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| Picture adopted from bareburger.com (forgot to take one) |
Location: 85 2nd Ave, NY, NY
Price Range: 25$ a person
JCL Rating: 7/10
JCL's Choice: The Ruby (Wild boar meat), Big Blue Bacon (Ostrich), The Western (Bison)
As the three musketeers (lol) were wandering around the city thinking of what to eat for dinner, this burger joint came to our minds. We remembered walking by this place plenty of times in the road to St. Marks, but never got the chance to try it out and so we decided to check it out. For all the wild game lovers or exotic meat eaters, this place is for you! It sucks that it only serves it as burger but nonetheless, it is worth the trip. They have bison, elk, wild boar, ostrich, free range chicken. The bun selection includes brioche (personal favorite), multi-grain roll, wheat flour wrap, lettuce wrap, and tapioca rice bun (gluten free!!!).
The atmosphere was calm and relaxed. The hostess seated us as soon as she found out how many people we had. One funny thing about this was we say this girl wearing a pikachu suit with a pikachu backpack and pikachu stuffed animal, then when we walked in to Bare Burger, they were playing Pokemon.
This place basically sells everything organic and free range. All the animals were pasture raised, antibiotic and hormone free. Their sodas are natural sodas from Maine. They even have organic wines and beers now! This place is on top of the organic trends that have been going around the food industry. They take orders with a portable device, so no need for that MICROS system (I can see this system being popular in the future since it saves time from walking back and forth to the MICROS).
We get to pick what type of burger we want (all the other stuff except for the bun and meat), we pick the type of meat and the bun. I ordered "The western" with bison meat and tapioca rice buns. Frankie had the "big blue bacon" with ostrich meat and brioche bun. Ray ordered "the ruby" with wild boar and brioche bun as well. We also ordered a basket of fries (comes with BBQ, spicy chipotle, and ranch dressings) and the Maine hand crafted sodas.
The memorable part of The Western was the bison meat and the peppercorn steak sauce. The coleslaw adds crunchiness to the burger. The bison meat was extremely tender (I ordered it medium rare). The only thing not so great about my burger was the tapioca bun. It was a bit dry. I knew I should have paired it with the brioche bun!!!
The ruby was probably my favorite out of the 3 that we had. The wild boar was extremely tender. It had a hint of smoked bacon. It had havarti cheese (never heard of it till now) which was very milky and buttery.
AND IT HAD PASTRAMI AS WELL!!! Double the meat. But I did not taste much of the horseradish mayonnaise at all.
My second favorite was the big blue bacon. The ostrich meat was succulent and flavorful. The apple chutney adds sweetness to the burger. The bourbon sauteed mushrooms adds moisture. And the smoked onion adds smokiness. Too bad the Danish blue cheese wasn't as represented as I thought it would have been.
Although each of the burgers had its imperfections, it was definitely enjoyable. This is a really cool place for friends to hang out and just talk about random stuff. The servers were very attentive and always had a smile on their faces. The presence of their professionalism makes this a comfortable place. I recommend all the readers to try this place out!
