Category Archives: Burgers

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Thalia’s Dollar Oyster Special

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS JOINT IS NOW CLOSED!

Thalia over on 8th Avenue has an amazing oyster deal. EVERY DAY from 7:00pm through 1:00am they have dollar oysters, and they are GOOD. The times I have gone, they were all nice quality, clean Bluepoints. What a steal! And with a great drink menu, this place is the perfect spot for grabbing a quick bite and buzz.

On a second trip for oysters, we had a full meal here. I had the burger. It was essentially my LGBT sandwich with a burger patty in the mix. While it was really nicely cooked, it needed just a bit more seasoning, as did the fries.

The fries had a great texture and flavor – just lacked a little salt.

My wife had pasta made from zucchini, which was nice and light, and topped with beans, mushrooms, and cheese.

For dessert we shared a velvet chocolate mousse. It had some cake on the bottom which I didn’t like as much as the mousse portion, but it was nice.

Check out this great drink I had too – really refreshing and tasty:

On another trip I had the spaghetti. Really simple but well executed. I found the sauce to be a bit too sweet, so I slapped some globs of the kalamata olive spread into it (the spread comes with the table breads). That made it perfect.

*DOLLAR OYSTERS NO LONGER AVAILABLE*

THALIA
828 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Iron Bar’s Pig Wings

September 25, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

“Pig Wings” are making a big showing now on bar and restaurant menus. WTF are they, you ask? They are small portions of bone-in pork that have been trimmed down to look like little drumsticks of sorts, with a hunk of meat surrounding the bone. I figured I would mention these fuckers since they are pretty good at Iron Bar over on 8th Avenue and 45th Street. They were crisp and juicy, with a really great dipping sauce to boot. I’m hoping to see more of them at other spots in the future.

I came back to this joint when I picked up an Amazon Local deal for $20 that scored me $40 worth of food and drink. Pretty sweet deal. I tried their Iron Burger, which had gorgonzola, grilled onions, and crispy prosciutto. Fucking sweet. Cooked perfectly, lots of funky flavor from the cheese, and good juiciness without going overboard. The fries were excellent too – nice battered style, really crispy, nice and soft inside.

My buddy picked up the Juicy Lucy burger, which is a patty stuffed with cheddar cheese. He gave it the thumbs up and said it was a great burger. Looks beautiful, right?

IRON BAR
713 8th Ave.
New York, NY 10036

Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

E’s Bar

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I’ve been coming here for the great trivia games on Tuesday nights, with first place prize being a $75 bar tab, second place at $50 and third place at $35. We won the $75 tab three weeks in a row, so I’ve been able to sample a bunch of the food here. Best thing so far: the burger and fries. So fucking good. Really nicely seasoned, great flavors, good toppings. Do yourself a favor and get in here to try it out.

I also tried the tomato watermelon gazpacho, which was really nice and fresh, as well as the falafel burger with red pepper fries. Pretty good, but the regular burger wins by a long shot.

E’S BAR
511 Amsterdam Ave.
New York, NY 10024

American, Burgers, Long Island, Restaurant Reviews

Nicky’s on the Bay

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Nicky’s is a great spot for summertime food on Long Island. They do a good job with seafood, but I just had to try the burger here at long last. Blue cheese and sautéed onions. OH YEAH! Throw in some oysters and tropical drinks for good measure and you’re all set.

NICKY’S ON THE BAY
150 Clinton Ave.
Bay Shore, NY 11706

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Rothman’s

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

On their last day in business, I came in with a Groupon for a burger lunch. Having never been here before, I figured I would try the burger for lunch, and if satisfied, I would go back for dinner to have a steak before they officially closed shop. I had alway sheared good things about the steak. On the flip side, I had been warned that they tend to overcook the burgers, but I did not heed the alarms. Mine was overcooked too. Well, maybe not grossly overcooked, but the meat was very dense and dry, even with the egg on top! Fries were decent, but not on par with other places I’ve been to. Needless to say, I did not end up going back for a steak. Burger was pricey even with the Groupon deal, and the food was not that great.

