Burger Club

[Suzanne F]

elyse, don't forget the Chinatown bus to Philly -- very inexpensive. You could leave your bike at my house and we'd ride down together. Maybe I'd better check when this road trip is planned for???

And to add to the NYC list: anyone know anything about Better Burger (third ave & 37th St, also Eighth and 19th)? "All Better Burgers are made from hormone & antibiotic free meat and poultry and are served on toasted all natural wheat buns with our tangy tomato zest." $4.95 for the Classic Beef (extra for fries that are organic and "air-baked not fried.")

[Bux]

And to add to the NYC list: anyone know anything about Better Burger (third ave & 37th St, also Eighth and 19th)?  "All Better Burgers are made from hormone & antibiotic free meat and poultry and are served on toasted all natural wheat buns with our tangy tomato zest." $4.95 for the Classic Beef (extra for fries that are organic and "air-baked not fried.")

So much for truth in labeling.

[Suzanne F]

Oh, come on, what should they call them? "French air-baked?" Sounds like something out from under the dryer in a fancy beauty parlor.

[sherribabee]

elyse, don't forget the Chinatown bus to Philly -- very inexpensive.  You could leave your bike at my house and we'd ride down together.  Maybe I'd better check when this road trip is planned for???

I'm also in for a road trip to Philly. I have a few friends there I need to visit anyway.

[R Washburn]

If we go to Philadelphia how about a Georges Perrier burger?;

"

brasserie perrier 10 oz sirloin burger topped with thinly sliced smoked ham, vermont cheddar and caramelized shallots on sourdough roll with fresh pommes frites  $12.00

[Suzanne F]

Okay: so it looks like Saturday the 11th, Molly's, at 1pm is the first "official" meeting within the confines of Manhattan. May I suggest that by then we should have generated The BurgerHunter Manifesto. We can work on it here, and pull in data and opinions from earlier threads (which we may or may not pay any attention to ). If we have that document, then we can fan out across the tristate area, pursuing our mission without the headache of pulling together the whole damn group. Just so long as there are at least 2 members so that there can be corroboration. And eventually a corroboree??

If we set a date for the Philly field trip, please let's NOT make it the following Saturday, 'cause I really want to go and can't on the 18th.

No ferrets. At least, not with ketchup.

[pnapoli]

herb, can you make it?  pnapoli?

in!

[elyse]

Cool.

[elyse]

(extra for fries that are organic and "air-baked not fried.")

You have TOTALLY lost me on this statement. The whole wheat bun made me teter, but this threw me over the edge.

[elyse]

I am copying this from the Philadelphia thread:

As president and CEO of Burger Club, I feel I must interject. Burger Club does not does not allow toppings that detract from the burger. Cheese is allowed. Boursin is not. Ketchup is allowed. Parma ham is not.

It's about the burger.

I will probably have to pass on the Philadelphia burger quest. Plus, if I go it would be for cheese steak.

[elyse]

AND to clarify:

Bacon is fine on a burger. Boursin is fine on a burger. But for the purposes of Burger Club, they cloud the issue and distract from the burger.

[MHesse]

The first week of every month, an alumni group from the Bronx HS of Science class of 1970 meet at the Old Town.

Burgers are the usual fare (though someone tonight had a liverwurst sandwich!) and I made a slight effort to note the burger quality for our club.

One gets a ~6 ounce burger on an ordinary untoasted bun with a choice of sides. The patty itself has a nice fresh meaty taste, seemingly with a high sirloin content. It's about 4" in diameter, bit no more than a 1/2 inch thick - probably flatten on the grill with a spatula while cooking. Not very juicy, though I cautiously order burgers at least medium these days. Ordinary dressing on the side - piece of lettuce, slice of nothing special tomato, slice of raw red onion.

Plain costs $7.25. American cheese adds 25 cents. Swiss or cheddar adds 50 cents. Good thin fries. Pints of draft (Sierra and others) for $4.50.

An enjoyable spot for a get together. But I'm sure we can find a better burger elsewhere.

--mh

[Msk]

Not going to be able to make the first burger club, I have a wedding to attend.

Msk

[R Washburn]

Has anyone tried the St. Regis burger? I saw it featured on a program on the Foodnetwork once. I think they claimed it was the best burger in NY, or at least the best available at 3AM from room service.

[elyse]

Not going to be able to make the first burger club, I have a wedding to attend.

Msk

[elyse]

Has anyone tried the St. Regis burger?  I saw it featured on a program on the Foodnetwork once.  I think they claimed it was the best burger in NY, or at least the best available at 3AM from room service.

$$?

[bergerka]

AND to clarify:

Bacon is fine on a burger. Boursin is fine on a burger. But for the purposes of Burger Club, they cloud the issue and distract from the burger.

Wait.

What do you mean we can't have bacon?

Bacon COMPLEMENTS a good burger, but IMHO doesn't DISTRACT from the quality of said burger.

[R Washburn]

Has anyone tried the St. Regis burger?  I saw it featured on a program on the Foodnetwork once.  I think they claimed it was the best burger in NY, or at least the best available at 3AM from room service.

$$?

As a room service order it was $34, but I assume it would be a lot less if available at the bar.

[Suzanne F]

If the burger at the St. Regis is only available through room service, how many people can we cram into one room to be there at 3am? Otherwise, it becomes THE most expensive burger in the city!

[herbacidal]

that just means the dynamics change.

no longer burger club.

now it's "let's test room service by ordering all kinds of stuff (including said burger) when we're having a party in this room here for no reason other than we feel like"

[sherribabee]

Wait.

What do you mean we can't have bacon? 

Bacon COMPLEMENTS a good burger, but IMHO doesn't DISTRACT from the quality of said burger.

We just order a side of bacon so we can eat all by itself. Quite frankly, I think the burger would take away from the flavor of the bacon, and we can't have that, now can we?

[MHesse]

How will we be determining whether burger A is better than burger B?

Perhaps we should set up some criteria:

weight (who will bring a scale? )

diameter

thickness

juiciness

taste: fresh, meaty, salty, and so on

odor

bun: freshness, size, toasted, and so on

served hot?

presentation

and so on

One avoids trying to impose order onto chaos, but if not we'll never move on to the next quest.

--mh

[elyse]

AND to clarify:

Bacon is fine on a burger. Boursin is fine on a burger. But for the purposes of Burger Club, they cloud the issue and distract from the burger.

Wait.

What do you mean we can't have bacon?

Bacon COMPLEMENTS a good burger, but IMHO doesn't DISTRACT from the quality of said burger.

Copied:

I guess I'm a purist. I always cut my burger in half, take a corner bite, and if necessary dunk it in ketchup with each bite. It's kind of hard to tast the burgerieness with layers of flavors on it. If people want to order their burger with boursin, back bacon, tripe, pizza sauce, trotters, pickles, and turkey stew, that's fine, but PLEASE take your first bite plain.

I'm copying this to the other thread. (I guess that was redundant...?)

[elyse]

Has anyone tried the St. Regis burger?  I saw it featured on a program on the Foodnetwork once.  I think they claimed it was the best burger in NY, or at least the best available at 3AM from room service.

$$?

As a room service order it was $34, but I assume it would be a lot less if available at the bar.

I'll go if you want to pay for me.

[elyse]

that just means the dynamics change.

no longer burger club.

now it's "let's test room service by ordering all kinds of stuff (including said burger) when we're having a party in this room here for no reason other than we feel like"

Club.