The Spotted Pig is a West Village gastropub whose prices on the menu have me shying away instantly, the cheap bastard that I am. Regardless, Gao Di told me the place has a damn good burger and we decided it was a time for me to own up to the $17 dollar price tag and try it out.

I like the Spotted Pig’s setup, didn’t even realize the place was so big until the host brought us to a cozy little table on the second floor. Our waiter seemed a bit curt at the start, he came to our table and asked, “Did you see our specials?” and immediately walked away. He later turned out to be quite friendly. Anyway. Menu: I can’t imagine paying for roasted almonds or marinated olives. Those are the kinds of things you’re supposed to get for free! Am I being cheap right now, or can we all agree on this right now? One of the specials was a giant pork chop for $30 bucks, the couple next to us got that beauty and my eyes widened.

In the interest of “saving money,” Gao Di and I both went for the Chargrilled Burger & Shoestrings (sticking to the plan!), Gao Di assured me that that would be enough food, and as skeptical as I always am I still wanted an appetizer, but cheapness conquered. This burger is beautiful and delicious. This is amazing juicy beef perfection, topped only with roquefort cheese, between two halves of a brioche bun. YUM. The Girl Who Ate Everything describes the shape of the burger as a puck, and she’s totally on point. Along with the burger is a huge mess of delicious “shoestring” fries seasoned with rosemary and salt. These bastards are hard to eat because they’re so thin when you grab a clump they start pointing in all sorts of directions that your mouth just can’t seem to handle.

Anyway, this burger is easily one of the best burgers I’ve had in NYC. The burger is just so juicy and delicious, the texture makes it so easy to eat. A giant bite into the burger – bun+cheese+beef is so fluent it’s as if you’re just experiencing all the burger has to offer – definitely an effortless chomp chomp. I could not get over how the taste of the roquefort cheese went perfectly with the burger. Cooked perfectly medium-rare, this burger is so good on its own I didn’t even bother dipping it in any ketchup. After choking down the burger and fries, I was sufficiently stuffed.

The Spotted Pig offered a special dessert item of rum raisin ice-cream and this ice cream was super rummy and super raisiny (who would have thought?). The serving is surprisingly large at two decent sized scoops – a nice follow-up to a great burger. $8 bucks on this killer, though.

So, all in all, the Spotted Pig is an awesome experience – my body is yearning for another burger at this exact moment. I recommend you go and get it if you can spare yourself the heartache of $17 dollars for a burger. Honestly, it’s worth it, and I know they’ve got me hooked and I’ll be back again.

After reading The Girl Who Ate Everything’s showdown of their burger vs. their (lunch-only) cubano, I know what I’ll be trying next time (although they upped the price from $15 to $17, arghhh!!!) As good as the burger was, I gotta be chowing down some pork at a place called the Spotted Pig. Next time!