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Superiority Burger - All-Vegetarian "Burgers" West of Tompkins Square Park in East Village


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I just got back from a quick weekend to New York.  The whole trip was animated by absurd amounts of hype--mainly because I reread my dogeared Goethe and decided that sometimes you just gotta pull a Faust and make a bargain.  At least that's how I explain how I procured those Hamilton tickets for Saturday night.  I was afraid the hype would sully the experience, like poor Japanese tourists with Paris Syndrome.  But it didn't!

So the next day rolls around and I decide to keep the hype train going.  Superiority Burger in the East Village has been getting a lot of buzz, especially with the James Beard nomination and glowing reviews from the Times and the New Yorker.  It's a fast food joint, but less like one done by Danny Meyer and more like one done by Ian MacKaye and John Belushi's Olympia diner guy.

Everything is vegetarian or vegan but not in a crunchy Moosewood sort of way.  They've got a burger, a wrap, sloppy joes, and various side salads.  The burger is the best veggie burger I've ever had--that first bite took me back to sitting outside LAX, jet fumes in the air, tearing into an In-N-Out burger.  It had that balance between patty, cheese, sauce, and toppings.  It used its iceberg lettuce not as a throwaway, but as an integral textural component.  It was incredible.  The wrap was also insanely good--it's everything you expect from a vegan wrap, but, you know, actually delicious.  I sadly didn't get a chance to try the sloppy joe.  The two sides I tried (burnt broccoli salad and crispy potatoes) were both more complex and nuanced than they had any right to be.  They could be at home at a Jose Andres restaurant.  I suspect most of the sides are equally amazing.  The burger, wrap, and two sides ran about $25.

Like Hamilton, Superiority Burger lives up to the hype.  And thank goodness because it's about the only place I can afford after getting those tickets.

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I ate the burger with the broccoli and potatoes with (a few) beers at HiFi on Ave. A last time I was in NY.  I agree that it was a very good burger, and something I could see myself eating frequently if I still lived in the neighborhood.  My only issue (not a complaint), is that the burger is on the small side, and I would want 2.  My friend's wrap was huge and dense, and would definitely be filling.  I agree the sides were excellent, and definitely did not take 2nd stage to the burger.

I just noticed that now they are doing a lunch service (which they weren't doing back in February).  I think that'll go a long way to quell the lines.

Damn, now I want another burger.

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I just got back from a quick weekend to New York.  The whole trip was animated by absurd amounts of hype--mainly because I reread my dogeared Goethe and decided that sometimes you just gotta pull a Faust and make a bargain.  At least that's how I explain how I procured those Hamilton tickets for Saturday night.  I was afraid the hype would sully the experience, like poor Japanese tourists with Paris Syndrome.  But it didn't!

So the next day rolls around and I decide to keep the hype train going.  Superiority Burger in the East Village has been getting a lot of buzz, especially with the James Beard nomination and glowing reviews from the Times and the New Yorker.  It's a fast food joint, but less like one done by Danny Meyer and more like one done by Ian MacKaye and John Belushi's Olympia diner guy.

Everything is vegetarian or vegan but not in a crunchy Moosewood sort of way.  They've got a burger, a wrap, sloppy joes, and various side salads.  The burger is the best veggie burger I've ever had--that first bite took me back to sitting outside LAX, jet fumes in the air, tearing into an In-N-Out burger.  It had that balance between patty, cheese, sauce, and toppings.  It used its iceberg lettuce not as a throwaway, but as an integral textural component.  It was incredible.  The wrap was also insanely good--it's everything you expect from a vegan wrap, but, you know, actually delicious.  I sadly didn't get a chance to try the sloppy joe.  The two sides I tried (burnt broccoli salad and crispy potatoes) were both more complex and nuanced than they had any right to be.  They could be at home at a Jose Andres restaurant.  I suspect most of the sides are equally amazing.  The burger, wrap, and two sides ran about $25.

Like Hamilton, Superiority Burger lives up to the hype.  And thank goodness because it's about the only place I can afford after getting those tickets.

I ate the burger with the broccoli and potatoes with (a few) beers at HiFi on Ave. A last time I was in NY.  I agree that it was a very good burger, and something I could see myself eating frequently if I still lived in the neighborhood.  My only issue (not a complaint), is that the burger is on the small side, and I would want 2.  My friend's wrap was huge and dense, and would definitely be filling.  I agree the sides were excellent, and definitely did not take 2nd stage to the burger.

I just noticed that now they are doing a lunch service (which they weren't doing back in February).  I think that'll go a long way to quell the lines.

Damn, now I want another burger.

Superiority Burger was a 2016 James Beard (National) Award Semifinalist for Best New Restaurant, which is why I was seriously considering it a few weeks ago, but there was such a bounty of restaurants near where I was staying in Midtown that I just didn't get a chance to make the trip - believe me, I was tempted.

Thank you both for posting about Superiority Burger - it looks "impossibly interesting," for lack of a better term.

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