Does their dedication pay off? To answer simply: yes. The food was delicious, although a little heavier on the grease than I would ideally like, but then again maybe the grease is why it had that crack-like quality: I was full but kept eating until there wasn't a single crumb left on my plate. The burger itself was thick, much thicker than burgers of the Shake Shack variety. The onion rings were the best I've had in a long time (granted, I don't eat onion rings incredibly often). The freshness of the burger and rings were evident; no frozen patties here, no heat lamp radiation. Not to mention the crisp lettuce and juicy, red tomatoes.
The reason I qualified my answer with "to answer simply" is because there are definite draw-backs. For instance, the price. Yes, we live in New York City and everything is absurdly expensive, but I feel a little foolish for dishing out $14 for a burger. Really. I can get a heaping bowl of pasta with goat cheese and eggplant from Mario Batali's restaurant Otto for $9!
Despite the price, DuMont Burger has lines out the door most days. The restaurant is composed of two small dining areas, and you have to walk outside to get to the other. One is a little classier and more of a dining out experience, the other is kind of the over-flow room and feels a bit more divey. I actually like both spaces quite a bit, and they both seduced me with the dark wood decor, per usual. It's too bad that the restrooms are only in one of the dining areas because there's nothing worse than feeling warm and satisfied after a burger and beer and then stepping out into negative degrees just to use the john. Talk about a jolt from post-dinner bliss.
My vegetarian friend came with us to DuMont Burger and ordered the vegetarian burger, which he'd had before. He had raved about the veggie burger (so much so that I considered getting it), but when it came to him, he realized that they changed their recipe and he felt that the new one was not nearly as good as the old one. Hm...good thing I'm not a vegetarian.
