Astor Bake Shop

I had eagerly awaited the opening of this bakery, next to one of my favorite local bars - Hell Gate Social. When the bake shop finally opened its doors, the hours were a little funny at first so I kept showing up when they were closing, or at a time when they were not serving the lunch menu, etc. I tasted an insanely rich slice of chocolate cake, a breakfast sandwich, and a chocolate croissant, but I was dying to try the lentil burger…

Finally, I did – and it was completely worth the wait!
I had pretty high expectations for this burger. I was anticipating it being a 4-star one, but it completely defied my expectations and turned out to be a 5-star instead!



The patty was delicious – I have to admit, I am usually a fan of burgers that have more vegetables and grains than beans, but this is the best lentil burger I have ever tasted. The outside of the patty was crispy, the inside was soft, and it fell apart in my mouth but didn’t fall out of the bun in pieces. Perfect.

It comes topped with tomatoes, pickled onions (a first for me – they were great!), and an amazingly tasty horseradish sauce. My plate also contained a side of mixed greens, some of which I added to the burger since I like my burgers with a leafy crunch. And the bun was everything you would expect a bun from a bakery to be: sweet and soft and delicious!



I asked if the burger was vegan, and was told that they currently use egg as a binder for the patty, but are working on finding a replacement to make it vegan (how awesome and thoughtful is that?). The horseradish sauce is dairy-based, but you could definitely order the burger without it (although it was delicious… hopefully they will get a good dairy-free sauce that you could substitute too!)

Finally… the true test of a five-star burger: Was I already fantasizing about going back to eat it again, only one day later? YES!

Cost: $6.95
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 5      Toppings: 5

Astor Bake Shop
12-23 Astoria Blvd
at the corner of 14th street
Astoria, NY 11102
718.606.8439

YumVeggieBurger review #27

The Belgian Room

I came to the Belgian room for drinks and Belgian Frites after work one evening, but when I found out they had just added a veggie burger to their menu (something I had suggested to them before! Don’t underestimate the power of vegetarians asking for more options on the menu!) I immediately ordered it.

They told me the patty was one they made themselves, with black beans (and eggs – sorry vegans!) so I was quite eager to taste it.



It was served to me with no toppings – although a bottle of ketchup was offered. I tried it first as it was, and I must say it was a pretty tasty burger. Not too spicy, but the beans were pretty flavorful and the texture was soft and rich. I mentioned (constructive feedback!) that they should serve it with at least some lettuce and tomato, which were then brought out for me, and did add a nice crunch and juiciness to the whole thing. The bun was toasted (always a good thing), and pretty good although it was not as memorable as some amazing ones I have tried.



Since they have made a few changes to the menu, including the addition of the veggie burger, it sounds like they are still perfecting things – and might end up coming up with specialized toppings for the burger eventually. Since they have so many tasty dipping sauces for the fries (I am partial to the chipotle mayo, myself) I can imagine those flavors would adapt easily to a veggie burger.

Overall, I am quite thrilled that a bar I have often visited now has an entrée on their menu that I can actually order. First the GO Burger truck adding veggie burgers to their permanent menu, now the Belgian Room… this city is becoming even more vegetarian-friendly by the minute!

Cost: $9.50
Rating: 3 stars
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 3      Toppings: 1

The Belgian Room
125 St Mark’s Place
between 1st Ave and Avenue A
212.533.4467

YumVeggieBurger review #26

Question for other food bloggers

Hypothetically, of course...

Suppose a friend or relative invited you out to a bar or restaurant that happened to be owned by an acquaintance of theirs. Knowing that you write a blog in which you review restaurants or specific food items (such as veggie burgers!), your friend or relative encouraged you to review what you ordered from the menu, saying "don't write anything bad about this place, though!"

If the meal was disappointing, or flat out terrible, would you go ahead and write the review?


