Korzo Haus brought down the house!

Trying out brand new restaurants is a double-edged sword. You will either hit the jackpot and be immortalized by your friends as the trail-blazing, audacious gem-finder, or suffer the slings and arrows of uncertainty and be forced to retreat feebly into the foodie valley of shame. Luckily, Edesia was smiling upon me, and I found this cozy, brick-walled, candle-lit neighborhood joint that's perfect for dates. The food and beer selection is Eastern-European. I am going to focus on 2 dishes that exemplified Korzo Haus's winning formula: top-grade meat + fresh Langos (Hungarian fried bread) + pickled veggies =  deliciousness.

Korzo Burger: 10 oz. freshly-ground, Hudson Valley, free-range beef patty with apple smoked organic bacon, Allgäuer Emmentaller cheese and house made mustard– all wrapped in Langos dough and deep fried. The Langos dough was shaped like a mini, hollowed-out sourdough bread. Since the "bun" was closed on one side, whatever juice that came bursting out of the paddy (and trust me, there was a lot) was retained and soaked up. The dill pickle and red cabbage added a tint of acidity that balanced delicately with the savory paddy, like a gymnist on a balance bar. I think it's the best burger that I have ever had in NYC, even better than Shake Shack's Shack Stack. That's right. You heard me right. It maybe blasphemy for lots of people, but just remember, when the big name food critics start raving about the Korzo Burger, you heard it from me first.

Langos "Pub": with spicy Slovak sausage, mushroom and Edam. The crust really stood out: it was puffy, airy and soft like a croissant. Multiple pickled vegetables accented the slovak sausage.

Zlaty Bažant “Golden Pheasant” (Hurbanovo, Slovakia): golden-orange in color with a light, clean finish and apricot after-taste. Perfect for washing down Korzo's somewhat bar-oriented menu. Only a handful of places in the U.S.have this beer on draft.

There were 3 of us, and we shared a big meat dumpling, a hearty pig-neck stew, the Korzo Burger, "Pub" Langos and a jug of Zlaty Bažant. Each of us ended up pay $21 USD. Great value!

Korzo Haus
178 E7th Street, NYC, NY