“Notable Burgers”, Part Two: 5 Napkin Burger

5 Napkin Burger
$$
****
212.757.2277
630 9th Ave (at 45th St)
http://www.5napkinburger.com/

After some rest and a long walk, Scott and I were ready for Part Two of our “Notable Burgers” expedition (read Part One here). We both asked for the Original 5 Napkin Burger and, on the waiter’s recommendation, we also ordered Deep Fried Pickles & Pastrami and Pork Taquitos. The Deep Fried Pickles and Pastrami are little fritters served on top of a pile of sauerkraut. The pickles aren’t as briny as I like them, and the sauerkraut is quite sweet from the wealth of onions - some caraway seeds or extra vinegar would help give it the extra bite that it needs, though.

The Taquitos capitalize on two current New York obsessions: mini-food and pork. They’re quite literally what their name implies - little tacos.

The pork in the Taquitos is tender and well seasoned, and also a little on the sweet side. They’re topped with fresh pico de gallo and served with sour cream, but it’s the taquito shell that really stands out - lightly fried and crispy, but with a little bit of doughy chew to it.

But now for the real reason to come here: the Original 5 Napkin Burger. Invented at Marseille, perfected at Nice Matin, and now working as full-time muse at 5 Napkin Burger, this is 10 ounces of ground chuck topped with caramelized onions, tons of melted Comté cheese and rosemary aioli, all topped with a lightly toasted brioche bun. It’s served with no additional condiments, just a side of french fries. And it is fantastic.

The Original 5 Napkin Burger - one review I read suggested eating the burger over the fries, so that you create your own “cheese fries”, complete with aioli and delicious burger drippings. This worked out well, but make sure to leave some fries to eat by themselves, too!

Unlike the burger at Five Guys, there is nothing refreshing about the Original Burger - lettuce and tomato would ruin it. The rosemary aioli has a mega-dose of garlic in it, and sounds like it would be overpowering, but it balances well with the caramelized onion. The only thing I don’t like about the Original Burger is that the bottom bun is already pretty well soaked as soon as you get it. You get over it quickly enough, though, mostly because you’re too busy trying to keep the delicious aioli-cheese-onion-grease combo from slipping down past your wrists.

The most remarkable part of this meal, however, came almost as an after-thought. On a whim, we ordered milkshakes for dessert, although mine was actually a “Dark and Stormy” float (dark rum, ginger beer, and rum raisin ice cream). The strawberry milkshake was unremarkable, but the S’more milkshake - wow! When you go to 5 Napkin Burger, you must have one of these - it’s incredibly thick and tastes exactly like campfire S’mores, especially with the burnt marshmallow on top.

The “S’more” milkshake - I don’t even like S’mores, and I was floored by how good this milkshake was!

We actually asked the waiter if the chef would be willing to give us the recipe for his S’more milkshake, and the waiter laughed and told us, “I’m sorry, but the chef would rather DIE than give out that recipe!” It’s so amazing, I feel inspired to make it at home anyway, so check back soon for a recipe to replicate the “S’more Milkshake”!

5 Napkin Burger stands on the opposite end of the spectrum from Five Guys, different in almost every manner but one - they respectively serve the best burgers I’ve ever had in New York.

**update** - on a recent re-visit to 5 Napkin Burger, Little Scarlet discovered that the S’more Milkshake recipe has been modified, and now includes chocolate. It’s still good, but unfortunately tastes less like campfire S’mores than it used to.

“Notable Burgers”, Part One: Five Guys

Five Guys
$
***
212.889.6600
296 Bleecker St (at Barrow St)
http://www.fiveguys.com/

There are two different kinds of burgers: thin, well-done patties and thick, medium-rare burgers. In New York, Five Guys is the champion of the well-done patty, and 5 Napkin Burger is my favorite of the “fancy” burgers. New York Magazine recently published a list of “New York’s 82 Most Notable Burgers”, and, fortunately, Adam Platt shares my good taste - he included both restaurants! Scott and I were inspired by the article’s photographs, and since he’d never been to either place, we decided to be ambitious and make a day of it - Five Guys for lunch, 5 Napkin Burger for dinner, and a six month snooze!

The first thing to know about ordering in Five Guys is that a “Cheeseburger” is actually a double. For people with smaller mouths and appetites to match, there’s the single-patty “Little Cheeseburger”. All toppings are free, but you have to ask if you want any toppings - the only thing that comes on a Five Guys patty is a whole wheat, sesame seed bun.

After months of experimenting, I’ve perfected my Five Guys order - a Little Cheeseburger with mayo, mustard, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, and jalapeños. Scott was a little overwhelmed by the menu (and its prominently displayed high calorie counts - thanks for that, Bloomberg…), but he ordered a Cheeseburger with all of my toppings, plus pickles and hot sauce.

