67burger review....finally

67burger67 lafayette avenue at fulton (LAFU), ft. greene, brooklyn 11am-11pm daily 718.797.7150 www.67burger.com

after our thwarted first attempt, we headed back to 67burger on thursday (calling first to make sure they were actually open). my only problem was that my husband had nabbed our digital camera for the day, but i just picked up a disposable and we were on our way. and i took a bunch of lovely photos and didn't think i needed the flash...but turns out maybe i did...so i don't have as many as i would have liked, and the ones i do have are a little art-house-y. enjoy!

so all in all, 67burger gets a thumbs up. they are clearly still ironing out the kinks, but there were enough positives that i would gladly go back again. in fact, my lunch date already has.

first of all, the space: it's long and narrow, with a minimalist garage thing happening—blue and gray striped cement walls, garage doors at the front and back, stainless steel accents, and very stylish ceiling fans.

the very open kitchen takes up the majority of the western wall, with the counter to the front of it and the restrooms to the rear, and the tables line the eastern wall.

there are some drawbacks. when you're standing at the counter ordering, you're pretty much blocking the only aisle in the place, so anyone who needs to get to the rest of the restaurant—to a table, to the restroom—has to squeeze past you. not too comfortable for anyone. and when we first sat down, it was LOUD in there. the front garge door was open and the street noise was pouring in and bouncing off the concrete walls and floor.... but as more tables filled up, the bodies muffled the din and it was fine.

so, the food: my lunch date ordered the cheeseburger, with cheddar cheese and avocado (they were out of avocado, alas) and a chocolate shake.

we split an order of curly fries, which came in a cool metal wire basket lined with butcher paper.

the kids got the hot dog kids meal and the grilled cheese kids meal, both of which came with regular fries.

then i ordered. okay, tell me what you think: the burger portion of the menu starts with "beef burger", then "cheeseburger", then a few specialty burgers; i.e. the parisian burger, whose description reads "sauteed mushrooms, onions, and dijon mustard." then "turkey burger", then "veggie burger", then the "greek garden", whose description reads "artichokes, feta, olives." this is what i order. when it arrives, it is artichokes, feta, and olives...on a veggie burger. i thought it was going to be artichokes, feta, and olives on a beef burger. was that crazy of me? if it had said "greek veggie", there would have been no question what it was. but as it was....

in any case, they should offer the "greek garden" on a beef burger, because it was one of the best burgers i've ever eaten. the burger itself was exactly how i like them, relatively thin rather than so fat you can't get a comfortable bite. and as my lunch date pointed out, the burgers were crumbly and roughly shaped, so definitely not from pre-formed patties. they were cooked well too—the medium rare was nice and crispy/charred on the outside and pink in the middle. the buns are soft but not airy or tasteless.

the curly fries seems to have possibly come from the freezer, but that didn't make them any less tasty. the regular fries could have been hand-cut, though; they were slightly irregularly shaped and had bits of skin on them. and a big plus: the ketchup comes in big red platic squeeze bottles, which are so much easier to deal with than glass bottles. if they would only put squeeze bottles of mustard on the tables too, it would be a perfect world.

the milkshakes were thick and delicious, and mine (i got a vanilla) tasted very much like it was made with breyer's ice cream, yum. speaking of beverages, 67 has a nice beer selection on tap: stella artois, sierra nevada, magic hat #9, and bass.

and while they're still definitely getting their act together, the service is great. all the employees are friendly and seem to actually care. they replaced my garden burger with a beef burger with amazing speed and apologies (and said they would reword the menu to make it clearer...). and just as the kids were about to get antsy, someone appeared with paper placemats and crayons.

at $6.25 for the cheapest burger and $2.95 for the fries, it's not a cheap lunch. but the ingredients seem fresh, everything is prepared to order, and it's delicious.

ps - when my lunch date returned with her husband, they both got bacon cheeseburgers and split the onion rings, and said that the bacon was crispy and the onion rings were thin and nicely beer-battered, and didn't suffer from that awful issue of the whole onion slipping out from the coating in the first bite....