There is a burger on a French carte, and it is not an apology. Comté, cornichon, crispy échalote and bacon on brioche, and the same beef as the steaks.
Every so often somebody reads down the carte, arrives at Le Burger L’Étoile and looks up as though they have caught us at something. A French dining room. A burger.
What is actually on it
Aioli à la dijonaise, cornichon, comté, crispy échalote, frisée, tomato and bacon, on a brioche bun. Read that list again and there is nothing American on it but the shape. The cheese is from the Jura, the cornichon is the one that belongs beside a pâté, and the brioche is brioche.
The beef is the same USDA Prime we cut the steaks from, aged a few doors down the street by The Bay Butcher, our sister shop in the village. It arrives with frites in the same bucket the steaks get.
When to order it
- At the bar, before the room fills and while the light is still good.
- On a Tuesday, when you want dinner and not an occasion.
- When the table has ordered the plateau and one person at it does not eat shellfish. That happens most weeks.
A room is judged on the plainest thing it sends out, not the grandest. We would rather be judged on this one than keep it quiet.
It is on the carte, in with the plats, where it belongs.
Written at L'Étoile, the historic Snouder's Building, Oyster Bay.
