Dining Out, Dinner, Late Night, Lower East Side, Lunch, Manhattan, TakeoutKerry Alaric CheeseboroMarch 08, 2010beef, burger, burgers, corned, downtown, fries, hash, jalapeno, lamb, lettuce, meat, mustard, onions, satayComment

Hey, Mikey, I Like It!

Mikey's Burger | 134 Ludlow St. (at Rivington St.) | 212.979.9211 | On MenuPages

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SPRINGING FROM THE MIND OF Michael Hyunh of all the "BAO" restaurants such as my favorably-reviewed Baoguette, I expected his official foray into the already crowded burger market to be of a entirely different ideology. A "Bao Burger", if you will. And I took off downtown this to try some exotic fare.

A small little boite of a place—with a likewise streamlined menu—it had just opened when I arrived at exactly 12 noon. The cook was doing the "first fry" of some hand-cut, skin-on, shoestrings, allowing me to quickly peruse the chalkboard menu before ordering both a "Mikey's" Burger (topped with corned beef hash and mustard) and a Satay Burger, made with lamb and topped with jalapeño and mint.

The flattop-griddled meat was very tasty and had perfect juiciness and texture, wisely only salted just before hitting the heat. On the Mikey, I got more texture from the corn beef hash than corned beef flavor, but the burger's flavor more than made up for it. I erroneously assumed that the satay-style Lamb Burger would have some type of peanut sauce—although nowhere on their menu do they even remotely suggest that—but was very pleased with the bolder kicks of the jalapeño and sweet brightness on the mint, flavors for associated with the "Bao" man.

The burgers run around 5-6 bucks, as they also offer hot dogs, shakes, and chili or cheese fries. (They were unable to make me a sesame shake or a hot dog since they tend to run out of these items by Monday morning after the crazy popular business they get weekend nights being open until 4 a.m.)

I don't keep those kinds of hours anymore, but it would almost be worth it for a burger with that many flavors.

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.