So many burgers, so little time
One day last month, I was sending emails at my local cafe when in walked Alex Leo-Guerra. It had been several months since I last saw him, a burger enthusiast who documents his findings on social media as @burgerchild, and we had lots to discuss. Before I knew it, we were riding the subway to Flatbush, Brooklyn, for a Caribbean-influenced smash burger he had seen online. Part of the reason Alex and I get on is that there’s always some new burger to talk about. In many ways, burgers are edible barometers for what we’re willing to endure, financially and temporally, for a patty, two buns and some thrills. Last month, I roadtripped through Burgerdom, tasting several new offerings (all less than a year old) to narrow it down to these three favorites.
When you’re tired of smash burgers …If you were looking for a smash burger five years ago, I would have pointed you in the direction of Shake Shack. Since the pandemic, though, New York has been flooded with thin, craggly edged patties that feed our nostalgia for simple foods offered at affordable prices. Rogers Burgers in Flatbush is one of them, selling done-up burgers for about $9 to $11 each. What makes Rogers Burgers stand out from the many, many patty purveyors around town is its deftly carved-out lane: Caribbean American fast food. Order the Burger Créole, and your patty will come with a nice sear and an orange spread of pikliz, a biting Haitian slaw. (It shows up again in the aioli coating the restaurant’s glossy, buttered buns.) One benefit of the slim smash burger is that it’s never wrong to order two. While you’re here, you should also try the Yard Burger, doused in smoky jerk aioli and a mess of caramelized onions. My only regret: I didn’t order mine with bacon, for $2 more. 801 Rogers Avenue (Martense Street), Flatbush
When you’re early to a movie at BAM …For a two-year-old restaurant, Margot in Fort Greene has lived many lives. There was the Margot that opened in May 2023, serving seasonal small plates, followed by a more casual Margot, when the restaurant’s opening chef stepped away. I’m partial to the Margot of today, which feels the most like a neighborhood restaurant. How do I know? After two long years, the kitchen finally added a burger to its menu in July, an effort to drum up business. The Margot burger should just be another burger: perfectly salty and heaped with a salad’s worth of tomato, onion and crunchy shrettuce. And yet I’m eating it all the time. My friends and I have made a habit of sitting down for this burger before showings at the Brooklyn Academy of Music down the street, arriving during happy hour when the burger and a martini are $25. The only problem with that approach is that it leaves little room for popcorn and Nerds Gummy Clusters — not that that’s stopped us before. 69 Lafayette Avenue (South Elliott Place), Fort Greene
When you don’t have work on a Tuesday …When the chef Mike Bagale added a burger to the menu at Sip & Guzzle this summer, a two-story cocktail bar in the West Village, he was clear about his goal: “I wanted to create a line outside again,” he told Grub Street. It’s safe to say he succeeded. Just before opening on a recent Tuesday, I turned down Cornelia Street to find a crowd of predominantly male customers clawing at the front door. Mr. Bagale belongs to the same school of thought as restaurants like Raoul’s and Lord’s, selling only 12 burgers each night. If everyone in line shared one, there would probably be enough to go around. Of course no one did. It was a tragedy of the commons. It was the kind of greed they talk about in the Bible. Before a single burger appeared on the pass, all of the burgers were gone for that day. I scored one for our table of two, and couldn’t imagine eating more than half. The thick patty is ultrarich, ground from the trim of the A5 Wagyu used to make its $150 steak sandwich. (The burger is $35.) It arrives on a silver platter, thick as a hockey puck with a proper crust seared in tallow and butter. What stood out to me was the square of Parmesan cheese, something I’d never encountered on a burger before, and the shishito pepper relish. Together, they give the burger a fatty tang not so different from a jalapeño popper. 29 Cornelia Street (Bleecker Street), West Village One More ThingIn my research this past month, I found that the fried chicken sandwich at Mommy Pai’s tastes more like a burger than most burgers. Each one is layered with American cheese, translucent, grilled onions and pickled mustard. (One of the owners, Ann Redding, said she wanted it to taste like a classic McDonald’s cheeseburger.) This wouldn’t work without excellent fried chicken, which Ms. Redding and her husband, Matt Danzer, have perfected here and across the street, at Thai Diner. 203 Mott Street (Spring Street), NoLIta Read past editions of the newsletter here. If you’re enjoying what you’re reading, please consider recommending it to others. They can sign up here. Have New York City restaurant questions? Send us a note here. Follow NYT Food on TikTok and NYT Cooking on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube and Pinterest.
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