« Foxman in a Henhouse | Main | Like a Fish Needs a Bicycle » Mr. Bartley16 Jan 2007 11:27 am This is pretty Cambridge/Harvard inside baseball, but the notion that Martin Peretz could confuse Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage with Burger King is simply staggering. I wouldn't presume to label Mr. Bartley's burgers the best in the world, but they're certainly the best I've ever had. Burger King, not so much. UPDATE: Link here. Comments (31)
link to Peretz? 
Ah, tell me where to go later. Is there an Iranian link here, or am I missing something? Say hey, Marty.
Is Marty planning to launch or lunch in a pre-emptive attack on Mr. Bartley's? Say it ain't so? I could hoard the burgers, but it wouldn't be the same.
it has been far too many years, but if that is the right burger joint (and the map has it at the location I remember, even if the name just doesn't ring a bell), then I recall that the bacon and bluecheese burger there was called the Robert F. Kennedy. take that as you will...
I vaguely remember Kevin Drum having a great post and comment thread on burgers back when his threads were readable. Ah yes, here it is. Gets pretty hilarious down around the late afternoon/early evening.
This is the post. He got his MA and PhD from Harvard and supposedly still teaches there part time, according to his TNR bio. I hate to draw conclusions about his awareness of the world around him from something as stupid as restaurants (I'm sure there are obvious things I'm ignorant of), but the tone of the post is of someone who just hasn't a clue. I mean, here's the sign, it's a tophat, not a crown- where would you even get such a misguided thought?
Peretz got through an entire post about Kerry without calling him a scumsucking Israel-hater. It's a start.
I believe the place is now called Mr. and Mrs. Bartley's: http://search.cityguide.aol.com/boston/restaurants/mr-and-mrs-bartleys-burger-cottage/v-106549056 The burgers are fantastic, both the fancy and the plain (they have about 50 kinds); the atmosphere, bordering on barbaric. They do have a very cool Doors poster on the wall from about 1967. Not the kind of place I visualize Marty eating at, or knowing anything about. Not clear whether a politician wants a burger named after him or her here or not. As I recall, the Ted Kennedy is billed as a "plump, liberal amount of burger" or words to that effect.
Yes; but burgers really are an allowed anti-feminist treat. Mostly, sort of, I live for or with salads.
Their burgers and and especially their buns are so much more subtle than the glimmery ornate of their Arab neighbors.
Matthew, might I suggest O'Sullivan's? There is not a better burger in the Boston area. The wait is usually pretty long but well worth it.
What's amazing about Peretz is that he's willing to be an ass towards the Boston Globe while talking about things he just doesn't know about. It's perfectly emblematic of Peretz as a whole. I would say that Bartley's burgers are quite good, but they may have gone down hill since you were last there Matt. The last one I had I was a bit disappointed with.
I've never had a restaurant burger I liked better than the ones I grill myself. And since grilling burgers is easy, I don't tend to go out for burgers much. Here's how it's done, RT-style: 1. Buy the extra-lean beef.
Nice that Bartley's is managing to hang on through the mall-ification of Harvard Square. Charley's is still there, and Leavitt and Pierce, and a few other landmarks. But McCintyre Moore (best used book store) has moved to the new Havard Square: Davis Square in Somerville. And of course the Tasty and the Wursthaus are long gone. The latter was the one that got me the most. Used to be the best beer selection in the Northeast.
Whoa -- extra lean beef? For a hamburger? You lost me on Step 1, RT.
Someone has to step in here. The burgers at this place are not that great. IN-N-OUT (a west coast fast food joint) is blatantly supeior, not to mention cheaper. I was seriously pissed about the burgers here, because paying so much and with all the hype, I was expecting to get something really good. I even gave the place multiple chances, and have been there like 4 times. It isn't that great. Then again, I do have high standards for a burger...
Matt Y: Your blog reaches a true cross-section of American society.
