I figured my visit to the new Bistro du Vin at 36 Dean Street in Soho would be uneventful. To update my top 10 burgers in London list I needed only to verify its burger was as good as the chargrilled sensation at the Bistro du Vin on St John Street. I was also curious to see if the chefs had addressed its instability issue. As good as the burger was it didn’t sit all that securely on its layered foundation of tomato, red onion and round lettuce hanging way out the sides. [Read more...]
My Confidence Cracked in the Bistro du Vin Burger
6 July 2011 By 15 Comments
el doble my double burger benchmark
The El Doble at Txikito (pronounced “chic-kee-toe”) - a Basque restaurant in New York’s Chelsea. The chubby double burger is draped with smoked sheep’s milk cheese and peppery salsa especial.
The version seen above was requested to be on the rare side of medium rare.
31 March 2010 By 1 Comment
2 signs your burger will be subprime
If you order a burger and the server pivots away without asking you how you want it cooked, that is already a bad omen. Restaurants that don’t elicit doneness orders may not think a burger is worth the bother. (A waiver for the doneness designation should only be granted to burger joints whose patties are flat in shape, under 6 ounces in volume or under £6 in cost.)
If you insist on telling the swerving server how you want your burger cooked and he or she responds with an ambiguous nod, then it is probably time to run for the hills. [Read more...]
29 March 2010 By 8 Comments
My burger doneness color strip
rare medium-rare medium medium-well well done
Looking at them now these almost look more like Mark Rothko paintings than hamburgers.
19 March 2009 By 4 Comments
Does anyone know what rare is anymore?
When I ordered my bespoke burger rare at the Santa Monica (California) location of The Counter, my waitress asked, “Do you know what rare is?” Odd question, I thought, to be asking a native English speaker fluent in basic menu vocabulary. I nodded yes, missing my chance to answer her with the broader philosophical question: ”Does anyone know what rare is anymore?” [Read more...]
18 March 2009 By 1 Comment
