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THE BEST: Burger


tommy

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i went to Souths a couple weeks ago - in tribeca area near canal - and someone I was with got the burger there. got it with carmelized onions, bacon, and cheddar, i believe. i took a bite. it was absolutely amazing. perfectly cooked, juicy, charred outside (but not overdone), cooked to medium/medium-rare - just as ordered.

unfortunatley, i couldn't eat more than a couple bites cause i was scheduled to have dinner at mark joseph steakhouse for a friend's b-day. sure wish i had eaten more, cause that burger was much better than the steak i had later that night, at 5 times the price - no joke.

highly recommend this place. get the carmelized onions. significantly better than that corner bistro joint which seems to be big in all the popularity contests.

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you should check out the burger club thread.

:huh:

Where you been for the last 3 months, boy?

although i didn't follow the thread much after the first few pages, surely in 43 pages someone said something interesting about burgers. that might be as good a place as any to find out if they came to any conclusions about favorites. no? :unsure:

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  • 1 year later...
In any event, steakhouse burgers at the good steakhouses tend to be made of very high quality meat and often they're char-grilled. Smith & Wollensky and Michael Jordan's are to primo examples.

had a burger at Michael Jordan's the other day. ordered m/r, sent out m/w. regardless, it was very juicy and flavorful, with a great crust and good bun.

they have 2 burgers: a 10 oz for about $15 and a 16 oz for about $20 i think. the 10 ounce seemed like the right size. i'd put this burger up there with S&W and Blue Smoke. wines by the glass at Michael Jordan's bar are pathetic. i'm offended they'd even offer Glass Mountain.

recently had my second burger at Michael Jordan's. the wine list by-the-glass has clearly been revamped, with no sign of Glass Mountain. however, there's also no sign of much under 10 dollars, with prices shooting up to 15 per glass rather effortlessly.

they've redone their menu as well, with only 1 burger being served. they claim 12 ounces. didn't seem that big, thankfully. (they also have 3 "mini-burgers" on the menu)

i don't know if i just got lucky, but this burger tasted of dry-aged beef. that's something you don't find very often. quite excellent in my estimation. served m/r as ordered.

a bit too much bun. but the guts were easily pulled out of the top half.

highly recommended.

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Always glad to see this thread alive and well....

Steakhouse burgers aren't usually a favorite of mine, as they tend to suffer from gigantism, and rarely use a less-than-obtrusive bun. At their best, though (Wollensky's, Houston's, City Hall) they are wildly enjoyable, if less than exemplary as burgers. Other big burgers worthy of praise include the Manhattan Diner on 57th street, Blue Smoke (a twin of City Hall's burger), and the east side's Soup Burg. The worst of all steakhouse-style big burgers is Peter Luger's, which is always either underdone or overdone, even after multiple sendbacks. They just have no clue how to cook hamburgers there.

The best new hamburger in the city, for my money, is less than a week old: David Burke's "hamburker sliders" at the new Burke Bar in Bloomingdales. See my essay at:

http://www.slashfood.com/2005/12/11/the-slider-reinvented/

Mr-Cutlets.com: your source for advice, excerpts, Cutlets news, and links to buy Meat Me in Manhattan: A Carnivore's Guide to New York!
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I kind of agree with the poster who doesn't like to travel too much just for a burger. There are amazing burgers out there, and I've had some of them, but I normally don't want to get it together to go crosstown in this cold just for a burger, which I know is kind of sacrileges in these circles, but something about a burger makes it so...

That said, Corner Bistro has been consistently great for me going on 10 years - always cooked to my order, tasty as hell, delivered on that cheap-ass paper plate, and even cheaper beer on tap. What's better, the bartender is a rabid Mets fan who knows more than any of the guys on radio.

The only concession of being dragged to the Meat Packing district is knowing that I can stumble into Corner Bistro at 3am and get a perfect burger and fries for takeout, talk about the winter meetings with the bartender, and still have cab fare left over.

Now that's a great burger!

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  • 1 month later...

most of you need to get out of Manhattan more! The db bistro burger is famously expensive but awesome and the Luger burger is a legend, just ask Jack Black (he comments on luger's legend in the commentary on School of Rock), but i am on a personal quest to find really the best burger in the city and here is my up-to-now findings. The best burger is (unfortunately seasonal only) at ShakeShack. Its an InandOut copy that takes the original and steps it up with better quality everything and its really an amazing cheeseburgy! Red Hook hosts the bar named Hope and Anchor who serves an amazing burger too, well worth the drive out and karoke is amazing there too. Finally, Cobble Hill (union st i think)'s Alan Harding and co's Schnack is in the running too for a cheap and fantastic snack. Virtually accross from lugers too is Diner, who's burger is almost as good as it's location and terrific vintage building.

