Best Burger NYC: Burger Bedlam Giving Thanks & Making Updates

We are quickly approaching the one year anniversary of Burger Bedlam’s search for New York City’s best burger. Before we continue our quest, we wanted to take time to thank all of our readers, supporters, and friends. While Burger Bedlam has slowly grown from a fun hobby for us to a reference for all you burger lovers, we realize how essential it is to improve our site as we are very much still a work in progress. Therefore, over the next few weeks, we will be making a few adjustments:

• Discontinuing preview posts – After some time, we felt these didn’t add value to our readers. Acting as a tease to the actual review, we realize most of our readers just want the reviews. The meat and potatoes, if you will.

• Scoring system modification – Our new scoring system will be based on a 100 point scale. Meat will account for 50, as it’s most important to our taste determinations. Bun and toppings will account for 25 each. Hopefully this revision will provide clarity to the notion of a “best burger in NYC.” For example, both Shake Shack and The Spotted Pig received a 4.5 on our previous scale, yet we have Shake Shack ranked #1. What’s the big difference? Why is Shake Shack better? Hopefully the new scoring system will allow readers to specifically compare the components of each burger and truly see why we ranked the burgers the way we did. All our previous reviews will be re-tabulated and updated to reflect the new scale.

• New web layout – In the coming months, in order to provide a cleaner, more professional look and a better reading experience, we will make drastic changes to our layout. Whether that consists of a revision to the current Blogger template or a switch to Wordpress, we anticipate an easier to “digest” layout and more juicy best NYC burger content to peruse. On that note, we are also searching for graphic designers or anyone who's better than us at photoshop to help develop a Burger Bedlam logo/banner. If you think you can assist us, please shoot us an email!

Again, we thank all of you for making the site what it is today and look forward to providing future burger judgments while trekking to and from new burger venues in NYC. We welcome your thoughts (positive or negative) critiques or suggestions for content or any new burger reviews in the comment section and can’t wait for what lies ahead.

Best Burger NYC: Mundane Molly's

www.mollysshebeen.com
287 3rd Avenue (Cross St.: 22nd St.)
(212) 240-9797

As burger bloggers searching for the best burger in NYC we often have the opportunity to experience some interesting environments. From inside luxury hotels to the dingiest of dive bars, we've had our fill. Yet, there's something quite endearing about our next burger locale. Staffed with native Irishmen and overflowing in Irish Whiskey, Molly's Pub & Shebeen has that authentic Irish feel you just can't fake. Add in the sawdust littered across the floor and its not your common Manhattan atmosphere. Thats all well and good, but you might ask, do they do anything good besides providing you with any easy Sunday morning hangover? How bout the burger? Well, thats why we're here brothers and sisters. The burger has been praised by many, so we're here to judge. As hard as it is to pass up three fingers of Bushmills or a pint of Murphy's, Burger Bedlam was put on this planet to make sacrifices for you, the readers. On to the beef...

Our Expectations: Molly's Jumbo 10 ounce Bacon Cheeseburger made of prime ground sirloin. Uh oh, that's a hefty burger to get past our lips. Good thing we starved ourselves for 8 hours prior to our visit. The sound of a "jumbo" burger might scare some, but let's be serious, we've tangoed with bigger and badder burgers. We obviously hoped for a thoroughly spiced and well-prepared patty, something you can't overlook when filling a plate with such a large specimen.

The Burger

Meat: With a burger so big, you have to anticipate some sort of monstrosity that's about to grace your table. So when the beef came out in more of a rounded shape than a flat patty, we weren't surprised. The burger needed a good "smoosh" with the top bun to just get some "air" out of it. Still, the meat was tender and undoubtedly seasoned with care. The burger juice was flowing as the temperature was done to perfection, medium rare just how we like it. Pretty fresh as well, good stuff.

Toppings: EPIC FAIL. From the highs of the meat to the lows of the toppings, we wish we could throw some praise around in this section. Yet, to our dismay the toppings just felt flat...like a note from one of those freak auditions on American Idol. A disaster. The bacon was obviously old and soggy. Shriveled up and unsatisfying is no way to go through life. That pig deserved better. The American cheese we added was melted across the entire burger, so there's a plus. But is that really an accomplishment? The burger and grill's heat can take care of that without much effort. Additionally, with the burger, bun and bacon taking up so much of the entree, it was a chore to even attempt to add the lettuce, onion and pickles on top of the burger...so we didn't. Boo.

Bun: Golden brown and toasted to a T, the sesame seed bun was handled with care. It held its own with the jumbo burger and didn't fall apart throughout our multitude of bites. Thats an accomplishment in itself. For how big that burger was, maybe it deserves a medal? Eh...not when its no potato bun!

Bedlam's Molly's Pub & Shebeen Judgment

Meat (43): The best part of the burger. It holds its own in the best NYC burger competition as its tasty, somewhat fresh and seasoned with a nice saltiness that's desirable.

Toppings (16): Disappointing and dull. The bacon seemed as if it had been cooked for breakfast and sat on the grill until dinner. The cheese was melted well but not a standout by any means. The rest of the toppings had no place to sit on the burger.

Bun (20): Toasted well but a sesame bun doesn't win us over. The fact that it held up despite the overwhelming size of the patty was impressive to say the least.

Ranking: 79 out of 100