63rd & 1st’s – Mr Stillman’s Burger

TGI Fridays did a number on us with 63rd & 1st. I have not been a fan of TGI Fridays since a random Friday evening trying to wipe BBQ sauce from a pretty decent rack of ribs and watching a chair fly past my line of sight forcing me to poke myself in the eye with a rib. Oh how the memories come flooding back. I swore I would never again walk into an establishment that seemed more geared toward fuelling the clubbers with Del’ Boy looking Cocktails than the quality of the ambience or food. 63rd & 1st immediately had my back up. However, was a birthday lunch supplied by the Love of my Life and so I took the opportunity to celebrate with a cocktail, therein lies the irony, and review a pretty interesting burger! Read on to find out how it went.

The Bun: 13/20

Advertised was a toasted brioche bun on the menu. I have become more and more critical of buns since working with Cheeseburgerme and I have become more and more disliking of buns that just do not bounce with a squeeze and demonstrate lightness. When I first was given the burger I did think, “Wow, this is a spicy looking burger” (Internal Joke!)” And I mean spicy in the context of well constructed, beautifully stacked, colourful and certainly was going to take a good picture. I tested the bun for my usual “squeeze test” and it was heavy and just didn’t have what I look for. That being said, over time, the bun did get better and better, lightened up as it took on the heat from the pretty massive burger patty. Taste was great, I liked the seeds and the slight sweet taste that you usually get from a decent brioche. Having been a part time Masterchef with the DIY kits it just got to me the fact that the bun was pretty good and just needed a swift 30 seconds or so in a steam and would have near on perfect.

The Toppings: 10/10

Pickled Cucumber and Confit Onion. Ok, wow, starting with the pickled cucumber this was perfect. The freshness of these pickles certainly had me questioning the validity of the jarred stuff we have next to the BBQ on a summers day. I have never really thought about the difference in having invest a little bit more in a decent pickle, nor where to source them, but I am now! The confit onions sounded like something out of one of the cooking shows that doesn’t really float my boat but looks pretty on a spoon sized plate that is served amongst the other 20 dishes! This confit onion blew me away. The sweetness just absolutely elevated the taste of the venison patty and, for me, goes down as one of the best balance of a topping to a patty, ever. Absolutely superb.

Condiments: 2/10

They served this burger stacked with a Redcurrant Jam, of which, I tasted none. The only reason I have even given a scoring to this is that when I poked my finger around, dismantling an otherwise perfectly formed burger, I did taste a pretty nice, sweet and punchy jam. Not enough to add serious scores to the equation, especially being as, if it was present, it made no difference in the burger whatsoever.

The Cheese: 9/20

It seems unfair to give a zero scoring to a component that does not come with the burger. I am going to give an average of the other scoring in the categories to fairly score the burger overall.

The Patty: 17/20

Again, this admission of Venison and Mushroom formed patty, was pretty great. Certainly had a powerful gamy taste which I loved and the mushroom, although was subtle, did give an earthy flavour that I enjoyed. It was a big patty. I expected it to be a little too big and dominate the taste of the burger but overall it didn’t, was balanced out extremely well with the spectacular confit onion flavour present.

The Taste: 15/20

The Mr Stillman’s Burger was a good burger. I cannot say that I expected much from a restaurant that does not fundamentally focus on burgers. It was better than expected, however. The venison patty and the onion confit were certainly two core components in a nice burger. If you liked the sound of this review you should check out Mac and Wild who do some great Venison meats

Our Verdict: 66/100

63rd & 1st has a really nice ambience and is a delightful place to sit down and eat. The staff were kind, thoughtful and knew their menu inside out. They were able to give insights into the taste of the food, good drinks that would accompany the meals and also be ever present without being noticed. I would certainly go to 63rd & 1st again. I feel it was, perhaps, a little unfair to review them on a burger. The next time we go to the restaurant I will definitely go for a steak, some of the steaks I saw coming from the kitchen had me looking at my burger like a kid with a ham sandwich looking at another kid with a Big Mac.