I jumped at the chance to get the Groupon for Bare Burger, NY's newest burger chain. I love burgers but almost always make them at home. Much cheaper, soo easy, and I can use 96% lean meat on a low-cal english muffin. Diet and satisfying. Bare Burger is an exception because of it's unique niche. Bare Burger has only organic, nitrate free, grass fed, pasture grazing animals and foods. More importantly Bare Burger's niche is the type of meats they have. You can choose any one of there burgers made with elk, ostrich, bison, lamb, beef, portabella mushroom, veggie, or chicken. I'm always up for trying something new and headed over to Bare Burger this past Saturday. I went to the one on 3rd Avenue/Murry Hill. They have two other locations in the West Village and Astoria. The place is a bit kitschy but cute, with wooden walls and bear heads adorning the walls.
The prices are a bit high, especially if you get a regular beef burger. But if you are opting to choose one of the speciality options the extra cash is worth it. My meal came out to about 20 bucks pre tip. I had a burger, fries, and a diet coke. I paid ten bucks for the Groupon which was good for 20, and I felt I scored well. After all, where can you find an ostrich burger in NYC? My favorite burger of all time is one with blue cheese so I choose the Big Bacon Blue burger. It was recommended with ostrich. I asked the waitress what ostrich was like and she said it was a gamey red meat. When I got my medium rare burger it looked just like a typical burger and fries (see above). The taste was pretty good. It was not what I would describe as gamy but definitely had it's own taste. I'm not sure how to describe it. If someone asked you what beef tasted like what would you say? It tasted like beef with a twist. Pretty good. I ate the whole thing and I would eat it again. Although next time, I want to try the elk. I figured that anyone opening up a chain of restaurants aren't going to make the taste of the food that adventurous.
Why would anyone want to eat other meat other than beef? First of all I eat a ton of beef and chicken and it can get a little boring. Besides that other forms of red meat are much healthier for you than beef. Elk, bison, and ostrich are much lower in fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol. These other meats have the same iron and nutrition that you can get from red meat. According to BirdBrain Ostrich Ranch, "Catherine Gray, MS, RD/LD, a consulting dietitian for an article published in Muscle & Fitness says, "the most serious threat to a dieter has always been that urge to binge on a juicy hamburger or steak." Gray says, "By replacing just four beef meals a week with ostrich, you decrease your caloric intake by 576 calories per week. That translates to losing 8 1/2 pounds a year without dieting!".
Overall, I would go here again. I'm not sure if I would go and get a beef or veggie burger. While they are very good and organic the price is a bit steep. Bare Burger is also not near my apartment of office. If your looking for something a little different Bare Burger is the way to go.