Hamburger Fail

I managed to execute one of the bigger tourist faux pas the other day. Not speaking a word of German, but thinking I was pretty safe in what I was doing at the time, I ordered a Hamburger Riesen Knacker.  And I was kind of excited to be eating a hamburger, after all the myriad kinds of sausage I'd already consumed in my first week here in Hamburg.  However, upon trying to order this hamburger, I was instead served 3 massive sausages (bratwursts).  Fail.  I'll not be fooled again Hamburg(er)!

My Absence: Explained

You may have noticed that I have not been publishing in recent weeks, and for this I apologize!  I've been super busy with work, and with gearing up for my upcoming trip.  For those of you that don't know, I'm heading away to Germany for TWO WHOLE MONTHS for work, followed by THREE WEEKS OF TRAVEL THROUGH EUROPE!!  I'm super excited, but that has left me little time for blogging.  But don't you worry.  I've got a bunch of reviews all saved up so I can post while I'm away, and I've been talking to a few people about some guest blog posts from around the country.  I hope you all are doing well, and that you haven't lost your taste for burgers.

Burger out!

Minetta Tavern

Manhattan, NY
minettatavernny.com



The Order:  Black Label Burger, medium rare.  With caramelized onions on a brioche bun, also comes with lettuce and tomato.
Side Order:  Comes with fries and pickle.
$26
Drink Order: Fuller's Bengal Lancer IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 14/15




So I FINALLY went to Minetta Tavern to try their burger!  I wasn't avoiding it really, and it's always been at the top of my list of places to try, but I somehow just never went.  Well, with some prodding from Vanessa and Mike, we went for lunch, and let me tell you, Executive Chefs Lee Hanson and Riad Nasr have created a burger that does not disappoint in the least.


I was beyond excited.  Vanessa was too I swear.

We had made our reservation for right at noon, which I highly recommend you do if you can.  You feel as if you're getting special treatment without the attention feeling oppressive.  When we arrived, the restaurant was empty except for the staff, so we were seated immediately, in the back near the kitchen.  I love the decor in Minetta Tavern.  It feels like an old mob restaurant, complete with black and white pictures of celebrities with the original owner when the restaurant opened in the 1930's.


It wasn't empty for long.

 Our server was quick, knowledgeable and attentive.  I wasn't skeptical about the quality of the burger, but when I specified that I wanted my burger medium rare, she went as far as to describe exactly how the chefs at Minetta cook their burger: medium rare towards rare, with a warm pink center.  Perfect, and I haven't even taken a bite yet.


 Medium rare towards rare, with a warm pink center.

And when that burger came out (quickly, I might add), it WAS perfect.  It was cooked exactly the way the sever described it.  The focus of this burger is definitely the meat, which is dry-aged custom beef blend from Pat La Frieda.  It's a coarse grind, delivered every day, and minimally handled to ensure the burger retains all of it's flavors and juices.  What you can't really see in the picture above is just how amazing the fat distribution in this burger is.  With every bite, juices gush out of this patty, and onto your chin, your plate, and a lot of it gets mopped up by this bun, which is fantastic.  It's light and airy, slightly sweet, and soft, perfect for pressing down around the patty and collecting every bit of those delicious juices.


Vanessa enjoys her second trip to Minetta Tavern.

The caramelized onions are a perfect foil for the burger.  The burger is well seasoned, salty, though never too salty, and really works hand in hand with the onion's sweetness.  After a while, the two tastes become one: a perfect union of two flavors that were meant to be together.

The fries here are delicious too, and apparently exactly the same as the fries at Balthazar, where Hanson and Nasr are also executive chefs.  I'm not complaining.  They're delicious, they don't need that much ketchup, and they're not shoe-string fries!  They're a medium cut, gold in color, and impossible to stop eating.

