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.