Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I made this a couple of nights ago, but because I was really busy I just made the eggplant as instructed (salted it, drained it, breaded and fried it) and put half a jar of spicy tomato basil sauce on the bottom of my casserole dish, the eggplant on top, provolone slices on top of that, and the rest of the jar of sauce. I baked it as instructed for 20 mins., and voila! For a quick weeknight dinner, it was brilliant. The eggplant was crispy and flavorful, I'll make this again and again.

@betterirene--As @miabrahams says, it's a completely different flavor profile as anchos aren't smoked, they're dried poplano peppers with little heat that have almost a chocolate-like tone. That said, the fun in making salsas is experimenting, so go for it and let us know how it turns out!

@TheUE--Thanks! What's the other 50%?

@MadameD--I like the way you think!

@betteirene: Those things aren't very spicy and they aren't smoked. They'll be alright but you may find you need to add something else for flavor.

OK, so back on 2/16 I found the shuttle bus outside my door and no A train. Plans derailed.

I finally hit Lyla's yesterday, very late on Saturday afternoon, almost dinner time. It's a few blocks walk from the 125th A stop.

Overall I liked this place a lot. It's got a very pleasant vibe, the staff was attentive and earnest and it seems like a great neighborhood place to get a good, reasonably priced meal.

The burger? I don't know about that 'best burger in ny' stuff. I will go out on a limb, though, and say it is easily the best burger I've had in Uptown Manhattan. And at 10.99 with a bit of salad a big pile of well done fries (exactly how I like them, how'd they know?) it's pretty good deal.

I agree with Zeitgeisty so I'll just add a few of my own comments:

I'm old school and was prepared to hate the bun. I loved it. It looks big and poofy but compresses down nicely when bit into. It's delicate, but as mentioned, holds the juices perfectly.

And what juices! This was a very juicy burger. I ordered it medium-rare and the loosely packed meat was bright pink throughout, reddish in the middle, and a pefect medium-rare. I'd say medium-rare, shading into 'rare' but still not too bloody and gross for me (don't care for real 'rare')

This was a huge surprise, because I have yet to see a place uptown that does not use the plancha and the bowl to ruin every burger around. This burger seemed so loosely packed and delicate that a plancha would have ruined it immediately. Good for them.

There was only a light taste of char from the grill. I like that. It was also very unseasoned. I know others prefer a little heavier hand on salt, pepper, whatever. Not me. I prefer to taste the meat, a little char or crust from the flatgrill, etc. and that's it. I ate this one with American Cheese, some with Heinz 57 and a few bites bare. I loved every bite of it.

If you said it was a tiny bit bland I would not argue, except to say I prefer a light-to-non-existent hand with the seasonings and that I found mine just about perfect.

It's not the biggest patty around. This is no pub burger. The pile of fries was quite large. If you go with a group, there's plenty of fries with one burger to share.

At this price, at this place, I'm definitely going back often.

***************************

OK, I agree with the reviewer in every way except to say "best burger in nyc."

I think it's an important burger, as Uptown is so incredibly underserved burger-wise. I was going to say perhaps it's the best burger Uptown. But I see there's a new Ottomanelli's in East Harlem so I'm going there real soon. I actually don't consider 111th 'Uptown' but it's certainly close enough to consider.

I'm also going to revisit Piper's Kilt and Coogan's to reconfirm what I already know: These are serviceable, not-great, pub burgers served in decent neighborhood bars, and that inflates some folks opinions of them.

Lyla's burgers are a different level, in my opinion.

Thank you for participating, and congratulations to our winners:

texasdeb
Runningwithbeaters
tchoughtby
vdeliz
NYCEater

Winners have been notified by email and also appear on our Contest Winners page.

Roasted root vegetables and nice warm tea just hit the spot when it's cold.

Can't wait to hear the report, MikeNYC.

Anybody who uses "I personally" has no business criticizing the writing of others.

Especially for being "overly" anything.

braised short ribs

chicken soup

i love baked ziti and meatballs for comfort!

My favorite cold-weather comfort food is beef stew with plenty of vegtables.
Second choice is chicken soup with rice instead od noodles. Thanks for the contest.

Homemade hearty chili with plenty of honey cornbread. Yum!