Burgers in the Hood.

Burger joints have been popping up in the neighborhood in recent years like crazy. Some have stuck around and others have come and gone (farewell five guys).  Here's a list of our favorite neighborhood burgers. 

The Obvious Choice-
Prime Meats Bacon Cheeseburger.  Adding the cheese and bacon to this already pricy burger is well worth it.  Hands down the ultimate in meaty deliciousness.

For the kids-
Mooburger is both tasty and has a great atmosphere for families.  They use organic and natural ingredients as well.

The Not-so-Obvious Choice-
Karloff, which specializes in Eastern European fare has a surprisingly amazing burger.  It's really flavorful and has that great combo of charred crispiness on the outside and juicy on the inside.

The Newbie-
Vekslers has only been around for a few weeks now and their burger has made our list because not only is it a decent burger in and of itself but the homemade cheez whiz sauce they put on top knocks it into the excellent category.

What's your favorite? Feel free to add your own fave if we haven't already!

More than Burgers at New Restaurant Vekslers.

We've blogged about the new "burger shop" coming to 521 Hicks, which we found out about through Grub Street.  This place is way more than just burgers.  In fact, they only have one burger, "the quarter pounder with cheese", on their small but diverse menu.  We've made the photo below extra large so you can see the delicious menu descriptions.  Because it says opening menu for the week we're sure it will be subject to change.  Definitely excited to try this place.  It's affordable too!

Bareburger closes doors temporarily.

After waiting for months for the new Bareburger on Court Street neat Atlantic to open they only opened for a short time before the brown paper went back up on the doors and windows.  The sign outside last week said the "exciting things are happening" and they will re-open with "COOL improvements".  Air conditioning? We can't really guess what could be going on behind that paper but definitely strange that something needs improving after being open for such a short time.  We're growing curiouser and curiouser.

521 Hicks Burger Joint Updates!

Coming soon??!  As you can see from this pic above there was a Pat LaFrieda parked out front recently.  This was taken a couple of days ago.  This gives us a couple clues as to what to expect from this soon to be burger joint at 521 Hicks Street.  One is that they are using quality products!  Two is that if they are getting food delivered already, we say "if" because we didn't actually see any transactions and in fact the man driving knocked on the door and no one answered, this may mean that they are opening very soon!  We'll keep an eye on things.

New Restaurant on Hicks.

We passed this place on the corner of Hicks and Degraw the other day and we wouldn't have given it a second look had the door not been wide open and we noticed that work was being done on the place.  It barely looked like a storefront back when it was a hydroponic shop but after glancing in the windows (pic below) you can see that it's going to be a restaurant.  We asked the gentleman working what type of food they will serve but he only said he knew it would be a bar and restaurant.  We just learned that it's going to be a burger shop.  The owner, who is the same as the previous gardening store, is quoted on GrubStreet as wanting to sell "Shake Shack–style burgers for $5," Sounds like a good addition to this area!

Bareburger Coming to Court Street!

A space at 149 Court Street is being transformed from a travel inc/clothing store/newsstand into a Bareburger, which is an organic chain burger restaurant.  Okay, so you're either thinking "yum" or more likely "ugh, not more burgers!" .  This place is pretty good though.  There is one already in Park Slope and at least one other in Manhattan.  We've been walking by wondering what that bright yellow window-paned space would become and when we looked it up and saw the picture of the Park Slope Bareburger below, it was pretty clear.

Photo: Courtesy of Bareburger

Zero Guys.

 Photo: Hugh Merwin

It looks as though the Five Guys Burgers and Fries that opened on Court Street not too long ago is no longer.  We've heard that the place is now closed, gutted, and has a sign on the door thanking people for their patronage and asking us to please visit their Montague location.  This is both surprising and not so surprising at the same time.  Given the excellent location right a cross from the Cobble Hill movie theater (perfect spot to grab a quick meal when you're running late for a flick), it's very family friendly and has a good reputation for being pretty delicious, it's strange that they only lasted a little over a year.  The place, however, never seemed that crowded and with all the competing burgers in the area, made with better quality ingredients, it's not too surprising.  Oh well.  Grubstreet also wrote about the closing (above pic) and seemed a little shocked too.  We've got enough burgers, now we can only hope for a really delicious Indian restaurant!

