March 4, 2011 ~ 0 Comments

The Burger Garage

Dining Out

In this solo dining adventure, Gary tries the burger at The Burger Garage with the hope that he can find an excellent burger close to home.

There are a lot of cuisines that Astoria and nearby LIC do well – Greek food in Astoria rates highly – but the one thing I’ve been clamoring for was an exceptional burger joint to open. It doesn’t have to be Shake Shack good but it should be something that makes me think “hey, I’ll walk or hop on my bike over there for a burger!” There are some bars with a decent to good burger but in my five-plus years here, I hadn’t found an amazing one. [...]

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February 25, 2011 ~ 0 Comments

Le Relais de Venise l’Entrecôte

Dining Out

In my time dining in New York City, I’ve pretty much seen every different menu option a restaurant has to offer – a la carte, prix fixe, and tasting menu. But until I dined at Le Relais de Venise l’Entrecôte, a domestic branch of a French chain, I’d never seen what they have to offer. A food menu with one – yes, one- option. When you dine here, you will have the salad, the steak, and the fries because that’s all there is to eat here, dessert notwithstanding. [...]

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February 22, 2011 ~ 2 Comments

Minetta Tavern

Dining Out

In this solo dining adventure, Gary has the Black Label Burger at Minetta Tavern.

In New York City, there are overhyped burgers and their are excellent burgers and at Minetta Tavern, you have both, all in the same burger. Since its introduction over a year ago, their Black Label Burger has proven to be a very popular one while simultaneously drawing a significant number of detractors. Well, I suppose it’s not entirely unfair – after all, we are talking about a $26 burger here. But it’s some of the arguments against it that are truly logic-defining. Case in point – a Shake Shack burger is $3.50 and you can get seven of them for what you’d pay for the Black Label Burger. [...]

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February 18, 2011 ~ 1 Comment

Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen

Dining Out

In this solo dining adventure, Gary revisits Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen to try a burger he dismissed way too soon as mediocre.

A little over a year ago, Schnipper’s Quality Kitchen celebrated their first anniversary with a free shake with hamburger purchase. I, along with a great many other freeloaders, showed up for our free shakes and, as this was my first-ever visit, I thought it’d be a good time to try the burger there. Remember, this was a time before there was a Shake Shack only a few blocks further north so this was the place for a moderately priced burger. [...]

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January 14, 2011 ~ 1 Comment

The Counter

Dining Out

In this solo dining adventure, Gary checks out The Counter, a California-based burger chain making their first move into the crowded New York City burger scene.

Only two weeks into the new year and already a second burger joint post? Yup, this burger craze ain’t dying anytime soon. I’d actually visited The Counter before when they threw a pre-opening party a few weeks ago. It wasn’t a really good representation of what they would be like when they actually did open to the public – they only had sliders so the burger customization they pride themselves on wouldn’t be on display at the time. Still, I left the party thinking the sliders had a nice beefy flavor and the fries were fried perfectly crisp. I looked forward to returning for a meal here. [...]

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