I’m always one to recommend getting out of the concrete jungle of Manhattan for a day or two and heading out east to Long Island, especially during the summertime where its beauty truly peaks. GM Burger Bar, with its location smack dab in the heart of Massapequa Park, is an excellent example of a fantastic restaurant to stop by on your way out to Montauk, The Hamptons or if you are sticking around the Nassau County area. I stopped by there over the weekend to experience this finger licking good spot and was quite pleased with what they provided throughout the course of the evening.
We are no strangers for our love of burgers here at Manhattan Digest (check this list here), and have seen our fair share of said burgers out in Long Island. As much as Manhattan gets it right on so many levels with its diversity of cuisines and flavors, Long Island rivals it to a certain degree as there is so much more to that area of New York than just strip malls and conglomerate type settings. GM Burger Bar is one of those places.
They also have a sister location in Rockville Centre, however the Massapequa Park location is where we wound up at and had a blast in doing so. The spot reads as many other restaurant types, nothing too out of the ordinary however our server was fantastic and helped us navigate the menu in terms of what to get that will leave us filled and happy.
For some reason, the starters at a lot of the restaurants I have been to lately have exceeded the actual entree portions, and this somewhat rings true for GM Burger Bar. Take for instance, once of their most popular starters- the Pretzel Baked Brie, which essentially is a brie stuffed pretzel with fig jam and brown sugar. I am always a fan of anything that mixes sweet and savory, and this does the trick. The salt was a bit much on the pretzel, but the sweetness from the jam and sugar balanced it out and made for a great starter.
I like how they have some dishes with an Asian influence in them, which made their Chili Pop Shrimp with a Thai chili sauce another great starter. They literally are “pop” in your mouth good, and I am always a sucker for a good piece of shrimp and am never one to abck down from a good chili sauce, so if you want a little pep in your step with spice, this would be a good option as well.
The types of burgers you can have at GM Burger Bar is quite impressive, as it ranges from the classics to ones that are Quinoa, Turkey, and Chicken based with some great add ons to make them quite delicious. The one that we loved the most was their Dixie Smokehouse as it came with BBQ pulled pork, crispy onions, pepper jack and bacon which is a killer combination and became the most memorable of the burgers we had that night. Also, their homemade slaw was fantastic as well.
It is key to make sure you still have room in your stomach for dessert, as their shakes are truly off the chain and made for a great finisher that night. The Fluffernutter Shake was a great combination of flavors, as I love peanut butter and marshmallow together and separate, and was thick in all the right places. Overall, I would recommend heading to GM Burger Bar if you are jonesing for some great and hearty apps, burgers, shakes and more.
For more information on GM Burger Bar, please check out their official website.