Oddly enough, I first tried the fried chicken sandwich here with onion rings, and both were awesome. Spicy honey, slaw, and great pickles.
That made me want to come back to try the burger.
This was incredible! Plus, it’s real handsome:
I highly recommend this burger – so good!
BEST BURGER NYC
53 Little West 12th St
New York, NY 10014
I recently discovered this steak speakeasy in the back of Mel’s Burger Bar:
This joint is incredible. I love the warm, dim ambiance. Very old school, and reminiscent of Donohue’s.
I’m a little biased since Golden Packing supplies this place with their proteins, but I was absolutely blown away by the burger.
This is a prime 8oz patty made from the ends of striploins; a steak burger, if you will, served up in the style of an elevated and colossal Big Mac. Best burger I’ve had in a long time.
They offer a la carte menu pricing, but the way to go here is with the set menu full dinners. In the set menu, you either get a steak ($49), burger ($33), or chicken ($39), along with a side, a salad and a dessert. Great deal!
When you go, you definitely need to get this carbonara mac and cheese as your side:
The steak they’re offering right now is a grilled sirloin, and soon they will be adding this prime strip steak to the menu (likely for a little bit more money):
It’s a stunner. We sampled it, and it was delicious – an easy 9/10. I’m just pushing for a larger cut. This sample was 12oz. I think 16oz would be better for this place, and maybe aged.
& SON
1450 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10021
A buddy of mine helped open this joint over by Bryant Park, so I had to go check it out. The food here is excellent! Check out how perfect this burger looks:
That’s a handsome fella. And it was as delicious as it looks. Certified Angus Beef smash patties, shredded lettuce, sharp American cheese, and tomato on a brioche bun. The crust on those patties was perfect!
The chicken sandwich was great as well. Great spice to it.
As a tribute to Rutt’s Hut over in NJ, they also offer this ripper hot dog. It really hit the spot with a crispy snap.
And to top it off, the fries and tots were both golden and crunchy.
I highly recommend this place. The food is better than most other joints out there slinging smash patties now.
HANDCRAFT BURGERS & BREW
110 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
The high-end English steakhouse chain Hawksmoor has finally landed here in NYC. I’ve been looking forward to trying this place since I heard the rumors of its opening, pre-covid. It recently opened its doors, and I was able to try it out before the holidays (after which I’m assuming NYC will go into lockdown mode again over this new Omicron variant).
Anyway here’s the review – that’s why you’re here:
My wife and I came here for a quick meal before catching a flight to Spain. She had a credit for something like $56 so that covered the steak.
Flavor: 9
As far as steaks are concerned, we only tried a 40oz aged rib steak that they had as a special for the night. It was great, although a little bit under seasoned. In fact, a few items throughout the meal needed salt, but otherwise excellent. The steak had a great cook temp and a nice charred crust with good aged flavor throughout.
On a second visit I had the steak frites, which they offer for lunch.
This cut is aged rump (sirloin), and I’d say it’s around 5oz. It’s a bit tougher than most steaks, so cut it thin and in small pieces when you eat it.
That’s perfect for a lunch sized portion. It comes with deliciously crisp fries and absolutely amazing roasted bone marrow with caramelized onions. 8/10.
We also split a cheeseburger as an app, which I thought was great. I typically don’t like brioche buns for a burger, but this one help up nicely. The meat was cooked perfectly.
Choice of Cuts & Quality Available: 9
There’s a good selection of cuts here, both boneless and bone-in, staple cuts and irregular cuts (like rump), prime and aged. But they may need to beef up their availability, because by 7pm they only had two 30oz porterhouse steaks left on a Thursday. I know it’s the busy season, but this shouldn’t happen at a steakhouse. I had to take a point for that.
Portion Size & Plating: 9
Portion sizes ranged from 10-40oz, and nicely plated on Staub cast iron pans. Other dishes were sufficiently fun, yet elegant, without being stuffy, which matched the whole ambiance of the place.
Price: 7
The pricing here is definitely on the high end when you compare it to other steakhouses in NYC (especially the ones that are part of larger chain ownerships). On the flip side, Hawksmoor touts a “natural beef” program, so that niche market of steaks is expected to come with a price tag premium.
Bar: 10
The bar is a great place to sit and eat (which is what we did), and they offer some inventive house cocktails in addition to an impressive selection of bottles behind the bar. One negative: the martinis are small, but at $12 for Beefeater 24 it’s a more than fair price. Michter’s 10 year is $28, and the 20 year is $118 (we had some of that deliciousness).