I love the fact that this burger doesn't come with anything else.  Sure there's a piece of lettuce and a tomato on the side, but does anybody put it on?  Our server said no, and she'd know.  According to her, approximately 85% of the orders during lunch hours are the Black Label Burger.  Looking around us, she isn't wrong, though on the day we went, that number was closer to 100%.  Burger after burger rolled out of the kitchen and into the waiting hands of dozens of other hungry denizens.  I'll be interested in the many return trips to come.  This burger has taken it's place as my favorite burger in NYC, but what will be interesting will be to see how it changes, or if it changes.  Under the supervision of Hanson and Nasr, this burger has seen some updates since it was first created, and who's to say that it won't keep on changing.  I will definitely be going back to try it again.  And again.  And again..




Cooked Correctly:  5/5
Design:  4/4
Plating:  2/3
Value:  3/3



Still super excited.


Vanessa and Mike's 2nd trip to Minetta Tavern.


The glorious Black Label Burger.

So delicious.

Burger juices.  Everywhere.

Superfine

Brooklyn, NY
yelp.com



The Order:  Superfine burger, medium rare.  With lettuce, onion, tomato. Add pancetta ($1, to add cheese is also $1).
Side Order: Comes with shoestring fries.
 $12 + $1 = $13
Drink Order:  Saratoga IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 6.5/15




 Nestled right in the heart of DUMBO, Superfine is an airy, rustic bar restaurant with an attitude.  I say 'with an attitude' instead of 'with attitude' because it's true.  It can be unspoken, but every time I've been here, the servers have been somewhat surly.  It's interesting, and backwards for such a nice place.  The decor is fantastic, almost a throwback to the 50s, and the menu is interesting, or has been, each time I've gone.  Sadly, though, the burger is not their strong point.


The menu: usually interesting.

To begin with, the burger is totally uninteresting.  Between the superfine grind (see what I did there?) and the meat having been overworked into the patty, there wasn't much left for the burger to offer.  It was completely uninteresting, and pedestrian.  And really overcooked!  Medium rare isn't that hard people!  The bun was actually the best part of the burger!  Soft, a great airy texture, and sopped up the few juices that came out of the burger.  The other ingredients on the burger, however, were lackluster.  None of them were really crisp, and the tomato was mealy and tasteless.  And the pancetta?  Save your money.  It didn't add anything to the burger whatsoever.

Shoestring fries?  Can we ban them?  I hate them.  Actually, they were fine, but it's really hard not to make the fries ridiculously crispy when they're so thin.

The service here is slow.  Ordering, paying, everything about it is slow.  Skip it, or at least skip the burger.




Cooked Correctly:  3/5
Design:  1/4
Plating:  2/3
Value:  .5/3




Hey, by the way!  I'm going to Minetta Tavern tomorrow.  I'm excited.  Are you?

DuMont Burger

Brooklyn, NY
http://www.dumontburger.com/website



The Order: DuMont Burger, medium rare.  On grilled brioche, with Boston Bibb, tomato, red onion and house made pickles.
Side Order:  Comes with choice of fries, onion rings, mixed greens or soup.  I went with the Rings.
$12.50
Drink Order:  Stone IPA
Burger Menu Rating:  10/15




A lot of friends have recommended DuMont Burger in the past.  They talk about how great this place is, how great the burger is, etc.  But I found that all the hype was a bit misplaced, unfortunately.  I was really ready to love this burger, and when I saw the establishment, I was excited.  The entire restaurant seemed to exude burger excitement.  We sat down, and our order was quickly taken, however, that was when the disappointment began.

It wasn't really all that busy when we arrived and ordered; some others came trickling in after we got there, but not that many.  The food took a long time coming out for some reason, but Rob and I had a lot to catch up on, so it didn't seem as long as it actually was.


 A perfect medium rare and a huge patty.