I am very much against censorship. And in regards to my blog specifically, I think it would defeat the whole purpose if I left out reviews as a favor to a friend of a friend or whatever, just because they contain criticism. It's not because I fancy myself a journalist with certain ethics of that field to uphold, but it's because I'm so passionate about this project.

My goal for this blog is that eventually it will become a super-useful archive of all the veggie burgers in NYC (and as far outside of the city as I travel!). This will take me several years, of course - not even considering all the new restaurants that will open during that time period, or all the existing ones that might add veggie burgers to their menus in the meantime. But it's a longterm goal. And if I should ever come close to reaching it, I don't want to have any burgers omitted from that archive of information just to protect a restaurant's reputation.

If a restaurant owner ever read a negative review of mine, and was inspired to improve the quality of the veggie burger on his menu, I would more than happily return to give them a second try - and a glowing review, if it was indeed improved.

I'm not out to destroy anyone's reputation with what I write here - I think it would be pretty crazy to think that one little vegetarian blog could do that, anyway. I'm just trying to document information, which was originally only for my own purposes (to help me remember where the best veggie burgers were) but is now something I want to share with others who may find it useful as well. And warnings about bad veggie burgers are a key part of that information.

Hibernia

You know how sometimes you just want to eat a crappy burger with nasty American cheese on top?
That’s called being drunk.

Sometimes I’m so dedicated to this blog that I order a burger which I KNOW will be bad. Because someone has to review it, right? The world needs to know. So I “take one for the team” and eat a burger at a sports-type bar that clearly just added a generic “veggie burger” to its menu as an after-thought to capitalize on the increasing popularity of vegetarianism, without concern for the quality of said menu offering.

This was one such burger.



Generic veggie patty… check! And very dry, at that. I don’t know if it was just that bad to begin with or if they cooked it for too long with no oil, or what… but it was bad. That kind of imitation-meat texture, mixed with peas and carrots (why are the makers of generic veggie patties so uncreative when it comes to choosing what vegetables they include?)



The bun was pretty standard for bar food. The toppings were your basic lettuce, tomato, and onion, with a pickle on the side. The fries were definitely the best part of the meal.

Obviously, no one comes to this bar just to eat the veggie burger. I’d love to do a survey someday to see how many veggie burgers places like this sell per week… I can’t imagine it’s a large number. Guess frozen burgers keep for months, though!

But if you like sports bars filled with tons of people at 2am in Hell’s Kitchen, by all means do not let my review of one menu item deter you from enjoying that scene.

Cost: $9 (add $1 for cheese)
Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 1      Bun: 2      Toppings: 2

Hibernia
401 west 50th Street
between 9th and 10th Ave
New York, NY 10019
212.969.9703

YumVeggieBurger review #25

Caravan Of Dreams

Once again, I’m using this website a an excuse to try out restaurants I’ve been dying to dine at for ages… Caravan of Dreams has been on that list for awhile. I can’t even count the number of times I walked past, but I never had a good excuse to go in – until now.

I met my friend John here around 6pm – at that time of day, the lighting was beautiful in the restaurant. I fell in love with the place immediately. Rich, comfy colors, potted plants all around the windowsils… it felt like someone’s bohemian kitchen where I would have been perfectly content to spend hours eating, talking, reading, etc.


unsuspecting diners who I rudely photographed without their knowledge

The veggie burger comes with a side salad (which was pretty tasty) but I also splurged and ordered a chilled avocado coconut soup as an appetizer. FYI, it was delicious.

But I was most excited to taste the burger itself - and it was great. The sprouted-grain bun was positively overloaded with sesame seeds (I’ve never seen that many on one bun before!). As a little kid, I would have probably bee horrified by this sight. But now as an adult, I loved it. The grilled onions and peppers were fantastic, too. Grilled onions are one of the best things you can put on top of a burger, in my humble opinion.



