Famous Red Hook sandwich shop Defonte's has opened an outpost in Manhattan.The Manhattan Defonte's is located at 261 Third Ave. at 21st St.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
This is big
Famous Red Hook sandwich shop Defonte's has opened an outpost in Manhattan.The Manhattan Defonte's is located at 261 Third Ave. at 21st St.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
City Burger serves the Bentley of Beef
According to a review by Ryan Sutton, City Burger serves top notch meat.
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Fries, soda and a burger at Wendy’s, McDonald’s or Burger King make up the all-American meal. It’s the chef’s tasting, prix-fixe menu for the no-expense-account crowd, which these days is pretty much everyone.
Problem is, that fast-food is junk food.
Here’s the test: Ever ask for a medium-rare slider at White Castle? Not recommended.
Enter City Burger in midtown Manhattan. The combo is $9.55 and comes in a paper bag. The fries are crispy, the root beer is cold and the burger, charred on the outside and pink on the inside. This is reason to be excited.
It’s still fast-food. But it’s not junk food, at least not in the typical sense. It’s high-end junk food. That’s because the beef comes courtesy of Pat La Frieda, the ground-beef purveyor behind some of the city’s best burgers, including Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack (another high-end junk-food joint).
City Burger is like a stripped down, politically indifferent version of Shake Shack. There are no “stroller parking” signs, they don’t serve sundaes with dog biscuits, and as far as I know, they don’t offset their electric bill with wind-power credits. It’s about as pretty as a Jack in the Box, which is to say, not very.
Also, there’s no hour-long wait.
City Burger is the “only restaurant in America serving the La Frieda Black Label grade beef mixture,” says a sign in the venue, if you care about that sort of thing.
Car Burger
The dry-aged blend ($11.99) is described on the menu as the “Bentley of Beef.” A heavy six ounces, it’s more restaurant- size than fast-food size, but you can still eat it with one hand.
It has a gently gamy tang, bleeds juices, is rare and creamy on the inside, chewy and charred on the outside. When City Burger opened about a year ago, they grilled their meats. Now, they griddle it, giving it a nice greasy crust. It needs more salt, but the pickles and American cheese make up for that. A soft bun soaks everything up. Definitely one of the city’s better patties.
Pair it with an egg cream and you have yourself a proper New York lunch. The non-black-label burger is good too: a mix of chuck, brisket and short rib, though it’s not as intensely beefy. Hearty appetites can choose “Combo #4” ($13.95): a burger; five spicy Buffalo wings; fries or overcooked onion rings “for a supplement”; and a soda.
City Burger is at 1410 Broadway at 39th Street.
Information: 212-997-7770
http://www.cityburgerny.com
Feb. 25 (Bloomberg) -- Fries, soda and a burger at Wendy’s, McDonald’s or Burger King make up the all-American meal. It’s the chef’s tasting, prix-fixe menu for the no-expense-account crowd, which these days is pretty much everyone.
Problem is, that fast-food is junk food.
Here’s the test: Ever ask for a medium-rare slider at White Castle? Not recommended.
Enter City Burger in midtown Manhattan. The combo is $9.55 and comes in a paper bag. The fries are crispy, the root beer is cold and the burger, charred on the outside and pink on the inside. This is reason to be excited.
It’s still fast-food. But it’s not junk food, at least not in the typical sense. It’s high-end junk food. That’s because the beef comes courtesy of Pat La Frieda, the ground-beef purveyor behind some of the city’s best burgers, including Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack (another high-end junk-food joint).
City Burger is like a stripped down, politically indifferent version of Shake Shack. There are no “stroller parking” signs, they don’t serve sundaes with dog biscuits, and as far as I know, they don’t offset their electric bill with wind-power credits. It’s about as pretty as a Jack in the Box, which is to say, not very.
Also, there’s no hour-long wait.
City Burger is the “only restaurant in America serving the La Frieda Black Label grade beef mixture,” says a sign in the venue, if you care about that sort of thing.
Car Burger
The dry-aged blend ($11.99) is described on the menu as the “Bentley of Beef.” A heavy six ounces, it’s more restaurant- size than fast-food size, but you can still eat it with one hand.
It has a gently gamy tang, bleeds juices, is rare and creamy on the inside, chewy and charred on the outside. When City Burger opened about a year ago, they grilled their meats. Now, they griddle it, giving it a nice greasy crust. It needs more salt, but the pickles and American cheese make up for that. A soft bun soaks everything up. Definitely one of the city’s better patties.
Pair it with an egg cream and you have yourself a proper New York lunch. The non-black-label burger is good too: a mix of chuck, brisket and short rib, though it’s not as intensely beefy. Hearty appetites can choose “Combo #4” ($13.95): a burger; five spicy Buffalo wings; fries or overcooked onion rings “for a supplement”; and a soda.
City Burger is at 1410 Broadway at 39th Street.
Information: 212-997-7770
http://www.cityburgerny.com
Friday, February 20, 2009
Stoned Crow: Mmmm, beef.
what we love: juicy, tasty, no-nonsense burgers, good meat quality, jalapeños included on the plate.what we could live without: structural integrity of the buns left a bit to be desired. thick bacon could have been cooked a bit more.
burger scale: A-
price range: burgers were $12, fries (separate) were $6
payment method: cashish. Due to our large party (10) they added a 20% gratuity, which, while egregious, would have been paid regardless due to quality service.
