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.

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.

Yard House

Los Angeles, CA
www.yardhouse.com



The Order: Classic Sliders
Side Order: Comes with fries
$10.45
Drink Order: Alaskan IPA



Juicy. Very salty. Soft. These are the classic sliders at Yard House. And they are very easy to eat. Small and scrumptious, these sliders are great when paired with beer, or anything really. You just need something to wash them down because of the amount of salt you'll be ingesting.

Joined by a group of about ten people, the staff at Yard House were quick to get us a table and to get us our food. No rush, but I wasn't going to complain. But the burgers. It's very easy to eat them in no time because of how tasty they are. They just get devoured, but it's not as if they are the tiniest sliders ever. Maybe it's the large amount of beer I seem to always consume at Yard House, but I always seem to suck these things down in 5 minutes. The patties aren't as slim as the server led me to believe (read: they could have at least tried to cook it medium rare), but they were consistently delicious across all four burgers. There is a ton of seasoning that is unfortunately undefinable... You'll start noticing a trend in this review. I honestly can not tell you what this tastes like, other than it is salty and delicious.

They also have bearnaise sliders (pictured above... somehow I don't have a picture), which are also delicious. They come with some fried shoestring onions on the sliders, and the bearnaise sauce is pretty awesome. AND you don't have to choose between the two if you can't or don't want to. You can mix it up with two of each kind for no additional charge.

Worth the $10.45 for the sliders and fries, and Yard House often has happy hour deals where the sliders are 1/2 price. Also worth it if it isn't too crowded. Avoid the downtown LA establishment if an LA team is playing. For all of you east coasters: they recently opened locations in Boston, MA and Westchester, NY!

Oh yeah, and they have beer. Their list occupies the first two pages of the menu. Its a decent selection, but it rarely changes. The draw is their mixed beer with alluring names (Snake Bite? Black Velvet?), which are actually pretty good, and their happy hour discounts on half yard drinks.

Dutch Boy Burger

Brooklyn, NY
www.dutchboyburger.com



The Order: Dutch Boy Burger, medium rare. A 7oz patty with beer soaked cheddar, sauteed crimini mushrooms, caramelized onions, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, and a sesame seed bun.
Side Order: Comes with fries (during lunch), Onion Rings ($4)
$8.50 + $4 = $12.50
Drink Order: Foxon Park Soda: Iron Brew



Touted as a great new local mainstay, Dutch Boy Burger has garnered over 90 favorable reviews since opening its doors. A tiny little place with a bar in the back, Dutch Boy has a sort of charm in being very bare. The staff is friendly, but I'd fire whoever said it would be okay to play two back to back 311 albums... Seriously. Is it the mid 90s again or something?

Anyways, the service was great, and the burger came out fast. But there isn't really all that much I have to say about this place that is positive. First, I definitely said medium rare. Twice. And the burger came out well done. Not even medium well, which I could understand if they somehow misheard me twice. No, it was well done. And it looked as if they spent a long time working and reshaping the meat. It didn't have that delicious ground up texture. Rather, it looked a bit like meat paste. Gray meat paste. Yum right?

The toppings on the other hand were great, fresh and tasty. They made the burger edible. The onions were cooked properly, the mushrooms were soft, but not too soft, and the cheese was appropriately melty.

The fries were recommended as well, but I was unenthusiastic about them from bit number one. Some weren't seasoned. Some were too salty. Some were burned. Eh. The onion rights at least LOOKED delicious. They were tasty at first, but ended up just tasting like oil. I have, however, recently found that onion rings seem to always taste that way to me now. So maybe it's just me. The seasoning on the onion rings and the batter were great. So I'd say you should give them a go. You might really like them.

Their lunch special (a regular burger, fries and soda for $6.95) is pretty hard to beat, but it's a crapshoot as to whether or not they will cook your burger correctly. This place just doesn't cut it, and can't compete in the NY Burger scene.

Original Tommy's

Los Angeles, CA
www.originaltommys.com



The Order: Double cheeseburger. With chili, American cheese, mustard, tomato, pickles, onions
Side Order: A #1 comes with fries
$7.19
Drink Order: Large Mr. Pibb

Tommy's has been around now for over 65 years, starting at the original location at Rampart and Beverly. All the locations have basically the same food, and comparing the Hollywood blvd. location, where I met Dan for lunch, and the original location, the fare is pretty much the same. The other locations just lack the charm of the original stand.

