Moules et Frites

Syosset, NY
www.moulessyosset.com



The Order: BBQ Brie and prosciutto burger, medium rare. Brioche bun, lettuce, tomato, onion.
Side Order: Comes with fries
$15
Shared Appetizers: Mussels Mariniere Traditionnel (15), Mussels Pernod et Creme, Bretzel Bavarois (9)
Drink Order: Hacker Pschorr Dunkel



Seven of us came for Manly Burger Time, our counterpart to my sister's Bridal Shower. None of us had previously been to Moules et Frites, but let me tell you, this place is fantastic. A Belgian biergarten and bistro, with a selection of 40 beers and an enticing menu, it promised to be a good brunch.

We started with two orders of mussels and a Bretzel Bavarois, a gigantic soft Bavarian Pretzel, with two kinds of mustard. All three appetizers were delicious. The mussels were all tender and the sauces were so delicious that we had to order bread in order to sop it all up and eat it. No sand in the mussels at all, and they were all fairly large. The pretzel was great, and the horseradish mustard was especially good, but probably not worth the $9 it cost if you're getting it by yourself.

And then the burgers. Oh. My. God. These are large burgers. Large is a tame word for how big these burgers are. Because it was Manly Burger Time, we all had to be up to the challenge of finishing those burgers, after three ridiculous appetizers and a healthy amount of beer.

I ordered their special, the BBQ, Brie and Prosciutto burger. The BBQ sauce wasn't too sour, as some BBQ sauces can be, and it had some similar flavor to tandoori chicken, which may have been cumin or something. It definitely made it more interesting, as each bite of the burger I was trying to figure out exactly what I was tasting. It was all delicious, and not overwhelming at all.

The fries on the side were pretty tasty as well. Actually, everyone at the table though they were excellent. They came with three dipping sauces on the side. Ketchup, aioli, and garlic mayo. The garlic mayo was by far the best.

Verdict? This may be a drive, but a visit to this place is entirely worth it. A good European beer selection, fantastic burgers and mussels. I'm already looking forward to the next time I can get out there.

Mother Burger

Manhattan, NY
motherburger.com



The Order: Uncle Matt's Wing Burger, medium rare. Basted in spicy wing sauce and topped with creamy bleu cheese
Side Order: Deluxe it with fries ($3)
Movie Theater Nachos to start ($3.95), corn tortilla chips with pepper jack cheese sauce, mother's 3 bean chili and sour cream
$6.95 + $3 + $3.95 = $13.90
Drink Order: PBR ($2!)



I found a $15 Groupon for Mother Burger (I'd pay $7 for $15 worth of food), so I figured I'd check it out. My friend Jared has been expressing interest in a burger outing for some time and we were finally able to link up. Now, Mother Burger is somewhat hidden. It is located in World Wide Plaza, which is between 49th st and 50th st. If coming from 49th st, you have to walk around a building to see that Mother Burger is actually there. Once inside, this place is tiny. It can seat maybe 25 or 30 people, but at 5:30p on a Friday, it is packed.

The burger was very tasty. It was cooked just a touch over medium rare, but not enough to make it bad. The wing sauce was at times very present, and other times just complimented the flavor of the burger. The flavor of the sauce itself was great but it definitely wasn't as spicy as I would have liked, and would have expected. Something about the name Uncle Matt's Wing Burger makes me think of a small town man trying to make big city men cry. Alas, it was not true. But you really can't go wrong with wing sauce and bleu cheese. It not being that spicy meant being able to devour this burger fairly quickly.

The fries were completely not worth it. A little hard, not seasoned at all, really, and definitely not worth $3.00. That is just ridiculous for the measly amount of fries you get. The Chipotle Russian sauce that they are served with was good, but really not as good as it should have been. Both Chipotle and Russian dressing have such strong and distinct flavors that if the two were mixed they would have a different, equally strong, flavor, right? Wrong. No matter how much of that sauce I put onto each fry, it was the same bland taste. Ketchup is the way to go here.

