Lure Fishbar

The Meat: Round chuck

The Cheese: American

The Bun: Brioche

Flip Tip: Sushi + Burger in one meal = heaven.

The burger at Lure Fishbar is a catch. It's worth sampling a hundred mediocre burgers to find the one that’s truly special. It's the kind you'd feel confident spending the rest of your life eating and introducing to your parents, as well as any other critical sharks. The round chuck has the ability to make you smile– simple but distinctive. It has a sweetness that attempts to mask itself in saltiness. The brioche bun, moreover, perfectly supports the pearl within; it’s neither flakey nor too rigid.  Finally, the American cheese highlights the burger's simplicity in an otherwise chichi seafood restaurant.

This burger represents low key, all-American goodness with an edge of sophistication. It deserves an eater of the most refined tastes and passion for burgers. 

The Little Owl

The Meat: Pat LaFrieda brisket & short rib

The Cheese: American

The Bun: Homemade pizza dough and molasses

Flip Tip: Only at lunch and brunch

Enlightenment.

After months of searching, burger zen has finally been found. Hidden in the West Village, The Little Owl has perfected, in my mind, the art of burger: a flawless balance among meat, cheese, topping, and bun.

The meat was a logical choice: Pat LaFrieda brisket and short rib, a juicy blend that is rich but not overpowering. The patty is topped with Little Owl’s thick-cut maple-smoked bacon, providing exceptional flavor and texture. The cheese is interesting as well; whereas most other burgers offer a choice of “fancier” cheeses, the Little Owl stays simple with American.

This burger’s true magic lies in its bun. Absorptiveness and hardiness – two traits often taken for granted in bun construction – were the driving force behind a Little Owl search for the perfect bun. Pizza dough provides both, and a dash of molasses adds slight sweetness, giving the bun unique flavor and consistency.

The Little Owl burger is only available at lunch/brunch, but is more than worth any wait, trek, or hunger.

-MK

Corner Bistro

The Meat: Chuck and sirloin

The Cheese: American

The Bun: Sesame seed

Flip Tip: $2.50 beers can't be beat!

Nestled in one of the West Village’s many chaotic crossroads, Corner Bistro is a hole-in-one for a night of meat, beer, and good chat. Its no frills attitude, beers priced for consumption, and Bistro Burger keep hoards of patrons happy until the wee hours, every night of the week.

The burger itself is rather traditional: a sesame seed bun, American cheese, bacon, and a sirloin/chuck blend. But, the bacon is the perfect burger crispness, and the patty is hot, thick, and impossibly juicy. Paired with their shoestring fries and a few pints of McSorley’s, it requires some will – even from the most willful burger eater – to abstain from round #2.

Nectar of 82nd St.

Cheeseburger Deluxe


The Meat: *Super Secret*
The Cheese: Choice of cheese
The Bun: Sesame seed
Flip Tip: Grab a chocolate milkshake for a killer combo

The physics of Nectar's burger give an otherwise single-minded burger brain new food for thought. The bun, though a conventional sesame seed type, is sealed shut on its insides by a thorough coating of melted cheese (in this case, cheddar). The effect: while an ordinary bun absorbs most of its burger's juice, this one has no such sponge-like qualities. One might worry that the deluge of succulent burger "nectar" lost with each bite would take away from the taste, but this is not the case. Nectar's creation has more than enough juice to go around, covering the eater's hands, fries, pickle, as well as any other stray accoutrements that might otherwise have been deemed  "too veggie".