5 Napkin Burger in Hell's kitchen opened many years ago, after the owners of the Upper West Side restaurant Nice Matin, Simon Oren and Andy D'Amico, thought that their signature burger was worth creating a burger place. The burger was named 5 Napkin Burger because the meat was so juicy that you would need five napkins to eat it! Since then, they have opened several locations in New York and are also present in Miami, Atlanta and Boston.
The restaurant in Hell's kitchen is always packed and it is better to have a reservation.
The decor with its white porcelain tiles is supposed to remind a slaughterhouse, especially with the meat hooks on the ceiling. What I like is that they have plenty of booths: yes, I like booths! It is something very rare in France and I always though that they add a nice classic touch to a place. It is also (most of the time), more comfortable than a chair!
The decor with its white porcelain tiles is supposed to remind a slaughterhouse, especially with the meat hooks on the ceiling. What I like is that they have plenty of booths: yes, I like booths! It is something very rare in France and I always though that they add a nice classic touch to a place. It is also (most of the time), more comfortable than a chair!
The hooks on the ceiling are pretty interesting....
The restaurant serves brunch, lunch and dinner. If you are not a fan of burgers or want to watch you diet, they offer different standard alternatives such as French Toast, omelets, salads...They even propose sushi & maki, but I am not sure I would go to this restaurant for that, especially with all the Japanese restaurants that can be found in the area.
So, their specialty is burgers! They offer 12 different variations, most of them made with a 10 ounces beef patty. They also offer some with turkey, Ahi tuna and lamb.
Their signature burger is the Original 5 Napkin burger:
This is not a small burger! Clearly, to eat it, you are going to need to think you are at the dentist and he/she is asking you to open wide! It is composed of a brioche bread, the grounded beef patty, gruyere cheese, caramelized onions and rosemary aioli. I can tell you that they are not cheap on the ingredients and you soon understand why they call this a 5 Napkin burger. The meat was delicious: cooked perfectly (medium that is slightly pink in the center), juicy and had a great taste (yes, it tasted like meat)! The rosemary aioli was very good too! I usually do not like rosemary, but the taste was not too overpowering, making it the perfect sauce for the burger. Then, there were these delicious caramelized onions! The only thing maybe they could have done is to toast the bread.
The second burger I tried was the Avocado - Ranch:
It was made of pepper jack cheese, homemade guacamole, lettuce, tomato, ranch dressing on a sesame brioche roll. It was also very good, but I prefer the original. The pairing of the ranch dressing, avocado, cheese, meat and brioche (this time toasted) worked well, with the first two ingredients enhancing the juiciness of the meat. I think that I probably needed 10 napkins to eat it! Similar to the original, they were pretty generous on the cheese! Always appreciated!
Both burgers were served with delicious fries, a bit crispy.
Both burgers were served with delicious fries, a bit crispy.
If you are health conscious, you can decide to go for the burger salad...
You can pick between beef, turkey, lamb or veggie patty on top of chopped greens, endive, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, green beans, red onion, radishes, celery, blue cheese, pickled onions, red wine vinaigrette and 5 Napkin sauce (similar to 1000 Island dressing).
At the end of the meal, you can understand that I was a bit full...These burgers are huge and most importantly delicious. Definitely a recommendation!
Enjoy (I did)!
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