The Experience: In general, I only have one piece of advice that I feel comfortable giving: Take the thing that you are most passionate about and make it as big a part of your life as you can. If you can incorporate it into your career, you’ve hit the jackpot. If you’re like me, you simply make it (hamburgers) the biggest part of your personal life. In doing so, I have been afforded a lot of opportunities to eat amazing food and meet great people in New York City, that I otherwise would have missed out on. One such opportunity was dining with a large group of rabid burger lovers at Idle Hands (co-owned by Rev Ciancio, the creator of New York Burger Week) for a special burger tasting. Also in attendance were representatives from Gotham Burger Social Club, the Burger Babez, Burgerator, Burger Lift, and Black Shack‘s Jeffrey Maslanka. We had a blast, but you’re here to find out if Idle Hands’ burgers are worth your time. They are.
Burgers Devoured: The Bleu Burger, The McDrunkin Onion Burger, The House Burger, and The Sixth Man.
The Taste: The Bleu Burger was a chuck and brisket blend patty topped with bacon and gorgonzola cream cheese. Though I’m usually one to stay away from Philadelphia rolls and cheesecake, the cream cheese just worked here. The patty was fantastic, and the bacon was nice and crispy.
The McDrunkin Onion Burger was a Certified Angus Prime patty topped with a whiskey onion jam. It was a wonderful mix of savory and sweet. The buttery, toasted bun did a lot to make my eyes roll back with every bite.
The house burger’s patty was a mix of chuck, hanger and brisket beef. This grind is made special for Idle Hands by Burger Maker. It was topped with goat cheese and red peppers, and while those aren’t toppings I would typically go for, my mind was being expanded by the flavors they delivered to my tongue.
The Sixth Man Burger was a wagyu beef patty topped with truffled mousse, cheddar, bacon, and Jameson infused caramelized onions. By this point in the night I was FULL, but there were enough unique flavors on this burger to keep me chugging along.
The Verdict: Idle Hands makes the most of the Burger Maker beef they use, creating unique and DELICIOUS burgers that are more than gimmicky headlines. But the quiet heroes of the night were the buns, which rocked my world with every burger bite. The Sixth Man isn’t available anymore, but you’d do well to stop into Idle Hands and try their other burger creations.
Idle Hands is located at 25 Avenue B in Manhattan, New York.
