5 Napkin Burger

Manhattan, NY
www.5napkinburger.com


Photo courtesy of the web, originally from 5 Napkin Burger.

The Order: Original 5 Napkin Burger, medium rare. 10oz custom ground beef, caramelized onions, gruyere, rosemary aioli, on a soft white roll.
Side Order: Comes with fries.
$14.95
Drink Order: 5 Napkin Nut Brown Lager
Burger Menu Rating: 11/15




This is a hip little place. Old Edison lamps hang from meat hooks all over this dimly lit bar/restaurant (too dim, in fact, to get a decent pixture w/ my crap phone), while a wide range of music plays, though not so loud you can't talk to your servers or friends. The atmosphere is relaxed, and there's a constant buzz of conversation. And this place gets busy, so I'd definitely make a reservation if you can. I walked in and was able to snag a seat at the bar. The bartender was knowledgeable about the menu, and decisive with her advice, which amounted to 'go for the original.'

This burger is about toppings, taste and mouthfeel. Everything on this burger comes together in a sot and creamy mess that is a delight to bite into. It's all soft around the meat, making he meat stand out and exist as an altogether different texture that is satisfying to sink your teeth into. And the taste of the sauce packs a big punch. In fact, it's almost too much. The rosemary aioli is so strong that you barely get any of the other flavors in the burger, and the meat flavor itself struggles to make its presence known to your mouth. The gruyere and the caramelized onions are likewise thrust aside in the aioli's quest to dominate your taste buds. Still, the burger is cooked perfectly, and the texture of the burger is perfect. Eating a bite of the meat separately from the rest of the burger reveals it to be slightly smoky, and completely delicious, so it's not as if the ingredients aren't all there and holding up their end of the bargain. This also isn't to say that the aioli isn't delicious! It is! Entirely! It's superb! But there was way too much of it on this burger.

The fries are dull and uninteresting unless smothered in ketchup; their taste not only completely lost compared to the aioli, but somehow lacking from the beginning. Perhaps a lack of seasoning, or crunch. It seems like everything about the fries, besides their presentation, is disappointing.

Still, I find myself scarfing down the burger, and fries, in my usual manner, which tells me the burger is, in fact, delicious. It's just a balance in flavor that this meal is lacking.




Cooked Correctly = 5pts
Presentation/Plating = 2pts
Design/Ingredients = 2pts
Value = 2

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen vs. Shake Shack

Manhattan, NY
www.schnippers.com
www.shakeshack.com



The Fight: Schnipper's Classic vs. Shackburger (single)

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen
The Order: Schnipper's Classic, medium rare. Special cheese blend, carmelized onions, bacon, arugula, Schnipper sauce
Side Order: Fries ($2.75)
$8.99 + $2.75 = $11.74
Drink Order: Dr. Pepper

Shake Shack
The Order: Shackburger (single). American cheese, lettuce, tomato, ShackSauce
Side Order: none
$4.75
Drink Order: Dr. Pepper



Last night I went to shake shack for the second time. It was late after work, I need a quick snack, and the line wasn't very long. Many of you have problem heard of Shake Shake and how it has been at the forefront of the whole NYC Burger Revolution. But what many people don't know is they have a direct rival. Schnipper's Quality Kitchen. Friendly and healthy competition, to be sure, but Schnipper's has one location within two blocks of Shake Shack on 8th avenue, and are currently in the process of opening another in Madison Square Park, where Shake Shack recently opened a new burger venue.

I've known about this rivalry for a while now, and just had not had the chance to get to Schnipper's. Getting my second Shake Shack burger to go, I realized my mistake upon walking up to Schnipper's. For a second I was tempted to do a direct taste test, walking into Schnipper's with a Shake Shack burger in hand, but it was not to be, so I vowed to return the next day. And return I did. Now, much is being made about this rivalry between Shake Shack and Schnipper's (in the papers and blogs at least), but I don't understand it at all. Shake Shack really isn't all that good. The patty is thin, and the flavor of the meat isn't all that great. There is a lot of hype surrounding it, that I'm fairly certain has a lot more to do with public relations than actual quality.

On both nights, I ordered the burgers to go. Shake Shack's burger comes to you in a wax paper wrapper. Not elegant, no points for presentation here. But then again, they're 'high end fast food' so this makes sense. The burger comes out entirely too fast, but with the number of people that are already there waiting for a burger, I can't imagine that it was precooked. Schnipper's burger comes in a box. Upon opening the box I immediately knew this was going to be good. An aroma wafted out from under the lid making it's way quickly to my nose and OH MY GOD this burger smelled amazing. And this wasn't a small burger either. Not flattened and crammed into the foil, instead it was nicely wrapped. You couldn't tell where one ingredient ended, and another began, with all the cheesy goodness. Bite after bite was delicious. There was so much flavor. It was cooked perfectly, the bun wasn't soggy, and their Schnipper's Sauce (some mixture of mayo and mustard) was excellent, especially paired with the baby arugula. The fries were thin and crispy. Simple, but they're each JUST salty enough that it was difficult to stop eating them, and I found that I'd eaten half of them before even starting my burger.

Shake Shack's burger by comparison was bland. Not a lot of meat flavor. "Now wait," you might say, "you didn't order it medium rare!" A mistake on my part, yes. But to be honest, if cooking the burger medium takes away all your flavor, and you cook your burgers medium unless specified differently (which nobody does), you've got a problem. Squished into the wax wrapper, the descriptor of 'high end fast food' makes perfect sense. Less than five minutes of wait time, and crammed into a wrapper. I might as well be at McDonald's. The burger wasn't as hot as I expected it to be and the taste of the American cheese was somehow overpowering. Having eaten their fries previously, I didn't order them. The previous visit, they had been nice and thick crinkle cut fries (think Nathans's), but bland in taste. Not enough salt, or any other seasoning for that matter.

At Schnipper's the prices are a bit higher, but you really get more for your money when ordering a burger there. Shake Shack has a more specific market, while Schnipper's has many more options on their menu (sandwiches, sloppy joes, chicken, etc.). On the whole, Schnipper's is just more worth it in almost every aspect. Both establishment's have a beer selection, though Schnipper's is just your standard selection of domestic beers. Shake shack wins by here, with a number of regular and seasonal microbrews. But this war isn't about the beer (though it helps). Schnipper's burger blows Shake Shack's burger out of the water. Worth it for the money, I'd choose it any day. Now I'm not saying you shouldn't go to Shake Shack, but for all of you who haven't heard of Schnipper's, its time for you to put your jacket on and go.