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City Burger – 01.14.08

City Burger
1410 Broadway
212.997.7770
cityburgerny.com

Kangste’s Review

“Smack dab in the heart of manhatten, City Burger satisfies the hungery and weary.”
On to the review:

Food:

Black Label Burger
8.85/10
Their signature burger, why even go here if you don’t try it?
The meat is dry aged with a blend of “black label” cow.  I got it with the works (minus pickles).
I thought they added too much mustard, too little mayo and ketchup.  YOu have to request
to have them cut the burger in half.  The burger was very good. I would have liked it
if they toasted the bread.  A little on the small side.

Grilled Cheese
Surprisngly, tasty! Toasted, buttered bread, double stacked cheese.
8/10

Cookies & Cream Shake
8.5/10
If you really want to try to kill your heart, get this shake with your burger. I could only finish about 25%
before I started to feel my heart clogged with grease, fat and oil.

French Fries
4/10
Do NOT get the fries here. Considering that it’s NYC – very dissapointing, I would place these french
fries in the same category as burger king fries (not a compliment)

Sweet Potato French Fries
8.2/10
If you want to get fries, get the sweet potato fries.

Onion Rings
7/10
Not bad, a little on the oily side though.

Overal Food:
For taste, I would give this place a solid 8.2/10.
Just remember …do..not… get…the…fries

Decor
4/10
You wouldn’t come here for the ambiance, so kinda irrelevant.

Service
N/A
not a server with a waitress place.  Sit down benches limited.

Value
5/10
For burgers and fries, a little on the pricey side.

Conclusion:
If you’re in midtown and are craving either a burger or a shake,
forget Mccy Dies (aka McDonalds) and check out this place.

Tip: order online before hitting up this joint and save 10%
http://store5.geomerx.com/cityburger1410bwy/index.cfm?fuseaction=storepage&customPageID=2

Scale:
10 – so good makes u want to cry/fart at the same time
9.5-9.9999 – superb. incredible. mouth watering
9.1-9.49 – really really really good.
8-9 – excellent
7.6- 8 – above avg
7 – 7.5 – average
6 – below average
5 – why even consider trying it?
1-4 – the feeling of being pooped on by a pigeon while walking in the city
0 – 1 – taking your finger, scooping the pigeon poop of your head, and eating it

—-

Bru’s burger bemusing:

City Burger is a no-frills fast food type burger experience with one exception that lets it stand out from other burger joints:  their Black Label burger.  Concocted of a proprietary blend of premium dry aged beef that is only available at City Burger, this burger takes  you on a one-way flight to flavor country.

To get the proper burger expereince, I ordered the standard hamburger cooked medium ($6) with the “works” (LTO, mayo, mustard, ketchup and pickles), the Black Label hamburger ($11) cooked medium (no toppings, just burger and bun), and the onion rings ($4).  Let me first say, the burgers were cooked perfectly to order.  Medium has plenty of pink inside that is just slightly cooked, as it should be.  The two burgers were identical in portion size and buns, and differed only in the patty.  But what a huge difference that was.  The standard hamburger was tasty with juicy patty and fresh toppings.  The buns were nicely toasted on the patty side (a difference one can notice only when eating burger within 5 minutes of it being made) and though the bun itself was a little bland, it maintained the right burger to bun ratio.  It was a solid hamburger and by itself would make City Burger a better than your average burger place;  unless, that is, you try yourself the Black Label.

Hamburger with the works

Black Label and nothing else

From the first juicy bite, I knew this was no ordinary patty of ground up cow.  A rich almost buttery flavor of beef invaded my palate while I savored every dense morsel.  Each tender bite was juicer and more flavorful than the next and I flinched twice at my burger to make sure what I was eating:  it looked like a hamburger but tasted like a fantastic steak.  My only fault with the Black Label, if it can be considered one, is that I wish it were bigger.

