Dram Shop is Good!

My neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn is seeing a true hamburger renaissance of sorts with the opening of 4 new burger joints in just the last few months. Two are not worth it unfortunately but the other two are outstanding. One of my faves, Five Guys, is now open only 5 blocks from my house and the bar Dram Shop on 9th St. serves up a damned fine burger. Good friend and burger confidant Josh 'Mr. Cutlets' Ozersky sent me this email:

"George, have you eaten this Dram Shop burger? It's great! I went there today and they made it for me mediumish, and it was fabulous! Loved it! Eat it and tell me what you think."

Now, understand that Josh and I have very similar tastes when it comes to burgers. Josh loves thin-patty wonders and, like me, tries to avoid burger behemoths and bloated wallet-busters. But it was seeing 3 exclamation points in his short email that had me itching for more.

The Dram Shop burger, at the top of their short menu, is most definitely a thin-patty wonder. The burger comes with shredded lettuce, tomato, chopped onion, mayo, and mustard on a white squishy bun. By default the burger is a double and the patties are fresh ground, thin, and square and cooked on a flattop griddle. I noticed on the menu that the burger 'recipe' comes from the owner's family's Mallow Grocery in Dallas. There's no question, with the mayo, the twin patties, and the shredded lettuce that this is a classic Texas drive-in burger. It is as authentic as it gets for NYC - close your eyes, take a bite, and end up in Texas. Josh was right. It was fabulous.