Best Burgers in the Bronx! Share the mystery! – A Review of Pipers Kilt Restaurant
BEST BURGERS IN THE BRONX! Share the mystery! – A Review of Pipers Kilt Restaurant
BY CLAIRE McCURDY
Pipers Kilt Restaurant
170 W 231st St
Kingsbridge, Bronx
(718) 548-9539
BEST BURGERS IN TOWN/THE BRONX! Truth in advertising. A sign outside the Piper’s Kilt makes this bold claim and it is born out by the menu and the customers. And after your eyes get used to the dim near-religious light, you will see a number of happy veteran (local, Irish descent) customers who can attest to the quality of the food and the beer. It is truly a neighborhood bar—as soon as customers (most of them) come through the door the barman calls out their drinks and one of his progeny scurries to bring it over as they eddy through the crowd. It’s also very friendly and sociable. An elderly customer in a bobble hat at the bar was kissed by no fewer than three effusive ladies.
Photo from cheapassfood.com
The burgers –- with mushrooms, onions, BBQ sauce, bacon, Swiss cheese, chili-topped— are taken for granted—you can order other things (steak, chicken, wraps, even salad) but really, why would you want to? Especially when the burger menu alone features a full twelve items including the heretical veggie and salmon burgers, and they’re all REALLY good. And let me not forget the fries—crisp, hot, voluminous. The beer on draft is a short list but choice. It includes Bass, Harp, and Negra Modelo—whose motto is “unwrap the mystery.”
It’s a traditional environment. It’s fair to say that if you are an unaccompanied female you will have a certain amount of difficulty being served. It is also fair to say that here it’s best to go with the established themes—burgers and beer. I one made the mistake of trying to order a fancy mixed drink, a mojito, and despite the fact that I described the ingredients, I received a poisonous green mixture with a cherry on top, which contained no perceptible alcohol but was sweet enough to rot the teeth.
But hey, what do you expect? It’s a sports bar of some four decades. If you check out the faded original sports photos on the walls– the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field, Willie Mays with the NY Giants and Joltin’ Joe Dimaggio of the Yankees—it’s no stretch to figure that out. Time moves slowly here but it does move— there is a collection of vintage and far flung beer steins, but the juke box (sadly, to my way of thinking) now offers FreshTracks, an Internet based radio service. Far more important—there are five flat screen TVs showing everything from bowling to baseball to football, yes even to golf. Every face is raised to the altar.
Mixed drinks or no, I came back! I do love those burgers and it’s warm on a cold snowy or rainy night. And if I ever want a mojito again, I’ll bring my own.
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