First Person Arts/Foobooz Burger Cruise
Tuesday was the first night of the 2009 First Person Arts Festival, and they kicked things off with a bang (and a traffic-stoppingly large crowd wandering across Broad Street.) Art Etchells, editor of Foobooz, organized a Center City burger tour, hitting the old, new, celebrated and unusual burgers on offer these days.
First stop was Good Dog, which did a slider version of their famous Roquefort cheese-stuffed burger, topped with caramelized onions (as a slider, the cheese was on top, not inside.) Art noted we began the tour here as it was one of the first noted gastropub burgers in the city, kicking off the burger renaissance that seemed to come to a head this summer.
Served with Philly Brewing Company Pale Ale or a Troegs Rugged Trail Nut Brown Ale, our group of 35 was chatting and sharing stories before we moved on to stop two.
Barclay Prime was the celebrated option of the evening. They grind their dry-aged New York Strip steaks, with a little blend of other cuts, to make their pub menu burgers (no, they weren’t the Kobe sliders from the dinner menu.) It was served with a Stoudts Scarlet Lady Ale in their lovely, comfy bar.
Noble Cookery provided the most unusual burger topper of the evening — a slice of roasted beet, alongside a Troegs HopBack Amber Ale. I also got to meet that most unusual of creatures…. a Philly Foodie reader in the wild (who I hope will someday become a commenter!)
Last stop was the new entrant, and my personal favorite, Pub & Kitchen. We were greeted by a tray of oysters and cans of Sly Fox Pils and Lagers to enjoy while we waited for our burgers and heaping bowls of fries. Their Windsor burger is served with house-made bacon, lettuce and tomato, but it’s the slice of pickled onion that makes the whole experience for me. After 4 earlier sliders, I still managed to make room for an extra “half Windsor” slider.
It turns out, the secret of a truly tasty burger is the secret of all truly tasty things: fat. All of the burgers we tried this evening (except for Barclay Prime, which went unrevealed) were an 80/20 blend. Yeah, that’s 80% meat, 20% fat. But I’m sure we managed to walk it all off in our 3+ hour roam of the burger world of Philadelphia.
[Pub & Kitchen chef Jonny Mac, Foobooz Editor Art Etchells, and the tastiest burger of the evening, the half Windsor.]
First Person Arts Festival continues its celebration of the narrative tradition through Thursday, November 8th. Check out their schedule for events that strike your fancy. (I also hear a rumor that E from Foodaphilia is stocking the festival speakeasy with her famous whoopie pies. So don’t miss those, either!)
Barclay Prime
237 S 18th St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 732-7560
Good Dog Bar
224 S 15th St
Philadelphia, PA 19102
(215) 985-9600
Noble Cookery
2025 Sansom St
Philadelphia, PA 19103
(215) 568-7000
Pub & Kitchen
1946 Lombard St
Philadelphia, PA 19146
(215) 545-0350
October 27, 2009
Burgertime at Union Trust
What a difference 22 cents makes! When I had the $6.95 burger special at Butcher and Singer, they were practically beating people away from the door. Union Trust’s $7.17 lunch special has a tasty, tasty burger, plus two other options for your non-red-meat-loving friends, and there were plenty of seats available today when Niki and I walked in.
To me, this was a better burger than Butcher and Singer. It was juicy, without getting to the point where I could no longer put it down on the plate for fear of completely soaking the bun. It was thick, to the point that I looked at it to see if it was a double patty. And it was really good meat! When it was a little redder in the center than I usually like a burger, I was savoring the flavor and texture, instead of being put off by the mushiness that I usually find in a thick, rare patty.
It’s served with onion jam and a tomato compote (and a pickle, which I removed), so you get all the flavors of tomatoes and onions, without adding all their inconvenient slideyness. Even with a tall patty, reducing those items to spreads meant the burger was still manageable enough to fit in my mouth without unhinging my jaw. It’s served with American cheese, but you can upgrade to provolone or cheddar for a little more.
(Am I whetting your appetite for burgers? Then come with me Tuesday, November 3rd on the First Person Arts Burger Cruise! We’ll be tasting burgers and beers at 4 of Philadelphia Magazine’s best burger spots - Pub and Kitchen, Barclay Prime, Noble Cookery and Good Dog - led by Foobooz mastermind Art Etchells. My pal Marc over at Burgatory has even negotiated you a $5 discount, so hop aboard!)
The other lunch specials are fish and chips, and a crispy duck salad. And they serve cute little pretzel sticks as one of their bread options. We didn’t have the duck salad, but I would definitely go back to try it.
Union Trust is also a beautiful space, with a soaring ceiling, and walls rimmed with cozy velvet-lined booths. So splurge that 22 cents, give Five Guys the day off, and sink your teeth into a superior burger experience.
Union Trust Steakhouse
717 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 925-6000
