PrintReview: Burke in the Box
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky holds a David Burke slider. Side-on, you can see the crispness of the meat and the juices soaking into the mini English muffin. A presentation befitting these artful yet no-nonsense miniburgers; $8.95 for 3 "Cheeseburkers" and fries.
Josh "Mr. Cutlets" Ozersky raved earlier this week on Slashfood, and in an e-mail to me, about the "reinvented" sliders at David Burke's new café at Bloomingdale's in Midtown Manhattan. "You have to try them!" he said.
So try them we did. Yesterday at lunch, Matty and I met Josh at Burke in the Box, as the long, narrow, handsome space is called.
As is usually the case, Josh was right when he described these tiny hamburgers: "[this] sandwich approaches perfection on its own terms, and its outside deep crunch and rich inside softness are wildly dramatic, especially in a sandwich so small."
Burke, who stepped away from expediting orders at the take-out counter, took some time to tell us how he crafts these mini masterpieces (right).
First, he starts by cutting a mini English muffin about three-quarters from the bottom. The thick part of the muffin is then scooped out, and a hearty meatball of raw Creekstone Farms Black Angus beef is nestled snugly into this spongy bed.
Burke assembles a tray of these little guys and bakes them. As the fat renders out as juice (Burke uses 80% lean beef), it is absorbed by the muffin. You'd think this would make for a soggy "bun," but no: The muffin stands up to the juices, captures them for your pleasure, and actually becomes crisp on the bottom in the process. The meat is topped with a pickle slice and just the right amount of cheese. A cherry tomato half is speared atop the whole affair, but it's more garnish than an integral part of the burger.
Because they're baked in batches beforehand, you can't order them to your preferred doneness. We asked for ours medium-rare and were told they'd be more along the lines of medium. Still, looking at the cross section (left), you can see the soft, pink interior—and the copious amount of juice melted into the muffin bottom.
This slider is almost magical, packing all the taste, juice, and punch of a burger four times its size into a fun, tiny, two- or three-bite package. In fact, it's almost ludicrous to call it a slider, as that nickname derives from the way White Castle's original Slyder, all mushy and greasy, just seems to slip down your throat—and then out your other end a few hours later. Burke's "Cheeseburker," in contrast, is all crunch on the outside and smooth and molten inside, managing to avoid the pitfall of dryness that typically plague the beefed-up school of sliderdom.
From work, Matty has only a 10-block walk to Burke in the Box. I have a short train ride. I'm sure we'll be meeting there for lunch again soon.
BURKE IN THE BOX
Location: 150 East 59th Street (b/n Lex. and Third aves.), Midtown, NYC
Phone: 212-705-3800
Cost: $8.95 for 3 "Cheeseburkers" and fries
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16 Comments:
Those look superb, simply fantastic. I have a couple questions. Those buns. From what you state they are precooked before the assembly. They do not look like English muffins per se though. They look like bisquits. Sort of like the bisquity crust on Chicago style pizzas (sin!) meets yeast rolls. Can you describe them a bit more? I want to try this at home.
Hamburger Tony Bonz at 10:12AM on 12/16/05
Tony, you're right. These aren't traditional english muffins; they're more dense. I wish I could say I was paying closer attention to the exact consistency of the bun while eating, but I was far too occupied with the meat! If I had to guess, If you live in NYC, you should stop by and ask David Burke yourself. He was very happy to talk to us about the details of the burgers.
capndesign at 11:30AM on 12/16/05
Those sliders and the In-n-out "protein-style" burgers are the strangest looking burgers I've ever seen.
Hamburger Gerald at 9:51AM on 12/17/05
Those fry cups look interesting. Was there any particular function to the side flaps? I'll buy someones lunch if they take some more photos of the packaging there and send me a fry cup (empty, but in good shape). Im opening a burger joint (in Bellingham WA) and'm looking for interesting packaging ideas. Any takers?
Hamburger DeuxCV at 11:01AM on 12/17/05
Tony: The "buns" have already been baked before the meat is added. They're definitely not biscuits. They're neither sweet not crumbly, like a biscuit would be. They mini English muffins, perhaps a bit more dense crumbwise than a usual English muffin (as Matty indicated), but they taste like English muffins and are as spongy and ready to absorb the meat juices. Mmm.
Not sure where David Burke gets them. But if you're trying it at home, you might want to look in the grocery for these things. I've never seen them, but then again, I've never really looked for tiny English muffins. You might be able to bake them yourself using mini-muffin tins.
DeuxCV: The fry cups definitely look custom-made. I didn't really take any great photos of them because I'm not so much into fries. Anyway, the fry cups looked like little chef's toques. They were octagonal in shape or maybe they were decagons. I don't remember. They had slits in them so they'd puff out a bit, and the interior had a handsome stripe pattern to it a la Paul Smith. Definitely custom made, I'd say, and probably not cheap, either.