Bartley's was good, not great, when I lived in Cambridge back in 1972-76. IN-N-OUT is certainly the best in the west, among chains anyway.
Bartley's is inferior burger: R.F. O'Sullivan's on Beacon just down from Porter is pinnacle of Cambridgeburger.
Bartley's?? Matt, are you mad? Even Charlie's in Harvard Square has better burgers. The real attraction at Bartley's is the frappes, which (as I recall) are earth-shaking, and the proximity to the Used Books section of the Harvard Book Store, which is priceless.
All American burgers are crap. Come to Australia. We'll show you how it's done.
It's like in Time After Time, where time-traveling H.G. Wells refers to a place he saw that might be nice to eat: "That Scottish restaurant -- McDonald's?"
Dang. I was going to jump in and be all "R.F. O'Sullivans is better than Mr. Bartley's" but two people have already done that. So let me just tell you how I cried into one of their delicious creations on Sunday, watching my Chargers lose, in beautiful, sunny San Diego weather. It was sad.
Bartley's burgers are better than Charlie's. Charlie's has better atmosphere, I'll grant you that. But Louis Lunch in New Haven serves burgers that are ten times better than anything in the Boston area. Just another way Yale beats Harvard. Oh, and Marty is a moron. As if that needed repeating.
I knew the Square's end was nigh when Elsie's changed hands. The Landsman was probably the greatest sandwich I ever had.
Not to beat this to death, but yes, R.F. O'Sullivan's burgers are comparable to Bartley's and also has the following advantages: a bathroom, easier parking, TVs to watch the Pats mesmerize yet another opponent, beer, and terrific grilled vegetables to go with your burger. I like Bartley's burger buns and onion rings better, but overall RFO is the superior experience. Those who say the Square has gone downhill are of course correct, bigtime, but it's still worth an outing every month or two, especially in the warm weather. Davis Square has M&Ms used books as noted but the people watching is way better in Harvard Square.
I used to live across the street from O'Sullivan's and still made Bartley's my burger stop of choice. Nothing against O'Sullivan's, which is a great place to eat a burger and watch a game, but Bartley's is sublime. To compare it to a good fast-food burger like In n Out is ridiculous; In n Out is no better than Culver's (though, again, both are good.) Charlie's double cheeseburger is, indeed, an underappreciated H^2 highlight, and they serve the best fries in the Square (though nowhere close to Bartley's magnificent onion rings.) But the Charlie burger is a flat truckstop style burger; I don't think it can be directly compared with Mr. Bartley's. The Tasty was foul, Elsie's was great, and the real crime is that the loss of Nick's Beef and Beer House has gone completely unlamented. I have spoken.
Mr. Bartley's? From my experience at Harvard in the 1960's, Elsie's was the best in Harvard Square for every category of sandwich, including burgers, the Fresser's Dream, and the cream cheese and cavier on a bagel (which was 50 cents back then). Bartley's was second-rate then, as it is now. (Well, not every category of sandwich. Tommy's Lunch had the best grilled peanut butter and bacon sandwich.) However, returning to the present day, how can someone who lives in a city that has Five Guys give the hamburger crown to any other place? Yglesias has the same uninformed, poor judgment in culinary as in political matters.
J. Ellenberg mentions Nick's Beef and Beer House, or as the sign later degraded to, "Nick's eef and Bee Ho se". How can you not want to go to the Eef And Bee Hose?
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Heads in the Sand
Burgers are a private enthusiasm. I find that usually the more elaborate the burger, the less I like it. Like grilled cheese. (Chefs, you can take your fontina-asiago grilled cheese and stuff it. Just white bread+American cheese on a well seasoned griddle. Thank you very much.)
I miss the simple burgers that you could reliably get at any dime store lunch counter in the country 40 years ago. (Washed down with either a lime phosphate or a chocolate soda. Try ordering that at your upscale places now, hey!)
Posted by Jeffrey Davis | January 16, 2007 11:45 AM