This patty is HUGE.  I mean, really huge.  The meat had a good char to it, adding to its flavor, which was fantastic.  It was cooked perfectly too, I mean, look at that awesome medium rare.  Unfortunately, the meat was worked a bit too much to form the patty.  There wasn't an even distribution of fat/juices, and what was probably once a very coarse grind to the meat was all compacted and a bit mushy.  I don't want you to think I didn't enjoy the burger though (I mean, come on, it's a burger.  Of course I enjoyed it).  The flavor of the meat was perfect, and only seasoned just enough to help out.


 The burger with the condiments added.

The other condiments were fine/average, except for the pickles.  The pickles were delicious!  They were made in house and had a nice sweet and sour flavor that complimented the taste of the meat.  They provided a good crunch (as did the lettuce) which, with the meat being mushy as it was, made for a better mouth feel.

The onion rings were a major letdown.  They had little, or no, seasoning and were way too oily.  Not to mention that some of the onions weren't even cooked all the way through.  There was not a single redeeming quality about that side dish, and they really brought the entire experience down for me.

All in all, this place isn't what it's talked up to be.  It sounds like you're going to get a fancy burger when your go and order, but really, when it comes out, it's just a regular burger with the same normal condiments.




Cooked Correctly:  5/5
Design:  1.5/4
Plating:  2/3
Value:  1.5/3

BONNAROO!!

No post today! I'm headed down to Bonnaroo!! See you next week.

Homage to The Primeburger

Manhattan, NY
primeburger.com



The Order:   All burgers were ordered medium rare, from scratch.  Primeburger, Primeburger with Salt, Primeburger with cheese, Primeburger with chili.
Side Order: French Fried Potatoes, Curly Fries (Seasoned), Steak Fries, and Potato Salad
Total Cost with Groupon: $2.15 + $24 = $26.15
Drink Order: 1x Vanilla Shake, 2x Strawberry Shakes, 1x Neopolitan
Burger Menu Rating:  No Rating.




If you get a chance, get over to this mainstay in the NYC midtown lunch scene before it closes.  You basically have to go today, I'm not even sure if they're open tomorrow.  The Primeburger has been serving breakfast and lunch since 1938, and it's one place where, if you order correctly, you can really get a great burger.  The quality of the meat, delivered each day, the course grind, and the simple seasoning all come together to make this a burger worth eating.  Unfortunately, the building in which The Primeburger resides, was sold and after months of negotiating, the new owners decided this past week to give them to boot... by this coming Wednesday.  It's a sad day for the NYC Burger Scene. Speaking with John before our meal, he told us the whole story of their fight to stay in the location, and their hopes that once they're all moved out, they can find another location nearby.  Check out this video love letter to the Primeburger, and pictures from our somewhat epic burger tasting below the video.






Mike is starving and about to check out the menu.


The Neopolitan shake.


Ordering done.  Anticipation killing me.


Curly Fries (Seasoned) = delicious


Steak fries, a bit limp.


Primeburger with cheese. This looks like it's over, but it's actually a perfect
medium rare.


The chili burger.  Average.


Other solo diners.


Mary joined us as well!


Enjoying a ton of food.


A picture with owners John and Michael DiMiceli.


A final goodbye to The Primeburger.

Darien Social

Darien, CT
www.dariensocialct.com



The Order: Social Burger, medium rare. With slow cooked onion, black pepper truffle mayo. (Add bacon or cheese for $1.50 - local blue cheese, shelburne aged cheddar, cloud nine camembert, fresh mozzarella, or gruyere)
Side Order: Comes with fries
$12
Drink Order: Water
Burger Menu Rating: 10/15




Located in the heart of downtown Darien, CT, Darien Social is an American gastropub which serves upscale comfort food.  They do their best to source all of their ingredients locally, and have built a restaurant that exudes a nostalgia for the early part of the 20th century.  While their attention to the detail of the decor is admirable, their burger was merely an average artisan burger, despite the way the burger and toppings were put together.

A Social Burger.

