New York’s Top Thai Restaurant Opens a Burger Joint

Once every decade or so, Eater’s critic Robert Sietsema rounds up a list of the most unusual, rule-bending burgers he can find — what he calls “oddball” burgers. They’re burgers in the loosest sense. They have a bun, a patty, and cheese — usually, at least — but peanuts, Japanese curry, and balls of burrata are fair game, too. Often, it’s their weirdness that makes them wonderful.

Well, things have changed since Sietsema started that guide. And the way things are going, it could soon be a monthly one: Burgers right now are really that odd.

Here’s a good example. On Tuesday, the owners of Zaab Zaab, one of the top Thai restaurants in the city, set up a small flattop grill in the Essex Market food hall, at 88 Essex Street and Delancey Street. They’re making Thai smash burgers and fries.

What makes them Thai? For one thing, the ingredients. They’re topped with bird’s eye chiles, Thai basil, and a rich mayonnaise made from beef bile. Not to veer too far off course, they also have potato buns, American cheese, and bread-and-butter pickles.

Zaab Burger is located toward the back of the food hall, by the stairs. Owner Bryan Chunton had planned to open another Zaab Zaab in the market, as he’s done in Chelsea, Williamsburg, and Flushing. But something — maybe his love of burgers — compelled him to switch things up at the eleventh hour.

He serves the second Thai smash burger that I know of. The first comes from Little Grenjai, a restaurant in Bed-Stuy that makes a “krapow” smash burger, based on the Thai stir fry dish pad krapow, made with ground beef and Thai basil. But Little Grenjai is a full-service restaurant, and the burger is just one item on the menu. When the sole focus is burgers, as it is at Zaab Burger, the possibilities expand.

One of the Zaab burgers is made with sticky rice instead of a bun ($9), a trend in Asia for years. (You’ll find a similar idea at the Taiwanese restaurant 886, which wedges a nine-inch sausage into a glutinous hot dog bun.) The rice burger has potential, but the structural integrity needs work — after one bite, I was eating a rice bowl.

The krapow burger ($7.75) is more straightforward. Like the one at Little Grenjai, it riffs on pad krapow, but the approach is different. Instead of imagining the burger as stir fry, Zaab Burger treats it like a topping: The beef and basil are spooned on top of the patty. If you like doubling your burgers, you’ll enjoy this.

Zaab Zaab’s burgers are pretty good, but more than that, they’re interesting, which is more than a lot of smash burgers can say. More chefs seem to be taking that route when they smash beef patties on a grill. It’s great to see, so long as you don’t mind burgers that are sour, spicy, and maybe a little odd.

Zaab Burger is open Monday to Saturday, from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.