7th Street Burger

Kevin Rezvani had run a sit-down burger restaurant in New Brunswick, New Jersey, that closed in 2020. During the pandemic he worked for a moving company and drove for Amazon, then took a road trip in search of burger ideas, finding them in the sliders of Detroit and the onion burgers of El Reno, Oklahoma. In June 2021 he and his friend Paras Jain opened 7th Street Burger in a tiny former arepa bar at 91 East 7th Street in the East Village, after he had maxed out his credit card on the deposit.

The counter opened with four things on the menu: a single and a double cheeseburger, an Impossible burger and fries. It stayed open until three in the morning, sold close to a thousand patties on a weekend night and needed bouncers to keep the queue in order. A second shop followed on MacDougal Street in 2022, and by 2025 there were around twenty across New York, New Jersey and Washington. Rezvani has said he wants it to be “the In-N-Out of the East Coast”.

The menu has barely grown. Patties of 75 per cent lean beef are smashed onto the griddle with sweet onions, topped with American cheese, a single pickle slice and a tangy house sauce, and served on a Martin’s potato roll; the Impossible version is built the same way. Critics at Eater, New York magazine and The Infatuation have all praised it, one calling it “an unapologetic salute to salt and fat”. Drinks are water, Mexican Coke and Fanta.

Around twenty counters, mostly in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens, plus New Jersey and Washington, D.C.

• A&W Restaurants (United States, since 1919). America’s oldest drive-in chain, and the burger that lost to bad maths. Also built on beef, cheese and a double stack.
• Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers (United States, since 2002). Thin, crispy steakburgers and frozen custard, named after a WWII veteran. Also built on beef, cheese and a double stack.
• Wayback Burgers (United States, since 1991). A Delaware burger stand that grew into a franchise from Buenos Aires to Tokyo. Also built on beef, cheese and a double stack.
• Spangles (United States, since 1978). Wichita’s 1950s-themed steakburger chain, famous in Kansas for its odd TV adverts and a six-patty burger called The Beast. Also built on beef, cheese and a double stack.