Ok hit me with more burgers please, my arteries are not going to clog themselves!!! O also lucky burger is decent on ave A too...great for late night quick grease fix.

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most of you need to get out of Manhattan more!  The db bistro burger is famously expensive but awesome and the Luger burger is a legend, just ask Jack Black (he comments on luger's legend in the commentary on School of Rock), but i am on a personal quest to find really the best burger in the city and here is my up-to-now findings.  The best burger is (unfortunately seasonal only) at ShakeShack.  Its an InandOut copy that takes the original and steps it up with better quality everything and its really an amazing cheeseburgy!  Red Hook hosts the bar named Hope and Anchor who serves an amazing burger too, well worth the drive out and karoke is amazing there too.  Finally, Cobble Hill (union st i think)'s Alan Harding and co's Schnack is in the running too for a cheap and fantastic snack.  Virtually accross from lugers too is Diner, who's burger is almost as good as it's location and terrific vintage building. 

Ok hit me with more burgers please, my arteries are not going to clog themselves!!! O also lucky burger is decent on ave A too...great for late night quick grease fix.

Though I'm a huge fan of getting out of Manhattan (to eat), the burger is one thing, I feel very well represented. If anything I travel more so for the many ethnic options, Korean, Thai, eclectic, etc.

Anyway, on the burger topic, I went to the Wall St location of Bobby Vans on Exchange and Broad St. last week. Ate in the grill room/bar under the restaurant. The burger, at $13 was a major steal. Top quality, very lean sirloin (w/just enough fat) on a fresh, well constructed roll that held up very well to the inch and half fat patty. Was cooked to my specs and came with fries and rings (major bonus on the duo). One of the best burger platters I've had in a long time. On top of this, the room is simply amazing. I learned it's an old bank vault (historic landmark?). The original (massive) vaults, doors, safety deposit boxes, etc have not been touched. Even if you don't eat, I highly recommend everyone have a look at this place.

That wasn't chicken

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Outside of Peter Luger and Shake Shack (agree with prior posts that said these were they best), the best burger in Manhattan is at Balducci's on Eighth Avenue/14th St. One day a couple of weeks ago, I had been thinking about a terrific hamburger for dinner. I went into Balducci's (not that impressed with the store really but its near where I live), and told the guy at the meat department I wanted the best meat possible for a terrific hamburger. I imagined he might grind some nice sirloin or whatever, for me. No, he walked to the refrigerator case and held up a package. "What's that?" I thought, dismissively. Turns out it said "Peter Luger's Hamburger meat." And it was--raw, ground beef from Luger's. I bought it and the hamburger's are completely a la Luger. With some artisinal cheddar, they were amazing.

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  • 3 months later...

Too Good Burgers New York City Entry #92 Burger Joint at the Parker Meridien and db Bistro Moderne at the City Club Hotel

Hamburgers are nothing to sneeze at. It is not for nothing that the American fast food industry applied their Fordist techniques most successfully to those pucks of beef. Seemingly anyone can flip a burger, making it the ideal entry job for teens whom no parent would think of trusting with the family meal.

However, everything can be upscaled, transformed into a luxury good, a source of what social theorist Thorstein Veblen spoke of as pecuniary emulation. Burgers are no exception. This past week I slipped into two hotel restaurants to see what all of the fuss is about. Over the past year I have had a few noteworthy burgers, including those at Donovan's (an extraordinarily fulfilling, juicy burger at an archetypal, convivial Irish neighborhood bar in Woodside, Queens), Better Burger (a better-than-average fast food effort) and Burke in the Box (a cute conceit at Bloomingdale's), but none that I have written about. (Perhaps I should try the burger at Peter Luger's Steakhouse, but that seems such a damn waste). Hamburgers are among the most American of foods: steak on a bun, and even when they are not at their best, they can be intensely satisfying.

Perhaps the most notorious celebrity burger in Manhattan is "The Original db Burger," a $29 platter of excess, the Paris Hilton of beefcake: "Sirloin Burger Filled with Braised Short Ribs, Foie Grass and Black Truffle on a Parmesan Bun with Pommes Frites." But where is the beluga and Tasmanian leatherwood honey? No diner could possibly doubt the damage of this fare to one's own liver - or the elegance of the luxe room in which it is served. One could hardly spend a year in Manhattan without a db Burger and a bit of sushi at Masa (more on this later), if one hopes to understand how capitalist inequalities are tottering.

Daniel Boulud and his Chef de Cuisine Oliver Muller serve a composition that truly deserves the label "concoction." After finishing I felt like a nervous ten year old who has just exited the Cyclone, glad that he had a story to tell and relieved it was over. Chef Daniel, has anyone ordered the db Burger twice? Why? I do not disdain the experience. It was luscious and I will remember the foie gras, short ribs, and truffles, and I have a tale about a burger priced $28 above a White Castle slider.

