Tag Archives: burger

5 Boro Burger

September 11, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

I snatched up a few burger-based Groupon deals this week when I noticed that they were offering an additional 15% off with a promo code. The first was for this joint, 5 Boro Burger: $25 gets you two special burger deluxe plates (with fries), and two pints of beer.

The fries were nice, dusted with some herbs and fried to a robust crisp.

I tried the Brooklyn burger, which involved cheddar, grilled onions and bacon.

It was slightly over cooked beyond medium, but I didn’t mind too much because it was really tasty.

My wife went with the Bronx burger, which had guacamole, bacon and mozzarella cheese. Her’s was cooked perfectly, and I think was the winner between the two we tried.

I’d definitely come back here to try some more goodies. Give it a shot yourself while the Groupon deal is still active. Only down side about this place was the pickle (too sour), and the over abundance of gnats and fruit flies near the curbside seating on the first floor.

5 BORO BURGER
80 W 36th St
New York, NY 10018

Burgers, Flash Deals, Italian, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews

Stecchino

August 31, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

STECCHINO IS NOW CLOSED

My wife and I met some friends at Stecchino for dinner last night. The menu is pretty interesting, and features some really great products.

First we had some starters, like fried artichokes, burrata, and octopus carpaccio. All were fantastic. The artichokes were packed with flavor, and mostly heart. The burrata was incredibly smooth and creamy. And the octopus was tender and we’ll dressed.

For my entrée I had the burger, as it may go to the way side after management’s upcoming planned menu changes. It was a solid burger. Check it out:

It came with fries, which could have benefited from some more crisp.

My wife had rabbit fettuccine. The meat was tender but be careful: in my bite i had a small piece of rabbit bone. Look at that beautiful blob of ricotta on top!

I had to grab a pic of this. It was a limited quantity menu item: short rib. But a huge piece of rib. Tremendous, and really juicy, tender and delicious.

I also had a bite of my other friend’s chicken scarpariello. Both the sausage and the chicken in the dish were very flavorful.

Bottom line: Stecchino (which means toothpick in Italian, and is the name of my friend’s whippet) is a great place to eat. I’m excited to see how the menu changes in the upcoming weeks, especially because my wife purchased a brunch Groupon for $23, which gets us two entrées and two pitchers of bloody Mary. Yes!

The breakfast burger turned out to be amazing. Really tasty maple bacon, cheddar cheese, and a fried egg. Wonderful.

The real highlight was the potato dish that came with my wife’s smoked salmon eggs benedict. They were like baked potatoes that had been ripped apart and then deep fried with a light crispy breading. FUCKING MINT!

Burgers, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

The Penrose

August 30, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Last week when I was introduced to BurgerFi by my buddy, he also showed me The Penrose. The decor was mad cool – old fashioned gastro pub look and feel. Really nicely done. I made a thick, bold mental note, in sharpie, to make sure I went back to give that shit a try. So I did, with my wife in tow.

Here’s the breakdown:

We started with chicharones (pork rinds). There were really crispy, crackly and light. The lime juice really took them to the next level.

Next the entrees came out. I had the Penrose burger with cheddar. Really nicely cooked and seasoned. Loved every bite.

My wife had the mussels, which came with perfectly buttery and toasty bread and a really unique broth, which included almonds, that we were sucking up with straws at the end.

A really great meal. And these three items, with 2 drinks included (it was happy hour), only came to about $50. You can’t beat it. We will be back for sure.

THE PENROSE
1590 2nd Ave.
New York, NY 10028

Burgers, Upper East Side

Burger Fi

August 25, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

A buddy of mine has been telling me how great Burger Fi is for a while now. I finally made it up there to give it the old Johnny Prime try.

I had a “Breakfast All Day” burger (aka the B.A.D. Burger), a Chicago dog, and “cry & fries” (french fries and onion rings). And, of course, a vanilla shake. My buddy had a New York dog and a Bud.

First, a bit about the burger: it’s a natural Angus burger topped with American cheese, hickory bacon drizzled with maple syrup, a fried egg, hash browns and grilled diced onions. This thing is a fucking beast. Typically you get a double burger patty, but with this monster you don’t, because of all the good toppings.

It was really tasty. The ratio of all the different shit is just right.

The Chicago dog was great. The dog itself is split and grilled, and then popped onto a poppy seed bun and topped with relish, diced onion, tomato, sport peppers, celery salt and pickles. This shit is legit. A little messy as you get down on it, but the flavor is fantastic.

The fries and O-rings are good, but I would make sure to order my fries extra crispy next time. They’re seasoned correctly and they are flavorful. Onion rings are solid, real crispy and not too greasy at all. I actually enjoyed those more.

And that’s that. Make sure you get up to the UES to try this place out. It’s pretty great.

UPDATE – On a second visit the following week, I tried a BurgerFi Cheeseburger with onions and jalapenos, along with EXTRA CRISPY cry & fries. All was amazing. Extra crispy is definitely the way to go, and I prefer the regular burger over the B.A.D. burger.

BURGER FI
1571 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10028

Burgers, Midtown West

Mother Burger

August 19, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

This place is pretty fucking legit. The burger was a slight bit over cooked, but it was tasty as all hell. I got a bacon cheeseburger deluxe with jalapeños.

