Monthly Archives: October 2005

Another burger post today, because I love you all more than a healthy cholesterol level.  Burger Joint has opened in the former Pop’s Pierogi space on Bleecker between 6th Av. and MacDougal St.  While less exotic, this replacement is surely more logical; I liked Pop’s fine but hadn’t been there in a long time due to their very inconsistent namesake item (I’m guessing only about half of the cooks knew how long to boil their pierogies).

Anyway, Burger Joint (I’m unclear whether this Joint is related to Le Meriden’s Burger Joint) is poised for great success.  Yes, the tiny burger trend has finally hit a main Manhattan dining strip.  Along with tiny burgers come tiny prices: hamburgers are a buck, and cheeseburgers are a quarter more.  The burger meat is very flavorful, not overcooked or dry, and it appears fresh (or at least freshly cooked, unlike some other mini burgers I could mention).  The staff will ask you if you want onions, as well, and I’m glad I got them – these were sautéed, rather than the raw stuff which is sometimes too strong, and added much to the burger’s flavor.

Fries were only mediocre, I’m afraid (perhaps I’m now spoiled due to last night’s Maniacal Fries), but certainly aren’t bad, and probably would be better with the optional cheese drizzled on top.  To wash it all down, they have R.C. cola and Diet Rite.  Before the Diet Coke fans run away screaming bloody murder – if you’re going to do tiny burger kitsch, it’s nice to see something other than the usual colas hanging around to wash them down.  Like Kevin Costner in “A Perfect World,” I like me some R.C.

You’re telling me this place, should it elect to stay open late, won’t do great gangbusters with Mahmoun’s usual B&T/student mixed crowd?  Seriously, this is great drunken food: greasy, salty, hot, and flavorful, and it’s not too much of any of those four for a lunch or dinner excursion.

I had planned to do an ‘omnibus’ burger article, but this one’s too good to wait for: Good Burger, which just opened on 2nd Av. at 43rd St., is the new pink.  Seriously!  It’s going to be unbelievably hot and probably as crowded as Shake Shack or Burger Joint as soon as yesterday’s lunch run, so get in on the ground floor and enjoy while possible.

Now, about the place itself: as you enter, a sign declaring that Wimpy has personally assembled every burger greets you.  I don’t know if any of you have ever seen an actual Wimpy Burger, but I remember seeing one in Nairobi in 1997 and thinking how great of an idea it was.  Wimpy, after all, is the gent on the old Max Fleischer “Popeye” cartoons who is fond of saying, “I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”  A true hamburger fan, he was.  No Wimpy Burgers in the states, though, and I’ve never seen one in Europe or the UK.  I was sadly warned off of going to that Wimpy in Nairobi, given that I was 16 and believed the guide when he said, “you won’t like it – not like your American burgers.”  As though McDonald’s in the third world was any better, douchebag.

Good Burger has a slightly pizza-parlor-esque atmosphere, mostly due to the marble countertop at which you submit and receive your order.  Apparently it’s owned by the Patsy’s pizza chain guy (says NY Metro, anyway).  I wonder if he’s the one setting the channel on the widescreen TV over the counter – when I arrived, it was playing a commercial for Bally’s Total Fitness.  Hmm.  Maybe I should have avoided the shake?

The cheeseburger was cooked medium, to order, and topped with “the works,” which was your usual array of lettuce, tomato, red onion, and some kind of sauce that I didn’t inspect more fully because I pretty much inhaled the burger.  It was REALLY tasty.  The bun was also of high quality – I like these Shake Shack-style buns that are soft, yet don’t fall apart after being inundated with burger juices (like your average store-brand hamburger bun).  The meat was delicious, seemingly fresh, and with a little char-grilled flavor that made me wonder for a second if they were sneaking in the burgers from out back.  At $5.25, the cheeseburger is on the expensive side, but I think it’s worth the money.

