Summer has begun. Has it officially begun? There is a date which they say is when summer officially begins, but whatever, because it has begun. It was Saturday. I went for an afternoon bike ride. I sat in Battery Park and I saw the water and there were clouds in part of the sky but not in other parts. The day was shifting into that time in the summer when the sun is slowly falling down but refuses to completely go away until very late. Time for a burger probing. Some friends and I gathered into the Adventure Mobile and headed to Brooklyn. There had been murmurings of a great "dry aged" burger at Emily, the Fort Greene establishment known for its very good pizza. We arrived at around 9:30pm and there was a bit of a wait, so we went to a local bar for refreshments. Soon enough our table was ready and we were "text messaged" to alert us of this happy fact. We ran back to Emily and we were seated at a communal table and discussed Cheesecake Factory and life with our fellow diners. We were right next to the pizza oven and kitchen and could see the assemblage of pies and burgers. My friends and I ordered a pizza as an appetizer, a pizza topped with hot peppers, honey and little pepperoni bastards. It was a very good pizza. Next the burgers came. The burger had melted cheese and onions, and a "special sauce." As they were assembling the burgers, I had noticed they poured on an inordinate amount of this sauce on the top and bottom bun, and I had concerns. The bun was of the pretzel bun variety, which also slightly concerned me. In short: it was a pretty enjoyable burger, which was kept from entering the top echelons because of a too much salty quality and way too much of the special sauce (doesn't a sauce cease to be special when there is enough of it on your sandwich to take a bath in?). Now let's talk more about this salt and special sauce problem. I am a man who really enjoys salt and believes a common problem with burgers is too little salt: but the burger at Emily, at least on this evening, was too salty, even for me. And here's the thing: I couldn't tell if the salt was coming from the burger itself or the special sauce. Indeed there was too much of this sauce to distinguish the various components. It was hard to really judge the meat, the patty itself. I don't want to say the burger wasn't enjoyable at all - it was enjoyable-ish, and would have been more so if not for the too salty nature of the burger/sauce. The fries which accompanied the burger were very good. I said to my friends that my top two burgers at this point in my life have been from Roberta's and Minetta Tavern. Emily would need to lighten up on the sauce and re-consider the salt situation to even come close to those two masterpieces.
Emily, Fort Greene
