7th Street Burger

Kevin Rezvani and Paras Jain's gloriously greasy burger joint is all about keeping things simple and, most importantly, good. Debuting in the East Village in 2021, 7th Street Burger keeps things short and sweet, offering smashed burgers in singles and doubles, some featuring a kick of jalapeños hidden between the buns, while others swap cow for Impossible Meat. It's a greasy good time, and it quickly found favor as the city rode the smashed burger trend into oblivion. Regardless of what's hot at the moment, 7th Street Burger does a solid job when it comes to filling that need for a smash. Peeling back the red and white paper on the plain cheeseburger option yields a thin patty whose telltale crispy edges tell a story of meat ironed on a hot grill. Cloaked in a melty cheese and a pat of grilled onions, the burger is held in place by a squishy Martin's potato bun. Of course, crispy fries are always an option. But if you have a hunger that mere potatoes and salt alone can't contain, go for loaded beef fries, laden with a full beef burger chopped to bits, a healthy helping of molten cheese and grilled onions. The lines have mostly died down here—likely because the burger restaurant is on the cusp of whopping 20 locations in NYC—but do expect a bit of crowd on the weekends when the bars let out.