A Hamburger Today- aht.seriouseats.com

Review: DuMont Burger

Posted by Adam Kuban, December 5, 2005 at 10:00 AM

Cleaned the apartment, put up the Christmas tree, and took care of some business around AHT HQ, so I thought it was ripe time to reward myself with a meaty meal. DuMont Burger, which opened a few weeks ago, seemed a good choice.

The small space (about 25 seats total) is rustic and minimal, combining the warmth of an Irish pub with a sort of Japanese design sensibility—lots of solid wood sufaces with clean lines. Sounds crazy, but go and you'll see. Not surprisingly, it serves what I'd call a pub-style burger: large, fist-sized patties that are more barely flattened meatballs than uniformly thin pucks of beef.

DuMont Burger is a spin-off of the well-regarded DuMont on Union Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, and the burger is unchanged from the parent restaurant, with the exception that a DuMont Mini is available on the burger joint's more limited menu. Though touted as a "mini" on paper, it's definitely not a slider as was my first impression, but a more managable 5 oz. version of the 9 oz. regular burger. Both come on a large grilled brioche bun with a thick slice of tomato, a leaf of Boston Bibb lettuce, raw red onion, and sweet pickle chips. Choice of salad or fries is standard.

I ordered mine cooked medium with American cheese (cheddar, Danish blue, Gruyere, and Monterey Jack are also options), and it arrived at table more a medium-rare (which is my preference, anyway). My dining companion's was also undercooked a bit, more a medium though she had ordered medium-well. As I said, the regular burger is thick, too thick for my taste, especially with toppings added—I don't have a snake's hinged jaw. But it was good—plenty juicy with just the right hint of char from the grill. Though I kept eyeing my companion's DuMont Mini and its apparent ease of consumption.

I'm not usually one to remark on sides, but the onion rings (always a bonus in my book when a burger joint offers them) were absolutely perfect: nice rings of real, sweet onion as opposed to that nasty diced-filling bullshit, encased by a perfectly fried golden brown batter that was light and crisp yet persistent enough to stick with the onion bite after bite and not crumble apart.

Other options exist on the menu, but you're not here to read about them. Feel free to peruse the menu at right (click to enlarge) for enlightenment, however.

DUMONT BURGER
Location: 314 Bedford Ave., Brooklyn NY (Williamsburg)
Phone: 718-384-6127
Cost: DuMont Burger, $9.50 (9 oz. patty, with salad or fries); DuMont Mini, $7 (5 oz. patty, with salad or fries)

5 Comments | Tags: Adam, Burger Map Pinpoint, countries, New York, NYC, reviews, U.S.