📍MADRE, New York City

On weekends I brunch and this particular weekend I had a burger craving. I did the math, I had 44 new burgers in 2023. This was one of them. It was pouring rain so I didn’t want to venture too far. MADRE had been on my radar because I saw some influencer posts about it earlier in the year and saved it. I browsed the menu online and sure enough, they had a burger on the brunch menu so it’s on.

The space is pretty large. You walk in and are faced with a couple of steps and a host stand. To the left is the bar and main area. Tables along the window and a fairly large L-shaped bar in the center. In the back, you’ll find more tables. There’s a lot of glass in the space and I suspect when it’s not gray and raining outside, it’s a bright dining room.

It’s going to be my first bite of the day. I need to start with a coffee. I got a double espresso. They use beans from Paloma, a local Brooklyn roaster. As a cocktail, I got the El Sancho. It’s mezcal, campari, habanero, cinnamon, and apricot. It’s got a pile of ice topped with cinnamon. The apricot is dried and speared into the ice. It was lightly smoky and I got a lot of fruit-forward flavor between Campari and habanero. I don’t think there was much spice to it at all, just enough to keep it honest.

The burger is what I came for and it did not disappoint. Two pickle spears, potato wedges, ketchup, and that beautiful burger. The pickle spears had a hint of anise in them, it was unexpected and interesting. The potatoes were crispy on the cut sides yet soft on the skin side.

The bartender explained to me that they had a competition in the kitchen to develop this recipe. The burger I ate was the winner of that competition. I suspect it would win a lot of competitions, in their kitchen or elsewhere. He also told me, everything was either made in-house or for them. Nothing was off the shelf.

The beef is a dry-aged blend including ribeye and sirloin. The patty was formed tall. It was thick and pink in the center. It was funky like you’d expect from dry-aged beef. You can see the juices pooling under the burger in the picture. The whole thing was absolutely covered in melted American cheese.

The slaw included fennel. I can’t remember ever having a burger that included fennel before. The acid in the slaw and fennel flavor provided a necessary counter to the onslaught from the funky beef and fatty cheese. It remained crunchy through every bite. The bun tasted a bit like a milk bun. It stayed solid throughout, keeping its shape.

I wanted to keep a good thing going. I ordered a beer, which happened to be at the happy hour price for brunch. I also ordered their french toast as a dessert. This thing was 1.5-2.0” thick. It had a tasteful amount of toffee syrup on top with bananas two ways—roasted and raw. The edges of the french toast were caramelized and crispy. The center was spongy and full of gushing custard. The roasted bananas were caramelized beautifully. The best bites of the french toast included a piece of roasted banana.

📍MADRE
214 Franklin St, Brooklyn, NY 11222

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