Bar Artisanal - Review

Intro
Bar Artisanal - Highly Recommended
268 West Broadway at 6th Avenue
New York, NY
Phone: (212) 925-1600

The last couple of years we've seen a craze in the cheap eats - obvious correlation to the state of the economy - with foodies flocking to find the best burgers and pizzas in the city. Bar Artisanal was one of those contenders and it did not disappoint - phenomenal burger. I loved Artisanal back in the day and the same solid cooking is now brought to Tribecca with Bar Artisanal. Overall, I give the restaurant a 86/100.

Our Menu
1) Gougeres *
2) Pork Rilletes Spring Rolls **
3) Burger: Artisanal Blend - Pickled Green Tomato***

Rating System
--- What the F - in a bad way * Good ** Great *** What the F – in a good way

Dish Comments
1) Funny that they have a menu for Amuse Bouches - the usually free tiny bites that awakens the diners palate for the rest of the meal. Here you pay, but in reality they're appetizers or even tapas style dishes. The gougeres here are tasty, but not as nice as I remembered at Artisanal. Still fun stuff - light and decent cheese flavor.
2) Another item off the Amuse menu and these were hella fun. Deep fried and stuffed with juicy pork and pickled carrots - reminded me of a banh mi, but fried up like an egg roll. Delicious.
3) A super WTF burger. Basically, Bar Artisanal's burger is a grind of short rib and chuck meat which yields a super juicy and flavorful meat. And don't worry, there's no braised short rib here like at DB Bistro, this burger is pure and awesome. The remoulade and pickled green tomato didn't make sense when I heard it, but the sourness just intensified the beefy flavor which was quite odd and quite delicious. Finished it off with gruyere and a home made fluffly brioche bun which was a perfect foil for the burger. It soaked up all the juices/fat perfectly - almost like a french dip sandwich. Don't worry the brioche has no traces of sweetness which I've sadly experienced at other restaurants. Fries were solid - huge potato flavor, but not as crisp as I would like.

Overall Restaurant Experience (86/100)

• Food 8.6/10 – Like Artisanal, this place does some pretty solid cooking. Delicioius stuff here.
  
• Service 8.5/10 – Our waiter was on top of his game. He was very knowledgeable about the menu and food came out at a perfect pace. Also, everyone gets plated at the same time which I haven't seen in a while.
  
• Atmosphere 8.0/10 – Very open place with tall ceilings - all floor to ceiling windows were open as well. Kinda looks like an old timey place with the checkered floors, tons of mirrors and black trim. The tables were perfectly spaced unlike at Artisanal where it feels like your literally on top of everyone. Got there at 12:30 on Friday for lunch and it was relatively empty. A little bit later, the crowd consisted of a large group of finance people, and a couple women in pairs of 2.
  
• Price 7.8/10 – The price was pretty expensive - about 50 a head, but I was happy to pay it. The burgers are about $15, but they are gargantuan and you will be stuffed all day. Amuse were around $7. Beers are a bit stupid as they were $10-$14 a beer - I had a Samuel Smith Nut Brown which paired perfectly with the burger, but $10 seemed steep to me.
  

Closing Comments
The co-workers and I debate which is the best burger in the city and I believe this is definitely a contender. I'm usually a purist as my keys to a burger are it has to be juicy and it has to have a great beefy flavor. This meets those categories, but the remoulade has an MSG type of effect, where it falsely enhances the beef flavor. Nevertheless, this is one of the best burgers I've ever had and will have to go back to JG to see if it overtakes it for me as my favorite burger in the city.