One thing that was nice about this burger is that I got what they said was going to be on the burger.  Notice that in the pictures there aren't other toppings.  No lettuce, no tomato.  When you order this, you know that you are going to get a bun, a burger patty, onions and mayo.  That's what I mean about this burger being an average artisan burger.  They was definitely thought about the ingredients, and what should go onto and into this burger.


Slightly over medium rare.

Cutting into the burger, it had a nice pink center, but as you can see above, it isn't quite medium rare.  Check out this graphic which details how STEAKS look when cooked to various temperatures.  It's a good reference for when you're cooking burgers.  Granted, burgers, depending on where you go, should be cooked more thoroughly, at trusted establishments, a true medium rare is perfectly safe.  Or, you live on the edge like me, and will settle for nothing less.

There was a nice crunch to the bun of this burger.  The inside was grilled, but not charred, and the rest was soft: perfect for absorbing the juices of the burger.  The bun, however, was really oily for whatever reason, which definitely detracted from the overall taste of the burger.

The fries were a great texture, and perfectly seasoned.

The fries were fantastic.  They weren't over-cooked, some were thin and crunchy, and others were thicker and soft.  And I didn't need the ketchup they provided at all.  At the end of the meal, you get a free small Granita which is perfect for cleansing your palate after a meal.  Delicious.

Baby cousin Aiden loves burgers too.  Good man.

I'd definitely come here again.  It's a fairly good burger for the price, and the beer list is a plus, though on the expensive side.  I'd actually really like to do a side by side comparison between The Social Burger and the Goose Burger, both of which are in downtown Darien, CT.




Cooked Correctly: 4/5
Plating: 2/3
Design/Ingredients: 2/4
Value: 2/3

Kooper's Tavern

Baltimore, MD
www.koopers.com



The Order: Billy's Kobe, medium rare.  Creekstone Farms Premium Angus Beef, foasted garlic cream cheese, arugula, apple-smoked bacon and truffle oil on a freshly baked kaiser roll.
Side Order: Sweet Potato Fries ($1) and a Schwartz's pickle. You have a choice of fries, or sweet potato fries ($1).
$15 + $1 = $16
Drink Order: New Belgium Dig IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 10/15




Having gotten burgers from the Kooper's Tavern Chowhound Burger Wagon on Thursdays by Centerstage in Mt. Vernon, and those burgers having been fairly good, I was intrigued to hear that Kooper's Tavern had a burger that was voted best in Baltimore.  My girlfriend, Becky, and I had been wanting to go for quite some time, so we finally decided to make a day of it.  The Aquarium, and a burger.  Surf and turf, as it were (see what I did there?).  Now, it turns out that it was actually the Lamburger a la Grecque that was voted the best in Baltimore (our waitress told us, as well as a recent call to the restaurant), and it sounded delicious, but at the time, I was supremely interested in a beef burger (and maybe a little disappointed that it wasn't one of their regular burgers that won the awards).  So alas, next time I will have to try their award winner.  This time, I went for the Billy's Kobe.  We were there midday, so the service was extremely fast, and our server was very helpful.


 Becky is super excited about eating this burger.

When the burgers arrived, we were pretty hungry, but alas, I had to take pictures (Becky dove in, as you can see above).  The meat taste was fairly present, but it was cooked just a little bit towards medium, and not the dead-on medium rare I'd expected.  It could have also been more of a coarse grind.

A little towards medium.

As for the other ingredients, the garlic cream cheese was an excellent addition.  It was light and airy, and not overpoweringly garlicky.  I was left with a very minimal amount of garlic breath, but there was enough to add a kick of spice to each bite.  The bacon was thick and not soft (both good and bad depending on how you look at it).  In this instance, the applewood smoked bacon, on its own, had a lot of flavor, but on this burger, it didn't add all that much flavor.  There was a ton of arugula to make a bed for the burger.  It was super fresh and tasty, and the truffle oil came through especially strong amongst the greens.  Not too strong, but a nice hint to give an earthy flavor to some of the bites.

