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I like Area Bagels in North Park Slope on 5th Avenue, which makes a very respectable bagel - not too big, some crunch to the crust and soft inside. The owner learned bagel making from a place out in Little Neck on Horace Harding Parkway that dates back to the late 1940's when the bagel baking union controlled the business and its quality. I will have to re-try Bagel Hole although I remember not being too impressed years ago.

Maybe my preference of getting a plain buttered (not toasted bagel) let me enjoy a fresher bagel in the store, rather than taking it home, missing out on the short freshness life.

Personal Favorites:

Brooklyn: Montague Street Bagels
Manhattan: Ess-a-Bagel

Favorite used to be Bagel Zone (Ave A between 3rd St & 4th St), until they changed their name and stopped baking their own. Was the perfect bagel -- crisp on the outside, soft and bready on the inside...I'd pay a ridiculous premium just to taste one again.

@NYC Food Guy Believe me, I want Mark to succeed as much as anyone (well maybe not as much as the owners) and I hope that my review will help improve things. However, I think it is fair to hold them to the standard set by White Manna, especially because the restaurants reps go out of their way to reference Manna: http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2009/10/burger_battle_steak_n_shake_st.html

I will also give Mark a second try.

@raven37457 You are right, I should have clarified the burgers to order,I actually meant to link to my original WD of Clark review which would have done so. Here it is:

http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2009/07/clark-white-diamond-sliders-hamburgers-new-jersey-nj.html

@tasty trekker Thanks - it is on the radar.

@guttergouret With all due respect, you told us that they rival Kenny's but you didn't tell us why. Is the beef juicier? The bun steamed better? I don't think the fancy ketchup adds much - a properly cooked slider requires nothing in the way of condiments. Regarding the picture of the slider on Always Hungry - the cheese doesn't look melted and the onions look too charred. But to each his own.

I will return to Mark and I hope that they can approach the standard set by the great slider institutions of NJ that I have spent so much time documenting as of late.

Hi !
I'm a french reader and i tasted ess-a-bagel during my latest trip in NYC : they where kind to let me take photos from the oven, but unfortunately, the cinnamon raisin bagel i had was not so good...
http://foodista-en-ville.over-blog.com/article-37072256.html

The best for me is Daniel's Bagels (post to come)
http://foodista-en-ville.over-blog.com/

The pastrami burger that Lexalpha mentioned has been refined to perfection in the Salt Lake City area, where one-off restaurants and local chains started by Greek immigrants have made it their signature specialty. No hamburger aficionado has truly lived until he/she has experienced a Crown Burger.

"Please put to rest immediately the myth that Montreal bagels are superior to New York City bagels"

http://www.seriouseats.com/talk/2007/03/montreal-bagels-exposed.html

I agree..call them what you want, grandmas or simply squares, they are heavenly!

Now that was by far one of my favorite burger posts I've seen! Way to get them all in one blog.

@everyone: Thanks for the kudos! This was a lot of fun to put together, and I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'm sorry if it made you hungry, but dems da breaks!

@KingT: What would you say makes a '30s-style burger? Given what I've read about burger history, I'd guess it would either be a slider (since White Castle all but revolutionized burgerdom in the late '20s and up to WWII) or a slider-style burger (a little larger but cooked in a similar fashion).

@shanella: I'm only responsible for the first photo; the rest are Flickr Creative Commons–licensed or used with permission of the photographer. I know that any of Nick Solares's or Robyn Lee's are dSLRs (Nikon D300 and Canon 20D, respectively). For any of the others that link to Flickr, you can click through and look to see if the photographer has EXIF data for the photo. That should tell you camera make/model.

The bacon coming in 'shards' is a really good idea. I'm surprised more places don't do it.

This may be its own category...or all of the above.

From my experience it was very difficult to finish both the pint and the burger.

A culinary experience indeed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwJyJ0e-T0M

Noosh: I was starting an entry on them, but got so pooped out by that time (it was about 4 a.m.) that I just ended at bean burgers. Will look for a good photo of an Aussie burger and include it.