The Great Burger Search is Over

Good Sunday evening to you.  I hope you all had a great weekend.  Here in the northeast (specifically New Jersey), on February 8th, we had temperatures reaching almost 60 degrees! What a pleasant experience it was to be outside with a light jacket and not my heavy-duty winter leathers. To celebrate this all-too-brief weather interlude, we jumped in the car and headed to the shore to try the newest location of Bobby's Burger Palace - owned by Bobby Flay, of Food Network fame and restaurants in NYC and Atlantic City. Some of you may remember one of Bobby's earliest Food Network shows entitled Grillin' and Chillin' where Bobby and Jack McDavid would spar off with dueling grills (gas vs charcoal). It was a great show. Bobby has always been a burger aficionado and now he brings fabulous burgers to the masses.

His first NJ location (Paramus is opening in the spring) is in Eatontown - a standalone site on the outskirts of the Monmouth Mall, which is nice so you don't have to serpentine through the mall to get to the restaurant. We arrived about 12:30pm and there was a line out the door. Within 15 minutes, we were up to the counter where we submitted our order and then found seats at the counter right in front of the semi-open kitchen (how lucky was that for picture taking?!). Efficient, pleasant servers deliver your order to your seats. I like that - kind of self-serve, but not.

With a name like Bobby's Burger Palace, obviously the menu largely consists of burgers - about 10 different burgers ("Bobby Blue Burger," "Miami Burger," etc). You can also get any variation made with ground turkey or chicken. There are a couple of "griddled" cheese sandwiches, one salad, two kinds of fries (regular and sweet potato fries), and beer battered onion rings. Also available are 8-10 flavors of milkshakes and malteds - when was the last time you saw those on a menu? The usual iced teas and sodas are also available. I believe the Long Island location has alcoholic beverages on the menu, but not in Eatontown. 

So, we both ordered the "Crunchburger," which is a burger with double American cheese and potato chips (my husband ordered his with cheddar). Barry also ordered a side of onion rings, because he can't go to any restaurant that offers homemade onion rings and not try them. A coffee milkshake and a dark chocolate malted topped off our lunch. When I tell you that, by far, this was THE best burger I have had in years, I am not kidding. Juicy, flavorful, done to my requested temperature (medium-rare), on a great sesame bun. I loved the crunch of the potato chips with the juiciness of the burger. The onion rings were very good and the milkshake and malted were outstanding. And, by today's standards in the northeast NYC/NJ area, the prices were not outrageous (all the burgers are $7.50). 

It was a good thing I got in some time on the treadmill early this morning because it was not a "light" meal, and it's also a good thing that this is not closer to our house (those coffee milkshakes could definitely be calling me...) but for those times when I need a burger, Bobby's Burger Palace is definitely where I'll go. And, I gotta tell you - there is nothing better than a ride to the shore on an oddly-warm February day coupled with a great burger and a coffee milkshake. It does wonders for cleaning out those winter cobwebs in your mind.