Posts filed under 'Upper West Side'
Nice Matin
201 West 79th St (@ Amsterdam)
New York, NY 10024
(212) 873-6423
[map] [subway directions]
Rating: 3/5
Notes:
- Burger: Nice Matin’s famous Five Napkin Burger might not quite live up to it’s name, but it’s definitely enormous, decidedly juicy, has a great meaty flavor, and an even, crumbly texture. And, it was cooked just right.
- Bun: With a burger this juicy, finding a bun that can hold it together is a real challenge. Unfortunately, they’ve chosen a soft, seeded brioche that is no match for the juice that spurts from the first bite of this burger.
- Garnish: Garnished with a sharp, crispy radicchio, a thick slice of beautiful, red tomato, hardly discernable comte cheese, and an overwhelming mound of sautéed, caramelized onions that contributed more to the mess than they did to the flavor.
- Mess factor: Testimony to the juiciness of this burger, after the explosive first bite, the waiter swooped back in and replaced my plate with a dry one. Despite the name, they don’t deliver a quintet of serviettes with this burger and we both ended up with one very fully-used cloth napkin.
- Fries: The fries were the standout here – deliciously flavored with garlic and rosemary and cooked to the perfect level of crispiness.
- Price: $17.50
- Bordeaux: The wine list at Nice Matin is surprisingly extensive – it isn’t the kind of place where we expected a sommelier to rush over to help us choose the right wine to pair with our hamburgers. We declined her assistance and selected a Cousino Macul Antiguas Reservas Cabernet Sauvignon from 2006. It had a nice, rich fruity flavor that went great with the burger and fries and opened up nicely over the course of the evening.
- Atmosphere: You could take a girl there, if you knew her pretty well.
- Overall: With the recent unveiling of the Five Napkin Burger restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen, we decided to try the original sandwich that inspired it. Unfortunately, we were a little disappointed. The patty itself is as tasty and juicy as we hoped, but the overall experience suffers from too many faults – most pointedly, the messy mass of onions, the flavorless cheese, and the soggy bun. The décor is like an American bistro that has forsaken the traditional bistro trappings – instead of a tile floor or faux-vintage mirrors, Nice Matin is decked out in patterned wallpaper and tall light fixtures that look like giant flat-top mushrooms with light bulbs. The space is light and airy with nice large windows overlooking the corner of 79th and Amsterdam.
June 29th, 2008
Fairway Café/Steakhouse
2127 Broadway (B’twn 74th & 75th)
New York, NY 10023
(212) 595-1888
[map] [subway directions]
Rating: 3/5
Notes:
- Burger: Fat and juicy. The light seasoning is just enough to bring out the flavor of the beef.
- Bun: Standard, somewhat doughy white bread. Comes dangerously close to being outsized by the patty, but hits the spot.
- Garnish: Bibb lettuce, tomato and red onion. Nothing special, its all about the burger here.
- Mess factor: Surprisingly manageable given the patty to bun ratio.
- Fries: Non-shoestring variety fries with a bit of potato skin left on. Cooked somewhat crispy and modestly seasoned.
- Price: Plain: $8, Cheddar: $9, Bacon & Cheddar: $10
- Bordeaux: 2006 Cloudline Cellars Pinot Noir. This young Pinot had a red fruity flavor that complemented the burger nicely. All this at a nice price.
- Atmosphere: You could take a girl there, perhaps.
- Overall: Dining at Fairway Café is not entirely unlike dining in the natural foods section of a supermarket–without the florescent lights. Even so, they do a good job of cordoning off the dining area from the shopping area. The open kitchen can contribute to the noise level when busy, but not so much that diners can’t carry on a conversation. Fairway could do much to improve the evening atmosphere by dimming the lights just a touch. They were quite busy when we arrived around eight o’clock on a Saturday night. Even so, we were seated immediately. As we were enjoying our burgers and wine, the dining area slowly emptied. So, if one wants to avoid the rush, showing up later isn’t such a bad idea. Anyone who has visited a Burgers & Cupcakes outpost will find the burger at the café very similar if not exactly the same but for the presentation. If you are craving a burger while in the neighborhood, this is a good place to stop. Be aware that weekend days at Fairway Café can be busy, so you might be forced to shop for legumes in the bulk foods section while waiting for a table.
October 27th, 2007
Cafe Luxembourg
200 West 70th Street (B’twn Amsterdam and West End)
New York, NY 10023
(212) 873-7411
[map] [subway directions]
Rating: 4/5
Notes:
- Burger: The Luxemburger is a thick, juicy patty. The kitchen produced this burger at blazing speed and managed to cook it perfectly to the ordered temperature. Unfortunately, the patty itself seemed to lack much seasoning.
- Bun: A seeded bun that was similar to a brioche, but a little less delicate. The bun did an impressive job of soaking up the flavor of this juicy burger.
- Garnish: This burger was topped with crisp red onion that added a nice sharp flavor to the sandwich, very thin slices of tomato and an unimpressively wilted leaf of red lettuce. We also ordered cheddar cheese and bacon for our burgers, and they arrived with more cheese than we previously thought was possible to pile on a patty.
- Mess factor: Not bad at all. Surprising for a burger this thick.
- Fries: The fries were the real standout here. Good fries can seem quite simple, but many places foul them up somewhere along the line. Cafe Luxembourg gets fries and includes a very generous pile of salty, crispy goodness with their burger.
- Price: $18 (with cheese or bacon, additional toppings $1 each)
- Bordeaux: We chose a 2004 Coppola Claret as it was one of the few affordable wines on this list. Most wines here are above $50, which is more than we like to spend when pairing wine with hamburgers. The Claret was a nice, deep red wine with subtle fruit flavors that might have been a bit understated for a burger this big.
- Atmosphere: You could take a girl there.
- Overall: Luxembourg, a fine example of a New York bistro, has been around for some time now and usually does a brisk business. This was certainly the case on this Friday night. There were no deuces to be had without reservation, period. The hostess recommended finding a couple seats at the bar. We were not too excited about the prospect, but decided to have a drink while we mulled over other options in the neighborhood. About halfway through our cocktails, we decided that eating at the bar was going to be more comfortable than it initially looked, so we settled in. In the end, we were glad to have sat at the bar. The bartender was great and we heard what was probably one of the worst botched blind date stories, ever.
Given the prices, expectations were high. Luxembourg generally delivered, but it comes up just shy of a “5″. There are many other burgers around town that are just as good or better that can be had at more affordable prices. However, if you don’t mind spending nearly 20 bucks for a hamburger, the Luxemburger is worth a try.
November 17th, 2006