This is a no frills west village neighborhood joint. This downstairs bar looks like the sort of basement joint frequented by locals avoiding the tacky NYU crowd. Movie posters adorn the wall, some au courant, some classic, along with a murder of crows on the wall above the pool table in the back.
The burgers are in keeping with the establishment. There aren't a wide variety of options on the menu. Regular or Crow are your choices; the Crow comes with your choice of regular or cheddar cheese and thick cut slab bacon. Preparation was good, meat was cooked properly for the most part, though the un-toasted sesame buns were not at all up to the task of containing a half pound of juicy beef. Fries are a separate affair and were cooked to near-perfect crispiness. We added on the cheese fries, made with real cheese, but they were a tad soggy and disappointing.
If you are in the neighborhood and looking to hide from the hipsters and the trustafarian NYU children, its a good place to grab a beer and a fine, no-frills burger.
For pictures, go here.
A Burger Off?
A Burger wha...?
A Burger Off!
Merchants is running a lunch time burger-off at two of their downtown restaurants, Southwest NY and Pound and Pence. For four weeks, Southwest and Pound and Pence will pit two featured burgers against each other and ask patrons to vote on their fave burger for that week. On the fifth week, they'll feature the two top scoring burgers.
Week 1, which we missed:
1. New York Farmer: Sharp NY cheddar, carmelized sweet onions and horseradish aioli
2. Italian Hero: w/ fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, grilled portabella mushroom and balsamic glazed onions
Week 2, which we also missed:
1. Drunken Dutchman: smoked gouda, brandied mushrooms, applewood bacon and pommery mustard
2. The Wild Blue: saga Blue Cheese, wild mushrooms and red wine shallot marmelade, sweet potato fries
Week 3, this week's burger off, ends on Sunday:
1. Smokey Vermont: vermont cheddar, smokey chipotle BBQ sauce, applewood smoked bacon, carmelized sweet onions and tobacco onion strings
2. A Cabernet in France: w/ brie, wild mushrooms and Cabernet glazed onions
Week 4, next week:
1. The Classic: American cheese, applewood smoked bacon, crispy onion strings, Hellman's mayo and French's mustard
2. Everything, Please: w/ pepperjack cheese, double smoked bacon, carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and Avocado
Week 5 - The final round of the burger-off where the top two contenders are featured.
A Burger Off!
Merchants is running a lunch time burger-off at two of their downtown restaurants, Southwest NY and Pound and Pence. For four weeks, Southwest and Pound and Pence will pit two featured burgers against each other and ask patrons to vote on their fave burger for that week. On the fifth week, they'll feature the two top scoring burgers.
Week 1, which we missed:
1. New York Farmer: Sharp NY cheddar, carmelized sweet onions and horseradish aioli
2. Italian Hero: w/ fresh mozzarella, roasted red peppers, grilled portabella mushroom and balsamic glazed onions
Week 2, which we also missed:
1. Drunken Dutchman: smoked gouda, brandied mushrooms, applewood bacon and pommery mustard
2. The Wild Blue: saga Blue Cheese, wild mushrooms and red wine shallot marmelade, sweet potato fries
Week 3, this week's burger off, ends on Sunday:
1. Smokey Vermont: vermont cheddar, smokey chipotle BBQ sauce, applewood smoked bacon, carmelized sweet onions and tobacco onion strings
2. A Cabernet in France: w/ brie, wild mushrooms and Cabernet glazed onions
Week 4, next week:
1. The Classic: American cheese, applewood smoked bacon, crispy onion strings, Hellman's mayo and French's mustard
2. Everything, Please: w/ pepperjack cheese, double smoked bacon, carmelized onions, sauteed mushrooms and Avocado
Week 5 - The final round of the burger-off where the top two contenders are featured.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
gour·mand
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English gourmaunt, from Middle French gourmant
Date: 15th century
1 : one who is excessively fond of eating and drinking
2 : one who is heartily interested in good food and drink
Etymology: Middle English gourmaunt, from Middle French gourmant
Date: 15th century
1 : one who is excessively fond of eating and drinking
2 : one who is heartily interested in good food and drink
Monday, February 9, 2009
Burger Series 16: The Stoned Crow
Happy new year! We meet at The Stoned Crow this month.According to the UG, Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite, the Stoned Crow's burger simply "rocks." And, it ought to. The Stoned Crow's cook, "Jaime Saucedo...was a ten-year veteran of the Corner Bistro"! The good news for us is "while crowds pack the Bistro, the Crow remains under the burger radar, known only to the inner sanctum of pool players and NYU barflies."
We will also be announcing your fave top three burger places from last year, so if you haven't done so yet, be sure to make your vote count by taking the Burger Series Survey. If the link doesn't work, copy and paste the following into your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=7b6PXuCyQ2t8Ht_2bJ61gB4w_3d_3d
We can't wait to kick off Burger Series 2009 with you!
- The Burger Series
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