Bun Mi

Rating:

The most accurate economic barometer isn't the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the latest unemployment figures. It's the wait for a table at Burger Jones. "Right now, it's about two and a half hours," said the polite hostess to me on the restaurant's opening night last week, and if she hadn't said it with such obvious sincerity I would have thought she was pulling my leg.

Yes, we're living in a hamburger economy right now, a fact that has not escaped the planners of Burger Jones. They've conjured up a well-defined burger concept tailor-made for our $15-a-check times.

Co-owner Phil Roberts took his crew on a taste-test through Manhattan's myriad upscale burger joints before sitting down and formulating their own product: fresh beef, hand-formed and grilled to one of two finishes: "No pink" or "Some pink." The well-seasoned patties fill out the challah-style toasted sesame seed buns, and they're topped with a selection of locally produced cheeses, as well as onion rings, short rib chili, chicken-fried bacon, cheese curds and other diet-busters, done up in either do-it-yourself fashion or a few kitchen favorites ($7 to $10).

There are also turkey, bison, veggie and meatball options, as well as kosher all-beef hot dogs done up in all the conceivable trimmings.

Read Full Review »