Burger Club

[slkinsey]

the beef near the edges of the burger was cooked significnatly more than the beef in the middle

There's probably another way to describe this objection, because of course any medium-rare broiled piece of meat will be cooked significantly more at its edges than in the center. The issue here, I think, was that the exterior 1/8-1/4" of meat was totally overdone and dried out even though the center was rare.

Actually, what I found odd about it is that it wasn't exactly an exterior versus interior question. It was more like this:

This struck me as a little odd given that they were broiled...

[Fat Guy]

So maybe the bizarre explanation about the flame from the side was true? Joseph do you remember exactly what the waitress said? I totally dismissed it but it's consistent with Sam's extreme-geek diagram.

[bergerka]

Aw...piffle. I missed cool people, anti-cancer pub people and onion rings.

I promise to make it to the next one, if I have to sacrifice a small goat to get there.

K

[slkinsey]

So maybe the bizarre explanation about the flame from the side was true?

That I seriously doubt. When I peeked in the kitchen what I saw was a fairly standard looking salamander -- albeit with perhaps a bit more height -- with flames on the top. I don't see how flames could possibly have come from the sides given the piece of equipment I saw. Maybe I'm wrong, though. We need to get someone to go in there and watch them do a burger. Tommy's a smooth talker and seems to know the place...

Joseph do you remember exactly what the waitress said? I totally dismissed it but it's consistent with Sam's extreme-geek diagram.

[Suzanne F]

At least now we have a point of reference. This burger kind of fell in the mid-range for me: very good on some points (freshness, meat quality, greasiness [none whatsoever, but somewhat balanced by almost enough juiciness]); all right on others (molding, browning, appearance, sloppiness) and abysmal only on one: meat needs SALT. (FWIW, the almost-excellent potato salad also needed salt, as did the excellent onion rings.) And we know some revisions to make on the rating sheet, such as method of cooking, and time from the order going into the kitchen until the burgers start coming out -- just under 21 minutes here, which (since we were the only orders at the time) means the burgers were cooked from the raw state, a very good element.

Actually, I think the interior of mine was just a little less cooked than Sam's -- but still, too much of the outside was overcooked for my preference. I think that's why I got a reading of 144 degrees -- I was probably hitting the bottom of the burger, not the middle.

Great to see some familiar faces and several new ones.

Oh, btw: it was informally discussed that now whenever anyone has a burger somewhere in NYC, it will be all right for them to rate it. Just download the evaluation form to which Picaman has linked (or the new version when that's available), and -- what? post your numbers here, I guess. The interpretation of the rating scale (0 to 5) is totally subjective: if YOU think it's great by your understanding of the category, give it a 5; if you think it's awful, 0 -- it's all YOUR palate. But trust us, it's lots more fun when there are many people to compare notes with.

A good beginning. Everybody ready for the next?

[tommy]

how were the pickles.

[Suzanne F]

They must have been a little tired: they just lay there on the (very crisp) romaine lettuce on the side, some of them with a little blanket of underripe tomato tucked over them.

Um, I didn't taste mine, but they looked as though they might have been decent. Hey, tommy, we were very busy without pickles!

[tommy]

Um, I didn't taste mine, but they looked as though they might have been decent.  Hey, tommy, we were very busy without pickles! 

ah, but that acidity plays well against the burger, methinks. i'm a pickle freak.

Edited October 11, 2003 by tommy (log)

[slkinsey]

Um, I didn't taste mine, but they looked as though they might have been decent.  Hey, tommy, we were very busy without pickles! 

ah, but that acidity plays well against the burger, methinks. i'm a pickle freak.

I thought the pickles were good. I wish more places would offer sliced pickles along with the other toppings so I could put them on the burger.

[sherribabee]

I hate MTA. I hate MTA. I hate MTA.

So I was on my way to burger club. Left the apt. at 12:15. Hope on the train. Find out the W/R trains are not running to Manhattan. The 4/5 trains were out of service. Get off at Court Street to catch the 2/3. The platform was packed and the train was packed. No chance of getting on within the next 30 minutes, so I head out of the train station in hopes of finding a cab to catch into Manhattan. Meanwhile, I call my friend who was going to join us. She was at 24th & 3rd and said there was no Molly's to be found. She walked up a block and down a block, nothing. Walked into 2 different places and they said there was no Molly's around that they knew of. So I decided that even if I could find my way into Manhattan, the place was obviously not where I thought it was, so I stayed in Brooklyn.

I'm so unhappy.

So, where exactly is Molly's? Or is my friend just blind?

Sorry I didn't make it with the camera -- did anyone else happen to bring one?

