographs by Robyn Lee
Lord knows I have written extensively about Mitchel London's fine, fine burger and fries at the Fairway Cafe. Robyn and I paid a visit this week, and I can report that the burger and fries continue to rock, and the chairs are as uncomfortable as ever. There is a news flash about Fairway's burgers: the dinner cheeseburger, which costs $12—or $3.50 more than the lunch burger—is a hefty eight ounces, two ounces more than the lunch burger.
I had the dinner burger a couple of weeks ago and found the extra two ounces of ground beef extraneous. From now on, I'm going to stick with the lunch burger. The ratio of meat-to-bun is perfect, and the six-ounce lunch burger, ordered medium rare-towards-rare, is insanely juicy and beefy. If Mitchel wants to justify the higher price tag for the dinner burger, throw in some onion rings, dude, or a chocolate shake. Those would be my idea of value-added.
Fairway Cafe
2127 Broadway, New York NY 10023 (b/n W 74th and W 75th; map)
212-595-1888
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 12, 2008 at 9:30 AM
If its odd use of punctuation is any indication, Eater is seriously getting its knickers in a knot about the "off. the. menu. burger" at Lever House. Cheddar under fried egg with house pickles.
Curious, I called Lever House to get the skinny. Would this thing be available to the general public and not just connected like Eater?
"Well, now that it's publicized, I don't know if the chef would have any choice," they said.
There's already a burger on the lunch menu: grilled sirloin, red-wine onions, Maytag-Burrata or aged cheddar. It costs $18.
Lever House
390 Park Avenue, New York NY 10022 (at 53rd Street; map)
212-888-2700
leverhouse.com
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 11, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Serious Eats intern-turned-obsessive-Chinatown-documentarian Gordon Mark reminds us that sometimes what we're looking for might be right before our eyes. His buddy Herman tipped him to the burger at the Antique Cafe, a coffee shop just a couple doors down from the AHT-Serious Eats office. "Best burger I've ever eaten," Herman said.
Then Gordon grabbed one and concurred, even starting his own food blog and documenting it on what he's calling Gordon Eats:
But what did it for me was the burger patty. It was quite a substantial chunk of meat. Also the cheese didn’t overpower the burger. Nice. I would get it more often if it wasn’t so expensive. It comes with salad and fries and costs almost $10 (9 dollars and 60 something cents).
This will be my lunch today. Look for another post on this place later today.
Antique Cafe
234 West 27th Street, New York NY 100001 (b/n Seventh and Eighth avenues; map)
212-243-2326
antiquecafeny.com
Posted by Robyn Lee, September 10, 2008 at 2:00 PM
A nearly-empty Shake Shack; just the way I like it!
If you love eating at Shake Shack but hate waiting in a mile-long line, check out Vinicius Vacanti's Shake Shack Lunch Wait Time Graph. Using information from the Shake Shack Flash Mob on Twitter, he plotted wait times against the time of day. To endure the shortest wait for a Shake Shack burger he suggests going after 3 p.m. or during bad weather, with pre-noon lines being hit-or-miss. Make sure to check out the Shake Shack webcam to witness the horrifyingly long (or surprisingly short) line in real time.
Related
Managing the Line at Shake Shack UWS
Shake Shack: A New York Spin on the West Coast–Style Burger
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 8, 2008 at 10:15 AM
The New York Times takes a look at the soon-to-open Upper West Side location of the Shake Shack. What's interesting here is that the writer, Caroline Dworin, looks at how Shack owner Danny Meyer and company will handle the line, assuming that it's going to be as crazy as the line at the original Madison Square Park branch.
“What we’ve done here is triple the amount of griddle space; so from a matter of physics alone, this line will have to move faster,” said Mr. Meyer.
Meyer also talked about how they've worked on the interior to allow the line to snake in on itself inside the joint.
I don't know if the line is really going to be an issue the way it is in Madison Square Park. Sure, when the place first opens, it will likely draw crowds of curious folks (I'll be among them). But after the initial hype dies down, I think the line will, too. Not to discount the awesome burgers at the Shack, but I think a big reason the line is as long as it is in Madison Square Park is that it's in the park. It's a pleasant experience to get out of the office, go grab lunch, and eat outdoors on a nice day. You can't replicate that on the UWS.
Of course, people do wait in crazy lines in other less-than-picturesque settings, like Artichoke in the East Village and Di Fara in Midwood, so maybe the burgers themselves will be enough to draw the teeming masses.
Posted by Adam Kuban, September 3, 2008 at 1:30 AM
A burger from Nick Solares's trip to 67 Burger.
