Bill's Bar - The First Ever Burger Conquest Costume Burger Ball

Bill's Bar
http://www.billsbarandburger.com/
22 Ninth Ave
New York, NY 10014

THE STORY
You've seen "Back to the Future" right? Kid from the future has a crazy inventor friend who makes a time machine. In a random turn of events, he ends up in the past as a high school student at his parent's school and is instantly the cool new guy on the block, thus changing his parents lives and in turn his own future? Well that's kind of like the B.R. Guest restaurant in NYC, Bill's Bar. Follow me...

About 3 weeks ago, Bill's Bar opened and the Burgeratti all exploded onto the nets with praise and adoration; A Hamburger Today, Hamburger America, The Feedbag, Eater, Grub Street.
So Marty McFly = Bill's Bar and High School = New York City, although I am not sure who is Biff Tannen in this comparison. Maybe Josh Ozersky (ha!) Actually, since he introduced me to Donna at B.R. Guests, I guess that makes him more like George McFly...but I digress.

Bill's Bar is located in NYC's where The Hog Pit used to be in the meat packing district. They use the ever popular Pat La Frieda for their ground beef and prepare their burgers smash style (wad of beef literally gets smashed onto the cooking surface) on a Keating Miraclean flat top griddle. So with the promise of tasty burgers and the need to come up with my own review but stand out from the rest of my burger buds, I emailed Team Burger and invited them too...

THE FIRST EVER BURGER CONQUEST COSTUME BURGER BALL!!

THE BURGER
13 of us rolled into Bill's this rainy Halloween even ready to do some damage. The extremely friendly and accommodating staff lead us to 3 tables in the back where we stared to look over the menu. Bill's serves up 6 choices of burgers including the Burgeratti fave, "The Bobcat." The inspiration behind this burger topped with green chiles and jack cheese is from the famed Bobcat Bite in Santa Fe, NM. Which is what I ordered. When I asked "how are the burgers prepared" I was told that the 5 ounces patties are "cooked for about 90 seconds but we'll try to get it as rare as possible for you."

Served on a squishy sesame seed bun and with lettuce, this burger packs a tasty flavor. The meat is slightly crisp on the outside and had a very salty flavor, which is exactly how I like it! I expected the chiles to be a little hotter and a little smokier but the cheese really blended into the overall flavor of the sandwich. Maybe this bad boy was way too hyped up but I expected to love it more than I did.

And that is exactly why, I ordered a 2nd burger, this time with just cheese and lettuce. I am glad I did because the 2nd burger was fantastic. As much as I love a burger with bacon, egg, cheese, peanut butter and fried bananas (see Vortex), I'm really quite happy with a simple bun, lettuce, cheese and patty combo. The Bill's Classic was fantastic and bursting with burgery goodness. In retro, getting both burgers was the right call, although I will say, the bottom half of the bun really held no support for the sandwich.

With a decent selection of beers, Bill's offers more than just a great burger. We also tried the creamsicle shake which was creamy and delicious and an Oreo Shake with Jameson Whiskey in it. This thing was sent down to us from the food and liquor heavens and thank you to Tom for having the head space to order it. The fries were crispy and good but the real potato win was the NJ influenced "Disco Fries" smothered in cheese sauce and gravy. We also dove into a plate of boneless wings and as much I would like to tell you whether the sauce was good or not, they were simply covered in Frank's Red Hot. How can you go wrong with that? The specialty food item of the menu, Crispy Veggie Fries. The name is a bit of a misnomer as these are more like tempura vegetables and are damn tasty.

With all this foodie goodness, I have to tell you the absolute winner here, and Matt will agree with me, especially after his double patty chili covered monstrosity (I love you Matt) that the Beer Battered Onion Rings were the best God Damn Onion Rings on the planet! I have never had better tasting, more perfectly fried O-Rings in my life. Don't you hate it when you bite into them and the stringy onion comes slopping out of the fried batter like a tape worm trying to escape a hole? Gross. NOT THESE SUCKERS! Every bite goes right through to give you a perfect mix of onion and batter.

