Burger & Barrel’s Burger, One of Our 100 Favorite Dishes

No. 66: Burger (Bash or classic) from Burger & Barrel

Here’s the thing about NYC dining right now: We all freak out about a spot for five seconds, and then three minutes later, it’s consigned to the annals of restaurant history so that we might move on to the next thing. We all sort of did that over Burger & Barrel’s Bash burger in 2011, and while it pops up every once in awhile, these days, it’s pretty much old news. But here’s the thing about Burger & Barrel’s burger: It’s still really good. Good enough that you should remember it each time you get a hankering for a fat, densely packed, fat-laced, salt-and-pepper-tinged patty that’s charred from the grill and drooling the requisite juice from its rosy center. Because you’ll get just that at Burger & Barrel, and it’ll come paved with gooey American cheese, tiled with crisp sliced pickles, and, if you order it Bash-style, caulked with onions sauteed into soft, brown slivers, imbued with smoky bacon and then stuck between two halves of a substantial bun. Crowned with a pair of crackly onion rings and sided with ketchup for dunking, it still takes care of our burger cravings swiftly, even if it is a couple of years old. Consider it a runner up to our list of the 10 best burgers in NYC, which we unveiled earlier this week.

Later this year, we’ll pen our Best of New York issue, our annual love letter to what’s great in this town. When that paper hits the streets, you’ll find our picks for the very best this city has to offer when it comes to dozens of cuisines, restaurants, dishes, and drinks. Until then, you can get a taste of our contenders as we count down, in no particular order, our 100 favorite dishes from around the boroughs, a list of laudable eats worth tracking down right now.

No. 100: Taqueria Lower East Side’s carnitas
No. 99: Tartine’s steamed mussels
No. 98: Malu’s Cookie Monster ice cream
No. 97: Coppelia’s Havana salad
No. 96: Falansai’s clay pot catfish
No. 95: Uncle Boons’ Khao Soi Kaa Kai
No. 94: ABC Cocina’s salted caramel “impossible” flan
No. 93: Shu Jiao Fu Zhou Cuisine’s peanut noodles
No. 92: Distilled’s country-fried duck and waffles
No. 91: Calliope’s octopus salad
No. 90: Charlie Bird’s diver scallop crudo
No. 89: Silver Moon Bakery’s fig and pepper bread
No. 88: Stage Restaurant’s egg, cheese, and sausage on a roll
No. 87: Manzanilla’s Marbella’s Full Moon
No. 86: Bia’s Cary Ga
No. 85: La Newyorkina’s pineapple jalapeño paleta
No. 84: Empellón Taqueria’s skirt steak tacos
No. 83: Sugar Sweet Sunshine’s pistachio cupcake
No. 82: El Chivito d’Oro’s skirt steak
No. 81: Saro Bistro’s satarash
No. 80: Oda House’s adjaruli khatchapuri
No. 79: Hill Country Chicken’s pie milkshake
No. 78: Fletcher’s Brooklyn Barbecue’s chili mac
No. 77: The Musket Room’s steak and cheese pie
No. 76: Battery Harris’ Baked Patties
No. 75: Legend’s Dan Dan Noodles
No. 74: Pure Thai’s Nakorn-Patom duck noodles soup
No. 73: Melt Bakery’s Morticia
No. 72: Calexico’s Baja Fish Taco
No. 71: Sushi Dojo’s Omakase
No. 70: Bear’s smoked whitefish
No. 69: Locanda Verde’s corn ravioli
No. 68: Ghenet’s Ghenet Combination
No. 67: Ample Hills Creamery’s ice cream