In the "$25 and Under" column, where burgers have often been chronicled, the Old Gray Lady takes on three joints: 67 Burger, 5 Napkin Burger, and Joy Burger Bar.
AHT is already familiar with 67 Burger (reviewed here) and 5 Napkin Burger (reviewed here), but Joy Burger Bar has flown under the radar on this site. Probably because I don't make it up to East Harlem that often and when I do it's usually to go to Patsy's Pizzeria.
Based on the Times blip, though, I don't know if I'd want to waste my time. Writer Betsy Andrews disses the the "Munch" (3-ounce) and "Midi" (5-ounce) burgers but gives the "Maxi" (8-ounce) a lukewarm review. (In fact, it's hard to tell if she likes any of the burgers she's written about.) Here she is on Joy:
There’s plenty of the namesake emotion in the eight-ounce Maxi burger ($5.75), though. Started on the griddle and finished on the fire, it’s an amply seasoned, succulent chuck burger that’s just this side of plump enough.
Its spoiler is its thin bun, flame-grilled to fragility. Slather on chimichuri, and you’ll end up basically bunless — which is too bad because the chimichuri is the piquant champ of dressings at a place that prides itself on its house-made sauces. Runner-up is the Asian-style sweet chili.
Andrews then goes on to say that "Joy is a sweet hangout for the best patty for blocks." Doesn't sound like it to me.
Still, it's probably worth a trip, as there's another burger joint up there called Burger Inc. The AHT crew definitely needs to check these two out.
Joy Burger Bar
1567 Lexington Avenue, New York NY 10029 (at 100th Street; map); 212-289-6222
Related
67 Burger: Topping Configurations Are Numerous, But Simplicity Rules
Initial Report: Five Napkin Burger, Hell's Kitchen
Posted by kenjialtci, August 25, 2008 at 10:45 AM
Editor's note: Kenji Alt is a food writer for Cook's Illustrated magazine who takes a special interest in burgers. He is also a madman. You might remember his post on The Blumenburger, where he followed Heston Blumenthal's burger recipe, which takes 30 hours, 4 minutes and requires 32 ingredients. He's back, this time with an epic feat that took only 8 hours but seems far more grueling in our book. I mean twelve burgers?
Don’t get me wrong. I love living in Boston, and the city’s got a lot to offer, but among those things, there are a few key items that are missing (particularly for a former New Yorker): delis, decent bagels, pizza (I’d settle for even vaguely edible pizza), good hot dogs, and great griddled burgers. Now there are a lot of locals who will disagree with me and point to any number of restaurants that serve acceptable but unremarkable chopped-meat sandwiches. I’ve yet to find one that I don’t take major issue with.
R. F. O’Sullivan is too damn big to eat with your hands. (Why don’t Boston burger joints understand the concept that bigger is not necessarily better?) Once you get past the atmosphere, Bartley’s Burger Cottage patties, while juicy and greasy, are underseasoned, mealy, and frankly, bland. And despite (or because of) UBurger's spurious claim that their burgers are made of fresh ground beef (don’t believe it—they buy preground chuck just like most other places and mix it together with a nominal amount of house-ground stuff), they cook up with that rubbery feel that only an overcompressed, overworked patty gets.
Yes, I have ground beef envy. New Yorkers have been blessed by a burger renaissance, and every couple of weeks, when my slight burger pangs become uncontrollable fits of sandwiched chopped-cow lust, I’m moved to take the 200-mile trip to the city. (Of course, my New Yorker fiancé believes me when I tell her that I’m coming down just to visit her.)
Like an alcoholic who gets wasted the night before jumping on the wagon, I decided to try to cure my burger cupidity by going on a daylong feeding frenzy. A burger bender, if you will: 12 burgers in 8 hours.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 25, 2008 at 6:00 AM
Says New York magazine:
Black Iron Burger Shop was created with a noble tool in mind: a heavy piece of ancient black iron that burgers would be griddled upon. But then owner Jason Hennings came up with an even more noble tool: an $8,000 Keating Miraclean griddle, a steel-and-chrome, thermostatically regulated monster that will be a lot easier on the small space than a black iron monolith would have been.
It opens today, according to the magazine.
Black Iron Burger Shop
540 East Fifth Street, New York NY 10009 (b/n avenues A and B; map)
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 14, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Fun Factoid
According to Wikipedia, "In the AMC Television series Mad Men, the employees of the Sterling Cooper advertising agency frequent P.J. Clarke's."
I've been to P. J. Clarke's a number of times—the original in Midtown East and the one near Lincoln Center (but not the one downtown). But the thing I always have to remind myself before I go is that, even though P. J. Clarke's is a pub, it does not serve a "pub burger."
