The Wall - Lower East Side

This place boasts the best burger in Manhattan. I would agree with the stipulation that it is the best unorthodox burger in Manhattan. That is, it isn't your conventional beef patty with sesame seed bun and tomato, onion, and cheese kind of burger. No, it is way better than that, I agree, but some may be more inclined to chase after what they are familiar with--those people are fools.

The burger is served on a fantastic buttery roll of your choosing that is toasted to a delightful combination of crisp outer layer and soft bready inside. The burger itself is not very thick and on the smaller side, but no less juicy--and this is compensated more than fully by the fact that it is accompanied by a generous slathering of amazing veggie spread of your choosing. Oh man, this veggie spread is amazing I cannot stress that enough. I want to bathe in it. Take a look at the different spreads you can choose:

Tortuga - avocado, tomatoes, garlic, strained yogurt.

Majorca - smooth mild spread made of roasted peppers, eggplant and farm cheese.

Chris Cross - chunky eggplant and roasted pepper with parsley, garlic, walnuts.

I can and will eat these spreads with nothing but a spoon as if they were a thick soup. So sure, maybe it's not the best burger in the conventional sense of the word, but being awesome because of a technicality is fine with me--so pour that spread on me.

The service here was great, huge plus, the bohemian fellow behind the counter was super courteous and more than willing to explain the ingredients in everything and was apologetic and willing to make fresh anything he had run out of. In addition, an older (Eastern?) European lady arrived later and was also very affable. Cool place, $8 for a burger and the menu overall has a healthier skew to it with a lot of vegetarian options.

85 Orchard St., New York, NY 10002, 212 219 8235, Menu page

Two Boots - East Village (and more)

This is long overdue. Everyone always thinks "Dude. New York. Pizza. Duuude, New York pizza!" In all honesty I can't remember having any pizza and being completely blown out of the water by it--I mean pizza is awesome and that seems ot be a universal axiom: pizza = always good if not great, but rarely terrible.

I will make the claim that Two Boots has better than average pizza though. They're specialty slices generally all look very good and interesting with ingredients you don't generally find at your normal pizza place. Take a look at the menu and you'll see items like andouille sausage, crawfish, creole chicken, BBQ shrimp, sopresseta and other Cajun inspired flavors. Most of the specialty slices combine these ingredients to make a complete flavor such as the the "Night Tripper" which entails a white pizza with roasted garlic, sun dried tomatoes and jalapeno pesto. "The Bird" is my personal favorite: buffalo chicken, blue cheese dressing, scallions and jalapenos on a white pie (pictured above).

Two boots crust is made with corn meal, which is a huge plus for me--it's crunchy, flaky, and the texture combined with cornbread flavor is perfect. Most of the specialty slices will run you about $3.75 and a plain slice is $2.00. They serve beer and many locations are beginning to do "a beer and a slice" combos to make a cheap opportunity to have a beer with your pizza--classic combination.

Did I mention they do movie rentals too? For cheap and it's easy to sign up. Kind of reminds me of when I was a little kid and the grocery store had a movie rental store inside of it. As of right now, Two Boots is definitely my favorite place for a slice in New York.

42 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009, 212 254 1919, www.twoboots.com