Minetta Tavern

This is my last in my New York series. It was a good run and there were many more I did not get to try. I guess I will have to make another trip. Oh well.

Minetta Tavern was one of the most recommended places. Even after my trip it seemed people were still telling me about it. I went here before going to the Comedy Cellar for a night of comedy. Minetta Tavern is not what you typically think of as a tavern. First off, you should make reservations ahead of time unless you want to wait a long time for a table. When we got there, the bar was packed and we could barely step into the restaurant. Secondly, it felt more like a French café than a tavern. The service felt like a French café as well. I think we got our food before we got our drinks.

I ordered the Minetta burger. Most people afterwards said I should have gotten the Black Label burger, but I was going for the namesake burger. The meat was good but not amazing. It was cooked very well as you can see from the picture. The bun was soft but held up and didn’t get too soggy with the juicy meat. It came with caramelized onions and sharp cheddar cheese. The cheese was very strong but it was a good cheddar so I quite enjoyed that. The onions were flavorful but not overpowering. The biggest issue with the burgers here are the price. Seemed to be a little overpriced at $17 for the Minetta and $26 for the Black Label. But this seemed to be par for the course in NY.

Spotted Pig

After going to San Diego, my next trip was east to New York. Being my first time in the Big Apple, I felt I needed to try a few of the burgers there. I got several recommendations, and did not get to them all, but I think I got a good representation of the burgers in the city.

The Spotted Pig is in the West Village. It is a pretty small place with a mix of interesting small plates to share and some entrée's you might not want to give up. The room is pretty dark and you might wait a while for a table, but the bar is cozy and the bartender will be happy to make you an interesting cocktail while you wait. I know this is a burger blog, but the shoestring fries that come with the burger were exceptional. I normally prefer steak fries because I like the potato flavor along with the fried flavor. They had a nice amount of saltiness and herbs that did not overwhelm the potato.

Speaking of the burger, this is as simple as burgers get. We are talking patty, bun and cheese. The meat had good beef flavor. It was not the best meat that I have had in a burger, but it was definitely good. The bun appeared to be either homemade or fresh from one of the bakeries in area. It was soft and chewy and absorbed the juices of the meat but did not get very soggy. They used Roquefort cheese, which is known as one of the more pungent cheeses. The cheese really wasn’t as stinky as I would have imagined, and added a good balance to burger. Overall, this was a good burger, but felt it was missing something without some onion or greens to add texture or maybe increase the meat flavor.

Bleeker Street

Several people have recommended Bleeker Street since it opened a few years ago. It is a New York style restaurant inspired by Greenwich Village. The interior feels like a cross between an outdoor café and a gastropub. The place is located in the Village Walk in Tarzana. It is a great area with all sorts of shops and restaurants. The one thing I will say is that the restaurant seems to be a little over priced. Most items on the menu feel very similar to a gastropub but are priced like a fine dining restaurant.

 On to the burger. The meat was Angus grass fed beef. While it tasted fresh, it did not have that great meaty flavor and was a little over charred as well as being cooked to more of a medium well than a pink medium. The bun was one of the better buns I have had in a while. It was a brioche style bun and had good chew and held together nicely. The burger came topped with organic greens, vine ripen tomato, smoked gouda cheese, crispy onions and roasted garlic aioli. First off, the smoked gouda did not add much to the flavor of the burger. It did not melt on the burger and I got none of that smoky flavor. The greens and the tomato were very fresh. I wish there were more of the onions because they were very flavorful. Overall, I was a little disappointed because it came recommended and it was overpriced for what you got.

True Food Kitchen

For my birthday, my department took me out for lunch and we decided to try one of the new restaurants at Santa Monica Place. After looking at the menus and realizing that we wanted to sit outside, we decided on True Food Kitchen. This restaurant is perfect for Santa Monica. When you walk in, the vibe is that of organic place and most of the menu is locally sourced or organically grown. They also have vegetarian/vegan and gluten free selections. Now you might be thinking, seems a little too healthy to have a good a burger. You will have to keep reading to find out how good it is.

The burger is made from grass fed bison. This is my first bison burger and I must say I am fan. It tastes very similar to beef and as I understand it is leaner. Even though it is a leaner meat the burger was still very juicy and had great flavor. The bun is a flax bun. This type of bun is made from whole grains and flaxseed. It was not the best tasting bun as I usually have a butter filled brioche so this was a little bit of a change. Even though it was health-food style it tasted pretty good. The burger usually comes with mushrooms, which I have mentioned in previous post that I do not care for on my burgers. It also comes with caramelized onions which were sweet and tasty as well at topped with mayo and Parmesan cheese.

Overall this was a very tasty burger. One downside is that it cost $16 which is a little more than what you would want to spend on a simple burger such as this.

Burger Kitchen

I have wanted to try Burger Kitchen since I found out about it. I think I originally found out about it from an ad on this very blog. Since then it has been gaining momentum and even appeared on some best burger lists. So as a birthday / finishing a half marathon celebration for my friend Ngoc, we decided to check this place out.

Trying to keep to my baseline of burgers prepared similarly, I ordered The Natural. This burger is made from 40-day aged prime beef and is served with butter lettuce, caramelized onions, tomatoes, and your choice of camembert or white cheddar cheese. All of this is served on a brioche bun. I was worried about the brioche bun as it reminded me of the Umami burger, which was too greasy for me. This bun was fortunately not greasy and had a nice buttery flavor. Overall the burger was good but not great. The cheese was overwhelming and the prime meat tasted too steak-y and not enough like a burger for my tastes.


Ngoc's boyfriend Matt ordered the Mountain Burger. This burger had BBQ sauce and jalapeño peppers. I noted this because it looked impressive and came with the peppers pretty much whole on the burger.

We also ordered the Australian meat pie. Every review I read about the restaurant, mentioned the great burgers but also said to get the meat pie. We shared the meat pie for the table and it was also a bit underwhelming. It was exactly as expected, meat surrounded by puff pastry.

Overall, the experience was underwhelming and did not inspire me to want to go back to try the other burgers.