What I mean is that P. J. Clarke's burger is not a gargantuan ten-ounce slightly flattened-softball-shape burger. You don't need a snake jaw to eat it, unlike so many of the sandwiches served at bars known for their burgers (I'm thinking Donovan's, Molly's, etc.).
Instead, you get what I'm guessing is closer to a five- or six-ounce patty, perfectly cooked to temperature, perfectly seasoned (OK, maybe just a bit too salty), and with just the right amount of char on it to give the surface some crunchy, chewy bits to play against the soft, juicy interior.
This is one great burger.
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Posted by Nick Solares, August 12, 2008 at 10:00 AM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
Blue 9
92 Third Avenue, New York NY 10003 (b/n 12th and 13th streets; map); 212-979-0053
Price: Blue 9 burger, $4.62; cheeseburger, $3.55; hamburger, $3.15; fries, $2
Notes: Open late! Sun.–Mon., 11 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Fri.–Sat., 11 a.m. to 5 a.m.
People often ask me what the best burger in New York is. It's a question I don't feel comfortable answering for a number of reasons, but most important because I haven't tried every burger in New York City.
And that is the problem I have with those "top" burger lists that seem to be bandied about with such frequency these days. There is an implied supposition that the author has indeed tried all of the burgers in the city, which of course is impossible.
You might think that the ratings derived from the mass consensus of the Zagat reader survey or of various online opinion sites or "guides" would be a bit more balanced, but I tend to find them unreliable at best. For one, I have found that in the case of the latter, people tend to post reviews out of anger derived from a negative experience. There is also the problem of context and sensibility. If you are reading this blog, you probably have a fairly evolved concept of hamburgers and can separate a great burger from its less-than-salubrious surroundings.
I always find it humorous when I read a negative review of a burger spot and the service and decor are discussed in great detail but there is nary a mention of the burger itself. Even funnier are those reviews that complain about the burger being overcooked and dried out, and then it turns out that the author was referring to a turkey or veggie burger.
So when people ask me what the best burger in New York is, I tell them that I couldn't possibly know but I can tell them my favorites. One of my favorites, and it is very high on my list—sometimes in the top spot—is Blue 9.
Continue reading »
Posted by Nick Solares, August 7, 2008 at 12:20 PM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
Veselka
144 Second Avenue, New York NY 10003 (at 9th Street; map); 212-228-9682; veselka.com
The Short Order: Grilled, eight-ounce burgers are perfectly balanced, beefy, and smokey. An unexpectedly well-crafted burger from a joint better known for Eastern European dishes
Want Fries with That? The skin-on fries that accompany the deluxe burger are tasty, with a crisp, crunchy exterior. I didn't request it, but they came out well-done, which I prefer
Price: Cheeseburger, $6.50; cheeseburger deluxe, $8.25
Tom Birchard is a passionate burger man, which is curious, considering that he owns Veselka, the East Village Ukranian restaurant. You might not expect to find a great hamburger in a place better known for borscht, kielbasa, and pierogies. But just as Veselka has evolved from a small corner newspaper stand to the restaurant it is today, so too has the burger, reaching its current state through what Birchard describes as "a lot of trial and error."
The story of Veselka ("rainbow" in Ukranian), is one of those quintessentially American tales. Wolodymyr Darmochwal and his family fled Ukraine in the wake of WWII, surviving a German refugee camp and arriving in the U.S. in 1944. Within a decade he was able to open a small newsstand on the corner of Second Avenue and 9th Street in the East Village. By 1962 Veselka subsumed the neighboring luncheonette and started serving Ukrainian comfort food. By 1996 it had expanded further east taking over another adjoining space and creating the open restaurant of today.
Veselka is one of the last of the Slavic restaurants that once proliferated in the East Village. Other neighborhoods had the diner, with a generic "American" menu as the budget mainstay of choice, but the East Village had such venerable institutions as Leshko's and Kiev, all serving up a distinctive Eastern European menu. While there remain a couple of greasy spoon Slavic joints further up Second Avenue, Veselka is the most venerable restaurant of its type left. It is heartening that, in a city increasingly being taken over by chain stores, Veselka is still run by the same family. Birchard is Darmochwal's son-in-law, and both of Birchard's sons, Jason and Todd, work there. Even the founder's son, Mykola Darmochwal, is still involved, having recently rationalized the accounting and computer systems.
