Sunday, July 12, 2009

Zaitzeff


Zaitzeff is one of New York City's many popular burger joints, and is known for serving beef that is free-range, antibiotic and hormone-free and for hand-cut, skillet fried sweet and regular potato fries. I was excited to try it out for lunch Friday, but left sadly disappointed. My friend and I split one each of a kobe and a sirloin burger. Both of these were obviously great beef, cooked perfectly to a wonderful texture, and served on tasty Portuguese muffins...all makings of a great burger. BUT, the meat was sadly lacking in the flavor department. Honestly, I think it just need more salt to wake up all that great meat.* The fries were also almost great, but suffered from the same total lack of salting. I'll definitely go back in the hope that they were just on an off day, but on this occasion I was disappointed by the unrealized potential for a great burger. So sad.


Rating: 76%

*That's what she said.

(Photo from A Hamburger Today.)

19 comments:

DCP said...

While I realize that you stopped being a vegetarian in practice, I think it's clear that you never stopped in spirit.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

that is rly rly sadill be preying yr burget dreams come tru someday :_(

laurie said...

@Glenn: And what the hell does that mean?

Viking Andrew said...

"BUT, the meat was sadly lacking in the flavor department."

No, what the burger lacked was highly tasty, ConAgra steroids. Also, a burger on Portuguese muffins? What?

laurie said...

The Portuguese muffins were seriously good. Also, I'm going back there on Wednesday to find out if they were just having an off day, salt-wise.

Chris said...

Yeah, I gotta agree with Viking Andrew on this one. That burger sucked because it wasn't a burger at all.

But I guess it's the kind a lawyer in NYC might eat. So, that works out for you.

Was it cooked medium-rare? Medium?

laurie said...

It was cooked super well done, of course. Just kidding, I'm not a fucking animal. It was medium-rare. I don't get why the burger wasn't a burger. Because it wasn't raised in a factory farm? Come on, Chris, you know grass fed beef is tasty as hell. Don't front.

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

hey laura restronts us. put salt on the table its the one in the white shaker (stay away from the blck one... unless u want a tummy acke!!!) if yall need ne more dinning advice i recomend the website mcdonald where i eat most of my meals! hth

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

i cld fix that link but im not glens slave (he cldnt afford me)

Chris said...

No, it's not a burger because it's on some ridiculous Portuguese muffin.

And grass-fed beef is not necessarily any more tasty than corn, wheat or barley fed beef. In fact, most of the time grass-fed beef lacks marbling (so it gets dry easily) and explains why your medium-rare burger tasted so damn bland.

And as a side note, grass-fed beef can often be much worse for the environment, since a large majority of them are raised outside of the States.

Of course, I'm not arguing it can't taste good. They both lack something the other offers in my opinion. Grass-fed offers a pretty different taste, but lacks the kind of marbling I'd like to see in my beef.

laurie said...

A girl really just can't win here at R3, can she? From now on I guess I'll just stick to reviewing salads since all my opinions about hamburgers are so very, very wrong.

Chris said...

Aw, come on. I'm mostly just kidding with you.

But how do you give a bland burger 76%?

And you're not wrong just because our opinions differ.

Chris said...

I only feel a sense of duty to protect people from the zealots who make claims that organic is necessarily better, or that all "Kobe" beef is created equal.

You know, the kind of claims that make food sound like more of a fundamental religion, and take a less humanistic approach.

It's kind of akin to fundamental Christianity. But environmentalists and foodies are another conversation, I guess.

laurie said...

I stand by my rating because the burger was seriously almost perfect. If the meat had been salted a bit more (and I'm a strong believer that burgers need a healthy dose of sea salt to come to life), it would have been perfect. Maybe I wasn't clear in my review. And seriously, I am all about those Portuguese muffins. I really have no attachment to any particular kind of bread or bun for burgers. These were like, fluffy and a little sweet and that made for a nice combo with the savory meat. It was perfect for a lunchtime burger.

And the funny thing is, even tho I wasn't perfectly satisfied with it, this burger has stuck with me and now I'm sort of dying to go back. So I suppose that says something good about it, right?

Viking Andrew said...

Oh, Laurie. I was just giving you a hard time, partially because I don't have taste buds (fishing accident) and can't tell the difference between good food and bad food.

I.J. said...

The geometry of that hamburger is all fucked up.

Anonymous said...

thats what u get for eatin meat

Walter Benjamin and the Mechanical Reproductions (the band) said...

o are yall still talking about this thats cool i gues

LoCo said...

My jaw hurts just looking at that thing.*