Although the patty tasted wonderful, it did not hold together well at all. I’m all for a burger that falls apart as you eat it. Some of my favorite ones are those which leave a big mess in your hands and on your plate as you eat them. But they have to hold together just enough so that you still get an even ratio of bun, toppings, and patty in each bite. This one had issues with that – the patty squished and oozed out of the bun as I started eating it so that after a few bites I realized I was only eating toppings and bun, and most of the patty had slid out and onto my plate.



That’s what forks are for, though! Because it was delicious: potatoes with other vegetables and grains (it was all mashed together so it was hard to pick out individual ingredients), grilled. And clearly a house-made patty too, nothing pre-packaged or generic about it.

And I’d love to return to Caravan of Dreams to try some of their other dishes another time… even though it wasn't the best veggie burger I've ever had, it was still a good one. And clearly they know how to cook good vegan food - there were a lot of things on their menu that I would have been tempted to order if I hadn't gone straight to the veggie burger. And it’s always great to have another vegan restaurant I can confidently recommend to someone.



Cost: $13
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 4:       Bun: 4:       Toppings:4

Caravan of Dreams
405 east 6th Street
between 1st Ave & Ave A
New York, NY 10009
212.254.1613

YumVeggieBurger review #24

Not entirely burger-related

Remember my review of the terrible burger at Bridgeview Café? The one that I said gave veggie burgers a bad name?

Biking down Vernon Boulevard this morning, I passed this restaurant and noticed that all the signage was gone and the inside looked dark and empty. Their website simply states
THIS ESTABLISHMENT IS NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
-BRIDGE VIEW MANAGEMENT
Goodbye, crappy veggie burger!

also...

Bianca, from the awesome blog Vegan Crunk, was kind enough to give me the Most Versatile Blogger Award yesterday - thanks so much, Bianca!

The rules for this award are that I have to share seven things you "may not know about me", and then pass the award on to five other deserving bloggers.
Whenever people tag me in things like this on facebook, I just ignore them. But I've found the blogging community to be much more fun and friendly and something about it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy. And this award especially does that.

So! Seven things you may not know about me... unless you're one of the people who knew me before I started this blog... but everyone else who reads it probably doesn't know these things:

1. I'm pretty geeky. I quote The Lord of the Rings and wear Battlestar Galactica t-shirts. I want to dress up as River from Firefly for Halloween this year if I have time to make a costume.
2. Dan Savage is my idol.
3. Until about a month ago, I was under the impression that brussels sprouts were gross. I had never actually tasted them. I finally tried them, and realized what I'd stupidly been missing out on for years.
4. I'm either hardcore or annoying about recycling, depending on your perspective (my roommates would probably say annoying)
5. I've been a vegetarian for years, but I just recently (in the past year) started trying to eat as little dairy as possible for health reasons, which has lead to the discovery of some amazing vegan recipes (like my favorite comfort food - macaroni and cheese!)
6. I refuse to drink beer. I love hard cider though.
7. I mentioned in a previous post that I quit my old job, but I didn't say what I am doing now... I worked as an art department assistant on a feature film last month, and I'm working on another film now that's just about to start shooting, so that's why I haven't been online too much lately. I love it so much I can't even begin to describe it, even though I am totally a broke (but not quite starving!) artist now.

And now I will pass this award on, to five other bloggers who I love:

1. Hour of Gold - Carlea writes amazing fiction, posts the coolest/weirdest links, and steadfastidly updates every single day, which I am always rather in awe/jealous of. Also, she's the one who inspired me to start baking my own bread.
2. The Foodista - because she has kept me up-to-date on the newest and best restaurants since well before I started reviewing veggie burgers, and she also lives in Astoria!
3. The Luxury Yacht Review - although it has nothing whatsoever to do with yachts, or reviews of yachts, Derek's blog is a great collection of reviews of film, music, literature, and beer.
4. Singer Eats - although I have been so busy with film shoots that I still have not had time to visit the co-op that Dianne posted such a great description of. On my next day off, I keep saying... whenever that happens! In the meantime, though, I love her reviews of NYC restaurants (many of which I can't wait to go try!)
5. A Soy Bean - Abigail's posts are so detailed and descriptive and always make me hungry.

check them out, they are definitely worth reading!

