Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is a tried-and-true professor of all things good eating. Between hosting multiple cooking shows on Food Network and operating his many restaurants (except for the Mesa Grill restaurants, which have all closed down), Flay is an avid foodie adventurer himself, often traveling the globe to find new and exciting meals. When it comes to digging up the best of the best in his home turf of New York City, Flay has a long list of his favorite food spots, but his favorite cheeseburger comes from J.G. Melon.
Not only did Flay tell Food Network that J.G. Melon quite literally has the “best cheeseburgers in the world,” but he also featured the restaurant’s food on season one, episode five of “The Flay List” alongside his daughter, Sophie. Flay told the New York Post that he loves J.G. Melon’s burgers because “the burger is just the right size.” He went on to say that the burgers always have the “right crustiness” and perfectly melted cheese. While he’s got a sweet tooth a mile wide (and prefers the Coconut Gold Bars from Fran’s Chocolates in California), to Flay, nothing beats a classic NYC burger from the Upper East Side.
What makes J.G. Melon’s burgers so special
J.G. Melon is a small restaurant with a big reputation in NYC that’s had Bobby Flay’s attention for years. The restaurant’s original building on Third Avenue can trace its roots back to the 1920s, but J.G. Melon didn’t begin operations there until 1972. The restaurant was founded by Jack O’Neill and George Mourges, two business owners who wanted to open an eatery and happened to love the resounding theme of melons (the entire place is decorated with green checkered tablecloths and melon artwork). The business expanded in 2015 to Greenwich Village and continues serving world-famous burgers, chili, sandwiches, salads, and more to the people of Manhattan.
Though Flay is convinced that it’s the restaurant’s flatiron griddles that make the burgers so good, management at J.G. Melon might argue that it’s a little more complex than that. When the restaurant began over 40 years ago, the hamburger recipe was created with different blends of meat intended to make the meal as juicy and tender as possible. That same recipe is still used today, along with an unconventional method of only flipping the burgers once, since the grills are extremely hot. There’s no pressing involved, no smash burgers allowed in this restaurant — just light seasoning, lots of toppings, and a method that proves the favorite of chefs like Flay.
