Tag Archives: burger

American, Burgers, East Village, Union Square/Flatiron

5 Napkin Burger

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

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 0 Comments

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 0 Comments

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.

The Frisco Melt and Steakburger are solid secondary menu choices as well:

STEAK N SHAKE
1695 Broadway
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Long Island

All American

September 22, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

All American is an absolute MUST if you are ever out on Long Island. The place is basically a landmark at this point. My parents used to go back when they were in high school, which is just down the street from the restaurant.

The burgers are solid. Basic thin style burger patty, but the taste and atmosphere is nostalgic. A throwback to a simpler time. Everything is delicious, so you really can’t go wrong.

ALL AMERICAN
4286 Merrick Rd
Massapequa, NY 11758

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Melt Shop

September 21, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I saw posters for a new joint opening up in my hood. A GRILLED CHEESE JOINT!!! Not knowing when the doors would open, and being anxious to try out the grub, my wife and I took a slightly longer walk over to a location already in operation on 50th & 7th.

Since I have been on a massive burger kick lately, naturally, I ordered the Melt Shop Burger. It comes with pepper jack cheese, cheese sauce, burger sauce, caramelized onions, and sweet pickles (wish it was half sour), all on sour dough toast that’s grilled to perfection. It was full of cheesy, oozy meltiness.

My wife had the original grilled cheese (American on white) with some added fried chicken and bacon inside. This was great too – absolutely perfect mix of ingredients.

On the side, we had an order of loaded tots: bacon, cheese sauce, grated parmesan cheese, and sliced jalapeños. These could have been a bit more crispy, but they were good even though they turned to much under the “load.”

Best item of the day, however, goes to the fucking nutella fluff milkshake. Holy shit… If you don’t know what fluff is, it is spreadable marshmallow. When I was a kid, my mom used to make me peanut butter and fluff sandwiches. The elevation of fluff with nutella and a bit of chocolate in a shake format was fucking brilliant.

It was also nice to see that they had several bottles of sri racha sauce there like any other normal condiment. YES!

You guys should definitely check this place out some day. I see big things happening for this little franchise. The deals they offer make it even more worth your while, like $3 Abita beers and 50% off your first delivery order (Go to www.meltshop.com and use promo code SAYCHEESE).

MELT SHOP
135 W. 50th St.
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Flash Deals, Upper East Side

Burger Bistro

September 21, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I noticed a sweet little Groupon deal for this place the last time I was browsing the site. For $10, you get $20 worth of food. I jumped on it, not fully realizing that this place was way the fuck up on 87th and 1st Avenue. Inconvenience aside, my wife and I walked up after spending the day on Roosevelt Island to do some photo exploring.

Here’s what we had:

Fried artichoke hearts. These were tasty, juicy, crisp, well seasoned, and came with a really nice horseradish cream dipping sauce. A bit pricey at almost $9, but pretty good.

The burger was pretty good. Nicely cooked, nicely seasoned, a good amount of cheese, and the potato bun was just right. I went with American, lettuce, tomato and onion.

We ordered some “seasoned fries” to go with it. They looked beautiful but completely lacked any salt. The seasoning used on them reminded me of one of those Mrs. Dash type “salt substitute” disasters. Also, they weren’t very crisp. Disappointment, although I must admit they LOOK awesome:

Moral of the story here: The Groupon deal is definitely worth it for the burgers. Maybe try the regular fries though.

BURGER BISTRO
1663 1st Ave
New York, NY 10028

Burgers, Midtown West

The Burger Joint

September 17, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I recently grabbed a last minute lunch burger at the famous Burger Joint in Le Parker Meridien, touted as being one of the best burgers in the city, if not THEE best. This was my second time scarfing one of these bad boys down. My first experience was not so good, or just kind of average, and I didn’t take any photos. As such, I needed to give it another shot. I had a cheeseburger, fries, and a vanilla shake. On the burger I had red onions, tomato, lettuce, mayo and pickles. The burger was cooked perfectly (sorry for the lack of internal redness photos), though a bit under seasoned and not enough cheese, in my opinion. The fries were amazing: crispy and delicious. The shake was tight too. I paid $19.75 for all three items. A bit pricey.

