AlwaysInvestigating: Burger Square-Off (Philly vs. New York)

The Gluttoness — October 06, 2009

SquareBurger’s Classic Hamburger.

Restaurant: SquareBurger
Address: 200 N 6th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106 (map)
Hours: Through October 31st, Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm; Sat-Sun 11am-7pm.
AlwaysHungry Grade: A
AlwaysHungry Recommends: SquareBurger, The Cake Shake, Classic French Fries

The proliferation of Philadelphia’s restaurant scene can be partly attributed to Stephen Starr. After tackling New York City and Atlantic City, he seems to have found himself back in the City of Brotherly Love. As his empire grows to encompass everything from soul food to steakhouses, he unabashedly draws inspiration from his most revered peers. His recent venture, Parc, a French bistro on Rittenhouse Square, is an obvious interpretation of Keith McNally’s Pastis or Balthazar. Starr openly toured the top pizzerias in New York and New Haven for his own Neapolitan pizza joint, Stella. This summer, in an obvious replication of Danny Meyer’s celebrated Shake Shack, he opened SquareBurger (view), a burger stand in Philadelphia’s Franklin Square just off I-95.

The small SquareBurger shack is nearby the Franklin Square Fountain.

SquareBurger is next to a beautiful fountain, but it’s in an area devoid of local foot traffic, which may explain why there were only five people there on a sunny Saturday. While there are differences between Shake Shack and SquareBurger, both pay their due to burgers and frozen sweets. Ultimately, it comes down to a direct comparison between Starr’s Classic Cheeseburger and Meyer’s ShackBurger, between a SquareBurger’s Classic Shake and Shake Shack’s Hand-Spun Shakes and Concretes. The question is, can Starr top Meyer?

Continue Reading >>

AlwaysInformed: Burger Poppin’

The Gluttoness — August 17, 2009

Champagne bottles from the ‘Quarter’ to the ‘Balthazar’ (courtesy nicks.com.au) & burger counterparts.

A recent nightclub outing brought us face-to-face with the Methuselah, an awesome and incredibly heavy bottle of champagne, equivalent to eight ordinary bottles. Bottles larger than magnums are generally filled with champagne that has been fermented in standard bottles or magnums, and are named after biblical figures. In terms of these epically-sized bottles, the Methuselah, a biblical patriarch said to have lived to the age of 969, only ranks as the seventh largest.

It’s difficult to pinpoint the exact reason why champagne bottles are named thusly. There is speculation that the names were selected “to evoke importance and even a certain extravagance.” One site, uncork.biz, claims the earliest recorded use of these names is 1725 when Bordeaux winemakers were using the name Jeroboam for the four-bottle size, “It’s presumed they selected Jeroboam, the biblical founder of Israel…because he is referred to as ‘a man of great worth.’” There are larger sizes: Melchior (24 bottles), Solomon (33 bottles), Primat (36 bottles), and the Melchizedek (40 bottles), but as you might imagine, seeing one of these is a pretty rare occasion.

In order to best comprehend the disparity between the smallest bottle, the ‘Quarter,’ and the granddaddy, the Nebuchadnezzar (a 20 bottle monster, not pictured above), we thought it best to relate the increase in bottle sizes to one of the things AlwaysHungryNY.com knows best: burgers. In this case, as with the bottles of champagne, the larger and more extravagant the hamburger, the higher the price-tag The beef and bun Nebuchadnezzar is as monumental and seldom-ordered as its bubbly brother.

Continue Reading >>

AlwaysInvestigating: Cornbread Ice Cream

Arthur Bovino — August 13, 2009

A heaping bowl of Cornbread Ice Cream ($4) at Dante’s Southern Fusion in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

As fans of Sundaes and Cones and even Shake Shack can attest (it’s August’s Thursday flavor), Corn Ice Cream is a popular if not everyday flavor. Dante’s Southern Fusion (view site) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, recently advertised an intriguing variation on their menu: Cornbread Ice Cream.

Dante’s cuisine is described as classic southern dishes made with “classic Asian, Spanish or French techniques and sauces.” As interesting as it sounds and as beloved as cornbread is, this flavor’s success was not predetermined. Would it have the flavor of cornbread and the texture? And if it had the texture, would there be cold, hard-kerneled chunks?

The restaurant’s owner, Dante (“he just goes by Dante, like Prince,” said Chef Joseph Capozzi), recently bought an ice cream machine about a month ago. “We’ve just been coming up with all sorts of crazy ice creams,” noted Capozzi, who has his own cooking video site, theultimatebyte.com

Staff members have been encouraged to suggest flavors. Quirky ones currently on the menu are Chinese 5-Spice and Kentucky Twirl (Bourbon Ice Cream with a Raspberry Swirl). They haven’t all made the cut. Take the Rum with Blueberry Lemonade Mix, nicknamed ‘Bacardi Blue.’ The cornbread flavor was a creation of Dante, who according to Chef Capozzi, was inspired by the free cornbread they serve.