As for the rest, the sweet potato fries were pretty good.  Often I find that sweet potato fries are either under or overcooked, these however, were perfect.  The only thing was that they could have used a little more seasoning.  They just packed an underwhelming little punch when it came to a tandem flavor.  Kooper's Tavern also has a good bottle selection, and a small draught selection.  Plus, their Burger Tuesday special of your first Kooper's Yellow Tail Ale for just $2.50 is tough to beat.  Belgian Thursdays also has discounted Belgian beers for some really low prices.

After we were done, we were greeted by Jeff Bejma, one of the general managers who had seen my twitter updates regarding Becky and my trip into Fell's Point for their burger.  We spent some time talking about the burgers, and Jeff told us a bit about their burger's origin story.  Apparently, they got together a bunch of the beef distributors in the area and made them fight to the death.  Actually, they had to do a tasting for a select number of people, and the restaurant was then able to pick which was the best blend for their burger.  Bejma asked my thoughts, and I detailed a short version of the above.  We'll see next time if there have been any changes at all.

You can follow the chowhound on twitter here: @BRGRwagon and Kooper's Tavern here: @kooperstavern




Cooked Correctly: 4
Plating:1.5
Design/Ingredients: 2.5
Value: 2

Biwa

Portland, OR
biwarestaurant.com



The Order: Biwa Hamburger, medium rare. Seasoned ground beef, Kimchi mayo, and Chasyu.  Served only after 10pm.
Side Order: Comes with small amount of potatoes and slaw (pickled.)
$8
Drink Order: Shibuya Sling - cocktail
Burger Menu Rating: 14/15




I was working out in LA a few weeks ago and decided to take a side trip up to Portland, OR to visit my friend Tim.  Now, Tim loves burgers, and he loves beer, so we've had many a trip to partake of both of those lovely things.  But as of yet, I'd not been able to visit up in Portland, and all he'd been telling me about was how awesome the beer was, and how good the food was.  So I figured, what the heck, I've got the time and the money, I might as well do this while I'm on the same coast, right?  Right.

When I first got into Portland, Tim immediately asks me what we're gonna eat, and how he's been freaking out about which burger joint he was going to take me to, because he wanted my first Portland burger experience to be an awesome one.  Instead, we headed to Pok Pok Noi, a Northern Thai restaurant, owned by Andy Ricker which has expanded across Portland and also into NYC in the past few years.  Absolutely everything we ate was incredibly spicy (Ricker didn't want to dumb down the flavors and spiciness for the American palette), but amazing.  Huge wings smothered in a sweet red chili sauce, green papaya salad, and boar collar with lettuce.  All just so delicious, and so incredibly spicy.  As a first taste of the kind of fare that I could expect in Portland, this was perfect.

We tossed around a few ideas for where to get a burger for dinner the next night, and landed upon Biwa.  Tim had heard about this burger before, and it had gotten a great write-up from Nick Zukin as being one of the top 10 bistro burgers in Portland.  Other places weren't open when we wanted to go, and Biwa's burger sounded intriguing.  Now, Biwa is a Japanese restaurant in Southeast Portland that does not take reservations.  They have a limited amount of seating, and the place fills up really quickly.  We arrived at about 9:15 to make sure we could get a table, and ended up sitting at the bar, where we split a few appetizers to kill time.  By this point, we were starving, and the anticipation was killing us.  We watched as the chefs started to prepare the burgers almost immediately at 10pm.  Mouths watering.  When it arrived, the burger was a beauty to behold; the top bun placed off center to show off the Chasyu, pork belly that's been cured in various sauces, rolled up and sliced, and the dollop of Kimchi mayo, and the potatoes and pickled slaw on the side to complete the picture.