The nachos? Between Jared and I, they were gone very quickly. You get a surprising amount of nachos, cheese and sauce crammed onto a small plate. There really isn't anything bad I can say about them. The cheese was melty, there weren't too many beans in the chili, and the sour cream was mixed in, as opposed to just being dolloped on the top. Get these instead of their weakling fries.

All in all this place is decent, especially for the price (ignore the fries). $6.95 for a good burger, and $2 beers? That's tough to beat. Come here for after work burgers and beer.

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen vs. Shake Shack

Manhattan, NY
www.schnippers.com
www.shakeshack.com



The Fight: Schnipper's Classic vs. Shackburger (single)

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen
The Order: Schnipper's Classic, medium rare. Special cheese blend, carmelized onions, bacon, arugula, Schnipper sauce
Side Order: Fries ($2.75)
$8.99 + $2.75 = $11.74
Drink Order: Dr. Pepper

Shake Shack
The Order: Shackburger (single). American cheese, lettuce, tomato, ShackSauce
Side Order: none
$4.75
Drink Order: Dr. Pepper



Last night I went to shake shack for the second time. It was late after work, I need a quick snack, and the line wasn't very long. Many of you have problem heard of Shake Shake and how it has been at the forefront of the whole NYC Burger Revolution. But what many people don't know is they have a direct rival. Schnipper's Quality Kitchen. Friendly and healthy competition, to be sure, but Schnipper's has one location within two blocks of Shake Shack on 8th avenue, and are currently in the process of opening another in Madison Square Park, where Shake Shack recently opened a new burger venue.

I've known about this rivalry for a while now, and just had not had the chance to get to Schnipper's. Getting my second Shake Shack burger to go, I realized my mistake upon walking up to Schnipper's. For a second I was tempted to do a direct taste test, walking into Schnipper's with a Shake Shack burger in hand, but it was not to be, so I vowed to return the next day. And return I did. Now, much is being made about this rivalry between Shake Shack and Schnipper's (in the papers and blogs at least), but I don't understand it at all. Shake Shack really isn't all that good. The patty is thin, and the flavor of the meat isn't all that great. There is a lot of hype surrounding it, that I'm fairly certain has a lot more to do with public relations than actual quality.

On both nights, I ordered the burgers to go. Shake Shack's burger comes to you in a wax paper wrapper. Not elegant, no points for presentation here. But then again, they're 'high end fast food' so this makes sense. The burger comes out entirely too fast, but with the number of people that are already there waiting for a burger, I can't imagine that it was precooked. Schnipper's burger comes in a box. Upon opening the box I immediately knew this was going to be good. An aroma wafted out from under the lid making it's way quickly to my nose and OH MY GOD this burger smelled amazing. And this wasn't a small burger either. Not flattened and crammed into the foil, instead it was nicely wrapped. You couldn't tell where one ingredient ended, and another began, with all the cheesy goodness. Bite after bite was delicious. There was so much flavor. It was cooked perfectly, the bun wasn't soggy, and their Schnipper's Sauce (some mixture of mayo and mustard) was excellent, especially paired with the baby arugula. The fries were thin and crispy. Simple, but they're each JUST salty enough that it was difficult to stop eating them, and I found that I'd eaten half of them before even starting my burger.

Shake Shack's burger by comparison was bland. Not a lot of meat flavor. "Now wait," you might say, "you didn't order it medium rare!" A mistake on my part, yes. But to be honest, if cooking the burger medium takes away all your flavor, and you cook your burgers medium unless specified differently (which nobody does), you've got a problem. Squished into the wax wrapper, the descriptor of 'high end fast food' makes perfect sense. Less than five minutes of wait time, and crammed into a wrapper. I might as well be at McDonald's. The burger wasn't as hot as I expected it to be and the taste of the American cheese was somehow overpowering. Having eaten their fries previously, I didn't order them. The previous visit, they had been nice and thick crinkle cut fries (think Nathans's), but bland in taste. Not enough salt, or any other seasoning for that matter.

