Battle Of the Burgers

So was there a year-end special on ground beef or what?

That's the obvious question after witnessing the explosion of hamburger restaurants over the past two months. At least six burger emporia have opened since mid-October, with several more on the way.

Several of these new burger outlets even have well-known chefs behind them. Adam Kuban, who runs the burger-centric blog "A Hamburger Today" (ahamburger.com), thinks it's because of the success of the Shake Shack, the popular burger stand in Madison Square Park.

"People in the industry saw customers lining up for hours for a Shack Burger and thought, ‘Hey, I want to get in on that,'" Mr. Kuban said.

But Josh Ozersky, author of the New York carnivore's guidebook "Meat Me in Manhattan" (Gable Guides, 2003) and the forthcoming "Hamburgers: A Cultural History," sees a bit of cultural imperialism at work. "The barons of gastronomy, having finally awakened to the perfection that is the hamburger, are now jumping on board and doing everything in their power to destroy what is good about it," he said.

That may sound a tad hyperbolic, but it's hard to argue with Mr. Ozersky's assessment after visiting BLT Burger (470 Sixth Ave., 212-243-8226, bltburger.com), the latest spinoff from BLT impresario Laurent Tourendel. How bad is BLT Burger? This bad: You can't even have your hamburger cooked to order, because they're all cooked to the same "medium rare to medium" doneness — a sure sign that the kitchen is little more than an assembly line. Or at least that's the idea. On one recent visit, my hamburger was overcooked to a gray, tasteless fare-thee-well, while my companion's was rare. Meanwhile, the buns are so soft as to be worthless, the fries are dry, and the onion rings are mushy.

Fortunately, the city's other new hamburger outlets all have something to offer. See the accompanying chart for a breakdown. Note that all the newcomers offer beef, turkey, and veggie burgers with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, and a choice of cheeses, so you can take that as a given.

BRGR
287 Seventh Ave., 212-488-7500

PEDIGREE
Chef/partner Chris Russell was formerly the chef/owner at Moomba and Sage.

LAYOUT
Order at the register; food is brought to your table by the staff. The David Rockwell-designed space, which reportedly cost $1 million to outfit, is cramped and can be tough to navigate.

BEEF & COOKING METHOD
A "special blend" of hormone- and antibiotic-free beef from Montana Legend, griddled.

BASIC BURGER
A third-pounder for $6.50, cooked to order. Excellent juiciness, decent outer char, good flavor, just salty enough. The weak link: the Wonder Bread-quality bun, which is sometimes soaked through by the time the burger gets to your table.

SPECIALTY BURGER / TOPPING
A typical topping choices include radish sprouts, sweet onion marmalade, sliced avocado, horseradish cream, and a fried egg.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T WANT A BURGER
Boy, are you in the wrong place. No sandwiches, no salads, no non-burger offerings.

FRIES
The basic fries are McDonald's style, and perfectly adequate, if not quite spectacular. The sweet potato fries are better — recommended.

ONION RINGS
No onion rings per se. Instead, there's "onion hay," which turns out to be small bits of deep-fried shredded onion.

SHAKES
The standard flavor roster is supplemented by a few oddities, including excellent blueberry-pomegranate. The shakes are extremely creamy, although a few ice cream chunks wouldn't hurt.

ALCOHOL
Beer and wine soon, but not yet. For now, customers are welcome to bring their own.

NOTES
Thankfully, the vowel-less spelling format is limited to the restaurant name: no "shks" or "pckls" on the menu.

Final Grade: B

The Winner: STAND
24 E. 12th St., 212-488-5900

PEDIGREE
Owner Jonathan Moore has previously opened Republic and Bond St.

LAYOUT
Somewhere between a restaurant and a party, with loud music and an insane level of crowd noise. Full table service, though, and the large space is comfortable.

BEEF & COOKING METHOD
A mix of chuck and brisket, flame-grilled.

BASIC BURGER
A 7-ouncer for $9, cooked to order. This is how it should be done: Nicely charred, juicy without being sloppy, nicely beefy, artfully assembled, and anchored by a high-quality bun that's sturdy but never chewy. Bravo.

SPECIALTY BURGER / TOPPING
Offbeat accessories include green peppercorn sauce, hard-boiled egg mayonnaise, shallots, red wine sauce, and pickled shallot sauce, all surprisingly good.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T WANT A BURGER
Well, there's a burger salad and burger soup. Also several side dishes, like coleslaw and mashed sweet potatoes.

FRIES
The basic fries are surprisingly unremarkable — pretty much the same as you'd get at a diner. The extra-light shoestrings are better.

ONION RINGS
Excellent balance of onion to batter, but the portion is a bit skimpy.

SHAKES
First-rate execution and a very ambitious flavor lineup, including banana, pumpkin, peanut, apple pie, ricotta-pistachio, toasted sesame, toasted marshmallow (really good), and maple almond (even better).

ALCOHOL
Liquor license is still a few weeks away. Bringing your own is not permitted.