Bare Burger

I’ve been to Bare Burger a few times since it first opened in my neighborhood. It’s kind of a fun and quirky place that proudly advertises its use of all-organic ingredients in its unique assortment of burgers. While I personally find their menu a bit too pricey on certain items to make it a place I frequent regularly, I have always enjoyed their veggie burgers - so of course I had to treat myself to another dinner here… for the sake of the blog.

The cool thing about Bare Burger’s menu is that once you choose your meat (veggie for me, obviously – but they have some more “exotic” meats that my carnivorous friends quite enjoy, like ostrich and bison) you can then choose from an assortment of topping options, each with a name like “jalapeno express” and a suggestion of which type of burger the toppings go best with. For this review, I stuck with the basic “Original Bareburger” with Monterey Jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, raw red onion, and Bareburger special sauce. The veggie burger and the bun are both vegan, so ordering the burger without the sauce or cheese will make it completely animal-product-free.



A couple warnings about the menu, though – some of the different toppings are not available on all burgers. I tried to order a veggie burger with the carmelized onions and cucumber mint yogurt and was told that this was only available with the lamb. I’m still not sure why they have this policy, as it seems like it would be as easy to put those toppings on any patty, but alas!

Second warning: Unlike most restaurants, fries are not included with the price of your burger here, which is why I consider it a pricier-than-I-normally-prefer place even though at first glance it doesn’t seem to be (add an extra $3 to each price if you want fries with your meal, then you’ll see what I’m talking about). But you should order the fries anyway, because they are really quite good – and they have a great selection of dipping sauces, and I’m a sucker for fries with good chipotle mayo. The milkshakes are also delicious, but definitely not cheap either.



But like I said, I was treating myself to this dinner for the sake of the blog. And it was definitely worth it. My burger was delicious, hearty and healthy – not trying to be mock-meat, but with more substance than vegetables simply mashed together. The Bareburger special sauce is quite tasty too, although I felt like there should have been a bit more of it, or maybe the patty itself could have been a bit juicier. The bun was excellent – I’ve tried Bare Burger’s brioche bun before, but prefer the 7 grain (and recommend it to others).

I chose the “Original Bareburger” toppings for this review, but I would like to come back and do a proper review of some of the other ones I had tasted in the past before I started this blog – I recall the Jalapeno Express and the Avocado California both being excellent, and a little more exciting than the basic “Original”… as is to be expected.

Is it “the best burger in town” as their restaurant claims? Well, not quite… but it’s certainly one of the best in my neighborhood (I hear they are opening a second location in Manhattan soon as well). And it’s refreshing for a place that is famous for its burgers to incorporate veggie options so easily into its menu (yes, options plural - they also offer a portabella mushroom). This is far from a generic frozen veggie patty tacked onto the menu to make a few bucks off of vegetarians who get dragged into the restaurant by their meat-eating friends… this is actually a place I recommend to other vegetarians.

Cost: $8.98 +$3 for fries
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 4    Bun: 5    Toppings: 4

Bare Burger
33-21 31st Ave
Astoria, NY 11106
718.777.7011

YumVeggieBurger review #23

EDIT: multiple locations around NYC, and around the country now!

Organique [delivery]

My friend Becky loves to get delivery from this place. I think nearly every time I’ve come over to her apartment for dinner, this is where we have ordered from. They’re fast, you can order online (great for people like me who hate talking on the phone!) and the food is pretty good as far as delivery food goes.

The veggie burger on the menu is described as a “boca burger made with organic soy with organic blue cheese and organic pickles”. They aren’t just using the name “boca burger” to describe any old veggie patty, either – it is actually a boca burger. Like the kind I have in my freezer. Two of them actually, stacked together with the other toppings between two halves of a bun.



