Shake Shack, thats it, I have nothing else to say

Shake Shack is the mecca of grub cheap burgers in NYC.  Owned by top-notch restaurant stud Danny Meyer (Gramercy Tavern, Eleven Madison Park, The Modern, Mialino Union Square Cafe, and on and on), he brought his culinary genius to the simple concept of a hamburger stand.  Even though there are multiple locations(opening one 2 blocks from my apt, :) happy time!) around NYC now, my favorite is still the OG spot situated in picturesque Madison Square Park. Nothing beats eating your meal on those flimsy metal chairs with gorgeous trees towering over you.

Usually there are some pretty long lines at this place (as you can see from the pic). They even have a webcam setup on their website pointing at the line in real-time so you can gauge your wait. fucking technology.

When ever I come here I go on fatty alert, there are so many grub things, its hard not to order the whole menu.  On this visit, I went with the chicago dog, mushroom burger, shack burger, and cheese fries.  The Chicago dog is done right, classic chi town toppings, mustard, bright relish, tomato, onions, pickle and celery salt. If you put ketchup on a chicago dog, you will be shot. and you will have deserved it.

The cheese fries...Im usually not a big fan of cheese fries, but these are pretty fantastic, I think they just work with the crinkle cut.  The cheese has the consistency of whiz, but feels slightly elevated.  The fries are always crunchy, so thats cool too.

 Ok, onto the mushroom burger, I know, I know. Sounds weak, but its far from.  So this thing is a portabella mushroon cap, sliced open, filled with a combination of cheese goodness, battered and deep fried to perfection.  Saaaay wHaT!??! The result is shockingly grub. Crunchy exteror, meaty mushroom, and the gooey-est cheesest center ever.  Oh! and the bun, how could I forget, this bun can NOT be overlooked here, its a slightly sweet potato bun that is soft and squishy, it complements the burgers like a guy trying to pick up a girl.

Burger time! (remember that game?) The meat here is sourced from the now famous Pat Lefrieda, I don't know the meat blend ratios are for this burger, but its insanely juicy and flavorful. They press it down on a flat top so its gets a slight crust of salty meatness.  They dont over cook the quality meat, as you can see, there is a slight pinkish hue, gorgeous.  Top that with a fine slice of american cheese, ripe tomato, crisp lettuce, some shack sauce (think thousand islands, ketchup, mayo) and you have yourself bless in your hands.

I now this is blastfemy for anyone from the west coast (like myself) to hear this, but I actually like this burger MORE than In-N-Out. I know, crazy talk. But for reals. This is a my favorite non-restaurant burger. period. exclamation point! hashtag #bestnonrestaurantburger

-j

Bark Hot Dogs in the Slope

Hoooot dooooogs, get your hooooooot dooogssss here! Bark Hot Dogs in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn makes a mighty fine dog. All of their hot dogs are specialty made by Hartmann's Old World Sausage in Rochester, NY specifically designed just for Barks. Actually all their ingredients are hand picked from farms and purveyors mostly in the Northeast area.  Fresh local ingredients makes for serious grub.

Got to try a few things here, the onion rings were good...suuuuper crispy, a tad heavy, not for the faint of heart, but very satisfying.  The hot dog was the Cole Slaw dog, such a great combo. Cold brisk slaw matched against the warm dog and potato bun. The dogs have a good snap to them as well. They don't put too much mayo in the slaw either which is cool, i hate too much mayo.  But after all that, and being a 'hotdog' place, the BEST thing on the menu is the CHEESEBURGER.  Its super simple but the fresh ingredients just made it work. The bun is soft, the meat is ridiculously juicy and the homemade pickles just make it rock.

Head over to the Park Slope, push all those baby strollers out of the way and get yourself a dog(or burger). Afterwords you can check out the upscale adult toy shop Babeland which is right next door, come on now, where do you think all those strollers come from anyways.

-J

BLT Burger doesn't disappoint

In the never ending search for the best burger I landed in BLT Burger in Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan. BLT actually stands for Bistro Laurent Tourondel after its Frenchie owner. He also owns famed BLT Steak, BLT Fish, BLT Prime, BLT Poop and BLT Market. This dude is kinda a sell out, he's got more restaurants than McDonald's, but that being said, his food is grub. So sell sell sell Frechie and expand your empire. The place was packed and buzzing was a fun atmosphere. The burgers weren't huge, but had great flavor.

This picture below makes it seem like a slider, but I think that was just my camera phone playing tricks on me. I went for the standard BLT Burger which is made from Certified Black Angus beef, double smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion and special sauce. Every one has special sauce these days, even I do. They also had a good variety of non-beef burgers as well, lamb, salmon, turkey and of course, dare I say it, the "kobe beef burger", ooohhhh, kobe. Oh Please. Please keep kobe pure and out of burgers for cow's sake.


This pic does the burger a little more justice. As you can see I like my burgers medium rare, it had a nice char and beautiful pink flesh. Looks like that red onion was trying to make a break for it. You have no where to run little onion, get in my belly.

This was a good restaurant burger, well worth its $11 price tag. And props to the BLT empire, I'll be your solider any day. Many more burgers and gluttony to come.

-J

The burger at Jane

I love a good burger. And Jane on the edge of Soho serves a damn good burger. Jane is mostly known for its great brunch, but I have been there many times for both lunch and brunch and the burger keeps drawing me in. Paired with crispy rosemary fries, the burger is built like a member of the 1976 East German Women's Swim Team .

A toasted sesame bun, bibb lettuce, a pickled tomato, double smoked bacon, white cheddar cheese and 'special sauce', I think its just thousand islands. Notice how the buttery bibb fans over the bottom half of the burger...niiiiiiiice.


The burger itself is high quality beef, definitely a blend of a few different cuts, with a decent level of fat content. This left the perfecting cooked medium-rare burger super juicy and popping with flavor. Not to mention this was a monster of a burger, great for consuming on lazy Sundays followed by a mid afternoon nap.


This is just the beginning of my burger journey through out NYC, stay tuned for more artery clogging adventures.

-J

Cheeseburger Baby

I love a great cheeseburger. But what makes a good cheeseburger even better than juicy meat, melty cheese and fresh toppings is eating one around 3am while your buzz wears off. This tasty beauty came to me via Cheeseburger Baby in Miami's South Beach. A total late night drunky spot right across the street from a hip hop club, this place had character, characters, and great burgers.


I could go on for hours about what makes a good burger, but I'm going to have to save that for another post (maybe my shake shack post), but as you can see this one was pretty. The cheese WAS melty, the meat was super juicy, and the fresh veggies on top just popped. All sandwiched between a soft toasted potato roll bun.


I thoroughly enjoyed this burger. Eating it drunk definitely helped. Too bad it only lasted in my stomach for about 20 minutes. What?! Who said that?

-J