Lure Fishbar -- New York, NY

The Grilled Cheeseburger at Lure Fishbar

142 Mercer Street
New York, NY 10012-3806
(212) 431-7676

Strawberry Shortcake and I settled on Lure Fishbar as the burger to try based upon a pile of glowing reviews from various reviews and blogs--the Internet has never let us down before.  Lure Fishbar was packed, and it was bar seating only, but they had the full menu at the bar.  Lure Fish Bar, as the name would suggest is best known for its seafood, so we had the chili glazed calamari appetizer, and it was pretty freaking great.  I would return for the calamari. As for the burger...

The Burger Breakdown...

The Beef: 75:25 meat to fat and a chuck heavy blend of chuck, brisket, and boneless short rib. Packed medium firm with a nice, coarse, hearty grind. It had a nice front note of funk, but it was certainly oilier than I was comfortable with.

The Seasoning: Seasoned on the outside and left alone on the inside. Sad...if a high-end burger is full of chuck, then it needs to be seasoned enough to generate some flavor.

The Sear: It was pretty weak in its application to the irregular and medium thick patty on a reasonably hot grill. The sear was not especially crunchy, but it was vaguely present.  

The Preparation: Grilled, but I couldn't find the grill marks, a little beyond the Medium that was requested. I always order Medium for Chuck, or all that I get is bland. That was OK, since the beef was pretty bloodless. The higher cooking temp brought our more flavor from the Chuck.

A little overcooked

Cheese: American...it was fine.

The Bun: A well-toasted, but overly greased and sweet brioche bun. The bun was a little spongier than I would have liked, and as a result it was on the chewy side.

The Meat to Bun Ratio: The cheeseburger at Lure Fishbar is pretty hefty--around 7 oz., so the staunch brioche held up well to the mass of beef.

The Fries: These were crisp and cooked in peanut oil. They were a little under-seasoned, but after a massive burger, who needed them anyway?

The Value: Meh. It was good burger--it was also a $15 burger, so I had hoped for a little more that merely good.

To wrap this up, Lure Fishbar is a seafood establishment.  They quality of the seafood certainly rose above the beef. They opened a sister restaurant, which specialized in burgers, and that is the subject of the next review, which was conducted on the following day.

Burger Review : Lure Fishbar delivered a competent and satisfactory cheeseburger.

A weak sear at Lure Fishbar

Rating...3 Bites