Tag Archives: burger

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown West, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Concrete

February 20, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I scooped up a Groupon deal for this place because I wanted to try the burger, and it was pretty close by work. I came by on a Sunday once and it was closed (Penn Station/Garment District area is a dead zone on weekends), but the weekday happy hour was a great deal: $3 domestics and $4 drafts from 5pm-8pm.

The menu is actually pretty decent here. The burger was good! Potato bun, good healthy amount of cheese (and by healthy I mean a lot), and good crisp on a fat burger. Just pushing the limits on the thickness that I like in a burger.

I got about nine french fries with my burger, which was a little lame, but at least they tasted good.

My vaginal buddy first ordered a chicken sandwich, but that was doused with mayo, which he doesn’t like, so he sent it back and asked for the chicken fingers instead, since he was in a rush. Service was a bit slow up until then, so it wasn’t a problem to swap the order. The fingers were unique; breaded with cornflakes and fried to a golden crisp. The meat was tender too. I think maybe they just needed a dusting of salt.

This next thing we got as a sort-of dessert. Fried peanut butter and jelly balls. They were tasty! But they took a very long time to come out. Good things come to those who wait, I guess. One/two thing(s) that would make them even better: a chocolate dipping sauce and/or a dusting of cinnamon.

I never expected good food to come out of this joint. They have a C rating on the window, and the place is a small dumpy little shit hole in a shit hole neighborhood. But I’d definitely go back for this tasty and unique grub. I recommend you give these items a try! They also have a nice looking spicy lamb burger as well.

Everything pictured here was good, and in the color of light brown. So you can guess what color my shit will be.

CONCRETE
320 W. 37th St.
New York, NY 10018

American, Burgers, Midtown West, Restaurant Reviews, Restaurant Week

21 Club

February 16, 2015 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

“Try the steak tartare. It’s off the menu. Louis’ll make it for you.”
-Gordon Gekko, Wall Street

The 21 Club is a classy-ass NYC institution. Men need to wear jackets, and the sharp dress code policy is definitely enforced, because my wife overheard the maitre d’ scolding some broad for wearing jeans at the bar.

The ceiling is lined with miniature airplanes, sports equipment, trucks and all sorts of shit that, apparently, wealthy or famous diners left as a token of their affection for the restaurant. Some items are probably worth a pretty penny for memorabilia purposes.

We came for restaurant week. My wife ordered off the restaurant week lunch menu ($25, three courses), and I tried their pricey burger ($36). I will say this: the place is all about the atmosphere. You go here to impress. The food, on the other hand, is just average.

Take a look at the bread basket though. THIS was impressive. The olive bread sticks were amazing.

My burger was a little too highly stacked for my liking, and a little too thick. But the patty was delicious, and there was ample cheese on it. The house made pickles were a perfect half sour, and the grilled red onion didn’t leave me dying of thirst for hours afterward: they were mellowed. The tomato was sliced too thick.

Was it worth $36? Absolutely not. It was good, but gimme a fucking break. I’d much rather spend half that at Shake Shack and be able to eat it without wondering if my suit jacket sleeves are dangling into the goddamn ketchup. The ketchup, by the way, was fucking great. It had a nice horseradish and spiced kick to it. Legit.

Fries were average. I enjoyed them, but they are not on par with some of the other burger places serving up WAY better fries for under $5 per order. Essentially these were standard diner fries but with the proper crisp on them.

My wife’s meal started with a very tangy and citrusy salmon and crab tartare, with a little bit of avocado at the bottom and some greens on top. I liked it, but I could see why my wife thought the lime/citrus was a little too aggressive. Tone that shit down a few notches and we’re good to go.

Her main course was a roasted chicken. This was pretty good, though a bit small. The thickest portions lacked some of the flavor of the edges, and the skin wasn’t quite crisp enough for my liking.

She finished off with a hazelnut and cookie ice cream sundae with caramel. This was pretty good. Nice and simple – difficult to fuck up.

21 Club is a great place to do once in a blue moon for the right reasons: for the swanky atmosphere with company that likes to be in an impressive place. It’s a NYC institution, so we must respect that at least. But don’t expect to have the best meal of your life in here just because you may be in the company of billionaires.

