Corner Bistro

BEING hungry, with a slight hangover on the side, we fit right in with the rest of Corner Bistro’s Sunday lunchtime clientele, who are slumped into wooden booths. A dimly lit bar in an otherwise nondescript area between the West Village and the Meatpacking District, its menu is brief — four types of burger, a grilled chicken sandwich and a BLT. No puddings, no leafy green stuff. And nothing for vegetarians, to the distress of my non-meat-eating companion Nick.

For me, it’s not a problem. I found the film Supersize Me revolting. But a good burger, caramelised on the outside, the meat graduating to pink on the inside, moist and juicy, is a wondrous thing, and I’ll happily hunt down Manhattan’s best, even if a vegetarian has to go hungry in the process.

Among Manhattan’s burgers, Corner Bistro, which serves up 600 burgers a day, reigns supreme. So much so that, in Time Out New York's annual food awards, the category is called “Best Burger (besides Corner Bistro)”.

I go for the bistro burger, (£3.20) an 8oz burger topped with cheese and — for added cholesterol — a slice of bacon. A queue has formed outside the door by the time we get our burgers, accompanied by fries that are on the right side of limp. As fast food goes, it’s taken a reassuringly slow time to reach my plate. And without such niceties as cutlery or china (plates are proud to be paper), eaten very fast.

Some put the burger’s renaissance in New York down to the DB Bistro foie gras burger (see right), others, that there’s been a move towards comfort food post-September 11. But there’s something reassuring about the fact that, in a city dedicated to making the burger haute cuisine, with foie gras, Kobe-style beef and burgers from named animals, the basic, morning-after burger reigns supreme.

In a place that has stubbed out smoking in its bars, is a burger the last permissible guilty pleasure? Nick cuts across my reverie. “Minced beef is very nice,” he says, finishing his last mouthful. It had taken Corner Bistro’s award-winning burger to end 18 years of vegetarianism. Corner Bistro: 331 W 4th Street at Jane Street (001 212 242 9502).

Rare Bar and Grill

RARE Bar is home to Manhattan’s second-best burger, according to Time Out, and responsible for most variations, including salmon and American Kobe with truffle butter. The bison burger (£8) is very good — leaner than beef and a slightly gamier taste.

303 Lexington Avenue at 37th Street (481 1999, www.rarebarandgrill.com).

Prime Burger

A SLICE of good value near Saks and St Patrick’s Cathedral. The burger (£3.20) is on the small side (4oz) and aficionados eschew the uninspiring fries for onion rings. Prime Burger has been run by the same family since 1965, and the decor dates from the same era.

5E 51st Street between Madison and 5th Avenue (759 4729, www.primeburger.com).

DB Bistro Moderne

THIS midtown restaurant, attached to the City Club hotel, is responsible for adding foie gras to the burger mix (along with truffles and tomato compote). The resultant burger (£15.20) is served in two halves, with pommes soufflé on a roll flecked with parmesan cheese. You can “supersize” — for an eye-watering £31.

55 W 44th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues (391 2400, www.danielnyc.com).

Pop Burger

A TRENDY new bar/restaurant in the Meatpacking District that mixes burgers with Manhattan’s other craze, cocktails. Burgers (£2.70) come in small pairs and work well with Flirtinis and a pool table.

58-60 Ninth Avenue between 14th and 15th Streets (414 8686).

The Spotted Pig

MANHATTAN’S first gastropub, headed by April Bloomfield, formerly of the River Café in London. Purists are divided on the subject of the shoestring fries (which have a tendency to cool too fast) but there is little dissent over the quality of the burger (£7.90).

314 W 11th Street at Greenwich Street (620 0393, www.thespottedpig.com).

Getting there: British Airways Holidays (0870 2433406, www.ba.com/holidays) has three nights room-only at the Hotel Metro, including flights, from £448.

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