In this new “age of Ozempic,” we’re told that one of the benefits of semiglutides is the elimination of “food noise” -- that is, the constant thinking about food. Obesity, so the story goes, is a result of an obsession with food, and by altering the communication between the gut and the brain, those who take this new medication will find themselves less hungry -- they will find food less satisfying, less “rewarding” -- and they will lose weight.
I think about food all the time. But because my body size is small and by all accounts I am healthy, this obsession with food is not a medical concern. I track what I eat, monitoring how much protein, how much iron, how many carbs, how much fiber I consume. But I’m an athlete, and while there has been increased attention to orthorexia -- a fixation on “healthy eating” that’s surely peddled by many fitness and wellness influencers -- there’s still an expectation that athletes, particularly endurance runners, pay close attention to how they “fuel.”
Even though I switched the focus of Second Breakfast this fall away from these sorts of issues -- that is, from health and fitness technologies and back to education technologies -- I still have a lot to say about the “year in food.” Or, as the title suggests, “the year in burgers.”
This summer, I paid $250 to join Blackbird’s newly formed “Burger League.” The promise: each week for a full year, Blackbird would stage an event at a restaurant here in the city that’s known for having a great burger. As a member of the league, you’d get two complimentary burgers -- or as I came to discover, you’d get a shot at getting a table. Since the program launched, we’ve only managed to eat at six of the restaurants; most of the time, we’re told that we’re on a waitlist.
I love a hamburger -- I think it’s my favorite food. I love a simple smash-burger with just cheese and maybe onion and mustard; but I love a thick diner-style burger too, one where the bloody juices make the selection of the right kind of bun crucial. I’m less enthralled when there’s a lot of sauce or additional toppings, particularly if it obscures the taste and texture of the beef, which should always be the star.
Burgers of 2024, Ranked
- Hamburger America
- Virginia’s
- Fairfax
- Lord’s
- Raoul’s
- Lovely’s Old Fashioned
- Gotham Burger Social Club
- Golden Diner
- Emily’s
- Minetta Tavern
- Cubby’s
- Raf’s
- Bulbap Grill
- Fat Boys Burgers
Not all of these were Burger League dining experiences, obviously -- numbers 2, 3, 7, 8, 9, and 12 were. Some are just burgers in the neighborhood -- numbers 6, 11, 13, and 14.
The burger at Fairfax, and my first "beer" in years. It’s been about four years since I’ve drank any alcohol, but I discovered (at Fairfax) that non-alcoholic beer is quite nice, particularly with a burger.
Blackbird is a new startup, founded by Ben Leventhal, best known for his other food ventures: the online publication Eater and the restaurant reservation app Resy. The latter has received quite a bit of negative attention this year as it’s become increasingly impossible to get into many of New York’s most popular restaurants, thanks to bots and scalpers quickly snatching them up and re-selling them for astronomical fees.
Eater has faced its own challenges this year too, as we’ve witnessed the ongoing hollowing out of food journalism, as online influencers increasingly dictate food trends -- for home-cooking as well as for dining out. This appeal to social media doesn’t seem like it’s financially sustainable -- the very buzzy Frog Club opened and shut in the course of just a few months (although one might argue that because Frog Club banned photos, it wasn’t able to lure in the TikTok set). But I wonder too if social media shapes more than just “business.” There is so much great food in New York, and yet you’ll find people lined up for ridiculously terrible, ridiculously trendy cookies and hot chocolate -- “hyper-consumption,” Vox calls it; the performance of a different kind of “food noise,” one that Ozempic cannot silence because it’s not about eating, it’s about appearing.
Pete Wells, the longtime food critic of The New York Times, retired this year, ending his tenure with some thoughts on how unhealthy the job of eating all the “best food in the city” had been. (He also had some strong words abut how technology -- reservation and food delivery apps, as well as digital ordering systems -- has made dining worse.) Before leaving the paper, he published his list of the Top 100 restaurants in the city. We’ve hit 17, including his top choice, Tatiana. (Honestly, I preferred Hamburger America, but that's on me, not on Wells and certainly not on Chef Kwame Onwauchi.)
Birthday dessert at Tatiana
There’s so much great food in New York, and yet grocery shopping here is weird and awful -- truly one of my least favorite things about living here. Groceries are wildly expensive (I mean, I know this is true everywhere); grocery stores are small and poorly stocked. And I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, what with the excellent dining-out options. But it’s still frustrating to buy something like a bottle of mustard or a can of baked beans and get home and discover that it’s set to expire in, like, a month.
I’ve started shopping at Trader Joe’s, which is its own oddity. Trader Joe’s is known for its rather unique selection of foods -- I wonder if this too is intertwined with hyper-consumption: food as perishable collectibles, where people rush to buy the limited editions of cookies and frozen entrees. It’s like the McRib -- a manufactured shortage.
It feels like I’m cooking less these days -- cooking from scratch less, at least. I’ll lean into consuming processed foods for a while -- laughing in the face of orthorexia. Let’s call it an instant-oatmeal stage of life right now -- easy things, weirdly refined and over-packaged.
The worst food news of 2024: Absolute Bagels closed, and while Kin still has three of their bagels in the freezer, we’ll face a new year with tremendous breakfast uncertainty. I mean, I’ve got a lot to think about in the coming months. “What am I going to eat?” will always remain top-of-mind.
The pistachio rose croissant at Librae Bakery
The kangaroo tartare at Foxface Natural
The best pancakes in NYC are at Golden Diner (and despite its ranking on my list, the burger there is pretty good too)
We finally tried the cronut at Dominique Ansel's bakery, and to be fair, some food trends are actually worth the hype
The best meals in NYC are often in the hole-in-the-wall spots that you walk by a hundred times before finally stopping in. The Dominican food at Zoralie Restaurant in Hell's Kitchen -- less than $20 altogether for these two plates -- was one of our favorite meals of the year.