The Burger Joint at Le Parker is reached by entering a curtained area off the lobby of this upscale hotel. The experience has the feel of finding La Esquina, the hidden SoHo Mexican dungeon, a space whose concealment swells the arch desire to Be There! (At 10:30 p.m. on a weeknight I faced no long line.) Unlike the db Burger, Burger Joint does not carry the weight of Chef Daniel's reputation. It is a high-end burger, ground top sirloin and shoulder. Mine nicely grilled with some charring. I requested my burger rare, but it was, by my standard, medium-rare. I am perfectly happy with medium-rare hamburgers. Ordering rare insures that I will not receive a grey medium. Perhaps the Burger Joint did not produce a Platonic burger, but at $5.50 it was estimable. It did not match the beauty of the perfectly cooked burger at Donovan's, just good sirloin cooked without pretense, and presented rare, served by barmen who are not just marking time, and, of course, at the Meridien there was no Guinness Stout on hand to complete the perfection.

db Bistro Moderne

55 West 44th Street (at 6th Avenue)

Manhattan (Midtown)

212-391-2400

Burger Joint

Hotel Le Parker Meridien

118 West 57th Street (at 7th Avenue)

Manhattan (Midtown)

212-708-7414

Donovan's Pub

5724 Roosevelt Ave. (at Skillman Avenue)

Queens (Woodside)

718-429-9339

My Webpage: Vealcheeks

Edited by gaf (log)
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If you venture into the outer boroughs, Bonnie's Grill in Park Slope (5th Avenue between Garfield and First Street) has terrific black angus burgers. The accompanying fries (eat them with the chipotle mayo) are wonderful.

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If you venture into the outer boroughs, Bonnie's Grill in Park Slope (5th Avenue between Garfield and First Street) has terrific black angus burgers.  The accompanying fries (eat them with the chipotle mayo) are wonderful.

Speaking of the outer boroughs, it would be great to hear about some burgers in NYC that don't reside in Manhattan. We have Joe's Best Burger in Queens. We have Peter Luger, Schnack and the Good Fork in Brooklyn, but not too much else (I'm probably missing some obvious ones, so forgive me).

I'm especially curious about spots in Staten Island as I feel like there could be some good meat hiding in the forgotten borough. I've had the burger at Cargo Cafe, which is very good, but that's about. So if you've got shout-outs for anything outside Manhattan, I'd love to hear them.

I write at A Hamburger Today

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I think in a way the db burger actually did db Bistro Moderne a disservice. When the place opened, the burger got all the attention (as it was no doubt intended to do). But I think it distracted people from the rest of the menu. Which was a pity, because especially under its now-departed original executive chef, db Bistro was (and, actually, remains) one of my favorite places. And not for the burger. But I think the burger prevented people from taking it seriously for what it was.

Edited by Sneakeater (log)
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  • 2 months later...

Just wanted to mention I had one of my all time best burgers at Dumont Burger in Williamsburg lastnight.

We both had the larger one (I believe it's 7oz vs the 5oz). They came on grilled brioche with bibb, tom, red onion, pickles and perfect double fried french bistro style fries (as good as Balhazar). I added danish blue and mushrooms, she chose cheddar and avocado (I thought the avocado might be too rich but it comes on the side so you can add accordingly).

The brioche held strong and it's slightly sweet flavor complemented the other ingredients very nicely. The patty was lean, with some fat, good formation, thick but not ridiculous (I don't like baseball burgers like Jackson Hole). I'm happy we split them but the danish blue on mine edged out as the clear winner. Was one of the better blues I've had on a burger. Bold, creamy and didn't liquify.

The space is pretty tight. It's basically a small bar with against the wall seating, about 8 stools at the bar and one communal in the middle we were lucky to score and happy to share with 6 others. 20 - 25 seats in all. We waited about 10min. I imagine the waits can get a nutty but I think it's well worth it.

Decent bunch of beers on tap and bottles too. I saw a Heffer, 5 Points, another ale, and Fisherman's Lager. I had the Fishermans.......perfecto

That wasn't chicken

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  • 5 months later...

I happen to be in NY for two weeks and today I had a burger that rivalled the one I had at the Parker Meridian a few years ago (which was damn good btw). I am close to the WFC so I wandered over there at lunchtime to see what was available. I ended up at P.J. Clarke's and had one of the best burgers I've had in a long time. Perfectly cooked, charred on the outside. Very juicy without being messy. It was served on a regular hamburger bun which was exactly the way to show this burger off, although I prefer my hamburg buns toasted, and I got a nice side of homemade potato chips to go with it.

Marlene

Practice. Do it over. Get it right.

Mostly, I want people to be as happy eating my food as I am cooking it.

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  • 1 month later...
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