Smokey Burger Organic and Gyu Kaku Coming Soon To Midtown West

Thanks to Lunch’er Michelle for tipping us off to two new places about pop up on 44th street between 8th and 9th.  The first is a new burger joint called Smokey Burger Organic, which describes themselves as “organic burgers, salads, and sides, all natural shakes and sodas crafted from fresh quality ingredients.” I wish I could tell you more about it (price point, menu items, etc.), but the website they’ve plastered on the signs (smokeyburgerorganic.com) doesn’t appear to be functional yet.

With Five Napkin Burger and Island Burgers & Shakes up 9th avenue, Shake Shack half a block east and Steak ‘n Shake‘s debut yesterday, the burger market’s getting to be a crowded one. Unless they’ve got something cool up their sleeves to entice us over there, I’m not sure if a burger place is what we need more of in Midtown West.

Now, Japanese BBQ?  That’s a different story altogether!

Apparently New York’s third Gyu-Kaku location is also opening soon on the same block (44th street between 8th and 9th). We already know from the east side location that most lunch options are north of $10, but Gyu-Kaku happens to be the home of some sizzling hot bibimbap ($10) that we wrote up a couple of years ago. Although the meal failed to pass the authentic Korean bibimbap test based on lack of banchan, the dish itself passed with flying colors. Anyway, start looking forward to a west side location.

Signs indicate they’re hiring, but there’s no countdown in the window telling us when they’ll open. Personally, I can’t wait. I’m a big fan of this place, and besides their lunch options, they do great happy hour specials as well. Thanks again to Lunch’er Michelle for the tips!

2 Comments

  • Smokey Burger sounds a lot like a Bareburger inspired shop. It’s a bit out of bounds, but if any of you in the 30s on the East side have yet to experience Bareburger…I’d definitely recommend it!

  • Gyu-Kaku confuses me. Are the a Japanese restaurant that sells Korean food? Or a Korean restaurant run by Japanese people? I think I paid over $40 for meat and banchan (they charge you separately), which made me mad.

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