It’s always a bit disappointing when a restaurant uses pre-made patties for its burgers – especially when you can identify them as ones you can buy yourself for a fraction of the cost. But, that would defeat the point of ordering delivery… right?

To their credit though, Organique does a good job of spicing up a familiar frozen burger patty with interesting toppings (not quite as good a job as Foodswings, but...). The pickles, blue cheese (not vegan), and spicy mayo make it quite tasty, and the whole thing is rather satisfying – and filling! Two burger patties is a lot of food!

I realize that I’m biased as a rather frugal girl who thoroughly enjoys cooking anything in her own kitchen… I confess, I hardly ever order delivery when I’m at home by myself. Yet I can imagine how, if I didn’t have a dozen veggie burgers in my freezer at all times (I do… thanks, Costco!) and I was feeling too tired to cook something from scratch, ordering from a place like Organique would be rather appealing. And how many delivery places serve all-organic food, anyway?

Cost: $7.45
Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 2       Bun: 2       Toppings: 3

Organique
110 east 23rd street
between Lexington & S Park Ave
New York, NY 10010
212.674.2229

YumVeggieBurger review #22

Whistling Willie's American Grill

My friend Derek and I went hiking up Breakneck Ridge last weekend. I sprained my ankle a bit, but aside from that we had a great time (don’t worry, it's a pretty minor sprain, and I’m elevating and icing it as we speak!).


me at the top of the first overlook





Our favorite route is to get off the train at the Breakneck Ridge hikers-only stop, and then end the day by hiking down into the cute little town of Cold Spring for an ice cream cone before catching the train back to the city.


Cold Spring, NY

This time, I wanted to see if I could find a veggie burger to review while we were there. So after several hours of hiking, we trekked into Whistling Willie’s for some ice water and… their “made in house” veggie burger!



The menu stated that the patty was made from “a variety of fresh vegetables” and the bartender who served us checked with the kitchen and reported back to me that it was vegan.



The toppings that came with said burger were somewhat disappointing – just once slice of tomato, but at least the lettuce wasn’t iceberg. The bun was plain but very soft. It seemed larger than a normal hamburger bun, but it fit the patty (also rather wide) perfectly.



When I bit into it, the first thing I tasted was zucchini… that’s a new one for me, even after all the veggie burgers I have tried! As I took a few more bites, I could also see and taste broccoli, carrots, yellow squash, onions, peppers, and potatos. I think there were some mushrooms too, but luckily they were overshadowed by the other delicious vegetables, which all tasted as if they had been grilled and then mashed together to form the patty.



It was like vegetable stew in burger form. I mean that in a good way – it tasted great! Crispy on the outside from being fried, but soft on the inside (falling apart a bit) and full of flavorful vegetables. A very unique idea for a veggie burger – I had not expected such creativity from this bar/restaurant! The sweet potato fries were delicious as well. The toppings and bun could have been better, but overall it was still a very pleasant surprise – and a great meal for a hungry hiker.

Cost: $10.95
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 2      Toppings: 1

Whistling Willie’s American Grill
184 Main Street
Cold Spring, NY 10516
845.265.2012

YumVeggieBurger review #21

5 Napkin Burger [Astoria]

UPDATE: The Astoria location of 5 Napkin Burger is now closed. Manhattan locations are still open, see website for addresses. Original review of the Astoria location archived below:

I thought it rather serendipidous that just after I had conceived the idea to start this blog, I heard about Five Napkin Burger opening a new location in Astoria. I checked their website to see if they served a veggie burger, and not only did they list one on the menu – they also featured a delicious-looking photo which made me very eager to sample it.

So a couple carnivorous cohorts and I finally went over to check the place out one evening. It was a slightly nostalgic event as well, since the last time I had been in this building was back when it was known as Cup Diner (I ignored its brief reincarnation as “Café Bizarre” or whatever it was), one of my earliest memories of this neighborhood. The place has been given quite a makeover now – the layout is about the same, but the whole inside feels a lot shinier, and although you might not notice them immediately, there are meat hooks decorating the ceiling - as if you had come to dine in an abattoir.

