Friday, January 15, 2010

Quest: BBW

Beacon in NYC- New American Open Fire Cooking- close but no cigar.  This was a learning experience for your humble reviewer.

The burger was stylishly thick, with a nice soft bun, like a Challah bread.  I ordered it medium, and it came that way.  The outside was charred perfectly, a nice 1/8th inch crust surrounding the pink interior.   Unfortunately the crust and appearance were the only meat centric qualities to remark.  I made the mistake of ordering Roquefort cheese.  Don't do this again! This cheese was very nice quality, and so in retrospect it is only predictable that it was overpowering.  The bacon too was wood fired, almost to a char and very delicious.

The accoutrements: grilled and spiced onions, wonderful; seasoned tomato, very good; the house made ketchup, a real treat and just right; fries, nicely seasoned with parsley and garlic, proper thin cut and well fried in clean oil;

Brussel sprouts with chestnuts- very nice complimentary tastes we would replicate, with much less oil.  WOW they were oily, but not to their benefit.  May I suggest brown butter?  The sprouts themselves were so tiny and cute, cooked to a very soft doneness.  The grilled artichoke? lotsa garlic, so that is good.  But the artichoke itself was tasteless.  The oil here too was over the top.

The dessert was better than we normally get.  A beautiful chocolate cake, fit for a patisserie, with house made butterscotch (not caramel, anyone can do that), and fire roasted vanilla ice cream.  Yes fire roasted vanilla does taste good.

In summary, this burger was a contender, it was good.  It was not world class.  Not the BBW- Best Burger in the World.  NYC, you can do better!

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