Typically, when given a choice I’ll pick quality over quantity. Luckily enough for me, one does not have to make that decision at Bob’s Lunch. A hungry diner can go in, sit down, have a chat with co-owner Rodney Moore, and within a few minutes begin eating a freshly cooked local Vermont hamburger. We knew we were in for a busy afternoon so we all opted for the Belly Buster, a hulking 1 pound burger with cheese and bacon. Intrepid diners who finish the burger, pickle, and fries are subsequently memorialized for their fortitude (foolhardiness) on a handwritten list. We three completed the burgers within a reasonable period and joined the somewhat immortal ranks. We were not, however, better for it, since we came back to American Masala Farm to muck the barn.

Anyway. If you’re up near Salem, New York around lunchtime, go to Bob’s and have a normal-sized burger. They are delicious and voluntarily on their way to becoming transfat free. Good job!

Skip is the producer of The Gourmetro. Mucking a barn isn’t so bad, just don’t eat a 1-pound hamburger first. Read about his culinary travels through the South as Dan over at ‘Ham Sandwich.

From the $30 foie-gras-and-shortribs-stuffed hamburger at the DB Bistro Moderne at lunch to a Bauernwurst at Hallo Berlin, you could say I had an interesting gastronomic day [May 4th - I started writing this post a while ago ... better late than not at all, I guess].

My editor decided to take me out to the Daniel Boulud’s Bistro Moderne for lunch to thank me for my three months of service, and I’m pretty sure it was my first lunchtime in a powerlunch-y kind of place. Beautiful atmosphere, but full of suits.

We started off with a bright-magenta, naturally-sweetened hibiscus tea paired with asparagus soup. Not the most elegant pair, but both were excellent. The cream-based soup had a generous number of tender white and green asparagus tips floating around.

The original db burger (flickr photo) was an experience. It came highly recommended and didn’t disappoint in the least (except that I could hardly fit it in my mouth). The thought of a hamburger stuffed with short ribs, foie gras, and truffles still boggles my mind. The taste was intensly meaty and savory – the earthiness of the truffles and foie gras gave the burger an unbelievably rich my-god-i’m-a-capitalist taste to them.

It came with three different sauces – a mayonnaise, a mustard, and a superb horseradish mayonnaise. The latter completely rocked; it struck a perfect balance of mellow mayonnaise mellowness with spicy horseradish kickyouinthefaceness.

Then Meg took me to the Daily Show. Rock.

Afterward, Liz, Lyssa, Meg, and I went to Hallo Berlin where we got some great cheap wursts. I’ve had the knockwurst (beef and pork), bauernwurst (also beef and pork), and the currywurst (just beef but with a curried mustard) and they’re all good in a standard way. It comes with mustard, sauerkraut, and onions unless you specify differently (try it the first time to get the experience). The schnitzel is nothing special but the potato pancakes are so full of greasy wonder that I’d eat them every moment of every day. Well, maybe not every moment, but often. Each of the single wurst platters are enough for a meal if you share a potato pancake and a beer. They’ve got a great beer selection, like the Germans are want to have. The atmosphere is about what you’d expect from a beer garden – tacky, sticky picnic tables, European techno, etc. A great place to go with a large group.

I love New York. Four-star $30 hamburger for lunch and four-star, $8 bauernwurst for dinner.

Technorati Tags: Food, Hamburger, Daniel Boulud, Wurst
A big ‘ol danka shoen to diddi over at flickr for the great bratwurst photo and being cool enough to surrender enough of his creative writes to let us republish it.

a haiku to my dear Shake Shack:

in the sunny months
your beefy, juicy burgers
make life worth living

It’s been open for two days and I’ve eaten there twice. The people behind the counter recognize me. The Shake Shack was one of my favorite things about working on Park Ave. South. I loved being close to the most succulent, crispy, salty, beefy, perfectly-assembled hamburgers I’d ever eaten (if you didn’t factor in the 40 minute wait).

My shacksperience was a bit different on Monday; when I’d read news of an early, unannounced opening, so I made the requisite phone calls and hightailed it down to Madison Square Park in order to get my fix. It had been such a long cold winter without the Shack. Marc met me and we got our usual – single shack burger with fries (no drink for me). The only major difference was the weather. It was so so cold that our hands were numb by the time we finished. But it was so worth it.

There’s always the single/double dilemma. Marc and I always argue, nay, discuss the merits of the meatalicious double shack burger verses the more balanced single. I’m a flip-flopper on the subject though I suppose I should just hunker down and decide once and for all. I suppose the single, with its sublime marriage of lettuce, tomato, American cheese and secret shack sauce achieves Shake Shack in its purist state (that and you can use the $2 you saved to get some crispy fries). But the juicy, tender brisket/sirloin mix in the burgers are the whole point of the Shack so why not get the double? You see our problem.

Last night I attempted to have a grand shake shack party, alas all but two of the invitees were unwilling to brave the relative cold. I mean how can you choose warmth over one of the best (if not the best) NYC hamburger experience? Personal comfort or supreme fulfillment. Sigh.

Anyway, Meg and Lyssa were hearty enough to come and they were rewarded, yea verily. I was finally able to tear myself away from the shack burger (well, not entirely true – I had a shack burger AND the Second City Bird-wurst). The bird-wurst, smoked chicken and apple wurst in Chicago clothing, dragged through the garden with lettuce, tomato, sport peppers, green peppers, pickles, onion, neon relish, cucumber, celery salt and mustard, was cold by the time I got to it and I’d give it a solid okay. If it were warm it may have held a candle to the hamburger, but chilly it was just a little better than a hotdog. The pickled peppers were a bit much for me, too. The tart/sweet/spiciness of them made me gag (which shocked Lyssa, who’d never seen me recoil at food before. To be fair [to me] I’d picked one of the pickled peppers off and was eating it alone to see what it tasted like – it squirted gross sweet/spicy juice down my throat. Gross. It did taste best on the wurst, for all it’s worth).

Next time: The Shack Stack. A trifecta of burger, shack burger, and ‘shroom burger (on one bun?). Too much of a good thing never sounded so … good.

The Shake Shack, for the uninitiated, is an open-air hamburger stand in the southeast corner of Madison Square Park (23rd st. and Madison Ave.). For obvious reasons it closes during the winter months (December to March). If you try to go near lunchtime 11:30-1:30 you should expect a 45 minute wait.

And now for something completely terrifying: a hamburger between two glazed Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Technorati Tags: Shake Shack, Hamburger, Restaurant, New York City