Burger on Smith

209 Smith Street used to be a restaurant called Faan. We noticed that they had closed a while back but hadn't realized until last Friday that the spot had reopened as Burger on Smith. Walking by we decided to check it out. To our surprise they were out of beef!! And it wasn't late. Maybe 8:30 or so. Weird huh? I guess they weren't expecting the rush they got, which is both good and bad. They have been getting good reviews on yelp though and they were pretty crowded regardless of the fact that they were out of the main ingredient they needed, so maybe it's delicious. We'll definitely go back and try it another day.

Shake Shack Brooklyn-Style

So, most of you know that Shake Shack has been open for a little while now, since December 20th. We knew it was going to be in the Fulton Mall area but didn't know it was so close to Borough Hall, it's a Boerum Place and Fulton. We decided to swing by last week and check it out...and maybe get a shake, burger and fries while we were at it. We were so pleased to see some nice Brooklyn touches at this location. A couple of Brooklyn-centric mix-ins include Mast Bros. chocolate blend (which you can see in the picture above) and Early Bird granola (which we'll try next time!). We're so happy to have a Shake Shack in our hood and these local flavors make it all the sweeter (literally!). And the best part? The lines weren't nearly as long as their Manhattan locations so you can be sucking or spooning down a shake in no time!

New Burger Bar

There seems to be a trend of new restaurants opening in the Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens areas and this trend is beefy and between two buns. Yup, the all american burger. Whether it's on the fancier side offering up the lamb or the truffle mushroom stuffed variety, such as Dubuque, the family friendly joint, such as Vinzee's, or your traditional fast-food style sandwich, such a Five Guys, everyone's got burgers on the brain. Which burger reigns supreme? That is yet to be determined. We'll all have to restaurant hop to taste and decide. A spot to add to your list just opened last Wednesday at 282 Atlantic, aptly called two8two bar and burger. We were unable to go inside as they were still setting up when we stopped by but we did get a peek. It has a nice big bar and a simple bar and grill type look to it. If anyone's tried this place let us know what you thought. Your comments are always welcome!

Hours of Operation: Sunday-Thursday 5PM-12AM, Friday and Saturday 5PM-2AM

Burger Joint Now Open!

Just arriving on 548 Court and 9th street is a new casual restaurant named Dubuque. It seems the name of this place has a double meaning. On their menu under the restaurant name it says "Down Under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway" yet the owner also says that it's named after Dubuque, Iowa because it's an American, or rather a middle American grill. Either way it's open and ready to serve up some food, more specifically burgers. They have beef, lamb, pork, and even a cod scallop burger. They offer more than burgers though. Some items on their menu include an oyster poboy, deviled eggs, and a grilled tuna sandwich with black olive pesto.

Hours of operation: 5pm-10pm Tuesday-Sunday, Open late on Saturdays (until 11pm), closed on Mondays.

Visit them on facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dubuque-Restaurant/132912063407018

Dubuque- 548 Court St

Hot off the press from Realty Collective! A new restaurant is under way at 548 Court St. The space is in its final touches and will be named Dubuque. We found this information on the space over by 9th St. written by our friends over at Brownstoner back in May:

"Here's an early word on what's to fill the space at 548 Court: a man working there said he plans on opening a burger place, with other open face sandwiches with some fancy touches like truffles. They were just approved for a building permit and construction looked to be in very early stages, but hopefully this place will measure up to the other popular restaurants on that lower stretch of Court." GMAP

Anything with truffles makes me salivate. We are looking forward to it! YUM!