Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

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.

Since I'm on this blog looking for a burger and I live on the A train, Lyla's, here I come. Report to follow.

Yeah, will probably check it out this weekend - will report what I thought.

Don't mean to be picky here...but has anyone TRIED THIS BURGER? I'd love to know.

Hey! This page has been elevated to the status of a "comment war"! At least according to an entry on a certain pretentious-but-claiming-not-to-be blogger's site. lmfao

Ahh... righteous indignation - the final refuge of the simple minded.

I agree, I think this discussion need not continue any further.

ep⋅i⋅cu⋅re⋅an
   /ˌɛpɪkyʊˈriən, -ˈkyʊəri-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ep-i-kyoo-ree-uhn, -kyoor-ee-] Show IPA Pronunciation
–adjective
1. fond of or adapted to luxury or indulgence in sensual pleasures; having luxurious tastes or habits, esp. in eating and drinking.
2. fit for an epicure: epicurean delicacies.
3. (initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Epicurus or Epicureanism.

uh...yeah...

With that definition, who sounds like the guy that would wear a turtleneck and slacks to a BBQ? I think the 'point' here is before you start hurling unwarranted insults at other people, you should really be a bit more self-aware.

LOL@swan.

I thought the actual post above was descriptive and not pretentious at all. The words seemed straightforward to me. (I was going to type 'pedestrian' but didn't want to go there!)

One more for UE: You *do* realize that 'epicurean' is an adjective, right? So that makes you the Urbane Epicurean ... what? You're sitting in a glass house with an armful of stones. I suggest you just put them down quietly...

Lol, touche on the spelling. But I personally have a distaste for food writing that's overly seasoned with adjectives. I mean, dont get me wrong, the description's accurate, but to a certain extent there should be some appreciation for a food for its simplistic ability to make a person feel happy to eat it. When I read about food, I want to live it, not feel like Im reading pretense.

Is that wrong?

I wasn't passing judgement on the writer's abilities only on someone's choice to not try a restaurant based on how they perceived the reviewer's writing abilities.

More to the point, Lyla's is only a slight detour from my usual route home after work so I took a little detour tonight.

Meh.

I ordered a cheeseburger done medium. No pink to be found when it arrived. The burger had a nice char to it but was dry and otherwise undistinguished. The bun was too bready and overwhelmed the burger. Fries were really good, salad was iceberg lettuce with oil and vinegar. Definitely not a bargain at $10.99. That's $3.50 more than a Shack Burger with fries at the Shake Shack.

@jschumacher, and further to @TheUE - The blogger who wrote about this is, in any case, not a poor writer. It is, sadly, beyond some people's understanding that a writer may have a naturally rich vocabulary without recourse to a thesaurus. Anyway, what's the offender here? "Pinnacle"? "Gustatory"? Come on.

I LOVE Young's Double Chocolate Stout. I never thought I'd care for chocolate beer, but man, that stuff is goooooooood.