Thanks to the Bill's Bar staff and B.R. Guest for a great time and a great meal. Thanks to Team Burger for eating in costume. Me, I am the black colored robot from the future named Bronar, shoving a burger into my mechanical face.


8 out of 10 ounces
-Rev

Stand - Getting Sucked In AGAIN By the Weissman

Stand
http://www.standburger.com/
24 E. 12th St
New York, NY 10003

THE STORY
After eating burgers or steak for 6 days straight, I swore I would eat healthy today. I had been doing really good until I got up from my desk to go get a soda at the University Place Gourmet and ran into my business partner Mark. Mark is one of the nicest and most passionate people I have ever met. When he gets into something, he goes the full distance and commits himself 110% It makes him a great business man, friend, husband and father of 2. It also makes him an absolutely fiendish, crack-like addicted fan of Stand. While Matt, Adam and I were on our way to the bodega, we bumped into Mark who begged us to go get lunch with him at Stand. This has happened before so I really shouldn't be surprised.

THE BURGER
While I had already eaten a grilled chicken and green beans Lean Cuisine, I wasn't all that hungry, but if you know me, I can't turn down a burger. I ordered a mini-burger with white American. It's served on a tiny little brioche with ketchup and pickles, both of which I asked to not be on the burger. I also asked for the burger to be served medium-rare which at this size, is a pretty difficult task. Now don't get confused, these are not sliders (generally served smashed and greasy) this was literally a smaller version of their regular-sized burger. The cheese to burger ratio was on the heavy side, due to small size of the patty, but I had no complaints about that! It was a tasty little treat and honestly made me want to go back a 3rd time and finally get the real deal.


7 out of 10 ounces
-Rev

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen - Getting Stoned With an Idol

Schnipper's Quality Kitchen
http://www.schnippers.com/
620 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018

THE STORY
When I started Burger Conquest, it was merely with the intention of sharing my love of burgers with my friends and creating a journal of our burger eating exploits. As the posts went and up and my obsession for burgers grew, I learned of a man, some might call him a legend. His name is George Motz (pronounced Moehts) and he is considered the foremost expert on burgers. How did George earn this level of notoriety? As an award-winning Director of Photography, while looking for a new project to film, George decided to make a film documentary about 8 of his favorite places to eat his favorite food, the hamburger.

In 2005 the film "Hamburger America" debuted on the Sundance Channel. Not one to sit still, George combing his 2 passions, then co-created the NYC Food and Film Festival. Shortly thereafter came the book of the same title but this time with 100 different burger joints reviewed within. He's taught a burger course at NYU and even designed the burger at the NY Water Taxi Beach, appropriately named, the Motz Burger. As burger joints come and go, the book and movie are just not enough to keep the burger community appeased, so George runs a regular blog to keep his fans up to date on his burger adventures. Motz, as most people call him, is the definition of "dedication to a craft." As far as I'm concerned, he is the Indiana Jones of burgers.

So when Adam Kuban, founder of A Hamburger Today, email introduced me to George, I got kind of giddy. When George suggested we get a burger together, I almost became unhinged. The opportunity to meet the lord of the burger was just too damn excited. He suggested we meet up at Schnipper's Quality Kitchen. Jackie and I couldn't wait.

Schnipper's is the creation of 2 brothers named Andrew and Jonathan Schnipper. You may have heard of them as they were the force behind Hale and Hearty Soups. Selling the company off in 2006 left them ready for new pursuits and to quote them; "soup is good food, but when you get right down to it, nothing really beats a quality burger, right?" After what sounds like an amazing road trip, eating food in all 4 corners of the US, they returned back to New York and opened their Quality Kitchen right across from the Port Authority and next to the New York Times. For those of you not familiar with either building, it's the same one that 2 people scaled before getting arrested back in 2008. Although the focus is on burgers, SQK also serves all sort of comfort food like mac and cheese, hot dogs, shakes, sloppy joe's, chicken sandwiches, fish and more. And on this rainy Wednesday, we were about to meet a burger icon inside their restaurant.

