Black Iron Burger

Here she is, your Black Iron Burger. I stopped in for lunch today to see what all the fuss was over the $8,000 Keating Miraclean griddle. Apparently, this thing doesn't ever get seasoned, so the first burger cooked on it should taste the same as one cooked on it ten years from now. Usually, any cook will tell you that meat sizzled on a seasoned pan tastes better than one cooked on an unseasoned pan, so I was curious about how this burger would taste.

And the answer is...pretty great. It's what I think of as an LA-style burger—a flat-pattied, thinnish, easily wrangled burger that you can eat with one hand. Personally, I prefer messy, fat burgers like you find at Donovan's Pub in Woodside, Queens, but I can appreciate both sorts.

I ordered the Black Iron burger medium-rare. The patty was pink all the way through, with a well-seasoned outer crust. I do think that if the burger were cooked over medium-rare, the patty might dry out because it's thin. As it was, the burger spurted juice, and the bottom of the bun was moistened with its drippings. The bun itself is an unassuming sesame roll. I'd say this is a very respectable burger, and it's $7—not cheap for a burger, but not unreasonable either.

I ordered the fried, pickled green tomatoes on the side. Very tart, very fried, nice.

540 East 5th Street
212-677-6067

Fried pickled green tomatoes