Energy Kitchen

I’ve had Energy Kitchen on my list of veggie-burgers-to-try for awhile, so when I heard that they were doing a special promotion where all their burgers are only $5 for the month of June, I decided to move it up to the top of the list.



When I arrived at the 23rd Street location, I placed my order and was given this buzzer that would let me know when my burger was ready – I’ve seen these before at big sit-down franchise restaurants, but never at fast food places until now. There was a line of people all holding buzzers waiting for their food to be ready. I was here on a weekday at lunchtime, so this “line” was actually more like a crowded cluster of very hungry people!


This was how my burger was served – all wrapped up (doesn’t it look so round, kind of like an apple?)



The patty is a Dr. Praeger’s veggie burger – the girl who took my order said she did not know if it was vegan or not (I know some Dr. Praeger’s burgers are, but I’m not 100% sure which one this was). It was a mix of peppers, carrots, soy beans, and other vegetables. Crispy on the outside, and soft and mushy on the inside. It tasted seasoned, but nothing terribly special. Sort of like a vegetable soup. Half of it fell out of the bun as I was eating it, too.



The bun was a soft, flakey wheat roll. Pretty tasty, but once again, the girl at the counter couldn’t verify if it was vegan or not (she said she couldn’t even check… which sounded rather odd). Seems strange that such a health-conscious restaurant (Energy Kitchen boasts “nothing over 500 calories” and “everything grilled, steamed, or baked”) can’t even tell its customers what ingredients (hello, allergies???) its food contains.

The tomatoes were green in the center, but the lettuce and the avocado were good. Honestly, what saved this burger was the hot sauce packets that came with it. They gave the otherwise kind of boring flavors a much-needed kick.



Worth checking out during the $5 burger promotion this month, but I doubt I would go back and pay full price. I can buy a box of Dr. Praeger’s burgers at the grocery store and make my own, better burger at home. They had a vegetarian chili on the menu, which could be promising, and a full smoothie bar – so maybe if I came back I’d just try out a smoothie instead of a burger.

Cost: $5.00 + 99 cents for avocado (month of June only – regularly $6.99 + 99 cents)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3      Bun: 3      Toppings: 3

Energy Kitchen
18 West 23rd Street
between 5th and 6th Ave
New York, NY 10010
212.989.2323
Various locations in Manhattan- check website for addresses

YumVeggieBurger review #63

Zaitzeff

My friend Adam introduced me to Zaitzeff way back before I started this blog. I had eaten their veggie burger, and remembered it as being pretty good, so I finally returned to do a proper review.



It’s a really elegant but cozy restaurant – very nicely laid out, with good lighting. I arrived rather late in the evening on a Monday night so there were only a few other people eating there, although the kitchen was busy filling lots of orders for delivery.
So I sat at the bar and talked to the bartender a bit. He told me that his family owned the restaurant, and when I expressed interest in the veggie burger he said that it was indeed a very good one. Pre-made, but that was because they had tried doing them from scratch but they weren't quite good enough, he said.



The burger in question arrived topped with avocado, lettuce, and tomato (the menu says it comes with cheddar cheese too, but I asked for mine without). I had ordered a side of sweet potato fries (an extra $5) because I also remembered Zaitzeff having really delicious sweet potato fries (and tasting them again confirmed the accuracy of my memory!)



The burger patty (organic, according to the menu) was very flavorful, with a rather mock-meat texture to it. Perfectly crispy on the outside, and soft and chewy on the inside, with bits of peppers and mushrooms visible within. The bun was sweet and light, toasted perfectly and just the right size for the patty and toppings.

Overall, a very satisfying meal, and it lived up to my memory of the first time I ate at Zaitzeff awhile back. I have a lot of meat-eating friends who adore this place too, so I certainly won’t mind returning with them since I know I can get a good veggie burger here.

Cost: $8.50 (+ $5 for fries)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 3      Bun: 4      Toppings: 4

Zaitzeff
18 Avenue B
between 2nd and 3rd Street
New York, NY 10009
212.477.7137

YumVeggieBurger review #49

Goodburger

I did not have high expectations for Goodburger – it looks like your standard fast-food chain, afterall. But I have to admit, when I walked up to the counter to place my order, and asked the cashier if the veggie burger was vegan, her confident “yes” took me by surprise... as did her quickness to alert me to the fact that “the works”, which the veggie comes topped with by default, includes mayonnaise, but I could order it without if I wanted the burger to be completely vegan.

