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?
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:
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.
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.
This little joint is fantastic for lunch if you work in the area, or for super late night eats if you live or party nearby. I used to both work and live around the corner from this place, and I can suggest the right stuff to get. In fact, this place was such a staple in my life that coming here used to be part of what my roommate and I called the “Trifecta” of nightlife. I won’t mention the other two parts of that, but it did involve copious amounts of tits and ass, as well as pizza… Let your imagination run wild with that.
First, they make an amazing chicken burrito. It’s jam packed with nicely grilled chicken breast and all the works (which you can see and even select from behind the glass counter). It comes with a side of tortilla chips and a little plastic tub of salsa. Best part of the way they make these: they slap a few slices of cheddar on the tortilla as it is warming up on the flat top, and then they add shredded cheese along with the toppings as they fill it. Also – I’ve never had a rip in my tortilla when they make it. These guys are fucking pros.
All of this for just $20
Bite my tongue! I just went back for a visit and the guy ripped my burrito a little and didn’t bother to fix it. They also didn’t do the “slap on the sliced cheese and toast it on the flat top” method either this time. It was still jerk worthy though:
Next item to get: the Charly burger. These things are fucking awesome. No bullshit – 6oz patties grilled to perfection on a nice flavor-filled flat top griddle, and topped with whatever goodness you want; they have everything from a variety of cheeses to onions to mushrooms, etc. They offer single, double, and “grand slam” burger sizes (grand slam = four 6oz patties). On one of our early dates, my wife put down a grand slam burger and fries all by her lonesome. I knew then she was magical. The fries are legit too – they used to be a little greasy, but they did stay crisp and flavorful. NOW they use a battered fry (it used to be a natural type cut), which is a million times better. Crisp, flavorful, and they hold up even when enclosed in a clamshell for a 30 minute subway ride.
Another good item: the ice cream shakes. I always stuck with vanilla but you used to be able to have one made from any flavor tub they had in the bin: they have a small freezer unit like Baskin Robbins, with several interesting flavors.
What NOT to get: the pizza – “Steve’s Pizza” is part of the same building – connected – but they are NOT the same restaurant. The pizza there is not that great, so skip it. It’s soggy, floppy, and generally just not that good.
Also the tacos at Charly’s are way too greasy, so skip those too. And I never did the cold cut sandwiches either. Stick with a chicken burrito or a burger and you are good to go.
Also – don’t get your hopes up for a nice looking place when you get there. This is essentially just a counter where you order food, and one or two stools facing the street/windows. But this little spot survived 9/11, and served food up to all the great firemen and construction workers who worked that mess, and who built the new freedom tower. Eating here is patriotic.
They even added an upstairs dining area, unless it was always there and I was too drunk to realize?
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
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.
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
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:
LUCKY’S FAMOUS BURGERS
370 W 52nd St
New York, NY 10019
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.
