Around two years ago, my best friend in college texted me, trying to describe the succulent burger she had in New York, but eventually words failed and she said, “you must come and just eat that burger.” Since then, The Spotted Pig has been on my list: I want to try the burger that words could not describe. A year later, I visited the Breslin (another restaurant owned by April Bloomfield) and was very impressed by the juicy and flavorful lamb burger. Based on that experience, I had a very high expectation for The Spotted Pig.
The chef and co-owner of The Spotted Pig, April Bloomfield, has became the burger master since she debuted at the Mind of a Chef Season 2. For her, keys to the perfect classic burgers are the nicely toasted bun, and high quality beef. The beef patty needs to have 80% protein and 20% fat in order to retain water and add juiciness. Then, she will lightly season the patty and grill it evenly so that there is no unappealing brown areas. In her Salvation burger (another restaurant owned by her but it is permanently closed), she used to spread beef fat on the buns and toast it until they are crispy in order to add a another layer of complexity into the dish. To construct her burger, she used to put some pickles, special sauce, and cheese in between the patty and buns.
All these buzz made me look forward to the visit.
On a gloomy Saturday, I reunited with my classmates at The Spotted Pig. Without any hesitation, I ordered the Chargrilled Burger with Roquefort Cheese & Shoestring Fries. Visually, it was indeed a perfect classic burger.
Yet, comparing this with the one I saw online, it did not have the oozing sauce/cheese. When I bit into the burger, I was quite disappointed: it was just a burger. It was not the burger.
Here is a closer look of the one I had. There was no pickles, the bun was not extremely crunchy and the meat patty was rather blend to my taste. Since I ordered a medium rare burger, the middle of the patty was super pink. The texture was very similar to a beef tartare. Although it was very juicy (look at the two sides of that patty!), I would prefer a more cooked version.
To me, a perfect burger needs the perfect balance. Because of the fatty beef and the strong Roquefort cheese, it needed the sharpness of some pickles in order to rebalance the burger. There were so many things going on in my mouth, I really wanted something sour to cut through the fattiness towards the end.
Even though the visit was not extraordinary, I persuaded myself that maybe the chef was just having a bad day. Everyone deserves a second chance, I will revisit this place when I am craving for burgers next time.
The Spotted Pig
Address: 314 West 11th Street, New York, NY
TEL: 212-620-0393
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