Cross section of the Biwa Hamburger

Now, this burger was cooked perfectly.  The above picture makes it a little difficult to tell because of the stark angle of the lighting, but believe you me, this was juicy with a deep red center that transitioned to pink towards the outsides.  The grind was extremely coarse, and the meat had definitely not been worked over, providing a perfectly crumbly texture with the fats and juices mixed all the way thru, and this was a super thick patty.  The bun was lightly toasted, just enough to provide a crunch, but still soft and absorbent.  A nice thickness too so that when it got to absorbing the juices, it didn't get all completely soaked, but still maintained some of its airy quality.

The kimchi aioli was light and perfect.  It didn't overwhelm the taste of the patty and added an awesome and intriguing slightly sour flavor.  The greens were a great bed upon which to lay the burger, though they seemed to only add texture, and not much in the way of flavor.  The Chasyu was a thin slice, fried, and crunchy.  It added a nice texture, is slightly salty, but I was torn between wanting a thicker piece for the usual soft texture that pork belly provides.  It definitely added to the overall richness of this burger, but the meat is no second contender to the Chasyu.  The meat flavor hits you in the first bite, and lasts til the end.

The potatoes on the side had mustard seeds, which are a nice and surprising texture, and flavor, when combined with the potatoes.  The slaw was made up of a few pickled items: carrots, onion and some kind of pepper.  It was very reminiscent of traditional Japanese tasting menus in that with its sharp flavors, it cleansed the palette in a fantastic way.  Eat a bite of these every few bites of the burger to re-experience your first bite in a whole new way.  And the fact that these sides aren't just a companion side, like fries, but are intended to compliment and change how you taste the burger is amazing.  Some real thought went into the flavor combinations and the presentation, making this burger well worth both the $8 and the wait til 10pm.




Cooked Correctly: 5
Design/Ingredients: 3
Plating: 3
Value: 3

The Grill on Hollywood

Hollywood, CA
thegrill.com

 

The Order: American Kobe, medium rare.  Black and white truffle mayo.
Side Order: Comes with Jumbo Onion Rings
$21.50
Drink Order: Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard
Burger Menu Rating: 2/15




Situation in the busy Hollywood and Highland mall at the intersection of Hollywood and Highland, funnily enough, The Grill on Hollywood is where you can find many of the designers, producers and technicians who are working on the Oscars during the weeks leading up to that show.  I'd eaten here before, but never gotten the burger.  But this time was the time; the moment was at hand, that hand was mine, and it was holding a burger.  And boy, I could not have been more disappointed.

Sitting with Joe, Gloria, Travis, Damien, and Perry, most of whom were working on the Oscars at the time, I confidently ordered the burger medium rare (I said medium rare twice), after which Joe ordered his burger medium well with fries instead of rings.  And so out came our burgers, rings for me, fries for Joe.  By this point, I'm so hungry that I inhale half of the burger.  It's been hours since my last meal.  Then I realize how much water and beer I'm drinking as I eat this burger, and look down.  It's gray.  Not even pink, but gray.  They cooked it completely wrong.  So then I look over at Joe's burger.  Pink.  They cooked HIS completely wrong.  They swapped our burgers.  Now I was sitting right next to Joe which could have cause the confusion, EXCEPT that they got our sides correct.  So somebody in the kitchen made a huge mistake, and unfortunately, it really cost them.  Zero points for being cooked correctly.

The sauce on the burger was good, lightly earthy, but that was the only uplifting quality to this otherwise terrible burger.  The patty was bland on top of being cooked into shoe leather, and the bun was a bit too charred.  The coarse grind the used I'm sure would've been awesome if it hadn't been cooked well beyond what I ordered (again, I said medium rare twice).  No thought into plating.  The fries on Joe's plate were merely dumped on, though my onion rings only looked slightly better.  Look at how the lettuce is jutting out of the burger on two sides, instead of being neatly stacked.  Overall, this place is definitely NOT worth it.




Cooked Correctly: 0
Design/Ingredients: 1
Plating: 1
Value: 0

Sorry guys.  No post today.