Next time, I'm going to ride my bike.

[Suzanne F]

We wondered what happened to you. Bummer.

Somehow the directions got screwed up: Molly's is between 22nd and 23rd. I never even noticed the location was wrong because I already knew where it is, otherwise I would have spoken up. Mea culpa.

Food&pen had a camera. Whether any of his shots come out is iffy, since the place was soooooooooooooo dark -- and periodically the lights would dim even more for a moment. I was glad I had a flashlight with me.

But look at it this way: the PEOPLE will get together again, so all you really missed was an okay-but-not-great burger. See ya next time.

[picaman]

Here is the link to the .pdf of the compiled Molly's evaluation form

First off, I (and my partner Kirk) had a great time. It was my first eGullet event and it was great to put faces with the names of all in attendance. I can hardly wait for the next Burger Club! Oops...am I breaking the first rule of Burger Club?

A few notes on the eval form:

--Not all Clubbers evaluated the burger in all categories listed on the form, which is fine as the score for each category is the average of those who actually evaluated that category.

--The final burger score is the total of the averages of each category. 20 categories times 5 possible points per category (burgers rated 0 - 5) = 100 points for a perfect burger score.

--At Suzanne's suggestion, I've added space for timing of order and for grilling method. This is now on the summary sheet.

--I'm going to work on an individual evaluation sheet which I'll post for upload, to aid in legibility. I'll use big type--didn't think of how dim the lighting was in some of these places!

--I used MHesse's estimate on height, weight and thickness--seemed pretty close as no one brought a ruler.

--I used representative comments at the top of the sheet for "Bun Details" and "Presentation" - just some things that people said for these things.

For those who want a topline summary, here are the averages:

Burger:

Juiciness 3.3

Freshness 4.1

Texture 3.6

Saltiness 1.8

Meat Quality 3.8

Doneness 3.6

Browning 4.2

Molding 4.0

Greasiness 3.8

Temperature 3.8

Bun:

Toastiness 2.4

Freshness 3.6

Quality 2.8

Seediness 3.1

Toppings:

Quality 3.1

Quantity 3.3

Overall:

Burger Aroma 3.2

Sloppiness 3.6

Appearance 4.1

Value 4.3

Total: 69.5

Any further comments on the setup of the eval sheet are welcome. I'll put my personal subjective comments in a separate post.

Jamie

[elyse]

My goodness, my goodness, how depressed am I? I was very excited by Molly's and felt it was more or less a total disapointment. Average, average, average.

The only good thing I can really say about the burger, is that it was cooked perfectly (mine, anyway). No char to speak of, no seasoning in the vicinity of the kitchen, I found the freshness to be pretty much absent (average for most places). Toastyness of the bun was not applicable in this case, so I think it should not factor into this chart.

Umm, what else? I like the place very much, would like to go back for some heavy drinking. Afternoons work for me! The staff was very accomodating. And Sam, that was no 30 crawlers, that was probably well over a hundred. The waitress (ONE waitress) did an amazing job in the face of insanity.

The half an onion ring I had was absolutely beautiful and I was extremely excited to eat it and more that picaman had offered to me when his got there. The half I ate tasted like fish, and I am sure it had been fried in the fish fry-o-lator. Ewwww. Maybe I'll ask what day they change the oil and come then for a Guinness and rings. And It was not a canola oil taste, it was actual fish. The fries were good.

I love these gatherings, and hope we have many more. Today, it was about the company, for me. When we have an amazing burger, you guys come second! Great meeting you newcomers. Thanks for siging up!

Um, um, um, that's it for now. Burger Club is off and running!

[elyse]

sherri, sorry about the confusion. It was a topic of conversation at the table. The phone book said 24th @ 3rd (or vice versa), so that's what I copied. I looked around a few blocks too until I asked someone.

Suzanne, it's FORKandpen, you silly!

Edited October 12, 2003 by elyse (log)

[elyse]

To avoid feeling like a stalker - we happened to be at Molly's today around 2:30pm and saw your group (and the crawlers for liver cancer) there. This was our first meal there in well over a year and it will probably lead to continued preference of the smaller, fattier, tastier burger at the waterfront ale house.

And you didn't come over why?

Where is Waterfront?

[elyse]

the crawlers for liver cancer

To be clear, the group was against cancer.

Breast cancer, specifically.

Right... that's why they kept on offering free breast palpations to all the girls.

Not me.

[elyse]

how were the pickles.

I had none of my pickle. I always eat my pickle, but this one didn't look appealing to me. Another reason you should have come, tommy.