21 CLUB
21 W. 52nd St.
New York, NY 10019

American, Burgers, Midtown East, Press Reviews, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

The Breslin

February 15, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

My wife and I initially tried going to a dumpy joint near Penn Station to use a Groupon, but the place was closed. So I said, “Fuck it, babe. Let’s go to the fucking Breslin and get some sick grub.”

The place is awesome inside. I was digging the bar area so we skipped on getting a proper table. Plus the light near the windows were better for photos.

I had the house gin and tonic, which was dressed up with all spice and a little lime. It was nice.

I ordered the famous lamb burger. Despite the lack of lettuce, this was easily one of the best burgers I’ve had in Manhattan. Juicy, tons of flavor, not gamey, and distinctly Mediterranean or Greek due to the combination of lamb with feta cheese and red onion. All it needed was romaine and maybe some olives to really make it jump out the gates. The bun was crispy but not too hard to the point where your mouth gets all scratched the fuck up. It was incredible.

It came with thrice fried French fries and a little tub of cumin flavored mayonnaise. The mayo was close to overpowering but not quite. Just enough oomph. The fries were perfect, natural cut golden brownies that were seasoned just right.

My wife tried the seafood sausage. This thing was buttery and bursting with flavor. Made from lobster, shrimp and scallop, you could actually see the chunks of meat in the sausage as you cut into it. So good. Light, too.

The fish and chips were amazing as well – just needed a bit of salt to finish on the batter after frying.

I’ll definitely be back for the English breakfast and a few other items that looked amazing, like the gingerbread carrot cake pancakes. Maaaaan…

Other great things here:

Scotch Egg:

Lamb Chops:

Meat Pies:

Pork Chop:

THE BRESLIN
16 W. 29th St.
New York, NY 10001

American, Burgers, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Parlor Steakhouse

February 10, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

NOTE: THIS PLACE IS CLOSED!

I haven’t had the chance to review this joint completely on the steakhouse tip, but me and a couple of friends came here for the bottomless brunch deal (caveat – not really bottomless – limit of five drinks within two hours).

At $29 you have a pretty good selection of entrees to choose from, including steak and eggs. We all went with the burger for this go-round, which came pre-sliced on the plate, and which isn’t everyone’s cup of tea (I’m fine with it):

It was a decent burger, but we were all in agreement that there are better burgers around. Good, strong yet soft bun, nice toppings, although I wasn’t too crazy about the pickled onions. A little bit of a thicker patty than I like, but whatever. The real star(s) of the plate were the French fries with fried onions on top:

They were absolutely perfect in every way. Crisp outside, soft inside, nicely salted, etc.

I stuck with the Bloody Mary for my drinks, but managed to get some photos of my friend’s girly drinks (bellini and mimosa).

PARLOR STEAKHOUSE
1600 3rd Ave.
New York, NY 10128

Burgers, Diner, Lower East Side/Chinatown

Mikey’s

February 7, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This little lower east side burger joint is the perfect place for a hits-the-spot burger and fries combo.

For $10 even, you get a pretty fucking solid little burger and a HUGE order of french fries. And on the weekend they still serve up the lunch special, which means you get a free can of soda with it.

The bun is a great potato jammy, and the burger comes topped with lettuce, tomato and onion. The patty gets a wonderful crisp on it due to the flat top griddle:

The menu is pretty great looking. I will definitely be back to try a couple of the hotdogs:

MIKEY’S BURGER
134 Ludlow St
New York, NY 10002

Burgers, Flash Deals, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews, West Village

Wicked Willy’s

February 1, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I snagged a groupon for this place that got me two burgers with fries, and two beers for $20. Not a bad snag. Unfortunately the day my buddy and I came here, there was some sort of fire going on underground in the sewers that made the entire block smell like burning diarrhea. Fucking obnoxious. Occasionally the smell would waft into the pirate-themed bar, which really sucked. You can see the scene below. Apparently the fire was raging, with that God-aweful stench, for about four days without response from the fire department. I guess no one thought to call, or no one realized that it was actually a fire as opposed to just a lingering bum smell.

In any case, the burger I tried was called “Black Beard.” The meat was a blend of chorizo and beef, topped with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheddar cheese.

It was seasoned well, and dressed with a garlic aioli that made the flavors pop. The only down side here was the bun. It was a little crumbly and dry.

