Burger & Lobster Tweaks Menu Format by Adding Seven New Dishes

After a year and a half in New York, the team behind Burger & Lobster is expanding its famously limited offering. The menu, which used to offer only three items — a burger, lobster roll, or a whole lobster, all at the price of $20 — will now have a total of ten. The new offerings are: a six ounce version of the original 10 ounce burger; a one pound whole lobster as an alternative to the one-and-a-half pounder; a "Samurai" lobster roll (dressed in ginger mayo with cucumbers, sesame, and togarashi); a "Fiesta" lobster roll (dressed with chipotle mayo, corn, white cabbage, and peppers); and three new burgers — one with lobster meat, one with foie gras, and one with pulled pork. Operating partner Vladimir Borodin explains the move away from the ultra-simple menu:

It was pretty much a matter of customer demand. Our ten-ounce burger is simply too much for some people and our staff was constantly reporting customers’ desire for a smaller version. Same goes for our one-and-half-pound lobster; some appetites just can’t handle it. So we decided to add smaller alternatives. And while we were at it, [we wanted] to broaden the scope of our burger and lobster offerings, because that was something else we were hearing from diners. They love our concept of serving only burger and lobsters and have told us they wish we would offer some more versions of them.

The original spread by Nick Solares

As for these choices, Borodin elaborates:

For the lobster rolls, we essentially had two summers worth of R&D at The Lobster Roll pop-up we did in Madison Square Park. We always served our traditional one we have at the restaurant, along with a series of special rolls. The Samurai and the Fiesta that we will offer at the restaurant were hands down the most popular. For the burgers, well, it was natural for a place named Burger & Lobster to come up with one that has lobster meat as a topping. And we thought lobster is such a luxe item, why not use another one – foie gras – on another burger? We’re calling it The Frenchman. The pulled barbecued pork is less luxe and more down home. We’re still working on these three new burgers to make them exactly what we want to represent Burger & Lobster. We spent a year working on the recipe for our brioche bun!

The new dishes will be rolled out within the next ten days. All dishes will still be served with salad and fries, but prices will now range from $16 to $33. The London-based chain is also planning to open another location at 1 Bryant Park, in the 51-story building that also houses Aureole.