The real star here, however, was the potato.  Remember how excited you were to go to McDonalds, in your youth?  Remember when they cooked their fries with meat byproduct, instead of some kind of synthetic substitute?  Remember when a “Large Fry” wasn’t bigger than your burger?  Well, Good Burger does, because their fries are a DEAD RINGER for good McDonald’s fries.  I mean, seriously, a ridiculous imitation.  My girlfriend and I couldn’t believe how good they were.  At a buck seventy-five, they might well be the best fries in the city.

We also sampled the black cow milkshake, which is Good Burger’s way of saying black and white.  I think I spotted them using Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, which I guess helps account for the $5.50 price tag.  Beyond the ‘deluxe’ ice cream ingredients, though, there’s little to distinguish this shake from countless others you’ve had, and it’s on the smaller side.

The lime rickey was also a disappointment, for my money.  They use nothing resembling a real lime anywhere in the process, and if you get it, make sure you mix it up well, because that lime syrup that sits on the bottom of the cup tastes septic in that way that only artificial citrus can.  After mixing, it was a bit more palatable (girlfriend pretty much killed it right afterwards), but at $3(!) I’m not really digging it.

So, yeah, it’s a good burger, and the fries are maniacal (magical?).  I guess “Maniacal Fries” wasn’t exactly a catchy name for a fast food joint, though.

News flash: most of the best food bargains in Manhattan are located in Chinatown.

What, you say you already knew this?  Alright, alright, so it’s not exactly worthy of a 35 point headline and above-the-fold reportage, but it may surprise some of you who are used to the Bowery-Canal axes of Chinatown that better bargains exist in other areas.  Last night’s great bargain, thanks to the Voice list, was Oversea Asian Restaurant, located on Canal (#49, at Orchard St), but far enough east of the Manhattan Bridge access to avoid the chaotic tourist dump that I normally associate with any Canal St. address.  Actually, it’s right across from where Division St. meets Canal, which forms a lovely triangle-like square that looks like it would be a fun place to live (unlike, say, the fish market segment of Chinatown…the smell!).

Oversea Asian is ostensibly Malaysian, and the décor is tiki-meets-Chinatown (truly, it’s a little bizarre).  The service is very friendly, seemingly accustomed to gringo forays, but without losing the enthusiasm for your presence that defines many of the Queens ethnic joints that see few, if any, white customers.  A group of teenage customers sitting at a table near mine was a little more overtly nonplussed, but it made for a great game of trying to figure out what they found amusing about me.  Hey, when you’re dining alone, you’ll take the entertainment, right?

Anyway, another possibility for why they were staring was my ordering of two dishes.  Yes, indeed, I engaged in a bit of gluttony, because I CARE about you readers and I think a food review that covers but one dish on a menu of many to be rather limited in usefulness in many cases.  So I ordered the Capitan Noodles and the Beef Rendang over rice and prepared to chow down.  Wait, I hear you screeching, how much did you pay for this meal?  Well, each of the dishes was $5, which certainly helped me make the decision to order two.  I can see this place becoming a favorite meeting spot for college students, if they were only aware of it – the portions were plenty enough for a meal by themselves, without question.   Word to the wise – make sure you order the Beef Rendang “over rice” specifically, though, because there is a full plate of Rendang (likely without rice) that costs closer to $10.

Oh, and about the dishes themselves – the Capitan Noodles were one of the most delicious things I’ve ever eaten.  A kind of chow-fun-like dish with flat, broad noodles and what I’m guessing is a black bean sauce, based on the slight sweetness-without-sugar that black bean dishes often possess.  It also contains various types of seafood and meat chunks, most notably shrimp, squid, and beef (maybe chicken too, I forget).  Absolutely recommended, totally non-spicy for you sensitive types, this was in my head like eating the Asian version of buttered noodles.  Delish.

The Beef Rendang was also very good, and made me sweat like crazy, though it seemed to be spicier at first than throughout.  The beef was a little dry and could have benefited from being served in a stew-like presentation, but it was very tender indeed, and it was at least served on a kind of cabbage or lettuce leaf that contained the sauce somewhat.  Had I ordered this dish on its own, I would have been dumping the sauce on the remnants of the rice.  It was pretty tasty.

