Casa Thirteen

Casa Thirteen is a Lower East Side bar and restaurant, and its burger is openly modelled on the au poivre burger at Raoul's. The current build is Angus beef, gorgonzola, arugula, fried onions, mayo, and au poivre on brioche.

Most of it is done well. The bun was fantastic and properly crisped. The patty was well seasoned and peppery, which is exactly what an au poivre build is supposed to deliver. The au poivre itself was solid, the fried onions worked, and the arugula gave the burger a bitterness it used.

Then there is the gorgonzola, and it takes over. Concentrated to the point that half the burger read as blue cheese on a bun rather than as a burger with blue cheese on it. That is not a marginal imbalance.

What makes it worse is the absence of any counterweight. There is no acidic element anywhere in this build. A pickle, a sharp raw onion, anything with a bite would have held the funk in check and let the peppercorn and the beef stay in the conversation. Without one, the blue cheese simply runs.

Every other decision here is sound, which is why this reads as a recipe problem rather than a kitchen problem. Dial the gorgonzola back or add something acidic and it is a considerably better burger.

One ordering note: a lower-priced version of the same burger runs on the happy hour menu, from four o'clock on weekday afternoons.

Nearly every component of this burger is executed well, and on the strength of the bun, the peppery patty, and the au poivre it would sit meaningfully higher.

One component defines it instead. A blue cheese this concentrated needs something acidic opposite it, and this build has nothing in that role, so the funk goes unchecked across most of the burger.