“It’s funny because he’s got a science background so he comes up with crazy stuff and different ideas,” said Chef Capozzi. “They call me the magic man because I make the ideas happen.”

It turns out there was some magic because the flavor is craveable. The cornbread has real corn and pimentos, which provided the ice cream with quite a substantial texture. But it was an enhancement—it was as if someone left a cornbread cookie in a bowl of milk, soaked it until it disintegrated slightly, then made ice cream with it. The bowl of five scoops disappeared in less than three minutes. The next step may be to invent suitable toppings— perhaps honey, bacon bits, maple butterscotch syrup or even chili?

HungryChefs: Chefs Love Lupa, Mixed on Hot Dogs

The Gluttoness — June 11, 2009

Roasted Pork Shoulder “Gyro” with Pickled Cucumber & Yogurt from Anthos at Street & Savory

Some of the country’s best chefs attended Citymeals-on-Wheels’ Street & Savory Tasting Event. We’ve already brought you pictures of all the dishes and rounded up our favorite plates, but we were also able to speak with the chefs.

Our questions were obvious: What are you AlwaysHungry for? Which New York City restaurant do you crave? And in keeping with the night’s theme: what would you serve if you opened your own street cart? Some chefs took the easy route, promoting dishes they had prepared for the evening, others were quite creative with their responses.

Click Here to read all the chefs' answers >>

AlwaysInvestigating: Citi Field’s Acela Club

The Gluttoness — May 12, 2009

It’s tough to pass up Blue Smoke, Shake Shack and El Verano Taqueria on field-level at CitiField. But the sacrifice is worth a meal in the Acela Club, the New York Mets’ Amtrak-branded attempt at fine dining catered by Restaurateur of the Year, Drew Nieporent. While there are flat-screens everywhere inside, you may as well pay the extra $10 charge to sit in the best of the club’s 350 seats (outdoor tables or seats with unobstructed field views in the tiered levels) to better see the game.

Click here to see the food >>

Always Traveling: Boston’s Best Chowdah

Spencer Gellman — March 12, 2009

It started with one of those ridiculous Yahoo! Homepage teaser articles. You know the ones that usually talk about a dog who can bark the alphabet or an Icelandic woman who gave birth to her fifth set of octuplets. And while those articles are typically easily hurdled roadblocks between me and my fantasy football team, this one actually reached right through my heart strings and went straight for the decision making epicenter of my being…my stomach.

The article, entitled “It’s the Best Burger in America!,” described how the (read: horribly overrated) Shake Shack was dethroned at the 2008 South Beach Wine & Food Festival by some gourmet monstrosity hailing from Beantown known only as the Radius Burger. Intrigued and mildly aroused by the findings, I had no choice but to pile into my parent’s Toyota hybrid and go see for myself if this French Bistro known for their Duck Egg atop leeks could really bring the ruckus to the American classic.

Of course, to go all the way up to Boston just for a burger would be a perfectly good waste of time, effort and potential calories. If I was going to do this trip the AlwaysHungry way, which is pretty much how I do everything from brushing my teeth to petting my dog, I was going to make sure I checked a few more boxes off my culinary bucket list. Being in Boston, I figured there was no better objective than to figure out once and for all which local eatery yielded the best New England Clam Chowder.

After a solid 3 minutes of Googling, I compiled a list of 5 establishments in Paul Revere’s hometown that were said to have the crème de la crème of this creamy soup: The Union Oyster House, Legal Sea Foods, The Barking Crab, McCormick & Schmick’s, The Salty Dog Seafood Grill & Bar and Houston’s (yes, that Houston’s). With my food itinerary in hand, and a fresh domestic beer induced hangover in my head, I set out, determined to try at least a cup of clam chowder from each of the celebrated establishments.

Click Here to Read the Results >>

AlwaysInformed: Danny Meyer Wants to Take You Out to the Ball Game

The Hungry Goat — July 09, 2008

Calling all Mets’ fans: if ballpark franks and ice cream served in a plastic baseball cap don’t quite measure up to your dining standards, then Danny Meyer has a solution for you. The renowned chef and restaurateur has announced that his company, the Union Square Hospitality Group, will be teaming up with ARAMARK and The Mets to provide fans with game-time grub from some of his most popular establishments. According to a press release, Citi Field will be home to new Shake Shack and Blue Smoke outposts, in addition to a taqueria and a Belgian fries concept. The USHG will also play a role in sprucing up the Sterling Club, which will now feature a casual cafe and market, a more formal dining lounge, and a bar complete with an impressive selection of international wines and specialty brews.