Adam Kuban at 3:11PM on 12/17/05
Oh My Goodness.
That looks incredible.
I am drooling at work right now.
And you're so lucky you got to speak with Mr. DB himself.
Headin ' over there pronto!
Hamburger Mona at 1:14PM on 12/18/05
Went on Saturday. The burgers are phenomenal. However, it's less of a deal now than as it was when you first reviewed it -- the price seems to have been increased to $9.95, and the french fries are extra.
Hamburger Ravi at 10:10AM on 12/28/05
Checked it out today. The burgers, as expected, were great. But watch, if you go to the "sit-down" side then it's $14.95 for 3 sliders! Ouch! The fries were also standard McDonalds-style, not as nice as they look in the photo.
Hamburger Chris at 6:19PM on 12/30/05
Sadly, my fries and sliders were less than warm. I had to send both back.
This place is a victim of its own success and was extremely chaotic during my vist.
Hamburger Graham at 7:06PM on 12/31/05
I second Graham's sentiments, though the place was not too busy when I was there today. Although the flavor was good, the low food temperature, awful service and poor value make this one burger place I'll be unlikely to revisit.
Hamburger Greg at 2:59PM on 01/03/06
AHT is mentioned in About.com's list of good food blogs.
Hamburger Robyn at 3:19PM on 01/05/06
Tried them today and thought that they sucked. All style, and no substance. Ultra-lean meat which was bone dry and tasteless despite being served rare. A poor bargain at any price, but an absurd rip-off for $15. Unless you are the type to award points for style, and not just taste, give it a miss.
Hamburger Makanmata at 7:06PM on 01/22/06
ate there today. got delayed and had to dartin at about 4:00pm. Rotten experience. Burgers were not even close to good. I really think I got a microwaved burger from earlier in the lunch rush. The buger was cold on the inside, over done and the muffin? bread? was somewhat rubbery. Now even if the buger was overcooked, its center could not lose heat so fast that it was cold while the outside was hot. And at least in this burger lover's book, microwaved burgers, in any shape or form, should just not be served in a restaurant, for which i was charged nearly 14 bucks. i guess the moral of the story is only go if you know when the burgers will be hot out of the first oven it meets, because reheaters one this type of burger suck.
Hamburger bgm at 10:08PM on 01/23/06
We had some shopping to do in this specific part of town, and fitted in a quick, sit-down lunch at Burke's. Won't be going back. Not that it was so horrible, but our $72+ check for two at lunch got us a shared entree salad, two sandwich plates, one dessert, a mineral water and a Bass Ale (they were out of Negra when we visited). One of the sandwich plates was the chicken-on-pretzel-bread, which ended up being boredom-on-a-plate. I got the cheeseburger sliders, and it's actually pretty extraordinary how my feelings are almost exactly summarized by the most recent preceding comments, as though the quality has been steadily going down. They weren't very warm, the cheese wasn't melted, and the half-cherry tomato slices on top didn't taste very fresh (was I supposed to eat them?). Beef tasted pretty OK, but even that was tough to tell because of the temperature issue and because they were cooked medium (I prefer very rare, but I get it that you don't get to choose here). I could almost forgive the whole experience but for the cost: this was, INCLUDING my beer, at best a $30 lunch EVEN by Manhattan's costly standards, not over twice that! Maybe the thing that most lingered for me was seeing an ordinary looking young woman carted out of a nearby Bloomingdale's side door on an apparent shoplifting beef; the food didn't compare to that car wreck.
Hamburger La Famiglia Brambilla at 7:06PM on 02/05/06
Just had lunch at Burke in the Box on 11/7/06, for convenience sake. The three-pack of sliders and fries is now up to $14.95 (!). (When I moaned about this place in my earlier comment months ago, part of the reason is because I thought $12.95 was too much.) I don't have my digitizer handy, but that feels like a 60-70% price increase since the launch less than a year ago, and the economy ain't that bad. Even worse, while I recognize the patties are supposed to be small, they're now too small generally, and this is particularly bad if you want your burgers something other than well done, because of the pre-baked cooking process. Not to mention, they're really not any kind of meal, particularly if one's trying to go light on the excellent fries (included). I exposed my last slider patty to the light, and its general size resembled two camera film container caps stacked on each other. Bottom line: minimal burger satisfaction. I'd skip Burke in the Box and just grab a plain-flavored Bloomingdale's frozen yogurt at 40 Carrots downstairs - it's the best of its kind I've tried.
Hamburger Sandro Battaglia at 3:24PM on 11/08/06
I personsally think David burke is good at what he does but The food has too many negative comments in foxwoods i know because i work at the burke in the box in foxwoods. Please help me out i want to see David burke succeed in his franchise but at the rate of progress i dont think it will make it too far i am not trying to put him down in any way but I think we have some work to do. Please write back with any questions or email me at bredsox1987@yahoo.com
chewdoin at 11:10PM on 05/26/08