Superiority Burger Pop Up

Superiority Burger was our Christmas Miracle

For as long as I can remember, my Christmas day traditions have been the same. Sleep in, eat a wonderful homemade brunch, see a movie with the family, and of course end the day with glorious amounts of greasy Chinese food.

Sadly I was far from family this year, and had few friends still in town to celebrate with. But in hopes of keeping my holiday spirits high, I recruited one of my friends, and we made the best of our quiet Christmas day in the city.

All I will say is I owe a BIG thank you to Superiority Burger pop-up for making my Christmas one of the best yet. If you’re unfamiliar with Superiority Burger, I don’t blame you, as it’s just a pop-up shop. However, you’re definitely familiar with the talented pastry chef from Del Posto, Brooks Headley, who also happens to be the accurately nicknamed “Veggie burger master supreme” for his Superiority Burger pop-up.

Headley was determined to create a veggie burger just as mouth-watering delicious and messy as the traditional meat-lover’s burger. “When I was a kid and I ate the hamburgers my mom made, I’d get a gristly part and it would freak me out,” he remembered. “But I wanted to have some of that sensation.”(Original quote from NY Times). After trying many good and bad veggie burgers and a countless amount of hours testing recipes in the Del Posto kitchen, Headley has nailed it. He claims it’s all about overcooking some ingredients and undercooking others. This combination gives the patty that “real burger” quality. He then pairs the patty with the beloved Martin’s potato rolls, frill free iceberg lettuce, and your good ole plum tomato.

My friend and I headed over to the pop-up around 3pm (when it opened) to check out what all the fuss was about. As we arrived at the east village location, we couldn’t believe how long the line already was! The line was for sit-down dining in the small shop that probably held about 20 people max. We waited for a bit to see if it would move at all, but we could tell it would take at least an hour. Soon our hunger took over our patience and we decided to head to the front and place our orders to go. Luckily the shop was steps away from Tompkins Square Park, which made for the perfect setting for our meal.

With a limited menu, we each went with the obvious choice, the burger, as well as the tofu wrap to share. The total came to $20, and around 10 minutes later, our orders we ready.

My friend and I both couldn’t believe how unbelievably tasty the burger was and scarfed that baby down in probably less than a minute. Onto the wrap, which we both agreed stole the show. We had no idea what flavors we were tasting, but we knew we wanted more.

‘Twas a Merry and delicious Christmas indeed, despite the lack of Chinese food. Why there was a veggie burger pop-up on Christmas day beats me, but I’m definitely not mad about it. And I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of Superiority Burger in the year to come. Until then, here are Headley’s tips on how to make your veggie burger the best ever.  Here is the link to the Superiority Burger website – Not much there yet but we will definitely be keeping an eye on it for updates!