My buddy got a fucking chicken salad, the damn quiff that he is… He claims that he had too many burgers and dogs recently. Whatever. At least it was a pretty big size.

The coolest thing about this place though is the $7 PBR 40oz. Boom.

The price came to $30/pp including tax and tip for everything: burger deluxe, salad, two 40s, and a Lagunitas. Not bad.

The interior is small but it gets the job done.

Cool thing is that we finished eating inside, then took the rest of our 40s outside to drink in the courtyard. Sweet.

Some more shots from a second visit are below. Burger still holds up as one of the greats. I kept it simple this time with a single cheeseburger.

MOTHER BURGER
329 W 49th St
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, Non-Steakhouse Steaks, Other Cuts, Restaurant Reviews, Upper West Side

PJ Clarkes

July 28, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

Check this shit out: this isn’t the original flagship location or anything, but the restaurant is big and beautiful inside, and the burger was pretty much fantastic, with the exception of a bottom bun being too thin. My wife and I took my parents here for lunch when they came in to see the new apartment.

I started with an amazing bloody Mary called “Sister Mary Walks Funny” – it involves sri racha sauce. Spicy and perfectly mixed, with blue cheese olives to boot.

My burger was called “the Cadillac” – mostly I ordered it because it had American cheese and bacon on it. Look at the perfect cook job done on this bitch:

The fries were nice and crispy too.

My wife had some mussels with olive oil, garlic and tomato. An interesting change up from the typical white wine preparation. We dug it.

On the side we put down some bacon mac & cheese. Yup. Good shit. That’s wide fusilli, muthafucka!

I’m thoroughly impressed. I saw that on Saturday’s they offer a rib eye. I might have to stop back in for one of those.

On a second visit, I quickly noticed that they stock my favorite gin when I was reading over the cocktail menu: Fifth Pounds Gin. AWESOME! I ordered up a nice martini with that shit.

My wife ordered a “Tall English Redhead,” which was a very refreshing, summery type drink with mango iced tea.

Since it was Sunday, and the rib eye is only offered on Saturday, I went with the skirt steak frites. It was okay. I’ve had better, but it got the job done at a relatively cost-friendly price.

My wife got a breakfast plate of baked eggs and cheddar cheese with fingerling potatoes and sausage. Pretty good substitute since they were out of their bubble & squeak, but it was a bit greasy.

We also shared an order of creamed spinach, which was pretty good for a non-steakhouse. We finished the whole crock of it. Not too salty, not overly creamed, and you could still make out the distinct spinach flavor so you FEEL like you’re eating healthy, even though you aren’t.

PJ CLARKE’S
44 W. 63rd St.
New York, NY 10023

Burgers, Midtown West

Bareburger

June 13, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

My wife had a pretty great deal for this place. Basically one of us ate for free, is how the deal worked out. Two burgers, two drinks. No complaints on price, that’s for sure.

I had bison meat in my “Southern Burger,” which was pepperjack, applewood smoked thick cut bacon, pickled green tomatoes, fried onions, and whole grain maple horseradish mustard – with a fried egg on top. It was good and everything, but there was just ONE green tomato that didn’t cover the burger circumference. Also the bison that I chose for the beef patty was too dry. My thought was to add the fried egg for the runny yolk to add fat back in, but they overcooked the egg.

My wife had a lamb burger with a shitload of stuff that she custom picked (not a burger listed on the menu). The lamb meat tasted pretty great, as I recall, but she wasn’t blown away either. We’ve both had better burgers. Fries weren’t crisy enough either – a little sog going on. What a shame.

BAREBURGER
366 W 46th St
New York, NY 10036

Burgers, Long Island, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

TJ Finleys

June 13, 2014 Johnny Prime 0 Comments

TJ Finley’s is a bar in Bayshore, Long Island. It is actually my favorite bar on Long Island, by far. I’ve been coming here for quite some time now; I’m somewhat of a regular. They have a really amazing beer selection – both on tap and in bottles/cans – I’m talking hundreds to choose from, and many obscure and interesting. But not only that… This place has some of the best pub food I’ve ever had. My all-time favorite sandwich is here: a brisket sandwich with thick bacon, cheddar and BB! sauce. It’s fucking mint. The burgers are pretty amazing too, with my favorite being the breakfast burger.

A little over a year ago I joined their beer club, which essentially means you have to drink 100 different beers from various regions of the world: 50 US, 10 German, 15 Belgian, and 25 other. I currently have something like 11 left. Toward the end it gets harder to find stuff that you want to try to plug in the holes, but the great part is that I get to keep going back and eating the delicious food.

Do yourself a fucking solid and go here. Get a burger, or the beer & cheese fondue, or the smoked BBQ and ribs on Saturdays. You won’t be disappointed. They also throw some great parties for Oktoberfest and St. Pats, and they even have a pour your own beer thing going on at certain booth tables. Yup – you just pour yourself and they keep track of the ounces for you. pretty sweet.

the brisket sandwich - fucking amazing — the brisket sandwich – fucking amazing

UPDATE!!! On 11/28/14 I finally finished my beer club. I went out with a brisket sandwich, nachos, and a truffled french fry poutine as well. FUCK YEAH!!!