Desperately trying to fit Craigie into my (not so) busy schedule before the end of the year, we finally made it over last night. If you haven’t been, it truly is a spectacular space, open kitchen right when you walk in, well lit, and overall very appealing. We hustled to get there right when they opened at 5:30 pm to make sure we could grab a table at the bar area (the only place to get the burger) and were fortunate enough to be seated immediately. We’ve been delegated to eating in bar area’s before (see the Met Bar) but have never been treated this well. In my experience the service in the bar is never as good as the main dining area, and in the case of Radius, the service overall was borderline arrogant and snobby despite eating in the main dining room. Craigie does not mess around, as the service, and everyone we interacted with, was impeccable, very attentive, and made it feel like a special night even if we were just eating burgers, again, the polar opposite of my Radius experience. continue reading »
Archive for 2009
2009 — A Burger Retrospective
This year flew by. A blog devoted to burgers just kind of happened, my love affair with burgers is nothing new, but after going on a trip to Louis Lunch in early May, Nick and I decided to embark on a personal quest to eat our way through every burger in Boston and figure out what was the best. And that’s how it started, and that’s how it will continue to go, until we try them all. I don’t know if there is such a thing as perfection, especially in terms of food, for every perfectly cooked burger, there’s a burger with too much mayo, or over-fried potatoes, or just a lack of salt. I haven’t really that had that combination of affordability, burger greatness, perfect fries and attentive service. Maybe it doesn’t exist, or maybe I’m asking too much, but I’m remain optimistic. We started our quest in May, didn’t know where we were headed, but did know that no one else was doing what we were in Boston. We were so fortunate to have met Nick Dixon at Lucky’s Lounge, and by a freak occurrence had a brief blurb written about myself and the blog in the Boston Globe. There was the Burger Crawl, in which sixteen of us braved the Woodstock-esque conditions and powered our way through the streets of Cambridge until we were ready to explode. I swore I’d never eat that much again, but Burger Crawl 2010 is already in the works, you’ve been warned. continue reading »
Radius
I’ve been drooling with anticipation to experience the Radius burger. And yes, it’s an experience, as Radius is one of Boston’s longstanding fine-dining restaurants with celebrity chef Michael Schlow at the helm. There has been a huge buzz around the burger in particular at Radius, one of the first upscale Boston restaurants to offer an upscale burger. It now costs $19, and you’re treated like royalty compared to the standard routine of driving up to a window and ordering a burger, but that should be expected, I mean we’re talking $19 for a BURGER!! What ever happened to the burger being a “food for the people,” anyway? Luckily, it was Paul D’s birthday, so we had a legitimate reason to finally go, not that running a burger blog isn’t reason enough, but the time had come. continue reading »
Tory Row
I’ve been to Miracle of Science and loved its simplicity, a solid burger done right, full of smoky flavor and juicy to the last bite. The same ownership has (fairly) recently opened Tory Row in Harvard Square, with an overall menu that is far more impressive but still boasting a burger that very closely resembles the Miracle of Science offering. It definitely feels different on the interior, less nerdy in a scientific way like MOS and a little more cleaner, grown-up in a Harvard sort-of-way, if that makes any sense at all. continue reading »
The Local
Something just isn’t right about The Local, a “Gastropub” that has been open for roughly a year in West Newton. There seems to be an identity crises with this place, they call themselves a Gastropub, meaning pub food that has been escalated to another level, and they claim to specialize in local, seasonal ingredients. How clichéd. I can barely notice the Gastropub claim, I mean sure, you don’t see Tuna Sashimi in pubs everyday, but maybe for good reason. What you do find are burgers, Iceberg salads with blue cheese dressing and chicken wings. Wait, The Local has all these things? What am I missing? Maybe they take the traditional and make them better you say, well, based on our meal there, not a chance. continue reading »
The Doneness of a Burger
As written before, food is a very personal thing. Everyone has preferences, no matter how bizarre, and some people can never break away from their food biases. I’m biased towards a medium-rare cooked burger because I think that tastes the best. I think most people would agree that a medium-rare burger is the juiciest and most delicious way to enjoy a burger, some like it cooked rare (too raw for me) and some like it medium-well to well (too dry for me). continue reading »
Eastern Standard
We might be getting to the heavy-hitters right about now. I’m dying to go to Craigie on Main, Radius, and all the other high end restaurants in town that serve burgers. But, I’m totally aware that these are fine-dining restaurants, not burger specific eateries, and if you don’t think that matters, think again. I fully expect all these “high end” burgers to be outstanding, my expectations are high, and I may not be so kind in my reviews, not that I have been in any way so far. Value is a huge aspect in finding the best burger, in my opinion, and spending any more than $10 is borderline pricey for something that is a food for the people, and should be affordable to all. continue reading »
The Metropolitan Club
It’s been way too long, friends. The burger crawl destroyed one of us, and we felt it was as good a time as any to take a little burger break. But we’re back now, so you can expect plenty of reviews in the coming weeks. Our list of places to check out is ever-growing, but The Metropolitan Club, with it’s $5 burger night on Mondays, seemed like a good place to get back into the swing of things, and save a little money at the same time. I’ll apologize in advance if this review seems a little incomplete, because it sort of is, but honestly I can only review what I eat, not what could have been, so here goes. continue reading »