And the burger never disappoints. If you're looking for a heavy, post-drinking burger, look no further. Every burger comes standard with chili and there's no reason to ask for one without. You wouldn't be getting the full experience. The chili is thick and delicious. The double cheeseburger is more than enough burger for any one person to handle, but if you're feeling man enough, go for the triple. Hell, go for the new Mega combo (a triple, chili cheese fries and a 44oz drink). That'd be enough to take you down a peg or two.

The chili cheese fries are a bit superfluous when there is so much chili dripping off the burger to begin with, and don't make the mistake of eating the free chilis first. You'll be especially unhappy about having to eat the burger so slowly because the heat of your burger in your mouth will be somewhat painful.

Tommy's is a mainstay in LA. I'll always recommend going to the original location over any of the others, especially because they are open 24 hours, and its always the best at 3 in the morning.

Burger & Barrel

Manhattan, NY (SoHo)
www.burgerandbarrel.com







The Order: Bash Style, medium rare. Caramelized onions & bacon jam, pickles, American cheese and special sauce
Side Order: Comes with fries/tots
$14
Drink Order: Big Daddy Speakeasy IPA



Located southeast of NYU's main campus, Burger & Barrel is surprisingly filled with the bridge and tunnel crowd; after work cocktails and beer draw these denizens here. Maybe it's the relatively high prices compared to every other restaurant clustered around NYU, or maybe it's the fact that it's more than a two minute walk. Who knows? The atmosphere here isn't terrible. A little loud to be sure, but you'd probably have a lot to say, and be saying it loudly, if you had these burgers. They've got a great selection of burgers to try, a short list, but definitely interesting.

I ordered the burgers to go, and brought them back to Uzi's apartment (a fellow burger lover). Largely because of the intriguing Bacon Jam, I decided to get us both Bash Styles. This, my friends, was a good choice. The combination of flavors just burst out in canon, one after another, pushing their way through to my taste buds. The butter pickles were crunchy and slightly sweet while the bacon was salty and a little smoky. And the meat. Oh man. By the time I got the burgers back to the apartment (maybe about eight minutes) the bottom bun had completely soaked through. So much flavor, so much juice, but you really have to slow down to enjoy this burger. If you eat it too fast, you miss all the nuances of the seasoning and the individual ingredients. At $14 for a burger and fries, it's a little pricy, but, having forgotten to take a picture the first time, I was glad of the opportunity to go again.

The second time around I had the tots as my side. HOLY SHIT. Get these. Hands down these are the best tots I've ever had. They were seasoned with some mysterious combination of spices that just tantalize the taste buds. Seriously, don't pass these up.

So the second time was really a test of Burger & Barrel's consistency, and they did not disappoint at all. Mind you, not only was this the second time, but the second time in two days. A slight delay in the getting the burgers to the table, but with an apology from our server, and an personal apology from the executive chef, AND the fact that it really wasn't a long wait time at all. The evening's special appetizer were the Bison Sliders, which were delicious, but a little small to be splitting. The burger arrived and it was as juicy and delicious as before. No disappointments here. Burger & Barrel is fantastic. Who wants to go, because I'll sure as hell be going again.

Stout Burgers & Beers

Hollywood, CA
www.stoutburgersandbeers.com



The Order: Goombah, medium rare. Parmasiano flakes, smoked mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, and lemon basil aioli.
Side Order: Beer Battered Onion Rings ($4)
$10 + $4 = $14
Drink Order: Ommegang BPA



Wow. With recommendations from two friends, Stoud had a lot to live up to, and by no means did it disappoint. First off, these onions rings are the best I've ever had. Perfectly golden, crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside, and when you bite into one, you bite all the way through, not pulling out the entire onion. The beer batter they use is fantastic and incredibly tasty. They aren't light, and the portion is definitely generous.

The Goombah is a wonderful burger. My hat is off to the chef for designing this amazing creation. The lemon basil aioli was such an interesting compliment to the burger without getting in the way. Just a slight sour taste made the burger that much more delectable. The patty itself is HUGE and by huge I mean almost an inch think of in-house-ground (daily) beef. They aren't messing around here. Perfectly cooked, really tasty, and big. The cheese was melty and fantastic, lending a slightly smokey and sweet flavor to each bite. And the crispy prosciutto? Sprinkled on top of the cheese adding a fantastic crunchy texture and a little bit of saltiness. Perfection.

I would DEFINITELY come back here. The beer selection is great, if a little bit pricey, but they've got staff who know their beers, and are actively learning more about them. My bartender is getting into home brewing, helps buy the kegs for the bar, and I heard the waitresses asking about certain beer recommendations they might be making in the future. They've definitely got their burgers and their sides right here. All you other burger restaurants take notes. Stout is doing it the way it should be done.