But!  I've got two other blogs to tell you about.  Well, actually, both are tumblrs.  But!  Definitely worth checking out.

boatsy.tumblr.com
My good friend Norah is traveling with a theater company on a boat, performing, and she started a tumblr to post her musings and doings.  It's already one of the more interesting things I've been following in the short while since she started.

ramenlady.tumblr.com
My sister Vanessa has started a tumblr dedicated to Ramen... and other things.  She loves Ramen almost as much as she loves Bacon, which is about as much as I love burgers.  If you love Ramen, you'll want to check in on her tumblr for sure.

Hope you all are well.  I'm swamped right now, but will definitely be able to post next week!  In the meantime, enjoy these two new blogs!

Steak 'n Shake

Kissimmee, FL
www.steaknshake.com



The Order: *New* Royale Steakburger. A double with American Cheese, hickory-smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, mayo, and a fried egg.
Side Order: Comes with fries.
$4.99
Drink Order: Vanocolate Shake (Vanilla and Chocolate Side by Side Shake)
Burger Menu Rating: 9/15




Everyone has been talking recently about the new Steak 'n Shake that opened up its doors in NYC a few months ago. I wanted to go to see what all the rage was about, but somehow I just couldn't nail down a time to go. However, I found myself in Kissimmee, Florida, where there just so happens to be a Steak 'n Shake! It was a family trip, and everybody was gung-ho about going to go try their burgers. We actually made it over there twice in a week, just to be sure that we were really getting our money's worth.

The first thing to notice about these burgers is that they're not cooked to order, and they're thin patties. They're only served medium well. That, and the decor, combined with the fact that you order with a server, puts this place into the Fast/Casual category, but it really competes more with other fast food chains. So the burger came out medium well. It was cooked as advertised, but with this burger, it's not as much a detriment. I mean, when you're ordering a burger with thin patties like this, you're pretty much always going to get medium well/well done anyways, no matter how you order it. The problem, however, was the egg. It too was well done, and a detriment to the burger. It wasn't as flavorful as I hoped it would be, probably due to it's being cooked so long. The other ingredients came together nicely, with a satisfying crunch and a softness of the lightly toasted bun, though the mayo was barely discernible and the bacon was minimally there.

The fries are extremely thin, and not overcooked: shoe-string fries. I don't like shoe-string fries because they're just so tiny and not as satisfying as their larger cut brethren, but these were delicious, salty, and simple. I found myself eating a bunch at a time to make up for their puny size and they were gone too fast. It seemed like making the fries so small was a ploy to cover up how little you're getting.

Still, the meal, overall, was a good size, especially for the price. The fact that the burger and fries is only $4.99 is the best thing going for this place, followed by the sped of service, and then the variety. As an alternative to other fast food places, I'd say this is a really good one. I'd choose Steak 'n Shake over most other chains any day.




Not cooked to order: -1
Cooked correctly: 5
Design/Ingredients: 1
Plating: 1
Value: 3

Custom Burgers by Pat La Frieda and 67 Burger Redux

Queens, NY
www.lafrieda.com
www.yelp.com(reviews)



The Order: Single, with lettuce, tomato, pickle, grilled onions ($1), cheddar ($1), bacon ($1.5), and spicy garlic aioli.
Side Order: None
$4.75 + $1 + $1 + $1.5 = $8.25
Drink Order: Coke
Burger Menu Rating: 10.5/15




Who could be more excited than me to find out that Custom Burgers by Pat La Frieda happens to be in the same terminal from which I was flying out of NY?! Nobody. That's who. I mean, come on, Pat La Frieda provides the meat for some of the best burgers in the city, and the butcher/meat wholesaler is renowned for his custom blends and high quality meats. So a 'Fast Casual' burger place where you can customize your own burger, and the meat is guaranteed to be great quality? I'm sold. They had a few pre-designed burgers (Americana, Fat Cat, Southern Style, etc.), but the name of the place is CUSTOM Burgers... so I built my own.