THE BURGER
After George arrived and pleasantly greeted us, he approached the the counter and asked if the Schnipper's were in. They were not so George walked us over to the counter and suggested the Hickory Bacon Blue Burger. George also threw a nod towards the Green Chile Burger but I wanted whatever he was going to get. Along with my burger, I ordered the Southwestern Mac & Cheese with roasted poblanos and green onions. George is bursting with excitement and stories and as we played the get to know me game while waiting for our Schnipper's buzzers to go off, we were barely able to complete stories without getting side tracked into other stories. The buzzers went off and we all raced over to the counter to grab our vittles.

The Hickory Bacon Blue Burger comes with bacon, blue cheese, crispy onions, hickory BBQ sauce, lettuce, tomato and Schnipper sauce. A veritable cornucopia of toppings if you will. I was mighty shocked to see George order it as many of his reviews in the book beg readers not to over adorn your burger with toppings and he is constantly claiming favorites to burgers that have nothing on them other than a bun or onions. But in this case, burger monkey see, burger monkey do. When I saw George remove the tomato from his burger, much like I always do, I was stoked. I knew were more alike than I had thought.

A bite or two into the burger and a perplexed looked came across George's face. Mine was tasting pretty good so I was a little weary of what was happening. "They forgot the onions. You gotta have the crispy onions," George proclaimed right before he got up and walked over to the counter to ask for crispy onions. Just as he made his approach, Andrew Schnipper walked into the restaurant and witnessed what was happening. George returned to the table with the onions.

A few moments later, a VERY apologetic Andrew Schnipper came to our table with 2 new Hickory Bacon Blue Burgers. Not one to waste a great burger, I finished the first one before ripping into the 2nd. The 80/20 chuck blended hand-pattied burger was bursting with greasy juices and cooked absolutely perfectly. The measurement of bacon to cheese to crispy onion to meat to sauce to bun was clearly something the Schnipper's had spent hours and hours concocting. This was no ordinary burger, this was an American classic gone to the tastefully extreme.

While the magic flavors of my 2nd burger were doing the happy dance in my mouth, Andrew returned with 3 samplings of their new tomato cheddar soup. I don't like tomato soup but I kind of felt obligated to have a taste. I ATE THE WHOLE THING! It was great, very thick and tasted more like a cheesy Italian pasta sauce then the watery version of tomato soup I am familiar with. As I was putting the finishing touches on the burgers and soup, Andrew returned again with 3 hand-crafted shakes for us to try. The chocolate shake was extremely rich and syrupy, the black and white was decent but not really my bag but the brand new pumpkin spice was from another plane of existence.

While everything we ate was darn-tootin, I am sad to say that the mac & cheese was pretty forgettable. I was hoping for a deeply rich and thick cheese with a nice spicy bite but instead it was watery and the peppers had little to no flavor. Sorry guys, I feel overwhelmed with the desire to ONLY say great things about the place because I loved it, but have to be honest. Everything else though, you need to eat!

Quote of the day goes to Motz. As the meal was coming to an end, George paused, looked up at us and said "I think I'm burger stoned."


8 out of 10 ounces
-Rev

brgr - Tng Brgr Wth Rn Gllsp Frm Ndrth / Th Lmst

brgr
http://brgr.us/
287 7 Ave
New York, NY 10001-6285

Confused by the title of the blog? Here it is with the vowels included;
brgr - Eating A Burger With Aaron Gillespie from Underoath / The Almost

THE STORY
Eating burgers doesn't pay the bills (yet!) so I day light in the rock and roll biz as an artist manager. Most of you loyal readers already know but I like to preface. When I recently discovered that Aaron Gillespie from the bands Underoath and The Almost has his own serious food blog, I asked his manager Randy if we could go out on a Burger Conquest together. Aaron is a great guy with 2 kick ass bands and a massive appetite. They both replied with an emphatic yes! We've all known each other for years but never in the food capacity, so Jackie and I were damn excited to join them.

