The Bird in Hamburg

Hamburg, Germany
www.thebirdinhamburg.com



The Order:  The Breakfast Burger, medium rare.  Bacon, egg, lettuce, tomato, onion, on an English Muffin.
Side Order:  Comes with fries.
11.50€ (About $15.58)
Drink Order:  Anchor Steam Beer
Burger Menu Rating:  12.5/15




In the fall I spent two months working in Hamburg, Germany.  When I'm not reviewing burgers, I travel for work as a lighting designer and assistant designer for theatrical productions.  I was in Hamburg working on Rocky Das Musical (yes... a musical based on the movie Rocky... actually pretty good), and of course, the first thing I think about, when I find out where I'm going to be working, is hamburgers.  Yes, I was thinking about all of the extremely delicious burgers that I would find all over Hamburg.  They would be spilling out of every door, everywhere I looked there would be amazing meat patties, perfectly formed, oozing deliciousness, and beckoning to me from every which direction.  Sadly this was not to be the case (I also quickly found out that 'Hamburger' in Germany can mean something quite different - a descriptive term, rather than actually a hamburger).

I can't tell you just how frustrating it was to even find a single burger joint!  Sure there was Burger King, and McDonalds (more on this at a later date), and Hesburger (a Finnish burger chain - also more on this later), but I was looking for a great burger.  I was in the City of Burgers was I not?!  Hamburg isn't actually called the City of Burgers as I had led myself to believe.  Now I'm not going to go into the history of hamburgers.  It's a sordid and confusing history with many claims to their creation (for a laugh, check out A Hamburger Today's attempt at tackling the question and read all the comments).  The term was most likely coined here in the US, but the meal's origins point to various places in Asia and Europe.  Let's leave it at that.  So maybe it makes sense that Hamburger doesn't have all that many burger places.  Maybe I was looking for the wrong word?  Whatever the case may be, it took me a while to find a SERIOUS burger, and I found it at The Bird in Hamburg.


Chris perusing the menu.

Hilariously, the owner is from New York.  So it's not even really a hamburger from Hamburg.  Billed as a New York Style restaurant with New York size proportions, at least the burger meat is made fresh daily from German beef.  Walking in and looking at the menu, I could already tell that I would love this place.  When you open the menu, it pleads with the eater to "At least TRY to eat the damn burger with your hands" in response to a general sense of decorum in the European style eating; they use a knife and fork for everything (of course, when I dragged my English friend Chris along, I made him use his hands as well).  In a town where all all the ketchup has a curry flavor, there was regular ketchup on the table: a major plus.


Dear Customers... PLEASE!

All of the burgers looked amazing!  How was I to choose?  I figured that I'd be making a return trip soon anyways, so decided to go for the first one that caught my eye: the Breakfast Burger.  With the order into the kitchen, and our drinks arrived (Anchor Steam!  In Germany! And for 4.50€), I decided to get myself into the kitchen for some pictures.  The owner, Tim, was kind enough to show me around the kitchen as our burgers were being prepared.


The kitchen staff weren't expecting a visitor.


Pre-plating, two with secret crack sauce.


 
Onions, bacon and delicious goodness.


The burgers are done!  Note the English Muffins!


The Breakfast Burger as it arrived.

When the Burger arrived it was glorious-looking.  Served on an English Muffin (I love that), this thing was a hefty burger.  The burger was slightly under-cooked, but apparently there's a different standard for meat temperatures in Germany.  The patty was well balanced, and huge.  It had great fat distribution, a fantastically coarse grind and was well salted, bringing out the meaty flavors to mix with the other ingredients.  The egg was warm with a somewhat runny yolk that was a little burned around the edges, and could have stood to be a little runnier.  The bacon on top was salty, and firm, but not hard.  The other toppings were fresh, though I didn't put the lettuce, tomato or red onion on top.  The English muffin was a bit small for how big this burger was.  If the idea was to create a messy burger, they did a great job.



The fries were good, a perfect size.  They were well salted, and tasty to dip in the ketchup, or the crack sauce (amazingly tasty!), but they got to be a little too greasy as the meal progressed.  The homemade hot sauce was nicely spicy, but a little low on flavor.  It's there, but it doesn't add much more than spice to anything.

All in all a good meal, and a great find in the St. Pauli/Reeperbahn area.  I ended up back there three or four more times.  If you go, I recommend trying the Da Birdhouse, the Big Crack and the Fat Stingy Gonzalez (mmm guacamole and salsa verde done right).  The Dr. Zian is good, but the Stilton Blue Cheese is really strong and doesn't achieve a balanced flavor.




Cooked Correctly (German standard): 5/5
Design: 3/4
Plating: 1.5/3
Value: 3

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

Triumph Brewery

Princeton, NJ
www.triumphbrewing.com



The Order: Epic Burger, medium rare. With pork bellies, caramelized onions, fried egg, truffle aioli, mornay sauce, and a pickle.
Side Order: Comes with fries
$15
Drink Order: Triumph Beer flight: Honey Blonde, Amber Ale, German Pilsner, Oatmeal Stout, Bengal Gold IPA, Abbey Trippel, Porter



I want to shake the hand of the chef who designed this ridiculous creation. This burger was just all around fantastic. It was big. It was juicy. It was cooked perfectly. I knew I loved burgers before I ate this, and I knew I loved pork bellies, but the combination of the two, AND a fried egg?! Holy shit. I can't even begin to tell you how satisfying and tasty this burger was from the moment it arrived. It looked amazing and served to make me all the hungrier before I could sink my teeth in.

Piling on all the ingredients, and smearing on the sauce, every moment of it was building in anticipation of that first bite, which in no way disappointed. I don't think this thing could possibly have disappointed anybody. The egg was gloriously runny, mixing with the sauces and the flavorful meat. The bun was lightly toasted, containing and absorbing the juices, but not too hard that it got in the way of the rest of the burger experience. This is seriously a hearty and delicious burger. I would come back here in a second, and it would be the only reason, besides cheaper gas, to go to NJ. Seriously, awesome.

A generous portion of fries on the side were delicious, and a refreshing change from all of the stingy burger places giving only a measly little handful. They were all cooked the same, crunchy on the outside, and soft on the inside, evenly and delicious seasoned. And I cleaned the plate after the burger. It as ALL gone. STUFFED. And happy.