One of NYC’s Best Lamb Burgers Is at a Tiny Walk-Up Shop in the Village

Lamb burgers have been a thing for the last three or four years. Something about lamb makes it perfect for a burger: It’s often fattier, for one thing, and has more of a barnyard flavor than beef does. That means you can put lots of toppings on it, such as bacon, cheese, raw onion, and aggressively flavored mayo and hot sauce, and the lamb taste still shines through. When you crave a lamb burger, you probably go to the Breslin or Dirty French, but I stumbled on another great spot just yesterday.

Just south of the NYU campus is a tiny walk-up shop that, like the name says, specializes in burgers. Founded in 2016 on MacDougal’s cheap eats strip but little known, Honest Chops Burgers sources its halal meats from a related butcher shop in the East Village, and the meat is damn good and fresh tasting. From a menu that includes beef burgers, cheese steaks, and chicken tenders, the burger made of the skinless lamb sausage called merguez adds a bit of spiciness and an oniony flavor to the ground meat.

At $11.50, it’s a bit cheaper than the average lamb burger, and the meat is more strongly flavored. It’s also a bit smaller, too, which is a good thing if you want the fries ($3) to go along with it. 99 MacDougal St., between West Third and Bleecker streets, Greenwich Village

Robert Sietsema/Eater NY