As much as I love to cook, I love to experience various restaurants in New York City and get some inspirations for new recipes.

New York City has so many wonderful restaurants. You can eat out every day of the year and still not eat in every restaurant out there on this magnificent island of Manhattan. Food is in abundance here and all for you to taste and enjoy!

So, what is your pleasure? American, Asian, French, Czech, German, Indian, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, Hungarian, Caribbean, Greek, Thai, African? Okay, more than you can imagine. So how do you pick? Well, you don’t. You just go for it. It’s all there, in front of you asking to be tasted. Go with what you desire that day and you’ll be pleased. Let’s face it, if you live in a city where there are so many cuisine choices, you are a happier person.

Today I was meeting a friend for lunch and we were both in the mood for a tasty burger. Something satisfying and hearty on a cold winter day. Now, my friend and I have eaten in many “burger” places in the city and quite frankly we wanted to try someplace different. So I went online and chose a “zagat” rated “best burger in NYC” and chose “The Burger Joint” located in Le Parker Meridien Hotel, 199 West 56th Street.

To enter the restaurant you have to go through a dark small hallway to the left of the lobby. (They could stand to put in a few lights for safety.) The place is pretty small, although large enough for about 50 people. It’s decorated with movie /TV series posters with hanging lights low enough to smack your head into, (yours truly included)wooden tables and chairs, the feeling of a barn. You check off what you would like to order on a menu list and hand it to the cashier . You place your order at the register and serve yourself. A step up from a fast food joint. The burger comes wrapped in parchment paper and the fries come inside a brown paper bag. Since they only serve house wine and I am not really a beer drinker I opted for a sparkling water.

I have to say, the burger was tasty although the bun did not really hold up. It became rather soggy very quickly. The fries were nice and there was more than enough, almost a half of a sandwich bag! The whole meal came to a mere NYC price of $17.76, a bargain for this area.

I have to say, going forward, I wouldn’t make any special trip to this place again but if I was in the area and was in the mood for a burger I would give it another go. But then, let’s see what other burger places may pop up. after all it’s New York City and there are thousands of places to grab a burger.

So if you are in the New York City area on the west side and feel like trying this place, I personally would give this place a rating of about a 2.5 out of 5. It’s not great, not the best but it may be convenient. Anyway, as always, Enjoy!