Revisiting the Intoxicated Burger |
You’re either eating a Thanksgiving meal right now, or getting ready to eat a Thanksgiving meal right now. You’re more focused on turkey than on a burger. I suppose there’s a chance that you don’t live in the U.S. and don’t care about Thanksgiving, in which case I am going to assume that I have your full attention. I want to talk about eating burgers while you’re drunk.
I wrote about this before in an old crappy review I did of Corner Bistro years ago. Read that at your own peril. But I’ve grown as a burger eater since then and have had a few more experience that warrant reflection. After enjoying a drunken Corner Bistro burger on a few occassions (while knowing in my heart of hearts that I wouldn’t go crazy for it if I were sober) and despising my horribly prepared drunken Lucky’s Famous Burgers burger, I was split down the middle about how much alcohol truly influences the experience of a hamburger meal.
Last week, after a rather indulgent outing at Rosa Mexicano with a group of serious food-humans, a second stop for more tequila was made mandatory at Church Street Tavern. Word on the street has been that the joint carries a sick burger, so it was ordered and split many ways. Even as inebriated as I was, I recognized a few things. First was that this burger was trying to exemplify the “upscale tavern” vibe that the host told me Church Street Tavern exudes. The house blend patty was obviously of high quality, and the bun was soft and delicious. I’ll admit that after so many drinks, I couldn’t distinguish anything special about the Vermont cheddar cheese.
What I did notice, and what all of my drinking companions noticed, was that the bacon-onion relish was remarkably sweet. It was distracting enough that not a single drunken human who ate it could help but comment on it. To the Tavern’s credit, they responded to the critique by saying they would try to tweak the relish by cutting it with some bourbon. I might just have to return to find out how that shakes out.
Church Street Tavern is located at 313 Church Street in Manhattan, New York.
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