It was dinnertime, and a bit busy, so we opted for a table instead of waiting a little longer for a booth. While my friends debated which of the meat-burgers they would try, I read the description of mine: “5 Napkin Veggie Burger – housemade with 5N sauce, b&b pickles, lettuce & tomato, multi grain roll”. Yum.


Look at those pickles!

I was a bit confused when, after our burgers were served, we were each still left with only the one napkin that had been at our place setting when we arrived at the table. Shouldn’t a place called “5 Napkin Burger” actually give you five napkins to eat your burger with? The food looked too good for me to ponder this for long, however…




Mmmmmm.
I had told my friends that (after seeing the aforementioned website photos) I had a hunch this could be a contender for another 5-star burger… I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high, but I was right!

It is not too different from my first 5-star burger, actually. Both patties rely heavily on grains and beets. I’m starting to think beets are the secret ingredient to the best veggie burgers on the planet. Also beets are just amazing on their own – but no worries if you are not a fan of them, I swear you won’t be turned off by their presence in these burgers! Honestly, I ate Houston’s veggie burger before I even liked beets, but they are so well-mixed in with everything else that they do not stand out although they definitely contribute to the overall quality in the best way possible. 5 Napkin’s burger is not quite as crispy on the outside as Houston’s (I can’t help it, comparing the two is inevitable, as they are the only 5 star burgers I have encountered so far!), nor is it as richly flavored with sauce cooked into the patty.



But the toppings make up for that – the pickles are amazing, and whatever the 5N sauce is (I’m assuming it’s dairy-based... although the patty itself contains eggs, if ordered without the sauce it could at least be a dairy-free burger), it is delicious as well. Thick juicy tomato slices, bright green lettuce… yeah, perfect toppings.

The bun is hearty, almost a little too thick to the point that it could have overwhelmed the rest of the burger, but I forgave it because, well, look at all those grains and seeds on it!

So it’s definitely another 5-star burger. Does it knock Houston’s off its throne? Not quite (honestly that is a feat that will take some miracle-work to accomplish) but it is definitely in the same league. And I would most decidedly happily return to eat it again at the soonest possible excuse. I also feel less guilty for liking 5 Napkin than I do about liking Houston's, since it's not as big a chain restaurant.

Cost: $11.95
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Burger patty: 5 stars       Bun: 4 stars       Toppings: 5 stars

Five Napkin Burger
35-01 36th Street
Astoria, NY 11106
718.433.2727
multiple locations in Manhattan - check their website for the addresses

YumVeggieBurger review #20

Rockin' Raw

This was my first raw food restaurant experience! I’d eaten raw foods made by myself or others, or purchased at a store, but never had a sit-down meal at a raw-food-only restaurant before. So I was excited to add a whole new type of veggie burger to this arsenal of reviews.

Since it’s Summertime, and I came to Rockin’ Raw on a pleasantly warm and sunny day, I sat outside in their back garden. Which is absolutely beautiful. It felt like going over to a friend’s house and hanging out in their backyard for lunch. As someone who grew up in the country, I miss that sometimes – and this is probably the closest I’ve come to experiencing it in NYC.

So if you visit this restaurant, I highly recommend sitting outside if the weather permits. I bet it would be really beautiful (and romantic!) at night too, since I saw lots of string-lights and candles scattered around.



Raw food is expensive, I have learned, after peeking at menus online as I scope out future places to visit on my quest for more veggie burgers. So I was pleasantly surprised to find that Rockin’ Raw has a “4 Course Prosperity Lunch” special for $13 that includes a juice, salad, soup, entrée, and dessert. And the “Rockin’ Raw Burger” just happens to be one of the four entrées you can choose from on this menu. Perfect!



