Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

Eh, figuring out what to do in NY will come to you! I've lived here for a better portion of my life and I still find stuff to do just walking around aimlessly. :)

I just wanted to point out that one need not eat at a strictly vegetarian or vegan restaurant to eat good food that fits into such a diet. I for one get very annoyed when I ask for recs (I'm a life-long vegetarian) and people only recommend vegetarian places. At least these days there are great, non "health food" places, but, still, it's not the ONLY place a vegetarian can eat. For example, Scott Conant's spaghetti with tomato and basil at Scarpetta is to die for, and, if you ask them to not use any cheese (it's added at the end), you have an amazing vegan entree. I would MUCH rather eat that than something at Gobo or Candle Cafe.

A few comments -

- Angelica Kitchen is uggggh... it's precisely what people think of when they think of a stereotypical "hippie" vegetarian meal - seaweed, grains, raw things, no flavor, etc - ... I really don't know why people eat there.
- Zen Palate is where people ate 15 years ago when there were no other vegetarian restaurants and when other restaurants rarely, if ever, had vegetarian options (it's where I ate all the time in high school). It is not very good nor is it cheap. It's like eating at Applebee's in NYC. Why would you do that?!
- Dirt Candy says that they can accommodate vegans but I don't buy it - everything there is doused in either butter, cheese, or cream. That being said, oh my, their food is delicious.

Sorry for the rant but as you can tell I have strong feelings on vegetarianism, especially in NYC, where it is SO easy to go meatless!

also , I would recommend Dirt Candy on 9th between 1st and A. Its vegetarian but accomodates vegans.

He's opening another BBP in Bergen County at one of the many malls in Paramus--he said he's keeping them close to home so he can go out and check on any problems.
One thing folks are forgetting is that it's not a chef making the burgers in back--it's someone who is making not much more than minimum wage who had maybe a week's worth of training before taking the griddle. I worked in a restaurant (Farrell's--many years ago) making hamburgers and I didn't know much of anything--we were showed how it is supposed to look before you flip it over for rare, medium and well. If we made a mistake, people sent their burger back and we tried again. I doubt if they are even hiring culinary students--if anything, they're hiring former McDonald's and Burger King employees--at least they have "experience".

So sad to read this. I live out here and love his "Throwdown" episode on Burgers where he insists the burger must be medium rare.

I think the law is just a lame excuse. If chains like Outback and Boulder Creek will make me a medium rare burger everytime, there is no excuse for this nonsense.

Hopefully Mr. Flay will read this and correct. Otherwise, I'll be at the American Roadhouse a few miles down the road on Rt 25 per the NY Times review.

A couple things here:

The video on his website showed him using a chargrill? Are his burgers at BBP chargilled? First mistake.

Then, again, his video. The burgers, they gotta be handled less. They are so perfect and so smooth, and the interior SO DENSE. Meatloaf, not burgers.

Lastly, he's gotta decide if he wants a fast food joint (appearance) or a more high end place (prices) NEWYORKERS might think that 12 bucks of 1 burger, 1 fry and 1 shake is fast food, but for 99% of the country. Nope.

But mostly, I am shocked that IF he chose a chargril, what was he thinking? Maybe, MAYBE , you can make an arguement for wood or charcoal for burgers, but GAS? Griddle, griddle, griddle.

How sad that this concept doesn't seem to be working. I hope Bobby reads this and corrects the service problems before he rushes right down to Houston and opens another one. May I suggest Memorial City Mall, Bobby?

The owner of JG melon is Flay's father......biased???

contrary to what the public thinks, a restaurant can serve a burger close to raw if the customer perfers it that way. The health department reccomends an internal temp to be at 158 to 160 degrees. As long as signs are posted indicating the risk potential in eating a burger other than well-done. It is a reccomendation not a law. That's in Connecticut and Mass maybe it is done differently in New York as alot is !!!!!

@ kenji....amen, brotha

Sorry to quibble food science again but, 158 degrees is well beyond medium. The very top end of what would be considered medium is around 145, while medium-well would go up to around 155 at most. 158 is into the well-done range.

This could mean two things - BBP is actually serving what the Suffolk County Health Department considers an unsafe burger (IE, a true 135-140 degree medium burger), or BBP didn't accidentally overcook your burger - they cooked it to 158 degrees, but for some reason insist on calling that a medium burger (maybe just to please most customers who value food based on its description than actual flavor?)

Although I'd also like to state my opinion that I think it's perfectly possible to make a juicy, tender, flavorful well-done burger provided the meat is freshly ground, fatty enough, and loosely packed. I think too many people get caught up on the done-ness of their meat to the point that they judge a burger or steak first on how properly done it is, and only secondly on how it actually tastes (Nick - I'm not saying that you're doing this here, by the way - just a general statement).

I suppose it all depends on what you walk in there expecting. Wolfgang Puck is indubitably a cut above the typical airport restaurant, but I don't expect truly fabulous food, and am therefore not disappointed. I guess I'm just used to setting the bar lower for airport fare :)