Top: Bill’s Bar and Burger; bottom, left to right: Shake Shack and RUB. [Photographs: Robyn Lee (Bill's Bar and Burger and Shake Shack) and Nick Solares (RUB)]
Right now, at this moment, it’s raining burgers in this burg. And not just any kind of burgers: smashed burgers made from freshly ground, humanely raised beef.
Danny Meyer and company were the pioneers of this style of burger in New York with the now legendary Shake Shack, though the Shackers don’t really smash their meat so much as press it down rather gently. In fact, it should be noted that burger lovers owe Meyer a smashing debt of gratitude for the lead role he and his crew have taken in treating the reasonably priced burger with respect and love—and elevating it to serious deliciousness with careful preparation, cheffy techniques, and quality ingredients. But enough about the Shack for now.
Restaurateur Steve Hanson has now stepped up to the (blue) plate with his newly opened smashed burger emporium Bill’s Bar and Burger. And RUB’s pitmaster Scott Smith and co-owner Andrew Fischel have snuck up on Meyer and Hanson with their burger, which is currently being served only on Monday nights.
A Hamburger Today and Serious Eats have been chronicling Shake Shack’s serious deliciousness for years now. More recently in the past few weeks, my man Adam Kuban waxed enthusiastically about Bill’s, Kenji Alt told us how to fake the funk of the Shake Shack burger with his amazing Fake Shack post and recipe, and I had a ridiculously fabulous urban burger at RUB.
Shake Shack
Bill’s Bar & Burger
RUB BBQ
(images source: seriouseats.com)
