www.walkersnyc.com
The Order: 8oz sirloin burger, medium rare on a sesame seed roll. Add swiss ($1.25), add mushroom ($1.25), add bacon ($1.25), add sauteed onions ($1.25)
Side Order: comes with fries
$10.75 + $1.25 + $1.25 + $1.25 + $1.25 = $15.75
Drink Order: Lagunitas IPA
Burger Menu Rating: 7.5/15
First, I must apologize! I totally dropped the ball on posting this on time. Now it's almost a week later, but I'm determined to get this post in before Wednesday's next post. And I especially failed, because this was my first invited review, although hilariously there was some miscommunication, and they didn't actually know I was coming (oh well). But still, you have to hand it to a restaurant that invites a review. That takes balls. I like balls.
Walker's has been around for about 26 years, in a space that has been a restaurant or pub since the 1880s. It's a spot all the locals know about, and is praised for being an unpretentious mainstay of Tribeca. Upon entering, you walk into a spacious bar and seating area with high ceilings, and brick walls, and this looks like all the place has to offer, but it turns out there are two dining rooms nestled in the back behind the bar. The staff greets you as you enter, and they're generally friendly and helpful amidst the bustle of the lunch hour.
The build your own burger menu.
I checked out the menu, and there was only one burger on the menu. What I hadn't known, before I went in to write the review, was that this is basically a design-your-own-burger. I immediately asked my server what her recommendation was, and she came out swinging. Swiss, mushrooms, bacon and sauteed onions. Okay server lady.
After a short wait (the place wasn't quite busy yet), the burger arrived, piled high with toppings and fries. Word must have spread around all the waitstaff because when the burger was brought out, there was a lot of cooing over the burger, telling it how nice it looked, while simultaneously looking, and winking, at me. Seeing other patron's burger brought out, however, made it clear that the cooing was done for me, but the burger was prepared the same as all the others: a hand-formed patty, piled high with toppings of your choice, and a healthy portion of fries.
An uneven patty formation leads to uneven cooking.
This burger had a good medium rare, in the parts where it was medium rare. The patty itself was a bit lopsided, which explains the uneven cooking, and it was dryer than a lot of the burgers I've had recently, which is probably because of their use of sirloin, as opposed to chuck, or other less lean cuts of beef. Still, they managed a good sear on the burger. The problem was that the meat wasn't very well seasoned, and there wasn't very much actual meat taste on this burger. With the uneven cooking skewing from well done to medium rare, and the grind on the finer side, this burger began with quite a few problems.
Close up of the bacon. Soft, and without very much taste.
The massive amount of toppings on the burger was the standout here. There was no way to keep it all piled on the burger. No matter how much I tried, it all just kept gooping out all over the place. The onions were perfectly cooked, the Swiss was amazingly melty and the mushrooms were cooked JUST enough so they were soft with a good mouthfeel, and added a fine earthy flavor to the burger. The bacon, however, was a bit of a let down. I don't mind soft bacon on my burger, but these bacons only had a little bit of flavor to add to the burger. When the bacon can only add a little in terms of texture and taste, it's time to skip the bacon.
In a time when Brioche dominates the burger bun scene, a classic sesame seed roll is nice to see. It brings the eater back to backyard BBQs, reminding us that we too can make burgers delicious, and that the everyday Joe need only have the makings of a burger (a bun and a patty) to make a burger. The bun was well suited to this particular burger, and held up well, absorbing the small amount of juice coming out of the patty. It was nicely toasted on the inside, but not charred to a crisp.
As I mentioned before, there was a healthy portion of fries as a side to this burger. I couldn't come close to finishing them. They were a good medium cut, skin-on, and nicely cooked, but they could've used an extra shake or two, or a roll in a paper towel. They were EXTREMELY oily, and weren't effectively seasoned. Some fries had a decent amount of salt, but others had almost none, or had none.
When it comes down to it, and keeping in mind the detriments I pointed out about, this is still a good burger. It falls into the category of a Pub Burger, the kind that you go out to get for your lunch break from work. There's a ton of the toppings, there's a lot of fries, and with a beer, it's not all that bad. Skip the bacon, save yourself $1.25, and suddenly, $14.50 isn't too bad. Oh, and ask for extra salt on the fries. Would I go here again? If I'm in the area, sure. Walker's has been around for 26 years, it's doing something right.
Cooked Correctly: 3/5
Design: 1.5/4
Plating: 2/3
Value: 1/3
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