Fries were solid. Crispy, golden, and seasoned properly:

Decent burger, fun bar, and I kinda liked the pirate theme. They play live music and even have peer pong tables set up, with a massive projector screen in the back room as well. Here’s a photo of some broad who was measuring dicks in the men’s bathroom:

WICKED WILLY’S
149 Bleecker St.
New York, NY 10012

Burgers, Flash Deals, Midtown East, Pub Food, Restaurant Reviews

Nelly Spillane’s

January 25, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

I snatched a Groupon for this joint. For about $20 we dug in on an app to share, two sandwiches/burgers, and a pitcher of beer. Pretty sweet deal, and the place has some good deals anyway for the daily specials. We started with a pitcher of Yuengling.

Here’s the app we shared – some standard wings. Nothing really bad or good to say about them. They were average.

The burger was ehh.

I feel like the meat may have been overworked. When mixing that chopped meat, one has to be careful not to over mix that shit, otherwise the resulting patty will be uniform in texture and sometimes can be tough. It wouldn’t surprise me if this joint uses frozen patties.

Fries were good and crisp, but not seasoned enough.

My wife’s grilled chicken sliders were excellent. Though a bit dry, they were generous in portion size and adequately cheesed up. The downside here was the salad that came with her trio of sliders. It was just sub par, at best.

To sum up: not bad if you’re in a bind and if you have that Groupon. If not, hop across to the west side of 33rd and hit Smashburger if you need that burger fix.

NELLY SPILLANE’S
18 E. 33rd St.
New York, NY 10016

Burgers, Midtown West

Smash Burger

January 25, 2015 Johnny Prime Leave a comment

This fast casual joint is on 33rd just west of 5th Avenue, and it packs a wallop of flavor for a burger and fry combo of under $9.

I got the Classic Smash, the 5oz patty (I was on my way to lunch, so I didn’t want to fill up too much). For $1 more you can upgrade to a 7oz patty. Not bad!

That’s an egg bun you see there. Very supple, strong and soft at the same time. This is a quality burger. The only down was that they put a bit too much mustard and ketchup on the fucker, so it got a little messy. The Smash Sauce alone would have been fine.

The fries are incredible. They’re shoestring fuckers, but they are slightly thinner than your typical Mickey D’s girth. This makes for a nice crisp texture without going overboard like them shits at Spotted Pig (which are, essentially, Potato Stix).

SMASH BURGER
10 W 33rd St
New York, NY 10001

Burgers, Nolita/Soho, Other, Restaurant Reviews

Ruby’s

January 24, 2015 Johnny Prime 2 Comments

My buddy and I came in here after our first intended place for a burger ended up being closed for the day. It turns out that we were better off at this spot, as this ended up being one of the best burgers I’ve had in NYC to date.

I ordered the classic cheeseburger, which came in double patty format with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and Ruby’s sauce, which you can see oozing down the side in the above photo. Check the cut shot below:

The burgers were cooked to a perfect medium, and the bun was a strong yet soft potato style jammy. This shit was so good I almost ordered a second/came in my pants.

My buddy got the Bronte burger, which came on grilled/pressed bread with a sweet chili sauce. Very nice as well, but that burger above was the big winner.

Worth noting: the fries here are spectacular as well. They are shoestring style, but fried to a perfect crisp and served with an herb mayo on the side. Awesome. I’ll be back here again for sure.

RUBY’S
219 Mulberry St.
New York, NY 10012

American, Burgers, Diner, Restaurant Reviews, Upper East Side

Jackson Hole

January 19, 2015 Johnny Prime 4 Comments

Jackson Hole restaurants hold a special place in my heart. I met my wife for the first time at the east 80s location when she was working there as a waitress.

The original Jackson Hole location is a pretty cool little joint on the ground floor of a nice brownstone building on 64th Street between 3rd and Lex.

When you first come down the stairs you are greeted with the cashier, the kitchen, and a few bar stool type seats, like you might see at an old diner.

Around the corner is the dining room, which seems to have retained all the charm it had upon opening nearly 45 years ago.

Upon sitting down, you get a nice bowl of half sour pickles. Fucking damn good.

I ordered an American cheeseburger.

It stacks up nice with lettuce, tomato and pickle:

The burgers here are generous 7oz patties, cooked to a nice medium on the flat top griddle. The bread could use some improvement, but otherwise this was a great burger.