A pilgrimage to hamburger mecca

Does anyone else remember that article from a May 2009 issue of the New York Times about the Burger of the Month Club? Well I still do and I'll paraphrase it for you: there's a small group of professional men (mostly businessmen and attorneys) who meet every Monday at a local burger establishment to eat and then rate the restaurant's hamburger. These seven guys have named themselves the Burger of the Month Club and you can find the rankings of all of the hamburgers they've sampled at www.burgerrankings.com.

Back when the article was published, the club had sampled and analyzed 47 hamburgers since 2005 and among those 47, the burger at Peter Luger's came out on top. I checked their website again today and Peter Luger's is still number one on their list of the city's top ten burgers, though I can't tell when the site was last updated.

While I do not think my arteries would appreciate it if I ate a hamburger every single Monday, I do like to eat them from time to time (as long as I don't think they're made from industrial ground beef which could leave me with an e-coli souvenir). So last Monday, I took the M train out to Williamsburg, Brooklyn to have a taste of what some burger afficionados consider the best burger in New York.

I have been to Peter Luger's, a celebrated steakhouse around these parts, one other time and loved the steak but did not enjoy the rest of the meal due to the long wait for our table even with a reservation, the rude waiters, the lack of wines by the glass, the mediocre side dishes, and most of all, the massive bill. But lunch on Monday was actually great. We had a 12:45 reservation and were seated at . . . 12:45! Also, our waiter was very friendly and didn't give us any attitude when we only ordered $10 hamburgers (cheese, bacon, and fries are all extra) instead of $50 porterhouse steaks. (The Burger of the Month Club had reported that their snobby waiter at Peter Luger's had asked "Are all you guys ordering burgers? I don't do burgers," and then sent over a replacement waiter to finish taking their order.)

But the main attraction was the burger - made from their hand-picked USDA Prime beef which they grind in-house -- no ammonia-treated and ambiguously-sourced "meat trimmings" here. I can certainly see what all the fuss was about - it was excellent. Specifically, the beef itself was very tasty, and I was very pleased with the amount of American cheese, which I consider less greasy than melted cheddar, the toasted sesame bun, and the bun-burger ratio -- the patty fit perfectly on top of the bun. I also liked that the burger came with a thick slice of raw onion since it can be annoying to have to flag down your waiter to ask for that if it is not included on the plate. I will say that the burger itself was slightly more cooked than I would have liked, but I imagine that the burgers are grilled on the same SUPER hot grill that cooks the steaks, which could make it hard to control how fast they cook.

If you are interested in trying a burger at Peter Luger's, keep in mind that they only serve them until 3pm and that they don't take credit cards.

As a post script, I will admit that a few days later I had a cheeseburger at Bobby Van's Grill Room, which appears as number five on the Burger of the Month Club's rankings, and it was even better. Bobby Van's also grinds their own meat and all of their burgers come with a large serving of french fries AND onion rings for $15. My burger was cooked perfectly - pink but not red in the center, and when you factor in the fact that I didn't have to take the J or M train to Marcy Avenue in Brooklyn, I'd say it is easily bests Luger's.