'I'm a glutton, not a foodie': NYC Burger Club has sampled more than 100 burgers in 10 years
SOHO, Manhattan (PIX11) — The sesame-seed bun, the perfect purple onions, and the dark brown beef made the burger-shaped chocolate cake the best way to toast a decade of devouring New York City's best burgers.
About a dozen members of the NYC Burger Club downed some mezcal margaritas and lagers at Lindens in SoHo Tuesday night to celebrate the group's 10-year anniversary.
“I’m hoping for another 10 years and we can bring our kids. Then they continue the tradition,” said Harlan Dube, co-president of the NYC Burger Club.
“We do this for fun,” said co-president Jonathan Friedman.
The club was formed in 2013 and based on a similar concept Friedman had started while living in Buffalo. The group has sampled more than 100 burgers from the Bronx to Brooklyn, and never at the same place twice. Fast-food joints and diners didn't make the cut.
Dube and Friedman are the only ones in the group who have chowed down on about 120 burgers and each has their favorites, but they do agree Suprema Provisions in Greenwich Village was one of the best. Dube said the burgers at Peter Luger, Red Hook Tavern, and Lot 2 were among the most memorable.
“I’m a glutton, not a foodie,” said Dube, who also ate a burger during happy hour before dinner.
Friedman particularly enjoyed the burgers at Molly’s, an Irish pub in Gramercy Park.
“It was an old-school burger with the perfect bread-to-meat ratio,” he said. “I like simple, delicious, fresh ingredients with the perfect texture.”
Linden’s double cheeseburgers were a hit with everyone crowded around the long, rectangular table -- even the lone vegetarian who enjoyed the restaurant’s impossible cheeseburger. The meat was perfectly medium-rare and topped with melted cheese, grilled onions, and a cherry-pepper relish.
"This is good. It has a good meat-to-bun ratio," one of the members said.
Before the burgers and rosemary fries were served, the crew dined on some delicious spring-carrot ravioli and pillowy Yukon potato gnocchi appetizers. Two more ravioli plates were ordered as the group -- bonded by their love for the jam band Phish -- discussed work, relationships, and becoming first-time parents.
"When we started this, we looked at it as something to do like on Monday to have something we can look forward to," Friedman said.
After a couple of hours had passed, the waitress came out with the burger-themed chocolate cake with a lit candle on top. Fried dough sticks acted as fries and raspberry chocolate sauce mimicked the ketchup.
Friedman, who ordered the cake as a special surprise for the occasion, did the honor of cutting a slice for everyone at the table. The waitress and kitchen crew enjoyed the leftover dessert.
The guest check along the cake read: "Well done NYC Burger Club."
Well done, indeed.
For more information on the group, follow them on Instagram.