Then I saw this sign while I was waiting for my food:



Fast food that not only knows what vegan means, but advertises a menu item as such??? That’s something I had not expected at all! (the grammar might be a bit off, but it's the thought that counts, right?)

But, lest you get too excited (or fans of fast food too disappointed) – this is how my burger looked when I received it:



That’s more like what I had expected from such an establishment as this.

Barely-green iceburg lettuce, tomato slices that ranged from “okay” to “not ripe enough to eat”, red onions, pickles, ketchup and mustard. The bun was one of those generic pre-packaged ones, but at least it was whole wheat (another option which the helpful cashier had offered to me when I placed my order) and it was fresh – lightly toasted, but not stale like too many generic buns I have encountered over the course of this endeavor.



The best part of this burger was definitely the patty – I was surprised by how good it was, sandwiched between such mediocre buns and toppings. But it was grilled to a crisp on the outside, and warm and soft on the inside, and actually quite tasty. Filled with a mash of vegetables, I could pick out pieces of individual ones to identify: carrots, corn, red peppers, soy beans, and – the biggest surprise – zucchini!



Is Goodburger fast food or not? I don’t know – it’s not as bad as other fast food burger chains which shall not be named here…But the interior feels like a fast food place, and with six locations in NYC I think it qualifies. It’s actually a little more expensive than you would expect a burger to be from a fast food place – or at least you would expect that price tag to include fries, which this one does not! It's not "the best in New York" as their advertising tries to claim, but I still have to say it’s probably the best veggie burger I’ve eaten or will ever expect to eat from a fast food chain.



Cost: $6.20 (does not include fries)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 2      Toppings: 2

Goodburger
977 8th Ave
between 57th & 58th Street
New York, NY 10019
212.245.2200
five other locations in Manhattan - check their website for the addresses

YumVeggieBurger review #40

G0 Burger food truck

I didn’t realize the GO Burger truck served veggie burgers until I stumbled across the New York Street Food blog, and saw mention of it. According to GO Burger’s twitter feed, the veggie burger had been featured as one of their daily specials every day for the past month or so.

Since I had to pick up a lightsaber and run a few other errands, I thought I would stop by the South Street Seaport and see if I was lucky enough to catch the truck on a day when veggie burgers were still on the specials menu.



The truck was parked across the street from the seaport, very easy to spot. As I approached it somewhat apprehensively, I noticed the handwritten signs displaying the specials of the day, including: “Veggie Burger“

Happily, I placed my order. One of the two guys working in the truck was especially friendly and talked with me while the other guy prepared my burger. I asked him why the veggie burger was only a special instead of being on the regular menu. He said that it actually was a regular menu item now – they are just waiting to get the new menu printed for the side of the truck.  He also told me that the reason they started serving veggie burgers to begin with was because so many people had asked for them.  Hear that? This is why it never hurts to ask! I told him how awesome I thought that was.

They gave me my burger in a brown paper bag – I wasn’t hungry enough to order fries, but they do cost extra if you want them.





The burger is actually a falafel burger – the entire patty is like one large falafel ball, flattened, and sandwiched in a bun with toppings. The guys in the truck told me it was vegan. There was a creamy sauce on the inside of the bun when I unwrapped the whole thing, but it might have just been a tahini-based sauce.  You should ask just to double check if you don’t/can’t eat dairy though.



Toppings included lettuce, tomato, pickles, and a chopped assortment of onions and peppers in the sauce. It tasted pretty much like any falafel you would order from a street vendor in this city – only I think I prefer my falafel wrapped in a pita rather than a hamburger bun. I happen to love falafel, so I thought that overall it was a very tasty burger – but since it really was just falafel disguised as a burger, I think it’s more of a novelty enjoyment than something I would eat frequently, since I know I can get a regular falafel on any street corner, at a lower cost too.



But as a novelty, it IS a fun one – I had a good time visiting the seaport again, and eating lunch out in the hot sun. And as far as I know, GO Burger is the only food truck in this city that serves veggie burgers… Does anyone know of any others? So I have to give them a lot of credit for that, and they seem like cool people who deserve it.

Cost: $7.00 (fries are $3 extra)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 4     Bun: 2     Toppings: 4

GO Burger
currently parking by the South Street Seaport, but check their twitter feed to see if they’ve moved
646.479.6027

YumVeggieBurger review #13