El Ay Si

My friend had a groupon to El Ay Si, so he invited me to come have dinner with him after work. Since I’m working in Long Island City right now, I happily agreed to meeting in such a convenient spot – particularly at a restaurant I have been hearing good things about since it opened.

But somehow, despite having read numerous rave reviews of El Ay Si online, I had overlooked the fact that they serve a veggie burger! So I arrived at dinner armed only with my iPhone’s camera – which wouldn’t be such a problem in a brightly-lit space or in broad daylight, but we sipped drinks at the bar for awhile as we waited for a table, so the sun had set by the time we ordered our food, and the lighting in the restaurant is dim and romantic – great for a date, but not for food photography!



So I apologize in advance for the quality of these photos – because they definitely don’t do this burger justice.



The bun was flakey and sweet, just the way I love a good burger bun. The toppings consisted of a deliciously-smokey chipotle sauce, carmelized onions, lettuce, and tomato.

This is an example of a case where the bun and the toppings really make the burger – because they were both spectacular, while the burger patty itself in this instance was a little dry, and not quite up to the same level as the amazing flavors of the other components. It consisted mainly of beans, and its flavor was good, it just needed a little extra something.



The waitress told me it was made with eggs, so not vegan – and she didn’t know if the bun contained dairy or not, so the lactose-intolerant should err on the side of caution here.

I was so annoyed at myself for not carrying my real camera with me this day – the restaurant was beautiful, a great place for dinner (and would be an even better place for a date!). Hopefully I’ll return sometime in the future and get some better photos to share!

Cost: $8 +$3 for avocado
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 3      Bun: 5      Toppings: 5

El Ay Si
47-38 Vernon Blvd
Long Island City, NY 11101
718.389.8781

YumVeggieBurger review #71

Natural Frontier Market

One evening in Long Island City, we stopped by this health food store to pick up some snacks in the middle of a busy day full of meetings. I was in the mood for a sandwich, so I walked towards the little café area in the back (called “Café Natural Frontier”). Then I saw the words “veggie burger” on the menu.



Contrary to popular misconception, I don’t love veggie burgers so much that I just can’t ever resist eating them. I love a good burger more than a lot of other types of food, but sometimes I look at it more like research than satisfying a food-craving. Especially because most of the time when I see a burger on the menu, unless it is one that I specifically sought out based on rave reviews, I know the odds are that the average burger is likely to be mediocre at best. Sometimes there's a pleasant surprise, but often not. But I eat it anyway. For research purposes.


They also sell just the patties individually, if you wanted to take them home to cook them yourself, which I think is a pretty nice idea.

The guy working at the café told me the patties are vegan but the bun the burger is served on is not. Very good to know.

I have a terrible suspicion that a lot of restaurants that are not too familiar with veganism may tell customers that a burger is vegan just because the patty is free of animal products, without even considering that the bun is made with butter or milk. So I’d recommend that any vegans be sure to double-check that information before ordering any supposedly-vegan veggie burgers. Fortunately, a good burger patty often tastes just as good on a bed of lettuce instead of a bun (and restaurants should accommodate that request). But it would be nice if the staff were a bit better informed about dietary particulars like this (I’m getting used to hearing the phrase “oh, that’s a good question! Let me find out…” when I ask if burgers are vegan. You’d think they should already know this… I can’t be the only person who wants to know!)



And speaking of non-vegan buns, you wouldn’t be missing much if you ate this burger without the bun, which was either too-toasted or stale-and-then-toasted. And very bland-tasting. The toppings were pretty decent though – lettuce, tomatoes, plus great pickles and a flavorful tomato-based sauce hiding beneath the patty.



The patty itself was pretty good, although I don’t think the café guy had heated it up enough, because it was nearly cold when I ate it in the car less than three minutes after leaving the store. As far as tofu-based burgers go, this is much more the type that I am a fan of (rather than the Trader Joe’s Tofu Burger). There were actually vegetables mixed in with the tofu – spinach, carrots, etc. The texture was therefore much more chewy instead of overly-spongy. The flavor wasn’t too bad, nothing terribly memorable though. I would have put some more spices into it, for my personal preference. Or maybe spicier condiments would have been enough.

Not bad for a meal-on-the-go, though!

Cost: $5.00
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 3      Bun: 1      Toppings: 3

Natural Frontier Market
12-01 Jackson Ave
between 47th Rd and 48th Ave
Long Island City, NY 11101
718.937.9399

YumVeggieBurger review #31

Bridgeview Café

I stopped here with a friend for brunch en route to an afternoon of exploring Roosevelt Island. The café is right across the street from the bridge on 36th Avenue in Queens, and despite the relatively desolate location, it’s a cute little building and it looks like they’ve tried really hard to create a pleasant restaurant in an unexpected location.

Unfortunately, the food makes it not worth coming out of your way to visit. I was planning to just get some typical brunch fare like pancakes, but when I saw a veggie burger on the menu I decided I had to try it for the sake of the blog. I really feel like I “took one for the team”, as they say, with that choice - because it was the worst burger I have tasted since I embarked on this project.



The patty itself was the usual most-generic-of-generic pre-made burgers. The kind that tastes like the bland mixes of frozen vegetables that my mother tried to force me to eat when I was a kid. It was heated all the way through, but that’s about the best I can say for it. The bun was squishy and tasteless like that of a fast-food burger. And the toppings were about as bad as they could be: an under-ripe slice of tomato and one measly leaf of slightly wilted iceburg lettuce. The fries that came with it were pretty miserable too.

It would have been wonderful to discover that Bridgeview Café was a hidden gem of a restaurant tucked away next to power plants and construction sites, but such is not the case. My friend GM ordered the eggs benedict, and told me that they were about as disappointing to him as my veggie burger was to me.

So there you have it, my first one-star review!
This was the type of burger that gives veggie burgers a bad name - you have been warned!

Cost: $4.95
Rating: ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 1    Bun: 1     Toppings: 1

Bridgeview Café
36-01 Vernon Blvd
Long Island City, NY 11101
718.391.0093

YumVeggieBurger review #7