Burger Binge

Over the past couple of months, this blog has explored a wide array of different exciting food options that are available around the Big Apple. We explored foods like cactus tacos, raw beef, chicken feet, arancino, spicy ice creams, and other crazy, completely out of the ordinary foods for the most daring of food-lovers. We took a look at the foods of a wide variety of cultures including Chinese, Ethiopian, Mexican, Korean, Halal, Sicilian, and others. We saw that restaurants can go for a specific specialty (such as meatballs, tacos, or chicken and waffles), or can have a host of different foods like in markets such as the Chelsea Market or the Essex Street Market. Through all of these completely different options it is not difficult to see that in New York City, someone can find just about anything that could possibly be consumed.

But what if on a particular day we are not actually feeling quite daring enough for all the crazy things listed above? Sometimes when we’re hungry we can’t handle the stress of trying new, but rather want something both delicious and familiar. Whenever I’m not in the mood for anything quite too fancy, there is one thing that I crave… And that’s a good burger.

New York City has so many burger joints it would be impossible for me to list every single restaurant that I have ever left perfectly satisfied and extremely impressed, so I will have to only list a few highlights. As has been an underlying theme of the entire blog, one of the best places to get any meal in New York City is Williamsburg, Greenpoint. Conveniently, one of the best burgers to be had in the city is no more than a four minute walk away from my house in a cozy, brand new restaurant called River Styx. Right on the Hudson River, River Styx has gorgeous views of Manhattan, an extremely cool and hip vibe, and of course, a great burger. Often what makes one burger stand out from all the rest is its sauce, and River Styx has their’s down to a science. Perfectly creamy with just the right amount of spice, the Styx Sauce takes juicy burgers to a whole new level.

The Williamsburg Bridge- MugurM

Another great joint is simply called Diner, and is worth visiting for it’s atmosphere alone. Almost the entire restaurant (except for a small expansion) is in an old subway car from the 1920s, and is located right below the incredibly beautiful Williamsburg Bridge. Their grass-fed burger (recommended to be ordered rare) is quite literally the tenderest burger that I have ever eaten. If you’re not one to believe in organic, grass-fed burger meat, this diner will almost certainly change your mind.

Shake Shack in Madison Square Park- Wikimedia

And of course, no burger blog post could be completed without mentioning Shake Shack, the most well-known burger chain in all of New York City. Shake Shack not only has the best fast-food style hamburgers (for a relatively cheap price), but also has some of the best ice-cream shakes in the entire city. If somehow you have still not experienced the burgers and shakes of Shake Shack yet, I urge you to make your way to NYC as soon as you possibly can to finally get a taste. And of course, if you are ever near Williamsburg in Brooklyn, River Styx and Diner are must sees for any burger lover as well.

Food Fusion

New York is widely known for it’s unique ability to draw in millions of people from vastly different cultures around the world. New York’s stunning diversity can be seen in a plethora of different ways including through it’s many cultural neighborhoods, nearly one hundred different museums, world-renowned parades and celebrations, hundreds of monuments, and of course… it’s food. New York City is home to every cultural food known to man, and indeed a hungry tourist could find just about any food culture that he/she could possibly bring to mind. In fact, there is so much food culture in New York that very often restaurant’s won’t commit to just one kind.

At the forefront of culinary innovation is fusion cuisine, a unique style of food that combines the traditions of two or more completely different cultures to create one, all new, unique take on old favorites. Fusion restaurants have become quite hip, and restaurants with the most unlikely combinations can become the next big craze.

Lucky Luna's Daily Specials

A particular fusion that comes to mind is the strange combination of Mexican and Taiwanese foods popularized by Lucky Luna, a small family-owned eatery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. A family with both Mexican and Taiwanese heritage that wanted to borrow the best aspects of both their Mexican and Taiwanese cooking in clever new ways and Lucky Luna was born.

As soon as a hungry customer walks into Lucky Luna they can tell that they are in for a more exciting food experience than they could have hoped for when they look around at the inside of the modest space beautifully decorated with arts with both Mexican and Taiwanese flairs. Once the menu is casually dropped off at the table it is hard to wait to see what crazy concoctions a mix of two seemingly opposite foods could conjure up. It can be impossible to decide what to order off of a menu as complex as Lucky Luna’s, but it would be criminal to pass over Lucky Luna’s signature dishes: their taco’s and steamed buns.

Lucky Luna's Chorizo and Pork Belly Taco's

On my trip to Lucky Luna I made sure to try as many different tacos and buns as I could, and ended up ordering one Duck Confit Bao (bun), one Pork Belly Bao, one Chorizo and Potato taco, and one Pork Belly and Kimchee taco. Starting with the buns, I was immediately impressed by the luscious, soft, steamed bun made right in Brooklyn and the soft tender meat of duck and pork. Each of the buns had a deliciously creamy sauce that combined the sweetness of Taiwanese cuisine with the spicy kick one would expect from a Mexican taco. The taco’s were just as good with flavorful combinations of hot, savory pork and chorizo and cool, crisp veggies on a warm tortilla. The chorizo taco was particularly good, combining the classic Mexican hot chorizo with creamy aioli.

No matter where you are in New York City, it’s worth the short subway ride to get down to Greenpoint, Brooklyn and try the delicious Taiwanese-Mexican fusion offered by Lucky Luna.