NOTES
Several house-prepared sodas are available, including blackberry, pineapple-lime, and ginger ale.

Final Grade: A-

67 BURGER
67 Lafayette Ave., Fort Greene, Brooklyn, 718-797-7150, 67burger.com

PEDIGREE
This is the management group's first venture. "If it goes well, we hope to do more," one of the partners said.

LAYOUT
Order at the register; food is brought to your table. The décor looks like Ikea, but the overall feel is pleasant enough, like a neighborhood hangout you'd be happy to have in your own neighborhood.

BEEF & COOKING METHOD
Chuck, ground fresh daily, flame grilled.

BASIC BURGER
A 7-ouncer for $6.25, cooked to order. Excellent ratio of outer char to inner juiciness, and a nice beefy flavor. The soft, flimsy bun, however, doesn't stand a chance.

SPECIALTY BURGER / TOPPING
Pretty standard stuff. The most outré toppings are avocado, jalapeños, and sautéed peppers.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T WANT A BURGER
Large selection of sandwiches and salads.

FRIES
The standard and sweet potato fries both have excellent flavor, although they could stand to be a bit crispier.

ONION RINGS
Very nice. As a companion put it, "These aren't the best ones I've ever tasted, but wouldn't it be great if they were always at least this good no matter where you ordered them?"

SHAKES
Excellent In addition to the standard flavors, there's also the beer milkshake, a mix of vanilla ice cream and Bass Ale. If you don't like it, they'll buy it back — "and nobody's asked us to do that yet," the owner said.

ALCOHOL
Five beers on tap; several more in bottles; red and white wine.

NOTES
Interesting fountain soda lineup: RC Cola, Diet Rite, 7-Up, Stewart's Root Beer, and Bosco Chocolate Soda, all with free refills.

Final Grade: B+

BROOKLYN BURGER BAR
444 Ninth St., Park Slope, Brooklyn, 718-832-5500, brooklynburgerbar.com

PEDIGREE
Co-owner Telly Hatzigeorgiou also owns the Manhattan restaurant Parea.

LAYOUT
Comfortable pub-style atmosphere with full table service.

BEEF & COOKING METHOD
Black Angus chuck, flame-grilled. (The menu also lists a Kobe beef burger, but it's been "not available today" on three recent visits.)

BASIC BURGER
Good value: a half-pounder, cooked to order, plus your choice of fries, for $7.50. It all looks perfect, including the fine brioche-style bun, and it feels just right when you bite into it. The beef is oddly flavorless, but salt helps.

SPECIALTY BURGER / TOPPING
Several interesting toppings are available, including sun-dried tomatoes, smoked mozzarella, and prosciutto.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T WANT A BURGER
Full roster of soups, salads, appetizers, and sandwiches.

FRIES
The "house special fries," which are supposedly spiked with garlic, turn out to be fairly standard. The shoestring fries, however, are excellent.

ONION RINGS
Clearly pre-frozen. Rubbery, tasteless, insipid.

SHAKES
Priced at a ridiculous $8, served in an even more ridiculous industrialsize goblet, and utterly pedestrian in all other respects.

ALCOHOL
Full bar.

NOTES
When asked why some buns were sesame-seeded and others weren't, a waitress replied, "I think the kitchen just grabs whatever's lying around. Really, it's like a tornado in there."

Final Grade: C-

BURGERS & CUPCAKES
265 W. 23rd St., 212-242-0600

PEDIGREE
Owner Bill Liederman opened the first Burgers & Cupcakes last year, but he parted with his partner and opened a new spot last Wednesday.

LAYOUT
Full table service. The place feels sort of like a smaller version of the coffee shop on "Seinfeld," except almost every surface is either orange or pink.

BEEF & COOKING METHOD
"It's 80% lean," a manager said. So that's what, chuck? "It's 80%," he repeated. Griddled.

BASIC BURGER
Eight ounces for $8, cooked to order (or at least that's the idea — two recent requests for medium-rare both came out medium-well). The bun is puffy yet impressively sturdy, but it's all downhill from there, as the beef is tasteless and dry.

SPECIALTY BURGER / TOPPING
You can customize your salmon, lamb, bison, venison, or ostrich burger with chili, cranberry sauce, mango salsa, or any style of egg.

WHAT IF YOU DON'T WANT A BURGER
Is this really where you want to order a Caesar salad?

FRIES
You know how fries turn stale, mealy, and tasteless when they get cold? These are just like that, only not cold.

ONION RINGS
None. That's right, none.

SHAKES
None. But there's a middling egg cream, and some very good lemonade.

ALCOHOL
No liquor license yet. Bringing your own is not permitted.

NOTES
The eponymous cupcakes, which are made fresh on the premises, are quite good.

Final Grade: D

Correction from January 25, 2007: B+ is the rating of the restaurant 67 Burger in the "Battle of the Burgers." An incorrect rating appeared with an article on page 20 of yesterday's Sun.