Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I have not had the pleasure of eating at the NYC location, however I live in SO FL and have friends who live a block from Lincoln Road, so darn straight I will be going there as soon as they have had a few weeks to 'shake' out the bugs--sorry, it is late on a Friday at work and my Charm City burger fix in Deerfield Beach is only a couple of hours away.

I obviously won't be able to do a compare, but after living here for over 30 years I have noticed that one or two people from NYC seem to get down here every now and then, so we will probably be advised as to their ability to transfer the goods, so to speak. All I need is some advice from the experienced as to what to order and how, and I will be there! I can hardly wait.

Cheers!

Suggestions for the leftover bacon patty:
1. Use it in a sandwich with sliced turkey and some lettuce and tomato. You can use the bacon mayo if you wish, and toast the bread or bun, of course!
2. Add it to a grilled cheese sandwich with a slice of tomato and the bacon mayo.
3. Break it up and sprinkle it into some scrambled eggs while they are cooking. You can make a nice sandwich on an English muffin or with rye toast, or your favorite biscuit.
(I guess I know lots of ways not to waste bacon... .)
Cheers!

No Steak and Shake? I know they are not everywhere, but either is Carl's Jr. We have Checker's, but in other places they are called Sonic. Then there's Hardee's. I know, I'm being a picky whiner. I guess I'm saying that places like Carl's Jr. and Krystal should be in another category--regional, maybe? But that might result in smaller chains, etc. I haven't been to any of these lately, but as I remember it from 8-10 years ago, Chili's wasn't that bad.

Well, my daughter likes Papa John's and we ordered 15 for a suprise party for her and they delivered right on time--did not spoil the surprise--and the various varieties of pizza were hot and fresh, so I voted for them. I used to like Pizza Hut because they had very thin and crisp crusts, but honestly have not tried them for years. Domino's pizza, like Fuddrucker's hamburgers, has no discernable taste whatsoever. Little Ceasar's may be $5, but down here it is 50% crust. Enough said.

Well, I don't know if it qualifies as a 10 worst, but in the very old days in college, a huge student hit at local restaurants was a meal called a "Hamburger Steak Dinner." Who knows, it still may be! Anyway, basically, it was a very large portion of ground beef, griddled for the most part, and served with "2 sides" such as mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, and usually dinner rolls and a salad. It typically had gravy on top unless you asked them to put it on the side for the mashed, and it was almost always cooked well done, even in the pre-fear-of-deathly-illness days. I remember it was pretty cheap, filling, and so perfect for a college student, but without a bun and condiments, it was, in my opinion, neither a steak nor a burger. I guess I objected as much to the name as I did to the well done "burger." Somehow, it just never seemed right to me.

Uh, gee, I thought this was something everyone did after getting over eating cold pizza for breakfast in college! I typically put the crust side down in a just-warming-up pan on medium and then filp it to the "cheese" side after the crust and pan reach the crisping limit. Once the top side melts or gets a bit of a sizzling crust on the pepperoini, I turn off the heat, flip it back to the crust side while I grab a plate. This warms the crust for 10-15 seconds and then I place them on a plate. I usually do 2 slices at once with the points opposite in the pan. You can keep the pan handy should that third slice call to you after you down the second crust!

Two items:

Charm City Burgers in So Fl (Deerfield Beach) serves EXCELLENT fresh fries, but also serves tots. I plan to try them on my next visit even though giving up the fries is a sacrifice. The burgers are quite good, however, so not too big a deal. I can always order the onion rings if the tots are not up to par.

I consulted for OreIda for about 7 months several years ago and watched them make tots in their Oregon plant. They are made from potatoes that are not large enough for either fast food fries or premium fries and are made with as much care as anything in their product line. By the way, peels are sent out to farms to be used for cattle feed once they are "blasted" off the potato.

The fryer is as long as a railroad freight car and pretty neat if you are into giant machines that process huge amounts of food every hour.

My daughter and her friends go to Whole Foods (close to the theatre) and load up on whatever they like and giggle all the way in. I think its funny! I just buy the outrageously expensive popcorn + drink and load it with that terrible-for-you "butter" and the popcorn salt stuff. Biggest issue--take a bunch of napkins because that butter stuff leaks out of the bag! Sometimes my ex used to buy the big candy boxes and a grab a water from home. I buy the popcorn because I seldom go to movies and I kind of like the stuff if it is just popped.

If you MUST hit a BK when a White Castle or Krystal is not available at the times mentioned by BWM, you should go for the Whopper Jr., no ketchup--$1.00 locally in SoFL. For some reason, BK ketchup seems off. Mostly it is lettuce, tomato, and onion and sesame bun. The "burger" is not really a huge factor, but in the state you are in, when nothing else is open, it will do. Another plus is that when you ask for it without ketchup, they make you a fresh one, so it has not been sitting in the warmer for a couple of hours. To repeat a phrase I picked up somewhere many years ago,
"it ain't love, but it ain't bad."

I know I am going to get killed on this, but personally, I really like a properly toasted English muffin with a burger. Better than a perfect bun? No, but when the burger tends to the thinner variety rather than the thicker, and the condiments are limited to raw red onion and mustard, well, I like it. Green's Pharmacy in Palm Beach will do this for you, and I have been eating this there for 30+ years. It really is good. Oh, and burgers run, at the most, $8, and you have to work to spend this much. Most run about $6. As a bonus, the malts and the onion rings are the real deal, too. I guess I have to make a run up there this weekend, effete or not.

I remember these ads. Wives typically did not work in these days, but I guess they didn't have time to cook, either.

Not to be a heretic or anything, but this review reminded me of a question I have been meaning to ask on here for a while:

Regarding the many comments about bottom-bun failure on the numerous burgers sampled by the site's devotees, do any of you ever turn the thing upside down to prevent bottom-bun disintegration (BBD)? Certainly for reviewing purposes everyone wants to know about this aspect of the burger experience, but once the reviewing is over or you make a return visit simply to satisfy your personal cravings, does this tactic prove helpful? Of course, if you are trying a place for the first time, there is no way to know if BBD might occur. However, once you are aware and want to return anyway, is this a part of your enjoyment strategy?