Now, we LOVE a good cow patty. We love it done well. There are several things that we like… a good fast food type burger like Shake Shack (mmm brisket burger…) or something a bit more upscale like Resto. It’s gotta taste seasoned and beefy. Condiments are a plus. Location and hospitality are another plus, but just aren’t deal breakers to us.
When I found Zaitzeff near where I used to work downtown, I was ecstatic. Kobe beef burgers? Yum. I finally brought Ryan here and he was pretty surprised. The place isn’t bad and it is some of the best stuff you can eat if you’re in that area. We ordered the kobe beef burger and it was very satisfactory. The bread was really interesting. It was a buttery flat toasty english muffin/pita-like bun. The burger was a nice size and a nice width and prepared perfectly to a pink inside. It was good. And you can get good bottles of beer here, like Rogue. The fries are pretty damn good too.
Another place I just got around to trying out is NY Burger Co. I got… basically a gift certificate and tried out a burger with Ryan and MJ. It was good and their collection of condiments were impressive and variety of burgers were vast. However, as Ryan pointed out, the burger didn’t taste very beefy. It was substantial and the bread was nice… but the beef was a bit tasteless. In fact it was all about the cheese and sauce.
However, if you want a TRANSCENDENT burger experience, you’ve gotta try STAND.
STAND
88 University Place
New York, NY 10003-4566
It’s a really cute place that Ryan and I were both skeptical about at first, but they might be our new favorite non fast-food burger place. Even above Resto. For reals. In fact, after going to Stand, for the first time, I went to Resto and had something other than their burger. I had their green curry moule frites and I was delighted. Anyway.
Stand isn’t pretentious, but it looks too nice to be a place that really cares about it’s burgers, I though. I don’t know why. It’s amazing, though. I have not tried anything other than their “Stand Burger” cooked medium rare. I am a sucker for seasoned patties. They come with fried pickles (which I tried for the first time there), which are great… but the small fries are fresh, generous, and lovely. I am a particular fan of their sweet potato fries. And if that isn’t enough, they have THE MOST AMAZING drinks. It’s a completely decadent experience… going there. And they are priced super reasonably. Their shakes are great. Their virgin toasted marshmallow shake tastes… not like marshmallows, but like toasted marshmallows just before folding into a smores cracker. Their mint and bourbon shake is also transcendent. Strong and amazingly good.
It’s a lot of food, so be prepared to take off your belt. The ice cream to top it all off, though, is that the servers are pretty damn good and the bartender is really sweet.