So! The burger: tasty for a fast food type burger, but you can't get it cooked to order! For a place that cares about the quality of the meat, don't you think they would care that you could only get it medium/medium-well?! What a waste! They meat was on the dry side because of it. Also, the patty was strangely flat, though, with how it was put together, it had a fantastic texture, and extremely coarse grind. The spicy garlic aioli wasn't spicy at all, but added enough garlic flavor to at least be interesting. The bacon was a little soft, and undercooked, tough and not very flavorful. The bun was greasy, the same flavor and color as the bun at Shake Shack, but also added flavor and a texture that improved the overall mouthfeel. The other toppings were fresh, crisp and crunchy. They didn't split the bun, which made for awkward handling of the burger, and the presentation really left something to be desired. In such a swank terminal (and the entire Delta terminal at La Guardia is super nice), and in an eatery with such a good idea, you'd think it would be presented a little better. Actually, there was a HUGE lack of any employee presence in this place. You walk up to the counter and you order on a touch-screen terminal, then stand and wait for your burger, which is brought out from the back kitchen by.. someone. I mean, I know we're pretty technologically advanced and all, but it felt very standoffish and was a bit perturbing. I'd still come here again, despite the Overall, the burger was salty, pretty tasty, but not completely satisfying. Next time I'd go with the 'American' which is cheaper, and probably more worth it. Or I'd build my own American, and add the garlic aioli. Build your own single burgers start at $4.75.

The sides and shakes were a little pricy for me and I was looking for a light lunch, so I passed on them. They did look tasty though. Also, notice that this is the entrance to the kitchen, which is behind a wall of cows.




Not cooked to order: -1
Cooked correctly: 5
Design/Ingredients: 3
Plating: 1.5
Value: 2





So! Last Tuesday, 67 Burger in Park Slope offered a slider and beer pairing dinner orchestrated by head chef Jeff Maslanka. $20 for 20 ounces of beer (4 beers), and 20 ounces of burger (4 sliders - 3 meat, 1 veggie). That's a pretty sweet deal, and having already been to their Fort Greene location, I was eager to get a second opinion, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. Joined once again by Mike and Vanessa, we snagged an 8pm seating, and were served within 10 minutes of sitting. Two of the managers each came by to see how we were doing, and explain the whole evening, plus give us a pairing menu.





But get this. Two representatives from Sixpoint Brewery were there serving us our beer, and explaining the notes about each beer, and why they were chosen to pair with each of the sliders. And then, Maslanka himself came by the table to explain the burgers and toppings, and to make sure we were all doing alright. Well, let me tell you, these burgers were delicious. The Italian Veggie burger, in fact, was fantastic (gasp!). I know! I know! What?! It's not a burger! It's a Veggie Patty Sandwich! Then there was their Greek burger, with feta, olive tapenade, and artichoke. It was perhaps my favorite of the bunch. 3rd was their 67 burger, with bacon and bleu cheese, but in slider form of course, and last was their Southwestern burger, which had roasted peppers, tomatoes, scallions, Chipotle mayo and pepperjack cheese.

They were seriously all delicious, AND, cooked a PERFECT medium rare. Maslanka, you get bonus points. But I think the best pairing was actually the 67 Burger and the Sixpoint Righteous Rye. The salty, sour and bitter tastes provided across the board really worked together to make it a difficult burger and beer to consume slowly. Enjoy the foodporn below!




The Greek Burger, cooked a pefect medium rare.


The quartet of burgers, face us is the Southwestern, to the left is the Italian Veggie and
to the right is the 67 burger.


Vanessa enjoys some fries, burgers and beers!


The Italian Veggie. Surprisingly delicious. I'm no convert, but I'd eat it again. Are you
happy, all you vegetarians out there?


Mike enjoying three burgers at once!