Glamorous photo of a double Cheeseburger (photo courtesy of New York Magazine)

This beautiful mess is the un-glamorous version of the double Cheeseburger.

Little Cheeseburger

The burgers are messy, but the grilled onions and burger grease taste so good that you're happy to lick your hands clean while eating. The hot sauce tastes a little like Frank’s, and makes a killer addition to the meat and the bun and the other toppings - it’s going on my burger next time! All of the burger’s toppings are crisp and fresh, and the patty is surprisingly juicy and tender for a well-done piece of meat. The tomatoes have good flavor, and the pickles are briny with a nice crunch to them. The real winner in the condiment category, though, is the jalapeño - hands down. It’s a brilliant shade of green that you don't often see outside of the farmer's market. It’s spicy and snappy, and makes the whole burger pop!

Between our jalapeños and hot sauce, these were some spicy burgers - but a hot french fry dunked in cool ketchup was the perfect antidote. At Five Guys, they leave the potato skins on their fries, which really delivers a true, “dirty” potato flavor. Across from the self-serve soda fountain, there are at least a dozen 50-lb bags of potatoes beneath a dry-erase board saying where that day's potatoes came from - ours were from Rigby, Idaho! These fries are cooked in peanut oil, and they're the right amount of salty and crispy, leaving intimidating grease stains on their brown paper bag.

If you’re looking for atmosphere, Madison Square Park’s Shake Shack is probably what you’re after. But this summer, I’ll take the superior burger of Five Guys and eat it inside - in the air conditioning, thank you!

**update** - Little Scarlet just received word from Five Guys itself that the hot sauce they use is Frank’s after all! Way to go Little Scarlet - thanks for reading, Five Guys!!

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park

Shake Shack, Madison Square Park
$
*
212.889.6600
http://www.shakeshacknyc.com/
Open 11 am – 11 pm

I love watching the Food Network, but it’s a dangerous late-night activity since their shows always make me hungry. Last night, “Unwrapped” was doing a special on hamburgers - they ran a segment on the original Shake Shack, and all restraint went out the window! Shake Shack is a casual, walk-up shack in Madison Square Park (two blocks from my apartment!) that serves burgers, hot dogs, shakes, fries, and custard. A quick survey of reviews on Yelp.com re-assured my hungry roommates and I of its greatness, and a glance at the online “Shack Cam” promised a short wait - good news, given their reputation for hour-long lines.

We all opted for Single ShackBurgers, but if I’d been hungrier I would have jumped on the Double Stack - a ShackBurger topped with their ‘Shroom Burger. The ‘Shroom Burger is a lightly fried Portobello mushroom filled with both muenster and cheddar cheese - both burgers come topped with lettuce, tomato, and Shack sauce (a “secret” mix of mayonnaise, ketchup, chipotle, and other ingredients). Shake Shack serves wine and five kinds of beer, but we opted for vanilla milkshakes, made with soft serve and ice cream. Two orders of cheese fries and five minutes later, we sat down with our food at one of their park tables.

Despite my strong aversion to processed cheese and the congealed mess that melted cheese becomes as it cools, Shake Shack’s cheese fries kept me eating even after they were no longer hot - a huge compliment in itself. The fries themselves are slightly disappointing, though. They’re missing a crucial dose of salt and are awfully similar to Ore-Ida’s crinkle-cut fries - one fry even had a slightly cool center that reminded me of impatiently making these same fries at home.

Picture courtesy of New York Magazine

The burgers are ... good. As a loyal devotee of Five Guys, I may be a little biased, but Shake Shack’s burger did little to woo me over. A mixture of ground brisket and sirloin, I was expecting more flavor here than from their ground chuck competitors, but I didn’t notice any real difference. The tomato slice had good heft, but a burger bite that was mostly tomato revealed a disappointing lack of flavor, especially compared to the lovely Jersey tomatoes I grew up with. Their use of American cheese was perfect, though, echoing Shake Shack’s laidback, summer vibe and recalling childhood memories of backyard cookouts. A more liberal amount of Shake sauce (or even ketchup) would have been nice, but the burger was still juicy, and didn’t soak through its soft bun.

Shake Shack serves a decent, respectable burger. It’s not worth an hour’s wait, and definitely not on a hot, sunny Saturday! But on a warm, summer night, with the Square’s fountain running, Shake Shack’s Edison bulbs dangling from the trees, and Manhattan’s traffic at a low rumble, it was almost like being transported to your favorite Jersey Shore boardwalk stand. On a night like last night, I’d absolutely walk those two blocks over - especially to try that Double Stack.

(see full menu here)