Burgers, Midtown West

Island Burger

September 23, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I found this place as I was strolling around the new neighborhood. Since finding it, I’ve been here twice. The first time was for happy hour, where my wife and I had some great sliders, some roasted corn, and beer.

As you can see, we tried a nice variety of sliders. if I recall, habanero cheddar was my favorite. I was impressed enough to go back a second time with my cousin, this time for a proper burger. I had the “Miss Hula Burger,” with ham, swiss, honey mustard and pineapple.

While it was delicious, I realize that there is a revolting string of fat hanging down the front of the burger. I wanted to show this in all it’s glory, warts and all. And I apologize if you just threw up a little bit in your mouth. But you can trust me that the food here is good.

UPDATE 7/13/17

I came back in for lunch on a weekday and discovered a really great special that they run during those hours: $10 for a burger and a beer! Excellent.

ISLAND BURGER
766 9th Ave
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West

Five Guys Burger & Fries

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

After gaining fame upon hearing that the president likes to sneak away and break his diet here, this joint came on my radar as a must try. There’s a little spot just a couple of streets away from me, so I got to sink my teeth into some grub here one night on a “bang bang” steakhouse, burger joint night.

I went with the large double cheeseburger. It was nice. Juicy, lots of gooey cheese, seasoned nicely.

The fries were tremendous in size. I ordered the smallest size and they put them in a paper lunch bag that was almost 3/4 full with the fucks. Pretty good too. A little greasy, but all were crispy even after carrying them home in the bag.

This is a pretty solid place, and I’ll definitely be going back.

A second visit was excellent. Cheeseburger (2 patties) with fresh jalapeños, onion, lettuce, tomato, pickles and mayo.

Nice to know where your food comes from I guess…

FREE PEANUTS!

FIVE GUYS
43 W 55th St
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, East Village, Union Square/Flatiron

5 Napkin Burger

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I came here to the Union Square location for the first time with a few buddies before watching one of the US World Cup games.

I had a breakfast burger of some sort, which came with ham and egg on top of that bitch. It was really good, perfectly cooked too, as you can tell from the cut shot.

This was exactly what we needed before stuffing our bellies full of beer before the game, and hours of screaming and yelling for our team.

On a second visit I had the classic cheeseburger. The breakfast burger was better, in my opinion, and the bun is still in need of improvements. Switch to potato!

My wife had an asiago turkey burger, which was good but a little rubbery. I guess that shit happens when you eat turkey.

We did try some wings and an app that was essentially a fried pickle and pastrami fritter. Pretty good showing.

The down side is that they wouldn’t honor the wings or happy hour specials at the tables, despite the bar being filled.

Last item was the smokes shake, which was very nice. The roasted marshmallow on top really brought those flavors home.

5 NAPKIN BURGER
150 E 14th St
New York, NY 10003

Burgers, Upper West Side

Shake Shack

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

Here’s the place that has pretty much been voted the undisputed heavyweight champion of the burger shops. Lines galore, out the door, at nearly every location at any hour of any day – even the sabbath, where you will most certainly find bad, rule breaking NYC Jews cramming both meat AND cheese into their non-Kosher bellies. Throw some bacon on that motherfucker and it’s a one way express ticket to hell, my friends. This burger is amazing. What’d I have? The smoke shack burger, along with some fries, a vanilla shake and a Chicago dog for good measure. Because why the fuck not?

SHAKE SHACK
366 Columbus Ave
New York, NY 10024

Burgers, Midtown West

Steak & Shake

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS LOCATION IS CLOSED

I love that I live about half a dozen streets away from this little spot. The food is so cheap and so good at this midwest import joint. Lots of people give this place the old “ehh, it’s okay” treatment, but people… come on… The burger patty is thin. So what? There are two of them, and they have such a delicious crispy coating of grill mess that the flavor is out of this fucking world.

Shakes are really good, and fries are thin but natural style, with the skin on some. Very nicely seasoned and crisp. Go online and buy a $20 gift card and they throw in an extra $5 on the house. Can’t beat that shit in my eyes.