At Schnipper's the prices are a bit higher, but you really get more for your money when ordering a burger there. Shake Shack has a more specific market, while Schnipper's has many more options on their menu (sandwiches, sloppy joes, chicken, etc.). On the whole, Schnipper's is just more worth it in almost every aspect. Both establishment's have a beer selection, though Schnipper's is just your standard selection of domestic beers. Shake shack wins by here, with a number of regular and seasonal microbrews. But this war isn't about the beer (though it helps). Schnipper's burger blows Shake Shack's burger out of the water. Worth it for the money, I'd choose it any day. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't go to Shake Shack, but for all of you who haven't heard of Schnipper's, its time for you to put your jacket on and go.

4Food

Manhattan, NY
www.4food.com



The Order: Brioche bun, beef patty, potato chorizo hash, avocado, gruyere, ketchup, letuce, tomato, onion
Side Order: Roasted Root Vegetables ($3.50)
$8.50 + $3.50 = $12
Drink Order: Water ($1?!!)



Prepare for a trip to 4Food by learning their menu beforehand. There are so many options for building your own burger that if you go during a busy time it'd be easy to get flustered, and ordering here is definitely something you don't want to rush into. There are three ways to order. You can order one of the chef-designed burgers, one of the week's top ten burgers submitted by other patrons, or you can build your own. Joined by fellow burger enthusiasts Vanessa and Mike, we all made our own burgers.

The burger was good. I wasn't as excited about it as I had built myself up to be, having heard about this place in September, but the fault was mine. I ordered my burger on a Brioche bun, which I'm not really a fan of. It made the burger a little too dry and I quickly wished I'd gotten something different. Apart from that, however, the burger was tasty. The flavors I chose went together well and with the variety of choices, it'll be interesting to create other burgers and see just how different, and crazy, you can get. My burger definitely could have been hotter overall (maybe toasting the bun?) and unfortunately the burger was surprisingly on the small side.

The premise of 4Food is that they are 'dejunking' fast food. Great. What it means is that the meet patty has a big hole in the middle that you fill with a scoop of some other food stuff, mostly vegetables. That being said, its a little hard to justify $8.50 for a burger where you don't actually get the whole burger. Keep in mind that you are getting a lot of different condiments and toppings for that amount as well.

It's definitely an interesting idea, and fully worth checking out. Next time I'll probably go for the "Caliburger", which has been no. 1 for 15 weeks in a row. What I won't go for is $1 for a small water. Along with the whole 'dejunking' fast food idea, they don't have sodas other than their own strangely flavored sodas. No beer either. That's fine, if you're in the mood for hibuscus soda. Go ahead and 'dejunk' my fast food. But at least don't make it ridiculously expensive for me to have some water with my burger.

Rare Burger

Manhattan, NY
www.rarebarandgrill.com



The Order: Artisanal Burger, changes day to day. Pork tenderloin infused with chive and butter, mahon cheese, apple smoked bacon, caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms
Side Order: Comes with Parmesan Truffle Fries. Frickles ($5)
$20
Drink Order: Brooklyn Lager



The waitstaff here are pleasant and attentive. Now, this may have been a fluke, but our burgers took over THIRTY minutes to arrive. I know pork has to be fully cooked, but thirty minutes is a little much. After an apology from both the waiter and the manager, our burgers arrived quickly. Excellent presentation (sorry about the crappy picture), but what was bewildering to me were the toppings and taste of the burger. While delicious, I soon found out this was NOT the burger I ordered (The burger toppings above reflect what I received, not what I ordered). It was definitely made with pork, but with all the wrong toppings. Mine was supposed to have mahon cheese and bacon, with chipotle butter and apple & apricot sauce.

Oh well. It was still a fantastic burger, and I ate every last bit of it. Rare was recommended to me by fellow burger enthusiast Erin, who accompanied me on this Rare Burger adventure. Their Artisanal Burger changes every day, which is exciting, but that means unless you go on the right day, you'll probably never have this exact burger. Don't let that stop you from coming here. Don't let the ordering mishap, or our unusually long wait time stop you from coming here either. The burger was delicious. The portions were generous. The Parmesan Truffle Fries were excellent. And the dipping sauces are all complimentary. Try them all, but spring for the BBQ and the Chipotle Mayo, which were by far the best.

