Lord's

innit?

The Lord’s burger is stuff of legends. If you pass the Greenwich Village restaurant ahead of opening on any given day, you’ll see a modest line queueing up to get their hands on one of the twelve available burgers that night.

But when the team behind Dame opened this British bistro in late 2022, they weren’t setting out to have that kind of notoriety. In fact, in a piece by Erika Adams at Eater previewing the soon-to-be opened restaurant, she explicitly says of the menu that “there’s no honking burger or glistening, plate-sized roast.” When the Lord’s burger came into the picture about a year after opening, it was and continues to be off-menu (at least for dinner), joining the ranks of the IYKYK burgers of New York.

I was very blessed and fortunate to have my friend Spencer assist with acquisition after our interview, but trust and believe I’m always down to get down to business aka stand on a line to get the job done. I rushed Pippin when Patina Miller was in it, I know what it takes!

Claudia and I started with tiny tinis and the sausage roll with pear ketchup (!!) before getting down to business. The Lord’s burger is behemoth but built on simplicity. A fresh pretzel bun, a tavern-style prime beef patty, a hefty slice of raw white onion and for those of dairy experience, a Welsh rarebit cheese on top, each for $26. We both got our burgers medium, alongside some wine recommended by Spencer.

pre borg

I took one bite and wanted to put my head in my hands, but they were too covered in burger juice. Sweet, salty, buttery with the bite of a barely steamed white onion slab. I’m sitting at a coffeeshop and my mouth is watering just thinking about it. The thing about an expensive, limited burger is that it’ll make you angry if it’s good or bad. If it’s bad - what a waste of money, so overrated. And if it’s good, you react like I did at Lord’s, in shock and awe that it lived up to the barriers of entry, and upset that you may not ever experience it again.

Without a drop of sauce, it was incredibly flavorful while still letting the meat shine through. It was dense and juicy without leaving me overstuffed, tender while holding onto a salty char, boarding on encrusted. The side of proper English chips was similar - $14 and worth every bite. We were brought housemade ketchup and miso dijon but I didn’t even want them, just the pillowy potatoes.

photo of the diva was pulled from a screenshot apologies for quality

I’m ranking the burger at Lord’s at number 3, under Le Crocodile and just barely edging out the Red Hook Tavern burger that has a very similar build.

I’m interested in continuing to check off these limited burgers while I still have plenty of free time to show up early - what should I try for next?

when you’re me, sometimes the cars just become burgers