Good
Black Label Burger, order it cooked medium or less and with no toppings for the full experience
Onion rings and Sweet Potato Fries
Decor is clean and functional but nothing to write home about
The chocolate shake: thick and sweetness with depth

Bad
Not much room for large groups (stool seating)
The french fries, don’t get them.
$11 for a burger does not make burgernomics sense (until you try it)

Ugly
Getting the worst seat in the place means you’ll have to move every time the restroom door is opened

Kashkar Cafe – 01.10.09

Cafe Kashkar
1141 Brighton Beach Ave.
Brooklyn, NY

Review by guest eater Ja

Take the B or Q train down to Brighton Beach and then walk a few blocks and you will see this restaurant. It is definitely a gem in the midst of Central Asian/Russian community of Brighton Beach. It has bright colors and neon lights and inside the decoration is somewhat old fashioned with TV playing Uyghur or Central Asian music videos. Around the restaurant you can see decorations and items that represent the Uyghur culture. Usually there are a lot of people from the community that just hang out there or sit there. Look out for my friend Shu Roh- he is one of the waiters who is Uyghur by ethnicity.

Samsa (pronounced Sam-Sa).

It is a type of Uyghur pastry that is shaped in a triangle. The inside contains minced lamb meat that is seasoned with pepper, oil and onions. The key to the tasty Samsa is that the lamb meat has to contain some kind of little fat chunks so when you bake the Samsa- the fat oozes oil and makes the inside taste even better. The outside is a slightly thick layer of bread that is soft when crushed in your mouth. Overall, this is definitely something you have to order when you get to this restaurant. The size of the Samsa is the size of your hand- a great appetizer to start off with. A good suggestion is that if you like the Samsa a lot, buy some home and freeze it. They are not expensive at all (around 2.5 or 3 dollars). Re-ovened Samsas are very tasty too.

Geiro Lagman. (pronounced Gee-Ro Lag-Man)

Lagman is actually the Uyghur for the Chinese expression of noodles (La-mien) and Japanese expression of noodles (Ra-men). There is the soupy Lagman and the non-soupy Lagman- so be careful when you order. The Geiro Lagman is the NON-soup Lagman that Uyghurs love (even though they also love soupy lagman- this one is definitely more common and popular). The Lagman is basically hand-made noodles in special tomato based lamb sauce. This tomato based lamb sauce is consisted of the lamb chunks, celery, red/green peppers, tomatoes, onions, scallions and other spices and veggies.

Pola/Rice Pilaf/Pilo

The restaurant usually pronounces it the last 2 names, but in Uyghur culture, it should be called the Pola. If you have ever ate Afghani food, then it is very similar to one of their rice dishes. This is one of my favorite dishes. Usually you eat this at Uyghur weddings- so it is definitely a royal dish! The dish is basically rice that is cooked in a lot of oil (hence the yummy flavor) and is cooked along with carrots, radish, raisons- not only that, you also have big chunks of lamb meat (the pola lamb meat is SOOO good) along with the rice dish…very very flavorful.

Kebab- lamb

You cannot come to this restaurant or any Central Asian or Uyghur restaurant without ordering some lamb kebab. Sorry for those who are vegetarians- I don’t think Uyghur culture believes in vegetarianism. Uyghurs don’t call the meat kebab but call them “kewap”. There are many types of kebabs- but by immersing yourself in the culture- you should definitely order lamb. Uyghurs love lamb. There are lamb kebab and also lamb ribs…which is also very yummy. They basically charcoal the kebab with seasoning and then they bring it out with freshly cut onions and some spicy sauce that you can dip it in. So yummyyyy.

Desert- I don’t remember the name of this…

So, this restaurant does not have the usual Uyghur desert. Uyghurs usually eat ice cream, sarang dough (a sweet yogart drink with ice chunks), or kawass (fermented apricot juice) or delicious fresh fruit (water melon, sweet melon, peaches, grapes) for desert. This item that the restaurant have kind of tastes like Sha-Chi-Ma (which is a type of Chinese desert which you fry dough and pour honey and sugar on it). Its good- if you want to end your meal with something sweet- but definitely not necessary.

Happy eaters J