I can tell you right now that I’ll be bringing a few of my friends that I usually meet for Chinese here instead, on our next meeting.  Very solid stuff and a lot cheaper than Wo Hop.  Also, it’s very close to the East Broadway F stop, a few doors down from what must be the furthest south entry in Lower East Side fine-ish dining an open-air bistro, Les Enfants Terribles.  Frankly, I find the idea of paying $8 for a mojito in a juice glass terrible.

One of the first restaurants I visited after finding the Sietsema list was his number 2 choice, Hummus Place, in its MacDougal Street (between W. 3rd and Bleecker) location – still haven’t been to the St. Marks Pl. location, but I assume that it’s of the same quality.  It was quite a revelation, both for quality of food and for mind-blowing cheapness.  At the time, I was under the delusion that it was impossible to feed oneself well in NYC for five dollars, but the list combined with the hummus worked some kind of Texan-Israeli voodoo on my impressionable brain, I think.  Now I’m going to Midwood for sheep testicles.  WTF?!?  Okay, I made that one up.  Kind of.

Anyway, about the hummus – it’s warm, unlike the store-bought hummus you might be used to, and considerably more cream-of-wheat-like in texture; the analog to maple syrup on cream of wheat is olive oil, which turns out to be a very good complementary flavor.  You can get your bowl o’ hummus with whole chickpeas and tahini, hot or cold, or my (and Sietsema’s) favorite with fava bean stew (foul, pronounced like “fool”) and a chopped hardboiled egg.

The menu isn’t exactly diverse – I just named the three main entrees, after all – but they supposedly have date cookies, and for an extra couple bucks, you can get a side of “health salad,” which consists of chopped veggies, olive oil, and lemon juice.  In my estimation, this is basically an enhanced version of the kind of stuff you’d put in a hummus pita sandwich (they also serve a $2 rendition of said sandwich now, though strangely it includes chickpeas, foul, tahini, egg, and pickles rather than the salad).  After trying the health salad once, though, it’s not exactly the most thrilling $2 I’ve spent, so I’d probably pass going forward.

At $5, served with two warm pieces of pita bread, and a pickle, onion, and pepper plate that will test your mettle for strong flavors, and (for $1.75 more) washed down with a mint lemonade, this is a pretty fantastic lunch, snack, dinner, or midnight drunken nosh (open until 2am on Friday and Saturday).

Of course, if you want falafel with your hummus, you’ll have to trek to the other side of the block, where Mamoun’s has held court for 30-odd years now.  Still one of the best falafel sandwiches I’ve had anywhere, Mamoun’s is a staple, and I hope, having gone elsewhere to school, a rite of passage for NYU freshmen.  A $2 falafel sandwich (or my usual 2 for $4, including tax) is a deliciously sloppy way to end an evening.  I would, for your own sake, avoid the schwarma – nowhere close to the best meat-on-a-stick I’ve had.

I’m still trying to find a good source for the real Turkish Doner Kebap that I had in Graz, Austria.  Anyone know where to get it?  Not on MacDougal St. at the place across from Hummus Place, that’s for sure – that stuff has the right texture but they don’t cook it enough, so it’s fatty and nasty, and they sure don’t use the right kind of bread/toppings.

Sunday brunch is, for me, the breakfast of the week – particularly in its “most important meal” status.  Brunch, ideally, should include sitting down with your friends, recounting the previous night’s exploits, perhaps lamenting your pounding hangover headache, and (hopefully) feeling better on the way out than the way in.  But it’s not just a curative, or a summation of your weekend activities – the ideal brunch is a destination meal to be looked forward to throughout the weekend and perhaps even the week before.

From a budget standpoint, brunch replaces both breakfast and lunch, and thus one should be able to afford to splurge a bit.  Most of the restaurants discussed below have entrees in the $10 range or less, assuming you don’t go hog-wild and order a Bloody Mary (Gravy’s are cheapest at $3, if you decide you need one, and very tasty).  Remember: you may feel like a slug for sleeping late, but at least you’ll have money to spend on a decent meal.