[elyse]

sherri, I'll also say, that if you had to miss a Burger Club, this one was okay to miss. Sad that it was the first one, but for quality, you didn't miss much.

I would like to publicly thank tommy for editing my sig line. Isn't he a doll?

[Suzanne F]

sherri, sorry about the confusion.  It was a topic of conversation at the table.  The phone book said 24th @ 3rd (or vice versa), so that's what I copied.  I looked around a few blocks too until I asked someone.

Suzanne, it's FORKandpen, you silly!

Oops. Well, at least I was close. And didn't turn it into anything embarassing.

Waterfront is on Second Avenue at 30th Street, right on the corner.

Yeah, yeah, tommy's so dreamey.

[elyse]

A friend of mine was at a dinner with her boyfriend's friend and his wife. The wife was from somewhere, and had a really thick accent. They couldn't figure out why she kept talking about getting another fuckin knife.

[picaman]

Molly's burger positives for me included the quality of the meat, which I thought was very good. It seemed very fresh to me, and had just the right level of grind. It was hand-molded to a consistent thickness, but was not over-molded so as to lose texture. I also liked the moisture level--I agree that it was juicy but not greasy.

Far and away the biggest negative was the saltiness, or rather, the lack thereof--I agree that more (or even some) salt would have definitely improved the overall flavor. I'd also say that the bun was a bit of a disappointment--a very average seeded bun. It's a good thing that the burger wasn't at all greasy, because this bun would not have stood up to that at all. I also left off all condiments so as to concentrate on the burger flavor, and think that ketchup would have made for a soggy mess of a bun.

As for toppings and sides, I had cheddar--again, average melted cheese, nothing outstanding but certainly adequate. I left the rather unripe tomato off, along with the iceberg lettuce. Have to say, though...awesome pickle spear. Crisp and just the right bit sour. I had the onion rings and agree with elyse; there was, in my batch, a detectable fishy taste. I'm not sure I tasted that as strongly, though, in the one I had off of MHesse's plate. Maybe someone had an ill-timed fish sandwich?

I did think, though, that at around $8, the burger was a decent value.

Suzanne made a good point at some point -- with so many people ordering burgers at one time, we need to remember to tell the wait staff to bring them out as they come off the grill, so that they don't sit around in the kitchen under heat lamps.

OK...I'm burgered out Again, from a social standpoint I had a fabulous time and much enjoyed meeting so many new friends And I'd definitely go back to Molly's in a heartbeat; the place was great even if the burger itself was just average.

Time to concentrate on the Cubbies. The Marlins might come back from a seven-run deficit

Jamie

[Orik]

And you didn't come over why?

Where is Waterfront?

Seemed a bit awkward, given that I didn't know anyone there and hardly posted here over the past few months.

Waterfront is on 30th st. and 2nd (there's also a Brooklyn branch, the original one, I think):

http://www.waterfrontalehouse.com/

[Fat Guy]

Seemed a bit awkward, given that I didn't know anyone there and hardly posted here over the past few months.

Next time, don't let that stop you. We had people in the group who have never posted here, and you've "met" us all virtually. Plus, by the next time, you'll have been posting regularly again.

[elyse]

I also left off all condiments so as to concentrate on the burger flavor, and think that ketchup would have made for a soggy mess of a bun.

That's why I dip.

I had the onion rings and agree with elyse; there was, in my batch, a detectable fishy taste.  I'm not sure I tasted that as strongly, though, in the one I had off of MHesse's plate.

I only had the one from MHesse's plate. I only took a second bite to make sure I wasn't paranoid.

Suzanne made a good point at some point   -- with so many people ordering burgers at one time, we need to remember to tell the wait staff to bring them out as they come off the grill, so that they don't sit around in the kitchen under heat lamps.

Did Suzanne say that too? I was stressing about that. Great minds think alike.

I'd definitely go back to Molly's in a heartbeat; the place was great even if the burger itself was just average.

How was the Guinness, anyone who had one?

[elyse]

And you didn't come over why?

Where is Waterfront?

Seemed a bit awkward, given that I didn't know anyone there and hardly posted here over the past few months.

Waterfront is on 30th st. and 2nd (there's also a Brooklyn branch, the original one, I think):

http://www.waterfrontalehouse.com/

No! Burger Club is never awkward. Although I did extend an invitation to lurkers to lurk away in front of us. I wonder if the Crawl for Cancer were all lurkers.

I hope all who want to experience a burger with us feel welcome and comfortable. If you just show up, at least come over and say howdy. We had two free tables behind us, which were reserved for us too. We could have spread out a little!