Across the Burger Spectrum

Weeks researching healthy eating and wellness for my Master’s project left me with an insatiable craving for a burger (ironic.)

There is no shortage of burger joints in NYC, the most famous being Danny Meyer’s Shake Shack. I wasn’t willing to spend hours in line, so Keith and I went to BLT Burger in the West Village on Sunday. BLT Burger is part of Chef Laurent Tourondel’s Bistro Laurent Tourondel restaurant line, which also includes BLT Fish, BLT Steak, BLT Prime and BLT Market.

I got a Great Hills Blue burger, with caramelized onions, blue cheese and mushrooms. Keith got a buffalo chicken burger, which came with a blue cheese-ranch dressing. Both were delicious and super filling. We also got waffle bites, waffle fries topped with sour cream, cheddar, bacon bits and jalapenos, and fried pickles, which were dusted with cayenne and came with ranch dressing. They were a lot better than I had expected and reminded me a little of the beer-battered string beans at The Smith.

Though our gourmet burgers at BLT were delicious, there’s nothing quite like a fast-food burger. And what fast-food burger is better than the bite-size ones from White Castle? (Answer: nothing.)

Sadly, Neil Patrick Harris did not join us.

As Harold and Kumar know well, no distance is too great for White Castle, so Keith and I trekked to Brooklyn for the tiny burgers (it’s actually not that far away — there’s one two subway stops from Keith’s apartment in downtown Bk).

It was everything I imagined my first White Castle experience in 15 years would be. Minus a few bums the place was empty, the burgers satisfied my fast-food craving and the onion rings were really good. We were back at Keith’s place in less than an hour — super-fast food.