Island Burgers and Shakes

My girlfriend’s brother has raved about Island Burgers for some time, so I decided to check it out for myself. Plus, I’d seen Bobby Flay eat there as part of one of his shows and the burgers looked REALLY good! It’s a small, narrow strip of a restaurant located in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan.

One of the things that sets Island Burgers apart is their bread options. You can have your burger on a standard bun or a choice of pita, sourdough or ciabatta bread. I ordered the “Cowboy” burger. Many of the burgers are very messy and the Cowboy is no exception. On thick-cut sourdough bread, it comes blackened with spices, grilled onions, bacon, cheddar cheese, ranch dressing, BBQ sauce, raw onion, tomato and lettuce. Dainty eating this is not. It’s truly a fork and knife affair all the way. I ordered it medium-well as the server gave me the impression that medium would be fairly bloody. It was rather dry, with no pink, but good eating nonetheless. I would definitely get it medium next time. I would recommend getting the bread toasted.

I would love to work my way through their vast menu of burgers. They also have “chicken churrasco” sandwiches, which are pounded chicken breasts that can be prepared the same way as all of the burgers. A claim to fame of Island Burgers is that they don’t serve fries. The story goes that they didn’t have the space for fryers when they first opened, and then they found out that the cost of installing them was more they they wanted to invest. Instead, they have what I refer to as “Barry Bonds”-sized baked potatoes and they are really good! One of these is a meal. To wash it all down, I had a classic “black and white” shake. I’ll be going to back soon for another quality burger.

Note: there are two other Island Burgers in New York, at 3147 Broadway and at 422 Amsterdam Ave.