Bama's List » Best Burgers

A Burger Garage on the Upper East Side

Bama — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 15:37:17 +0000


	VITALS

	GO Burger 1448 2nd Ave New York, NY 10021 212-988-9822 official website

Living in the city, you’ve never had much need for a garage full of cars.

But a garage full of steakhouse burgers, spiked milkshakes and plasma TVs… well, you could certainly find a use for a place like that…

Introducing GO Burger, the kind of forward-thinking establishment that’ll put Guinness in your float, duck fat in your fries and grilled cheese on your hamburger, opening early next week.

Much like a forbidden tryst, a great leather-and-wood-clad sports bar only comes along when/where you least expect it. Say, a week after the Super Bowl. On the Upper East Side.

And yes, normally, this might be a deterrent. But you’ve always been open-minded when it comes to places that’ll fry your pickles, stud your Smashed Burger with onions and pour a whole gang of tequila in your chocolate shake.

So you’ll make an excuse to be in the area (you’re auctioning Mesopotamian artifacts at Sotheby’s) and enter through the working garage door. Once you’ve found the table with the best TV sight lines… ignore it, and instead focus on the menu.

The burger offerings: generous. But you’d be doing yourself a disservice if you didn’t at least sample theUltiMelt. A Black Angus burger that’s topped with caramelized onions, smoked bacon and two slender rye and grilled gruyère cheese sandwiches.

Finish and they’ll give you the garage clicker.

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The Counter

Bama — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 20:39:53 +0000

Today: we bring you a brand-new burger.

Tomorrow: we bring you another brand-new burger.

And every day for the next 312,120 days: brand-new burgers.

Introducing The Counter, a just-opened Midtown spot where you’re the all-powerful burger god, and the space between two buns is your universe, open for previews now and to the public on Monday.

Basically, this is a build-your-own burger joint taken to the 11th power and the seventh factorial. So, appropriately, it’s located in that quaint section of the city known as Times Square. You’ll look for the wraparound LED ticker that’s displaying current custom burger trends. Apparently, Tillamook cheddar is trending up right now.

Inside, you’ll immediately be greeted with a warm salutation. A clipboard. And a mini golf pencil. In your hands: everything you need to create a labor of lunch.

So you’ll furiously work through the extensive checklist. Mulling sauce options like hot wing and ginger soy. Scribbling potential toppings to pair up with applewood-smoked bacon (guacamole, of course). And creating makeshift Excel spreadsheets to determine the benefits of sticking the entire thing on an English muffin.

Once you’ve found a solution (you’ll get partial credit for showing your work), it’s time to select something to wash it down with. Good news: they have malts. Better news: they have a full bar. Best news: they encourage you to combine the two.

And you’ve yet to try a chocolate shake that wasn’t vastly improved by dark rum.


	VITALS

	The Counter 1451 Broadway (at 41st St) New York, NY 10036 212-997-6801 official website

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Burger Shoppe

Bama — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 18:15:35 +0000

MAC THE BURGER

Burger Shoppe

New York has always been a city of secrets, hidden mysteries and off-menu burgers. But things changed with the Mac and Cheese Burger. Hereford beef. Four melted cheeses. Elbow macaroni. All combined into one buttery and structurally unstable patty. Soak it in.

Burger Shoppe, 30 Water St, 212-425-1000

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Beer and Burger Brunch in SoHo

Bama — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 21:44:16 +0000

BRUNCH-ING

Beer and Burger Brunch in SoHo

Yes, they cook their burgers in the style of In-N-Out (with mustard pre-added), but Lure Fishbar’s Burger & Barrel has been rather shy about brunch—until now. This Saturday you’ll utilize a caramelized onion and bacon jam burger as your pre-Halloween, post-Friday night insanity brunch meal. This is an important meal.


411:	Sat-Sun, 11:30am, Burger & Barrel, 25 W Houston St, 212-334-7320

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A Casual New Burger Joint

Bama — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 16:15:22 +0000

Our Department of Burgers has been busy.

New intel has been unearthed.

And we’re not going to say it involves bacon jam, but we’re not going to not say that…

So on this easygoing Friday afternoon, we bring you first word that Burger & Barrel, a new patty emporium and beer shack from the folks behind Lure Fishbar, is opening next week in SoHo.

Looking out onto the stiletto theater of Houston Street, B&B is the sort of breezy and light restaurant you don’t normally associate with houses of beef: there’s a wall of windows for people-watching, light wood tables and banquettes are strategically arrayed for checking out the other tables and banquettes, and there are seats at the bar for those who require total focus on meat and bun.

You’ll want to note that these particular burgermeisters choose to grill their patties with mustard pre-added, in the style of a certain Los Angeles chain that has become the stuff of fast-food legend. But don’t let that distract you from your burger consumption/field reporting mission: stake out a table near the window for prime indoor/outdoor scene surveying and let your burger come as the burger gods (okay, just the chef here) intend: topped with American cheese, slathered in piping-hot caramelized onions and finished strong with… bacon jam.

Or don’t keep things simple, and go for the sloppy joe burger, two beers and a pulled pork or short rib taco.

Bacon jam optional.