As Aaron is a gigantic god of rock, we had to adhere to his very busy press schedule which meant choosing a burger near his record label's offices in NYC's Flatiron district. I wanted to pick a spot that none of us had been before. Enter the highly rated brgr. Grass-fed beef is the name of the game here, which is, as brgr says, "higher in Omega-3 Fatty Acids and vitamin E. Our grass-fed beef is also free of artificial hormones, antibiotics and other things that don’t belong in burgers." Grass-fed beef has a much smaller carbon footprint, so it's healthier for both you and the Earth. brgr uses fresh produce, hormone, antibiotic and additive-free milk and they make their own sauces from scratch. You can choose from their suggested burger creations or you can build your own. There is of course a 3rd option...both! Being a cake and eat it too type of guy, that's exactly what I did.

THE BURGER
Aaron and I both ordered the "Blue Sky BRGR" with Roquefort, Bacon, Sweet Onion Marmalade, Lettuce, Tomato and Pickles. They gave us a # and we sat down when only a few moments later, our food arrived. Before I could really get in the obligatory food blogger photos, Aaron had me on camera talking about "The Glorious Pursuit of Delicious Burgers." While I was trying to sop up the messy, messy burger, Marty, brgr's operation manager, came over to say hello. The Roquefort was warm, runny and over powering my sandwich. It made it impossible to actually taste the difference that grass-feeding makes in beef . The bacon and Sweet Onion Marmalade flavors were lost in the quicksand of cheese. The last few bites were just one big soggy blur. Thank god for on-table napkin dispensers!

Marty explained the process through which brgr obtains their meat and the cleanliness of the beef. Grain-fed beef makes for bulkier and fatter cows, whereas grass is the natural diet of a cow and brings forth a natural taste in the beef. Then the questions started. "Did you try the sweet potato fries?" "How about the homemade horseradish dip?" "People claim to love our bacon. Did you get a good taste in the Blue Sky brgr?" The answers to all of the above were a sad "no." Marty, being a man after my own heart, was not going to take "no" as an answer. He and the VERY friendly staff marched out a sampling of each.

Onion Hay - tasty
Fries - good
Fries in herb Mayo - really good
Fries in Horseradish Sauce - great
Sweet Potato Fries - great
Sweet Potato Fries dipped in Horse Radish Sauce - AMAZING!!!
Apple Smoked Bacon - wow! Wow! WOW! - so freaking good!!!
-Aaron was super stoked on this claiming it as "real campfire bacon."

After all that, I felt like I had to give brgr another chance so I marched back up to the counter and ordered a brgr with American Cheese and Lettuce, cooked medium-rare on a whole wheat bun. A good bun is essential to a good burger and whole wheat almost always hit the mark. A much better choice this time as I could get take in the actual flavor of the beef. Their flat top griddle delivered me a very greasy burger with a nice pink inside. I could see how most people would be turned off by the gaminess of their beef. We're used to a salty mix of grain fed beef here in the USofA and to the unfamiliar palette, this could be too different. Me, I liked it. The patty's flavor is more natural and although still juicy, isn't as savory. Bottom line, it's good, go eat one or whole bunch!

When you come to a stop sign, you stop. When you see a sign to yield, you should yield. When you see the sign that says "Signature Blueberry-Pomegranate Shake - Voted Best Milkshake In New York By New York Magazine," you should get a Signature Blueberry-Pomegranate Shake! Too full? Get it in the 5 oz "Shake Shot" size. The idea of a post burger shake makes me think I will instantly need a pillow and a bed in the corner of the restaurant. Normally, I would skip but in this case, you should not. It's creamy but not too thick and bursting with delicious milky-fruity flavor.

"brgr is one of those places that makes you feel good, but it still holds this "gimmicky" feel. They are shooting for something between old world grease shack and an organic, grass fed NYC-goers palace. I liked it, not love like. It's totally fine for lunch, but don't take your mama"
-Aaron Gillespie, Underoath / The Almost

FOODISM MEETS BURGER CONQUEST

Foodism Meets Burger Conquest! from I Surrender on Vimeo.

Click here to check out Aaron's food adventures.


Blue Sky BRGR - 6 out of 10 ounces (left photo)
Cheese BRGR on Wheat - 8 out of 10 ounces (right photo)
-Rev