THE BURGER JOINT
Le Parker Meridien New York
119 W 56th St
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Flash Deals, West Village

Joy Burger Bar

September 13, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

So I got this sweet ass Groupon deal for the west village location of Joy Burger Bar.

I paid under $10 for two burgers and two shakes or fries. My buddy and I mixed it up a bit. We got one shake, one fries, and added an order of o-rings. It was also two for one beers during happy hour so we nabbed a pair of fucking Blue Moons as well.

I had a “midi” (5oz) burger with American cheese, jalapeño peppers, lettuce, onion, tomato and spicy mayo. Shit was good, but the burger was a little beyond medium. Thank God for melty cheese. Fries were better than mediocre – good seasoning but not as crispy as I like. Onion rings were delicious, and the shake was killer (B&W, bitch).

Really reasonable prices even without a Groupon deal, so I say go for it.

Check out the burgerporn below, assholes:

JOY BURGER BAR
361 6th Ave
New York, NY 10014

Burgers, Midtown West

Bill’s Bar & Burger

September 12, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I gotta say, the burger at this place impressed me. I ordered a classic American cheeseburger, double patty, with bacon and jalapeños. Shit was awesome. I wasn’t a huge fan of the lettuce so much (dark green, wavy leaf bullshit) and I think the bun could have used a little mayo to shield the bottom layer from burger juice, but man — this place was great. FRESH sliced jalapeños, LOTS of cheese, and a well-seasoned hunk of meat. Almost perfect.

The fries were not up to par with the burger. I recently learned that they changed from wedge to regular fries, but they tasted nice with the cheese on them regardless. Onion rings were excellent.

Bonus: $3 “cold ass beers” on tap during happy hour, but ONLY AT THE BAR. We were literally 2 feet away, on a tiny high-top table that was right next to the bar, and they were going to try to charge us $8 for a beer at the seat instead of $3 at the bar that I could reach with my hand if I stretched. So we happily moved to the bar when a spot opened up for us. Stupid ass policy regarding the cold ass beers, if you ask me, but whatever. Guacamole app was decent but not worth talking much about here on a burger review.

So here’s the beef – enjoy:

I came back one night after a burger at another joint, and I put down a nice Chicago dog. I have to say – the Chicago dog is much better than the New York dog, but the New York pizza is much better than the Chicago pizza. And that’s that.

I don’t know what it is… sport peppers, relish (which I normally hate), yellow mustard (which I normally hate), onions, tomato, poppy seed bun… it’s like Zeus busted his nut on a bon and we all have the please of eating it and becoming demo-gods for a small moment of time. Perfection.

I also got to try this fucking delicious beer, which comes in at a whopping 11.1% ABV. Fuck yeah. Blithering idiot. I know a lot of those…

Third visit: single burger with jalapeños and an order of cheese fries to go with, plus an app of the fried pickles and peppers, which were awesome.

Fourth visit – more of the same. Great consistent product.

BILL’S BAR & BURGER
16 W 51st St
New York, NY 10019

Burgers, Midtown West

Lucky’s Famous Burgers

September 11, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I’ve been to two locations for Lucky’s Famous Burger so far: 23rd Street and 52nd Street.

Both locations serve up essentially the same good quality burgers and they even transport well in the sack for delivery. I always worry about fries getting sogged the fuck up when hot and enclosed, with all that fucking steam ruining the crisp and shit, but Lucky fries and onion rings travel extremely well. The burgers are highly customizable, and they even do a solid job with their chicken sandwiches. They offer a few sauce varieties, all of which are good for either dipping fries/o-rings or dumping all over your burger. I particularly like the onion rings and cajun spice fries here (think Old Bay seasoning on the fries). This is one of two go-to joints in the new ‘hood for a burg. Check out the porn below: