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Best Burger in the City!
Unless you've been living under a pretzel bun, you've probably heard of April Bloomfield & Ken Friedman—chef/owner and owner of restaurants the Spotted Pig & the Breslin, homes to two of the very best burgers in the city. Last week they opened Salvation Burger, an all-burger establishment on East 51st street. I happen to work on East 52nd. Needless to say I went to Salvation Burger twice in the first five days it was open.
What's in a Name? Friedman and Bloomfield have a Mexican place called Salvation Taco in a former Salvation Army space adjacent to the Pod 39 Hotel. So now "Salvation" has apparently become their brand. Also, Salvation Burger is connected to the Pod 51 Hotel. Synergy!
Let's talk food first, restaurant second.
Above you see the establishment's eponymous Salvation Burger. It's a thick beefy wonder made from house butchered meat on a house baked bun with a healthy dose of carmelized onions and taleggio cheese. Absolutely delcious, a solid A. $25.
But Salvation Burger's Salvation Burger isn't the burger I brought you here to talk about today...
No. I want to talk about Salvation Burger's "Classic"--two thin patties with house-made pickles and two slices of mind-blowing housemade processed cheese on a special sauce slathered house-baked sesame seed bun--this burger is a hot, greasey, messy wonder. Clearly the product of extensive R&D, this is a burger born to take you places not many other burgers can go. It is, hands down, unequivocally, undoubtedly the best burger I have had in this city, or any other city, for a VERY long time and by an extremely wide margin. It is absolute perfection. A bite in I had to pause to stare at it in wonder, then got right back to business. I miss this burger when it's not around and overdo it when I try to tell people about it. A+++. The best. $17.
Other things to eat at Salvation Burger...
On visit #1 to Salvation Burger our server informed us that they did not have the establishment's namesake burger that day, but they did have a burger that used the same patty with the same cheese and carmelized onions, PLUS bacon. So they didn't have any Salvation Burgers that day. But they DID have a Bacon Salvation Burger. $35 "Combo" with fries.
Speaking of fries...the fries I was served with the bacon burger on my first visit were hot and salty heaven. On the second visit, my a la carte fries were limp and sweaty. Proceed with caution. $7.
Everything Bloomfield cooks is delicious, so why not order salads at her burger restaurant? Above #1, ribbons of raw vegetables with pistachios, yogurt and hummus. $11 or 13, can't remember. Above #2, Green salad with buttermilk dressing and poppy seeds.
I say order a salad and pass on the hit or miss fries.
Other things that are on the menu: a fish sandwich, house-smoked hot dogs, deep fried fruit pies, shakes, and slices of pie--all things I'd try if I couldn't be eating a Classic instead.
Now, some caveats to my extreme endorsement of Salvation Burger:
Price -- listen, I'll just say it, this place is spendy. Maybe you thought those prices above weren't so bad figuring the burgers came with fries. But they don't come with fries. Sure, in house everything isn't cheap and the food quality is off the chart but $17 or $25 for a burger? That's a ton of money. And consider that the famous DB Bistro Moderne short rib, truffle, and fois gras burger with fries costs as much as the bacon cheeseburger and fries. Salvation Burger is expensive! That's all there is to it. But the classic double costing $17 is probably the only thing keeping me from trying to get it for lunch everyday, so it may all be for the best.
Service -- I'll spare you the sour grapes bullet points of all the things the SB staff messed up on my first two visits in hopes that it was just first week open, wobbling without training wheels stuff that will smooth out soon but, really, any annoying restaurant mistake that can be made was made in those two visits. Right now I'm recommending the food whole-heartedly and super enthusiastically, not the restaurant.
I don't want to end negatively, so here's a picture of the Classic from my second visit:
And here's the giardiniera plate our server brought us instead of the green salad we ordered, but we got that straightened out and we were comped the giardinerra plate. But then charged for it. But then that got cleared up. Sorry! Wait! Was trying to end positive.
2015 is Done, 2016 has Begun
New Year's Eve. I wasn't exactly sure what to do, so I texted Andrea to see if she knew about anything and we were back and forth about some stuff and then we both started joking about going to Times Square but we weren't sure if the other person was joking about Times Square so basically we got into a game of Chicken over going to Times Square and next thing you know, yep, we went to Times Square for New Years.
But I started off in Rockefeller Center. I was worried I wouldn't hear "All I Want for Christmas Is You" while I was there. Ha! A foolish worry. I heard it at least three times.
In case you ever do Times Square, this is what I learned: We got there at basically 3:30 and stood at Broadway and 49th. This is too far away to hear any of the performers or get any confetti on you. If you want one of those spots, you probably need to be there by noon. You cannot leave to use the bathroom and come back, so make sure you're not going to need a bathroom. Pizza guys kept coming around to sell pizzas and somehow a group by us got a bucket of KFC. They fill corrals full of people up then close them off, it's good crowd control. It was crowded in there but not tight. You do not feel like you're going to die. If you're going to go, go with someone you know you can talk with for 8 hours but also someone you might be able to hold a 2 hr. Silent Game competition with. Also, bring a book if you think you can read with so much going on around you. OR be like the people next to us and form a summer camp for the evening, playing games and singing songs and building bonds.
The worst line and worst crowd of the evening was just to get over to Broadway, after that things opened up
First restaurant meal of 2016? The new Fu-Kette (pronounced like that Thai city) off-menu sandwich at Fuku—fried chicken plus a smoky, peanutty slaw and some cilantro sprigs. Very good. Nice switch up from a "plain" Fuku sandwich, not that I'm not craving those on the regular.
Restaurant meal #3—Mission Cantina with Lucas and Brette.
Not only has the menu been infiltrated by Chinese/Mex (see the General Tso taco on the left)...
But they also serve full-on Chinese-American food now. Check out the roll of this egg roll
This nice bowl of hot and sour soup.
Kung Pao Chicken, crab rangoon, and chicken finger fried rice
Miscellaneous Lower East Side photos
Look at this nice Wendy's
Burger King taking shots at the Wendy's 4 for $4 menu
Restaurant No. Who Evens knows--up to East Harlem to investigate something: Rumor was our beloved Casa de los Tacos/La Cabaña had moved to 120th street. Research confirmed that it had. Nice new little place. Tostadas still nice, chips complientary, tortas a little smaller. Huge mistake of mine: didn't try any tacos. Don't worry! Will be back.
Such a subtle point at the watch to drive the point home
Speaking of "home", I was apartment hunting that day. Wound up taking the third one I saw. That wasn't so hard. So I'm moving up to East Harlem real soon. To be close to all my tacos.
Then another Saturday, celebrating Kristin's birthday with the roast duck feast at the Ssam Bar. It had been a few years since I last had it.
Also: Ham, biscuits, kimchi apple salad, roast potatoes, friends.
And then that night: a visit to Ice and Vice with a renowned ice cream expert/enthusiast
Ok, visit again soon for, I don't know, pictures of the snow and my move to East Harlem or something.