Continue reading »
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 6, 2008 at 3:00 PM
Grub Street editor Josh "Mister Cutlets" Ozersky pits two new New York fancy-pants burgers head to head to see which is better—Lever House (390 Park Avenue, New York NY 10022; map) or Sheridan Square (138 Seventh Avenue South, New York NY 10014; map). Having only read about them, I can say my own stomach leans toward Ozerksy's conclusion:
Verdict: Lever House's is more composed and masterful, a burger for the ages. But for a visceral, messy, primordially gratifying burger experience, the Juicy Lucy delivers the goods. New York is big enough for both of these, the Carnegie Hall and the Bowery Ballroom of burgers.
The Juicy Lucy at Sheridan Square being a cheese-stuffed burger, of course.
Related: All "Jucy Lucy" posts on AHT
Posted by Adam Kuban, August 5, 2008 at 10:30 AM
Photograph at top left by Raphael
Today, as part of an image makeover, Ruby Tuesday is going to blow up the last of its old-style locations at 3 p.m. ET (you can watch, live, online at rubytuesday.com). We figured this was as good a time as ever to go over the burger there.
You see, a number of A Hamburger Today readers have written in steadily over the lifespan of this blog swearing that Ruby Tuesday, surprisingly, had an excellent burger. And indeed, a recent commenter on Serious Eats notes that it was originally founded as an upscale burger restaurant.
Continue reading »
Posted by Nick Solares, July 29, 2008 at 10:00 AM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
Paul's Da Burger Joint
131 2nd Avenue, New York, NY 10003 (at St. Mark's Place; map); 212-529-3033; paulsburgers.com
Heat Source: Flat-top griddle
Bun Type: Seeded Wonder bread roast beef roll, un-toasted unless you request it toasted.
The Short Order: Paul's burger has a lot of problems. The bun is too small and doesn't hold up to the patty. The patty is flavorless and needs to be heaped with toppings in order to taste like anything.
Want Fries with That? No; they don't have much flavor and you should be full enough from eating the burger alone.
Price: Burger, $4.20/Deluxe, $6.70; cheeseburger, $4.80/7.30; bacon cheeseburger, $8.10/$10.60
I remember when Paul's Palace (now known as Paul's Da Burger Joint) opened back in 1989. It was an audacious move to open a burger joint in the bohemian East Village during a time when wheat grass, alfalfa sprouts, tofu and other health food fads dominated the hood's culinary zeitgeist. Juice bars and sushi were trendy; big greasy burgers and fries, not so much. But Paul apparently knew something, because when the tragically hip sprout eaters got drunk, wheat grass juice was no match for a big, greasy burger and fries.
He also knew that working people wanted a decent meal at a good price. Almost two decades later Paul's thrives, still curing hangovers and ensuring that the steady stream of city workers, truck drivers, college students, and mailmen flocking here were satiated.
Paul's serves a burger style first popularized by Jackson Hole back in the 1970s—a hefty eight-ounce griddle-cooked burger that is so thick, it requires a metal dome to be placed on top during cooking, so the beef reaches the proper temperature. Paul's is not alone in the immediate neighborhood in offering this type of burger—both Silver Spurs and Cozy Soup 'n Burger over on Broadway offer variations of the theme, albeit with far less success. I have heard that Paul actually worked at Jackson Hole at one point; if so, he clearly picked up a thing or two.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, July 23, 2008 at 4:45 PM
Eater is rabid over the upcoming Shake Shack on the Upper West Side, with posts showing plywood coming off, sign going up, etc. Just thought you should know.
Shake Shack UWS
77th Street and Columbus Avenue
Opening Date: October 1, Eater reports
Posted by Nick Solares, July 22, 2008 at 10:30 AM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
J. G. Melon has been mentioned quite a bit on A Hamburger Today and Serious Eats:New York lately. I listed it as one of the definitive burgers on Third Avenue as I made the case for that Manhattan street to be dubbed "Hamburger Alley." Bobby Flay named it as his favorite burger in an interview on SE:NY. And just last week Alan Richman ignobly removed it from his top burger list because of the "meatheads" who work there. The J. G. Melon burger is often listed on any legitimate survey of New York City's best burgers, and George Motz intended to feature it in his book Hamburger America, but no one at the bar would return his call. When I asked the manager about the latter situation, he was unaware of it but commented that they were probably too busy making burgers.
