Burger & Barrel

Manhattan, NY (SoHo)
www.burgerandbarrel.com







The Order: Bash Style, medium rare. Caramelized onions & bacon jam, pickles, American cheese and special sauce
Side Order: Comes with fries/tots
$14
Drink Order: Big Daddy Speakeasy IPA



Located southeast of NYU's main campus, Burger & Barrel is surprisingly filled with the bridge and tunnel crowd; after work cocktails and beer draw these denizens here. Maybe it's the relatively high prices compared to every other restaurant clustered around NYU, or maybe it's the fact that it's more than a two minute walk. Who knows? The atmosphere here isn't terrible. A little loud to be sure, but you'd probably have a lot to say, and be saying it loudly, if you had these burgers. They've got a great selection of burgers to try, a short list, but definitely interesting.

I ordered the burgers to go, and brought them back to Uzi's apartment (a fellow burger lover). Largely because of the intriguing Bacon Jam, I decided to get us both Bash Styles. This, my friends, was a good choice. The combination of flavors just burst out in canon, one after another, pushing their way through to my taste buds. The butter pickles were crunchy and slightly sweet while the bacon was salty and a little smoky. And the meat. Oh man. By the time I got the burgers back to the apartment (maybe about eight minutes) the bottom bun had completely soaked through. So much flavor, so much juice, but you really have to slow down to enjoy this burger. If you eat it too fast, you miss all the nuances of the seasoning and the individual ingredients. At $14 for a burger and fries, it's a little pricy, but, having forgotten to take a picture the first time, I was glad of the opportunity to go again.

The second time around I had the tots as my side. HOLY SHIT. Get these. Hands down these are the best tots I've ever had. They were seasoned with some mysterious combination of spices that just tantalize the taste buds. Seriously, don't pass these up.

So the second time was really a test of Burger & Barrel's consistency, and they did not disappoint at all. Mind you, not only was this the second time, but the second time in two days. A slight delay in the getting the burgers to the table, but with an apology from our server, and an personal apology from the executive chef, AND the fact that it really wasn't a long wait time at all. The evening's special appetizer were the Bison Sliders, which were delicious, but a little small to be splitting. The burger arrived and it was as juicy and delicious as before. No disappointments here. Burger & Barrel is fantastic. Who wants to go, because I'll sure as hell be going again.