Living in Boerum Hill, I and my roommate find ourselves going to Gravy a lot.  It’s a relatively new southern-flavored diner located at the corner of Smith and Pacific Streets.  Early reviews concentrated on the inconsistency of the food and service; I think they have the kinks worked out much better now (a new hostess seems to have helped greatly, and I’d imagine there was some kitchen staff turnover as well).  For $7.50 (up from $6 at opening day), you can gorge yourself on soft, buttery biscuits with sausage gravy, or chicken fried steak (pounded flank steak fried like a chicken), both topped with eggs in a style of your choosing.  Also available, and on the ‘lighter’ side, are the large omelettes, pancakes (with real maple syrup), and a $5 special basic breakfast with eggs and sausage, etc.  Cheese grits are available, but of questionable budgetary value, at $3.

In my Park Slope days, a staple of my brunch diet (particularly in the spring, where the open garage door at front provides wonderful ventilation) was Beso, at 5th Ave. and Union St.  Beso serves a Latin-styled brunch, with a “regular special” huevos rancheros that is very good, as well as a Latin Eggs Benedict that includes chorizo in place of the ham and a chipotle hollandaise sauce.  The yucca hash also is deliciously crunchy.  A bit more expensive than the other choices on this list, though, and they don’t take reservations, so get there early or late, or be prepared to wait a LONG time.  If you must, belly on up to the bar for a slosh of watermelon or strawberry juice while you wait, but keep in mind that it’s ridiculously expensive, and be aware that the Bloody Marys (again with the ubiquitous chipotle) are forgettable.

A light and simple brunch option, if one is in the East Village, is Supper, located next to Nicky’s Vietnamese Sandwiches on E. 2nd St. at Ave. A.  Supper’s portions are unlikely to leave you feeling gorged and lethargic; their sage omelette is small and sided with spinach greens ($7), and, on my recent visit, their French toast came with fruit, including some very fresh raspberries ($8).  I hear you can get a toasted baguette with Nutella, too, if you’re into that sort of thing.  If it’s a nice day, after the meal, walk down to Economy Candy (Rivington between Essex and Ludlow) and get an Abba Zabba.

In my mind, the empress of brunches is Superfine, on Front St. and Jay St. in DUMBO, Brooklyn.  Not only is their food delicious and reasonably priced, and the staff very friendly, but they most often have live music (of a country or bluegrass flavor, mostly), and a free pool table to occupy you while you wait.  They profess to use the most socially acceptable organic ingredients in their cooking, if this matters to you; what matters to me is that it tastes fantastic.  Be sure and call ahead, even if just by half an hour, for best results.

My favorite dish at Superfine is the breakfast burrito, which seems expensive at $9.50 until you realize that you might not have to eat dinner after consuming it.  It’s genuinely huge, stuffed with eggs and sausage, and coated with cheese.  Watch a friend with a lesser appetite order this and peter out halfway though, then swoop in for the kill (carefully, though – the plate is hot!).  The chile verde sauce that comes with it is a bit spicy, so best to stick with the ever-present special banana-nut pancakes (sometimes walnut, sometimes pecan) if you’re not a spice person.  This is no great sacrifice, though – if there is a pancake god, he would be very impressed with how tender, sweet and delicious these are.  I think the banana is more important for the moisture and texture it provides, rather than the flavor, which to me says a lot about the skill of the chef.  The pancakes come with perfunctory fruit and a small serving of vanilla yogurt; we like to start with an order of the fresh, moist blueberry banana bread, too, but as there is good bread and good olive oil served free to every table, we could be accused of extravagance.  The coffee is tastier than average, too.

Don’t forget to account for the passing of the hat for the band, and try not to be too stingy, because the restaurant matches the contributions made by the diners.  And, hell, you didn’t pay for the pool, right?