The best burger in the whole world is in quaint little spot way out in Bushwick, Brooklyn. I have chanted odes to it. Of course, living in a city where there are so many amazing restaurants offering delicious burgers, someone challenged my assertion. That challenge was not to be left alone. That challenge led to: Burger-Off.
The challenger and I agreed to take one night and visit both restaurants and eat both burgers and by the end of the night we would have proven which is the best burger. It was quickly established that we would need an objective third party to be our judge. It was even slightly quicker that someone volunteered to help in our endeavor. And in no time at all Burger-Off was officially scheduled.
It was a lovely early spring evening and we started our adventure at Royale in Alphabet City. This was the challenger’s pick, he had been introduced to the bar by friends upon moving into the area in the fall. One of the biggest and most pleasurable features at Royale is the gorgeous backyard patio, on which we enjoyed our first burger of the night. The schedule was a little tight because we had decided to fill the time between burgers with a visit to the Harry Potter exhibition in Times Square.
The Royale waitstaff was very courteous and prompt. The menu was delightfully simple, offering: Royale, Royale with Cheese, or Bacon Royale, with optional sides of fries and onion rings. We had the Royale with Cheese with a split side of fries. The food was very good. The main comments were on the fries (average at best) and the bun (a little too dry). Overall, an excellent experience. Perhaps slightly hampered by the urgency in our schedule, as we had to jet very soon after finished to get up to Times Square in time for Harry Potter.
The exhibition was thrilling to enter, I am slightly suspicious that perhaps our excitement and over-eager glee at the idea of the exhibition may have perhaps made it a seem somewhat better experience than the actual experience realistically delivered. One particularly joyful moment was at the sorting hat upon first entrance. Our friend was actually picked to be sorted, and it was delightful to watch a grown man sit on the stool and be judged by a singing hat.
After the exhibit, we were still fairly full from the first burger and decided to have a drink to let our stomachs get hungry again. We were heading to Bushwick - sometimes referred to as East Williamsburg - for the second burger, so we headed in that direction and made a stop at The Station in Williamsburg. It has a great old-timey feel, lots of dark, shiny wood. One fun detail is the menus are all glued into old cookbooks. We each had an Old Fashioned and were overjoyed when they arrived with rockcandy stir sticks - globs of sugar on the end of a little wooden rod. The drinks were delicious and the sugar globs were entertaining as well as scrumptious.
After thoroughly enjoying our Old Fashioneds, we made our way east to Northeast Kingdom. I had been introduced to Northeast Kingdom by a beautiful German performance artist that I met on the subway on New Years Eve. I was riding to a party and convinced him to join me. He was in New York for a few weeks working on a project, staying in Bushwick. We met for dinner twice and both times he took me to Northeast Kingdom. I thought it was odd to not want to get out and see more of the city, but it was what he wanted, and after two trips it did hold up - the food is delicious and the atmosphere is charming.
From the outside, it is very unassuming. Inside, it feels like a rustic, foodie cabin. Dark wood, candles, and delicious smells. A chalk board lists the local farms providing various ingredients. We slid into a booth and enjoyed a couple of beers. Burgers were ordered as the menu described: Mushroom Duxelles, Tobacco Onion, Vermont Cheddar, with hand-cut fries. And they were heaven-on-earth delicious. Silence fell over the table as we bit into the glory that is the Autumn Harvest Burger. Okay, maybe I’m being a tad biased, this was my pick after all.
In the end, it was really the bun and the fries that swayed our judge. Northeast Kingdom served a buttery melt-in-your-mouth bun and delicious, perfectly crisp fries. These two factors made the burger experience better than at Royale, where the bun was a little dry and the fries not quite up to the desired crisp. Burger-Off Round 1 Winner is: Northeast Kingdom.
Burger-Off continues as we scour the city for tasty burgers.