I also had a bite of the M&M Burger (not made with M&M's), rare with cheddar, bacon, sauteed onions, and the beef was whiskey infused, which was delicious though no actual whiskey taste came through. It just made it really tender and juicy.

The Frickles were excellent, far better than Corner Burger's. And served with some kind of pesto sauce. They were sweet, sour and fried. A great opener for the meal. The Parmesan Truffle fries were great. Not a single fry left on the plate. Truffle oil makes a huge difference, and the parmesan wasn't overwhelming. Just a light dusting, enough to make you taste it.

Go here. Now.

Burger Burger

Manhattan, NY
www.burgerburgerny.com




The Order: Bill Burger, medium rare. American cheese, sauteed onions, horseradish cream, on an English Muffin
Side Order: Cajun Fries ($4.95)
$10.50 + $4.95 = $15.45
Drink Order: Mountain Dew



I was really excited to head down to the financial district and join fellow burger enthusiast Abby for lunch at Burger Burger to try their Barack O'Burger (a burger dusted with cocoa powder). Unfortunately they didn't have any cocoa powder so I had to settle for their Bill Burger. It was definitely a solid burger, cooked correctly and messy, but it could have been better overall. The horseradish flavor didn't stand out at at all and the American cheese and onions were just a little two sweet.

Perhaps the flavor of the burger was merely overpowered by the spicy awesomeness that was their Cajun fries. They have a lot of fry types to try here, and you can mix and match, but I'd definitely recommend the Cajun fries. They are just so delicious, I wanted a double order. Their only downside is how ridiculously expensive they are. Seriously $4.95 for fries? It doesn't really matter how good they are. That's kind of a deal breaker. I don't know if I'd get the fries again for round two.

Burger Burger is tiny. Four stools inside, and a few chairs outside. All the stools were taken, so we had to eat outside, and there's nothing like a burger to warm you up in 25 degree weather. It may be better to do a pickup order or their free delivery service if you live or work in that area, especially in the winter. The service was fast and friendly. It's also two doors away from a place called Pizza Pizza. Next somebody will open a place called Sandwich Sandwich.

Ray's Hell Burger

Washington, DC
Ray's Hell Burger Menu



The Order: B.I.G. Poppa, medium rare. Au Poivre burger, aged danish bleu cheese, cognac and sherry sauteed mushrooms, grilled onions.
Side Order: 7-Cheese Mac ($2)
$7.99 + $2 = $9.99
Drink Order: Coke (No beer)



Located just outside of DC, in Arlington, VA, Ray's Hell Burger has been talked up by friends and family alike, featured on a number of food network TV shows looking for the best burger, and even been supported by President Obama and Vice President Biden. While certainly an excellent burger, I wouldn't go so far as to say it's the best.

My burger came out fast, almost ten minutes before my fellow connoisseur's burger came out. Cooked perfectly, and presented simply. One look at this and you could tell there was going to be a lot of flavor. Dripping with it's own juices, and the soft bleu cheese oozing out beneath the mushrooms and onions, the first half of this burger was amazing. But after a while, all you can taste is the overwhelming flavor of the cheese. Don't get me wrong, it is delicious, but a milder cheese would've let the flavor of the onions and mushrooms have a little more room. And come on, cognac and sherry sauteed mushrooms? These should be exploding with flavor! But such was not the case.

The side of 7-cheese Mac was good. That's all. You'd think that boasting seven different flavors would make it amazing, but it was just a good dish of Mac and Cheese. You really couldn't tell there was more than two flavors of cheese if you didn't know you'd ordered seven.

There's no beer selection here (there is another location four doors down that sells beer and wine as well). Sodas are $2 and this place is cash only. And be prepared when you go up to order. The faster you order, and get your stuff together, the more likely you are to get a seat inside.