Note:	Burger & Barrel, opens October 14, 25 W Houston St, 212-334-7320

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Bill’s Burger Bar Moves Uptown

Bama — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 15:53:44 +0000

We’ve long believed there is only one simple, undeniable truth in this world:

Bigger is always better.

Just ask Shaq, Dolly Parton or a certain legend by the name of Mr. Smalls.

And if history has taught us anything, it’s that nowhere is this axiom more true than in the realm of hamburgers.

And here, on this dreary, rainy day, we’re pleased to bring you word that history has once again demonstrated that what’s true for Dolly Parton is true for everyone.

Today, we bring you burgers, and today, we bring you… huge.

It comes in the form of a massive Midtown burger palace called Bill’s Bar & Burger.

You know this name, precisely because it’s the same Bill’s that’s been steadying you to greet the sunrise on many a Gansevoort Street night. Only much, much larger.

There are very clear uses for this beef patty paradise: like finally inviting the entire cast and crew of SNL out for lunch in the neighborhood. Or maybe you just need a spot to bring 400 of your most valued employees out for a night of trust building. (The burgers help.)

The standout menu items: the English-muffined Fat Cat (caramelized onions and cheese), the Bobcat (guac and green chili) and new bar snacks like the oyster-laden Rockefeller Salad. Also, two gigantic bars housing 80 varieties of draft and bottle, including the Triple B, made for this new Bill’s by the brewers at Sixpoint.

Tina Fey is going to be all over this one.

Bill’s Bar & Burger
45 Rockefeller Plaza
(51st St between 5th and 6th Ave)
New York, NY 10111
212-705-8510
official website

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Beefy: This Little Piggy

Bama — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 20:51:12 +0000

Beefy: This Little Piggy

149 1st Ave, at 9th St; East Village; 212.253.1500

From the Artichoke bros, this brick-walled nook’s counter-serving two iterations of their slow-cooked roast beef sando: the jus & Cheez Wiz “This Way”, and the onions/gravy/fresh mozz “That Way”, so when the Backstreet Boys walk in they’ll already know how they want it.

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Your New Nameless Oyster and Burger Den

Bama — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:47:10 +0000

You’ve never been good with names.

Faces, sure. Cocktails, obviously. But names are just not in your strengths column.

So we think we may have stumbled onto a place that may feel well-suited…

It’s called…actually, it’s not called anything (for the moment, at least). And it’s opening in a matter of hours.

Here’s what you need to know: it’s a bar opening on the hush-hush. It used to be a small, nondescript pizza shop. And it now deals in oysters and burgers and rock and roll. On top of a speakeasy. Rest easy knowing that the speakeasy, Cabin Down Below, is still alive and dealing in hipsters, loud music and strong cocktails. But in place of mozzarella and red sauce, upstairs you’ll find exposed brick, tufted black leather banquettes, an old chandelier or two and just enough light to see Agyness Deyn sitting in the corner.

Brought to you by the same gents who’ve gathered the attractively pouty rock-and-roll scenesters at Bowery Electric and next-door East Village staple Niagara, you can expect the same upscale dive-bar feel, just with a few more bivalves, some intricate cocktails and a windowed smokers’ patio that lets you keep your eye on the scene inside.

There’s even a rumor that a piano may end up in the corner—you know, just in case you get inspired to perform.

That means you can leave your stand-up bass at home.

Note:

Opening tonight at 6pm for drinks, food service begins next week

Bar Above Cabin 110 Ave A (at E Seventh St) New York, NY 10009

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Suckling Pig Happy Hour

Bama — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:22:16 +0000

Suckling Pig Happy Hour

Conventional restaurant wisdom says you roll out one ridiculously good deal at a time. To which Marc Forgione respectfully raises a middle finger, simultaneously introducing you to its Tuesday three-hour Suckling Pig Sliders happy hour with two-for-one beers and bottomless mimosas at its Sunday brunch. How you spend your time between Tuesday and Sunday is up to you.


411:	Feb 2, 6-9pm, $16, brunch 11:30am-3pm, Marc Forgione, 134 Reade St (near Hudson), 212-941-9401

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Introducing the Mac and Cheese Burger

Bama — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:53:25 +0000


	VITALS

	The Mac and Cheese Burger at Burger Shoppe 30 Water St (at Broad) New York, NY 10004 212-425-1000 official website

If you are picturing a meager burger topped with a clump of yellow mac and cheese, it’s time to think just a little bit bigger… Sure, it all starts innocently enough—a mix of cheddar, American, pecorino and Gruyère cheeses with ground Hereford beef—but don’t be deceived: this little devil is packing something extra. That something: macaroni, cooked, salted and packed inside the burger before it hits the grill, so by the time it starts to cook, the cheese, beef and macaroni become one charred, melted, buttery unit of deliciousness.

And to top things off, you’ll notice a few homemade Gruyère bread crumbs and a generous ladling of homemade cheese sauce on the patty.

You should also know that they’re not putting it on the menu, so you’ll have to ask for it by name. Or, to avoid alarming other blissfully naive customers, write it on a slip of paper and slide it across the counter before muttering, “Just put the macaroni in the burger.”

The seven most beautiful words in the English language.



Note:	Mac and Cheese Burger, available now at Burger Shoppe, 212-425-1000

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