The Liberty has been around for five years, but I’d never heard of it until last week. I was very flattered to be invited to my office’s under-30 happy hour, despite the fact that I am slightly over 30, and it was held there. I arrived and smelled a savory aroma, and decided to try an impromptu burger, which to my knowledge had never been tested by an annoying, wanna-be burger expert like me.
A cursory look at Yelp was promising, as people seemed anectodally pleased with the burger. But a scroll through the Liberty’s Instagram feed didn’t show any photos of their burger, so I was expecting a rather middling experience.
Burger Ordered: The Liberty Burger
The Taste: This grass-fed patty came topped with Califon Tomme cheese, bacon mayo, Dijon mustard, pickles, and a big ol’ piece of lettuce that I removed. All of these elements came together for the most surprisingly tasty burger I have had in a long time. It is such a joy to expect nothing of a meal and to be absolutely blown away by it, which is exactly what happened here.
First, a warning: I ordered my burger medium rare and it came to me rare. This wasn’t a problem for me, as I like my burgers bloody. But you should be aware that the Liberty doesn’t shy away from giving you a burger with some juice. Order accordingly.
Now that we have that out of the way, I’m going to gush over this burger. There were so many streams of liquid pouring out of this thing. There was the aforementioned beef juice, and then the gooey mustard and mayo. The mustard gave the burger a sharp punch, and the mayo added an umami bomb that knocked me out of my seat.
The Verdict: This late-comer surprise will absolutely find a spot on my best burgers of the year list, so head over for happy hour and chow down.
The Liberty is located at 29 West 35th Street in Manhattan, New York.
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