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

The Breslin

Manhattan, NY
thebreslin.com



The Order: Chargrilled Lamb Burger, medium rare. With feta, cumin mayo, and red onion.
Side Order: Comes with Thrice cooked chips. Boiled peanuts fried in pork fat ($6)
$21 + $6 = $27
Drink Order: Spotted Pig Cask Conditioned Bitter
Burger Menu Rating: 12.5/15




I met up with Mike and Vanessa again for another burger expedition, this time to the Ace Hotel (Seriously guys, if any of you others want to eat burgers with me, you just have to ask, I'm game). When you walk into the lobby of the Ace Hotel in NYC, you'll be greeted by decor and clientele for which the chain of hotels is known: hipsters, vinyl records, driftwood, mustaches, and taxidermy, a sort of upscale hipster getaway. Navigate through all of this to get to the Breslin (or I guess you could enter from their Street entrance, but there's much more to look at if you enter through the lobby, trust me), but don't be distracted by the bar in the lobby. While they also have a burger on their bar menu that looks tasty, what you want is the lamb burger at Chef April Broomfield's The Breslin serves. The place really starts to fill up by 7p, so get here early, and even arriving at 6p meant a 15 minute wait, even though the front half of the restaurant appeared to have a lot of open tables (even though there are no reservations?). Whatever. a 15 minute wait isn't so bad with a beer in your hand.


(photo courtesy of The Breslin)

After looking over the menu, we quickly decided to split the boiled peanuts fried in pork fat (they've since changed them to merely fried in pork fat and raised it to $7. I don't think the extra $1 will make it more delicious, but I'm sure it's still as good). The waitress, being extremely attentive and perky, rewarded our quick thinking by taking our orders as soon as we were ready. But from that point the dinner dragged on and on. Our waitress was fantastic, but the food service is so incredibly slow, it was almost unbearable (we could almost have not added a bear). The peanuts came after a time, and went away faster than we would have liked, and were followed by more waiting.

Well into our second drinks, the burgers finally arrived, and our mouths were watering from having waited for so long. I love it when burgers are simple, when they have had some thought put into them, when the chef doesn't just add lettuce, tomato and a slice of onion for the hell of it. This burger is simple, with emphasis on the flavor of the lamb. Juicy, messy, and a huge patty, I mean, look at the picture. That patty is HUGE, and awesome. The cumin mayo mixed with the feta and the lamb is fantastic, if a little strong. The bun was a bit too crispy, a detriment to the burger, but was able to soak up the juices. If it had been a little less crunchy, it would have made for a perfectly designed burger.

The fries were delicious on their own. They were extra crispy, soft on the inside, and lightly seasoned. I don't really get what about them was so spectacular after having been 'thrice-cooked' but sure, I'd go for them again. The fact that they were still soft on the inside is a draw. With a crunch, and the mix of textures, they're a delight to eat, and when dipped in the cumin mayo, it was impossible to stop eating them.




Cooked Correctly = 5pts
Presentation/Plating = 3pts
Design/Ingredients = 2.5pts
Value = 2

Lucky's Famous Burgers

Manhattan, NY
www.luckysfamousburgers.com



The Order: Lucky Cheddar Burger, medium rare. Premium Gold Angus beef, on a potato roll with lettuce, onion, tomato and pickles.
Side Order: Combo comes with fries and a drink
$10
Drink Order: Dr. Pepper, Shake ($4)


If not for the Groupon I had previously purchased, I would not have come here, or really even have heard of this place. Lucky's Famous Burgers. The name, you'd think, would imply a certain amount of fame and perhaps even a little street cred. I'd never heard of it before. But apparently, it's a revamp of a previous place called "Lucky's Famous" so I'll just go with it. And with a Groupon, why not right? $20 worth of food and drink for $10? That's awesome! So, joined by my friend Nate, a writer for Lonely Planet, I decided to take the burger plunge. Or, rather, we did together.

To be honest, there really isn't much to say about this place. The burger is average, the fries remind me of going to Nathan's to get hot dogs and fries as a kid. They had the same cut, and the same lack of flavor. But what IS great is their array of sauces. Their Lucky's Special Sauce and their Chipotle Mayo are delicious. So after smothering the burger and fries with these sauces, all of a sudden they were pretty damn good! So come here for the sauce, I guess that's what I'm saying.

Oh right. We had a milkshake. Eh. It was fine. Be clear about what you want. I ordered a chocolate, vanilla, coffee shake, and got a Neopolitan. A fairly tasty Neopolitan, but not what I ordered. Worth the $4? No. It wasn't overly large, and $4 is a big chunk of change for an average milkshake. But I'll say again, this place is worth it if you bought the Groupon on their NY Burger Day sale a few months back. Otherwise, skip it.