Corn & Corn & Oil
Specials and Other Meats: 8
I would definitely come back to try the veal, but I was a little bit surprised at the lack of pork and lamb options on the menu of this English chop house. Other than beef, they only offered a chicken dish by way of alternative meats. Nonetheless, the 40oz rib steak that was on special was awesome, and I can respect a steakhouse that’s LASER focused on beef.
Apps, Sides & Desserts: 9
We tried a bunch of stuff, and all of it was great. The aged rump steak tartare with pickled shiitake mushrooms was unique and had a mild sweetness to it, along with a gorgeous orange egg yolk.
I really loved the bone marrow roasted oysters. Top notch, and a must order!
The potted beef was good but needed a little bit of salt. Awesome onion marmalade and Yorkshire to go with it.
I would pass on the triple fried “chips.” They had a good crisp on them, but overall they lacked personality and seasoning (though they were much better on a second visit).
That little red bottle is actually the surprisingly good tomato-based steak sauce. Give it a shot!
The desserts that we tried were both masterpieces. When you go here, make sure you get either the Meyer Lemon Bomb or the Sticky Toffee Pudding. Wow!
Sour cherry cheesecake – awesome!
The tribute bites, however, while beautiful and tasty: I would pass on those next time.
Seafood Selection: 7
The oysters were awesome, but we didn’t try either of the seafood mains that they offered on the menu (lobster and halibut). Maybe next time, but likely not. Again; only two offerings, but I respect the focus on beef here.
On the lunch menu they offer a whole baked sea bream. This is pretty good – nice and light. A little oil and white wine, that’s all. And a fennel salad.
Service: 10
Our bartender was incredibly knowledgeable about both the food and drinks, and she made excellent suggestions when we asked for recommendations. Everyone in the front of the house was really nice and helpful.
Ambiance: 10
Both the bar room and the main dining room here are beautiful. Elegant, steakhousey, bustling, fun, and energetic. And good music, too, not too loud.
Here’s something from the dining room that was very apropos – seems like both are being diminished lately.
I can’t wait to go back and try more of the menu.
HAWKSMOOR
109 E 22nd St
New York, NY 10010
Jack & Charlie’s just opened on Greenwich Avenue near 8th Avenue.
The place is absolutely stunning inside. The color scheme is mid century greens with dark wood paneled walls and floors. The odd shape of the building space makes for cozy and interesting nook-like seating in some corners. This was my favorite table in the joint:
Here’s the main bar:
Incredibly gorgeous art deco vibe there. There’s also an oyster bar in back, beside a wood fired brick pizza oven. Love those subway tiles:
Speaking of bars, the cocktails here are really nice. This first one is called “Needs a Name.” Basically a sort of coffee old fashioned, I suppose? Super unique, really tasty. The other is a martini called “Slightly Promiscuous,” with a goat cheese stuffed olive.
Anyway, lets get to the food, because it was amazing.
We started with three items: First, the Littleneck Clams Casino.
These were so good. Only down side: we wanted bread to soak up all that delicious lemony, buttery sauce.
Next, Shepherd’s Pie Croquettes, from under the “Bar Bites” part of the menu.
Note here that the bar does offer secret menu items that aren’t available at the table, such as French Dip sandwiches. However, the full dinner menu is available at both bars.
Anyway these were perfectly crisp outside, super soft and flavorful inside. And also not too insanely hot to eat right away. The kitchen is on point, and knows what they’re doing in terms of food temps so that diners don’t destroy the inside of their mouths.
Lastly, the steak tartare:
By far one of the best, most flavorful I’ve had in a long time. It’s made from hand cut tenderloin, and it’s dressed and spiced just right.
For our mid course, we had a salad and a pasta. The chopped veggie salad was surprisingly delicious. It had all the usual stuff which you can see, as well as radicchio, artichokes and hearts of palm. Some of my favorite things for salads.
The strozzapreti pasta with rabbit was killer! It had a really nice flavor that reminded me of the pasta e fagioli (aka “pasta fazool”) that I ate as a kid. The green in there is arugula.
I can’t wait to go back and try their other pasta dishes. All of them looked and sounded amazing. Update for the wild mushroom agnolotti – amazing!
Very nice bolognese too, and I’m generally not a fan of that dish.