J. G. Melon is one of those bars that looks like it's been there forever but actually dates back to 1972. Not that that makes it a spring chicken (or should that be spring calf?) but the well-worn, kitschy decor (replete with numerous watermelon effigies) and tin ceiling all look decades older. The building itself is dark green, not unlike a watermelon, in fact, and the ceiling is red (but does not have any pits painted on). The front room that houses the bar and the kitchen is softly lighted with orange and yellow hues and leads to a rear dining room that is far darker. The kitchen is literally a shack, and despite its diminutive proportions, as many as three cooks work feverishly inside it, cranking out hundreds of burgers a day.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, July 10, 2008 at 10:15 AM
Photograph by Robyn Lee
If you're a burgerhead living in New York City, you already know the Spotted Pig has some amazing blue cheese burgers. They're tasty sandwiches, almost always cooked to temperature. Their perfectly square grid of grill marks on the thick patty and dark-brown brioche bun tip you off that it's a flame-grilled burger. And you need that visual cue; without it, you'd be hard-pressed to taste the flavor of the grill over the noise of the blue cheese.
What you may not know, though, is that chef April Bloomfield and company are perfectly willing to omit the cheese on the Pig's signature burger.
I certainly didn't know this until recently, when a reader here on AHT hipped me to this fact. On a visit to this Greenwich Village hot spot earlier this week, I figured I'd have a go at it.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, June 26, 2008 at 10:00 AM
I went to Five Napkin Burger on Tuesday night with Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine and his son, Will. This is our story.
More like our initial impression, since it's too early to really get into it about this burger.
Five Napkin Burger is a spin-off the Upper West Side's Nice Matin, where the "Five Napkin Burger" originated as a menu item. Apparently, Simon Oren and Andy D'Amico, the folks behind Nice Matin, thought the Five Napkin Burger was strong enough to carry its own restaurant.
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Posted by Nick Solares, June 24, 2008 at 10:00 AM
If it's Tuesday, it must be time for another review from Nick Solares. Nick is also the publisher of Beef Aficionado, his blog that explores beef beyond burgerdom.
The Shake Shack
Southeast corner of Madison Square Park (corner of 23rd Street and Madison Avenue; map); shakeshacknyc.com
The Short Order: One of the best burgers in the Big Apple. Inspired by West Coast-style burgers but with a unique New York spin. These days there's almost always a long, long line. The signature Shackburger is very good, but the plain cheeseburger is even better, as it allows the great flavor and texture of the sirloin-brisket beef mixture to stand alone
Want Fries with That? No. They blow. They're frozen, pre-fab, and OreIda-like. Get a tasty shake or frozen custard instead
Price: Shackburger, $4.75; cheeseburger, $4; double cheeseburger, $6.50
I was sitting in Los Angeles's famous Apple Pan restaurant a few weeks back talking with a lady who was curious as to why someone might be taking pictures of hamburgers. We got to talking about burgers, blogging, and A Hamburger Today, and when she found out that I lived in New York, she immediately asked about the Shake Shack. As I finished expounding my thoughts on the place, I heard a polite "excuse me, did you just mention Shake Shack?"
It turns out the gentleman asking the question was a friend of none other than George Motz, author and director of Hamburger America, the book and the film. It's a small world, and Shake Shack has managed to become virtually synonymous with hamburgers in New York. Even if they can't quite put their finger on the name, out-of-towners will often effuse about the great burgers they had in the park.
Upon returning home to New York after an extensive education in L.A. burgers (many, many reviews to come) I needed two things. The first was a bit of exercise, and the second was a frame of reference. Something to put into context what I had sampled on the West Coast and relate it to my hamburger experiences in and around New York.
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Posted by Adam Kuban, June 19, 2008 at 10:00 AM
The "Classic," with onion, lettuce, tomato, sliced pickle, homemade ketchup, Dijon mustard.
I've been wrong before. (Many times before.)
But I'm big enough (no, not from the cheeseburgers) to admit it.
Stand, which I complained about a while ago as having a bun that utterly undermined the burger, has redeemed itself. It now serves its delicious patties on a bun that suits them well. It's been using this new bun for some time, but I'm just now getting around to correcting myself publicly on AHT.
Out: the baguette-texture bun that forced you to use so much jaw power that the innards eventually slid out the back.
In: A softer, brioche-type bun that yields to the bite easily and does a fine job of soaking up the beefy-tasting patty's juice.
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Food blogger Janine of Life with Food and Drink is obsessively tracking the opening of Five Napkin Burger, the burger-bankin' spin-off of Nice Matin. According to Thrillist, the joint's "a cow-centric pleasuredome devoted to its namesake: a 10-ounce, comte-cheese-topped meaty prima donna so acclaimed at UWS resto Nice Matin the owners decided to honor it w/ its own restaurant." 630 Ninth Avenue, New York NY 10036 (at 45th Street; map); 212-757-2277 [via Midtown Lunch]
Posted by Adam Kuban, June 12
