BurgerClub

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Vaselka took a strong hit with the club for presumably serving up a freshly defrosted patty. The horror! How could such a legitamate restaurant stoop to such a level? Next time ill stick to the borscht.

The burger is served Diner style with the option of deluxe or just plain. I took mine deluxe with chedder and cooked rare. Burger Seeker heard that they like to cook the meat all the way through so we figured that ordering it rare would solve the problem. Unfortunitely, this guy would have been better off cooked medium since the patty seemed to be a defrosted patty. Moisture replaced fat, and the flavour was non existent. It had a strange consistency, almost sponge like. Very unfortunate.

The highlight of the burger was actually the bun. How often do you hear that? Its a large sesame seed bun thats unintrusive and toasted to perfection. The top had a nice crust and the interior was lite and soft. The seeds where almost piled on top of each other creating a lovely hint of nuttyness.

The cheese was basic and melted poorly. The side of green lettuce and a simple tomato slice were fine. No onion included. Over all the sandwich had a nice ballance. The meat was soft and proportionate to the bun. The combination of everything left a classic burger taste that I quite enjoyed. If it wasn't for the funky meat, this could be a contenter. So sorry Mr. Vaselka is cutting beef corners.

The rest of the experience is how Veselka always is; lite and fun, great service. The beer was warm, but maybe that's how they like it in the Ukraine. The fries were clearly frozen, your basic diner fry. This is just not a burger place, nor does it try to be. Its a hard grade given that the burger itself was still enjoyable. I have felt that I need to start stretching out my grades a bit more and this one sits pretty between the B/B-.

(sorry for the dark pix)

Based on a tip from Mr. Cutlets, while eating our way through last years Veselka (the place I have always gone for great borscht, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, blintzes...) became fair game on our hunt for great burgers. Mr. C is author of all things meat, - and his recommendation, rather his comment of Veselka being one of his favorite burgers in the city, made me wonder if Ukrainian food was just a cover for this East Village diner.



Not. Stick with the breakfast food or Ukrainian dishes. The inspiration to describe this places burger is not with me, and perhaps that's due to the fact that I'm disappointed, but not surprised that the Veselka burger is nothing special. As the good Dr. described, it's your run of the mill diner burger.



It's not a bad looking burger, and the bun as Dr. S described is rather nice... lots of seeds that help with flavor and a good size to cover the insides mediocre condiments and standard cheese. It looks like a large bun, but it's light and forgiving, yet resilient texture makes me want to buy a dozen buns to take with me to


first burger was overcooked, the second was rare and squishy

At the heart of the burger is the once frozen like patty that has juice, and a nice smoky flavor from the flame, but it's texture is more like a squishy something or other. That even when overcooked isn't dry, and when cooked to order (I sent my first one back as it was grey in the middle, and i had asked for rare) it had the pink inside I've come to like, but had an off consistency that I don't think I will ever like to see in a burger.

Not the worst burger in the city, but FAR from the best. Decent price, around $8 for the cheeseburger deluxe. And it would probably fare better if this was a late night burger, but if that's what you're looking for, than you'd be better off at down the street, or dare I say at OK not Paul's.

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lets eat!