Searching for Larchmont's Best Burger

While my husband and I eat burgers less frequently than we did before cholesterol became a concern, there is still nothing like the taste of a medium-rare, juicy, char-broiled burger topped with a fresh Jersey tomato, a slice of onion and crisp romaine.

In my search for the top burger, a friend suggested I look for the following: the flavor of the meat, the ratio of meat to topping and bun and the choice of toppings. He also said you know a good burger at first bite—it never gets better than that.

But where to begin?

Since Sherwood's opened 20 years ago, my husband and I have had an ongoing disagreement. I like Sherwood's blue-cheese burger so much that I wouldn't order one anywhere else. He, however, thinks the best burger served in town is at the Larchmont Tavern, where you can find him fairly regularly among the lunchtime crowd at the bar.

Since there are only so many burgers one person can eat in a month, we agreed we'd limit the sampling to Larchmont. And we decided to try to hit a wide spectrum of dining choices and atmospheres, so you, our reader, could find one that matches your family's budget and lifestyle.

Our first stop was the Tavern, where Manager Chris Hazzard said at least half the meals served are one of the different burgers on the menu. He credits the burgers' popularity to the quality of the meat—which the Tavern has been buying from the same butcher in White Plains for as long as anyone remembers—and the Tavern's flattop cooker, used for burgers as well as other dishes.

The Tavern's burger, my husband advised, is best when served on an English muffin, although they will also put it on a roll. It looked good: a generous patty, nice and pink inside; a good thick slice of tomato and lots of juice oozing onto the muffin. The meat had very little flavor.

At $10.50, the cheddar burger with fries was more than I could eat—but it was quality, not quantity, that I was after.

A few days later, deciding to go a bit more upscale for our next sampling, we headed over to Chat 19, which has two burgers on its menu: the Kobe beef burger for $18 and a classic burger for $10.50. We went for the classic.

After the first bite I was in heaven. Juicy, tender, tasty, char-broiled to perfection. I was hesitant to share it with my husband but, seeing how much I was enjoying it, he insisted.

"Yes, a good burger," he said. "No," he replied tersely, he wasn't going to compare it to the Tavern's.

The meat for Chat 19's burgers is ground fresh each morning, said Chat 19 manager Anthony Velasquez. The Kobe burger has a following among people who believe it is easier to digest, Velasquez added. The secret? The quality of the meat and the gas grill.

Our next stop was Carlyn's Cove, a drinking man's sports bar that is the most affordable place in town. A friend swears by their burgers; where else can you get a burger and beer for less than $15, she wonders.

She's right about one thing: the prices are definitely reasonable. An eight ounce burger with all the trimmings and fries is $5.50; add cheese and it's $6.25. There are other burgers to choose from, as well.

The burger arrived, medium-rare as ordered, with fries, tomato, lettuce, onion and a pickle. But when I put it all together, the soft bun dwarfed the patty, and the meat had no flavor at all.

Finally, to see if my original judgment would stand, we finished our survey at Sherwood's, where you can top your $10 burger with a variety of toppings.

Sure enough, the blue cheese burger was as good as I remembered: juicy, tasty and perfectly grilled. The fries were crisp and the bun in perfect proportion to the meat. And we were able to grab a table in the bar area, where we could watch the Yankees win. What could be wrong with that picture?

So what's the best burger in Larchmont?

For pure taste, I'd have to give top billing to Chat 19, with Sherwood's nipping at its heels. And the Tavern has a veggie burger and turkey burger on its menu—as well as my favorite gorgonzola salad and a wickedly good iceberg wedge.

My recommendation? Ask your dining companion what he or she would like to eat, and you'll both win.