The Best Veggie Burger in NYC

Veggie Burger #1 - Energy Kitchen

I started the quest on Thursday, February 11th, 2010 at Energy Kitchen (47th street between 9th and 10th Avenues).  My friend Kevin, who has asked to be taken along on this journey, had stopped by my office right as I was about to go out for lunch to discuss some of his upcoming projects (Kevin works for me as a theatre curator), so it seemed as good a time as any to inaugurate the quest.

The day before, the city had been blanketed with snow, and it was crisp, cold, and sunny as we walked over to Energy Kitchen. The restaurant looked like something out of a near future dystopian film trying to make a comment on fast food and the deterioration of individuality in contemporary society— you know, the kind of place that sells nutrient enriched flavor capsules instead of real food or that employs a Cornucopia 3-D food printer instead of a chef. The menu, however, is comprised of organic, grass fed, humanitarian everything (and there are plenty of options for those who prefer animals on their buns), so I was looking forward to my meal.

I ordered a veggie burger with cheddar.  They have low-fat mozzarella and American cheese, as well, but I find low-fat cheese morally reprehensible; I’m just faithfully reporting the options for those who have no such qualms.

As we sat down to wait for the burger, I confessed to Kevin my concern that I’d instantly find the burger that compares with or even bests the 10 at National Mechanics. What if I’d deified this burger, only to discover that what they’d created in the beautiful former bank building was no rare feat at all? This whole tumblr would have been created only to sit empty!

When it was ready, about ten minutes later (a good sign— no microwave!), it arrived wrapped in shiny silver foil, taller than it was wide. The counter person asked if I wanted mustard, ketchup, or hot sauce— I hadn’t planned on tampering with the native preperation, but hot sauce struck my fancy and I said yes. He reached under the counter and then splashed my tray with four packets of [hot sauce name]. Ok… Hot sauce isn’t house made. I can live with that.

Unwrapping the burger, I was greeted with a very attractive grill mark on the top of a nice, deep brown bun. I took a bite… It was good, satisfying, I’d even say tasty, but any concerns I had about this quest ending on the first mission were dismissed. If a Morningstar Griller’s Prime burger is a 1 and the hallowed National Mechanics burger is a touchstone 10, this was a 4. Of course, at a 4, it was by far the best veggie burger I’d ever eaten at a restaurant in NYC.

The stand out part of this burger was the bun, and I say this as someone who isn’t a bread fanatic and generally considers it an after thought. It was nice and toasty from the grill, and had a nice, earthy whole grain flavor. The burger itself was soft, not quite mushy, but the toothlessness of it made the experience progressively less pleasant. The only variation in the otherwise uniform texture was a not infrequent bite of whole edamame.

The cheese wasn’t the sharpest or tastiest cheddar I’d ever had, but it had good stretch to it. The lettuce, tomato, and shredded carrots that topped it added a nice dimension, but it definitely needed the packet of hot sauce I added after the first few bites. 

The breakdown:

Burger Taste: 5
Burger Texture: 2
Bread: 7
Cheese: 3
Toppings: 3
Presentation: 4
Value: 6
Overall: 4
Price: $6.59
Type(s): veggie based, soy based