No longer are burgers relegated to just backyard barbecues. Now, patties populate menus at restaurants of all statures, and gourmet versions get dressed up with high-end cheeses, perfectly proofed buns, and quality accouterments. Of course, something as meaty and rich as a burger requires a palate cleanser: wine.
Recently, selling only 12 burgers a night has become something of a business model for restaurants in Manhattan, convincing guests to swarm in early, lest they miss their chance of snagging one of the night’s dozen. For the cheeseburgers at Lord’s in Greenwich Village, chef Ed Syzmanski implements this limited-offering system. There, the meaty puck is draped in a layer of Welsh rarebit — an English dish of melted cheese punched up with beer, mustard, and Worcestershire sauce — and packaged in a pretzel bun. The wine list is stellar to match.
Many attribute the gourmet burger trend to the James Beard Award-winning restaurateur Keith McNally, who purportedly hoisted the sandwich to its current culinary acclaim when he took over Minetta Tavern — just a few blocks up from Lord’s — in 2009. He has been lauded for mastering the sandwich by breaking down and perfecting its individual components. Like Lord’s, Minetta Tavern keeps a well-stocked wine cellar.
Whereas some may have seen burger and wine pairings as a high-low phenomenon in the past, the two have never been more harmonious. Whether you’re noshing on sliders at a laid-back cookout or using a steak knife to slice through a stacked tower of ground wagyu at a white-tablecloth establishment, wine and burgers are friends, not foes.
From classic beef to lamb to veggie, here are our recommendations for pairing wine with burgers.
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