For the mains, I had to try the two items that Chef Ed Cotton makes from what we supply them at Golden Packing. Each week, we send them ground duck and prime grade export ribs (whole racks of rib eye). Here’s what Ed does with the ground duck:
That’s a bone-in duck meatloaf!
I’ve never really eaten meatloaf, unless you consider Italian meatballs to be some kind of cousin to meatloaf. I was blown away by this. So flavorful, and the glaze on that thing was incredible. Make sure you get this when you come here.
With the export ribs, Ed makes slow roasted, pastrami rubbed prime rib.
This is only available on Friday’s and Saturday’s, first come first served, and while supplies last. I asked for a chuck side cut, and Chef Ed obliged!
Huge cap on that (spinalis). And the meat was probably the most tender that I’ve ever had for prime rib, even in the more densely structured eye/center muscle (longissimus). It comes with au jus, horseradish cream, warm popovers and a spice rubbed rib bone.
The meat on that is so delicious!
On another trip, I tried both the half roasted chicken and the strip steak frites. Both were AWESOME!
The strip is an easy 9/10, just shy from a perfect score because it wasn’t dry aged. But it doesn’t matter because it was really juicy, and wire to wire pink.
Also, this 14oz pork chop with peppadews is great as well!
On the side, the hen of the woods mushrooms were out of the park! Meaty, earthy, and full of flavor. I had no interest in the traditional creamed spinach when I saw these babies on the menu.
For dessert, banana pudding!
This, with that scoop of ice cream on top, was just heaven. What a way to end a meal! Also rice pudding, really nice with fall flavors.
I can’t wait to go back here and try more stuff. There’s also a tomahawk rib chop and a strip steak on the menu, which are fired in the brick pizza oven at 750F! Gotta be good.
BURGER UPDATE!
This monster was really tasty. I really liked the char and seasoning on the patty.
JACK & CHARLIE’S
118 Greenwich Ave
New York, NY 10011
I popped into this little French joint for Brunch last weekend. I tried the steak burger and really enjoyed it. it was topped with melted brie, thin sliced tomato and cucumbers, and tartar sauce, of all things. It really worked nicely. And the fries were BONKERS. I’d definitely eat this burger again.
LES ENFANTS DE BOHEME
177 Henry St
New York, NY 10002
Mighties is a new burger joint that just opened in the Market Line food hall at Essex and Delancey. Their regular burger is two 5oz patties with American cheese, LTOP and special sauce. Notice how thin the toppings are sliced… Expert level.
This thing is pretty damn great, and with Ends Meat beef in the mix, you know you’re getting meat from a small farm operation with fresh hanging beef that went directly from the farm to the butchers in Brooklyn after being split in half.
They also have some amazing hot dogs on the menu:
And on Fridays they offer a dry aged burger that will blow you away.
This is a 7oz beast that really brings the funk.
I think this might be my new favorite burger in town for this fast-casual style.
Want something secret/special that’s off the menu? Ask Nash or Fabian for the chopped cheese fries. Killer!
I’m psyched that this is in my hood now. I’ll be here pretty often!
MIGHTIES
115 Delancey St
New York, NY 10002
This old school stool seating diner has been around for a long time in the UVA area. My wife and I were in town for a wedding, so I had to try this place. We tried the Double Gus Burger, which is two thin patties, with American cheese and an egg. I’m generally not a huge fan of egg on a burger, but this one really hit home.
Great onions rings and fried hot dog too.
We finished off with a slice of lemon pie too. This joint was exactly what I wanted it to be. Cheap, delicious grub.
THE WHITE SPOT
1407 University Ave
Charlottesville, VA 22903
This joint serves up nice thick dry aged burgers, sourced from a local farm.
Excellent. I was really impressed!
I’d pass on the wings though. They needed both more seasoning and more crisp.
BOYLAN HEIGHTS
102 14th St NW
Charlottesville, VA 22903
I came here with my wife and another couple to try out some of the menu items, as this place just recently opened about a month ago.
We tried two flavors of wings: maple waffle, and everything bagel. My favorite was the everything bagel. They even came with little blobs of creamed cheese.
The popcorn shrimp was addictive. I could easily eat 3 bowls
Massive chicken sandwich, topped with excellent quality thick cut bacon.
Both regular and truffle fries are great as well. And the burger was executed perfectly.
The pork belly was a bit too sweet from the candied orange on top, but otherwise it was very nicely cooked and tender.
They also have some really creative coctails.
Definitely give this place a shot. For bar food, this place has an elegant setting and some really high quality menu items.
LITTLE REBEL
219 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