The “bun” is what makes a raw burger so dramatically different from any other. It’s so dense and hearty that it could almost be a patty itself if you placed it between slices of bread. Beneath it were stacked tomatoes, pickles, and greens – with a layer of something that tasted like hummus at the very bottom below the patty.



The patty was the best part of this burger (which is vegan AND gluten-free!). The flavoring was amazing – eggplant, walnuts, herbs… and yes, mushrooms. While I normally hate mushrooms, I don’t mind them if they are chopped up and I can’t distinguish them from other ingredients. The mushrooms in this patty passed that test – plus, their flavor was outdone by the strong deliciousness of the eggplant. Why don’t more veggie patties incorporate eggplant? It seems perfectly suited to the task… thick, meaty, and flavorful.

I think I might have liked this patty better on its own though – with the same toppings to complement it, but minus the bun, which just felt too similar to the patty in texture, and kind of took away from my enjoyment of it. It’s interesting to see how something I take for granted like bread can be realized in raw-food form… but it’s kind of trying too hard in this case. I can easily imagine it being delicious with some kind of fruit spread on top. But it doesn’t work as well for a burger.

Did my raw meal absolutely blow my mind? No, but I had a nice lunch anyway.
The lemonade and the soup were quite good. The chocolate ice cream I had for dessert was an itty-bitty serving, but it tasted delicious. And I can’t say enough times how nice the whole garden area was – I wouldn’t mind coming back with friends for dinner sometime, although I would try something else on the menu instead of the burger.

Cost: $13 on the lunch special menu ($15 on the dinner menu)
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 2      Toppings: 3

Rockin’ Raw
178 North 8th Street
between Bedford and Driggs Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
718.599.9333

YumVeggieBurger review #19

Enid's

This time, I ventured north of Williamsburg to have dinner in Greenpoint with my friend Derek, author of The Luxury Yacht Review.

I had heard that Enid’s did a good house-made veggie burger, so I was excited to try it out.
And our waitress looked exactly like Kaylee from Firefly.

I must apologize though – I’ve been really good about remembering to throw my camera in my purse every time I leave the apartment, just in case I find a veggie burger when I least expect to. And I had not forgotten my camera on this occasion – I’d just forgotten the memory card which I had taken out earlier that day to upload photos from. Oy!
So the photos in this review are from my cellphone, which is one of the least fancy cellphones you can buy... Looking at them makes me realize how I take macro focus for granted on a real camera.


crappy cellphone photo

The coolest thing about Enid’s menu is that they indicate with asterisks which items are vegetarian, and which are “vegan, or can be made so upon request”. I thought this was awesome, and more restaurants should do it. The burger is one such “upon request” item. Since I’m not a vegan myself though, I ordered it with the non-vegan dijon mayo. You also get to choose from a whole list of sides to go with your burger - so instead of fries, I opted for a roasted red pepper potato salad.


even crappier cellphone photo

I think this is the spiciest veggie patty I have tasted yet – not spicy like burn-your-throat-out/hot-foods-eating-contest spicy, but deliciously spicy. It was very unique. Although I love cooking, I’m not even slightly an expert on spices, so I cannot tell you which ones I actually tasted – but it reminded me of good Indian food. The vegetable base of the patty consisted of a mash of things in which I could identify carrots, peas, and sunflower seeds. It was very soft – not crispy or chewy, more mushy.

The bun was delightful too – soft and sweet like a croissant (I’m realizing that croissant-like buns and hearty whole-grain buns are my top two favorites), but sprinkled with sesame seeds. The toppings were good (crispy lettuce, ripe tomatoes) but nothing special. I suppose they didn’t need to be though, with the patty as flavorful as it was.

Cost: $11
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 5      Toppings: 3

Enid’s
560 Manhattan Avenue
between Driggs & Nassau Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11222
718.349.3859

YumVeggieBurger review #18

EDITED TO ADD: I went back to Enid's and ordered their veggie burger as a trio of sliders. That's right, veggie SLIDERS! Read my update HERE.