Petey's Burger

It’s snowing again!

I ventured out of my apartment this afternoon to deliver Top Secret Cookies to my friend Jeremy, and decided to stop for lunch to try a new veggie burger on the way home.



Petey’s Burger opened a couple years ago, shortly after I moved to Astoria, but this was my first time visiting the restaurant. I admit, I wasn’t expecting too much from their veggie burgers, since although it is a locally-owned establishment, it’s still a fast-food burger joint. Even if their meat-burger did get a lot of praise from Time Out New York

But when I asked the girl at the counter if the burger was vegan or not (the first step in all of my veggie burger adventures), and she called back into the kitchen to ask the chef what ingredients he puts in the burgers when he makes them, I realized that this wasn’t just going to be another generic frozen patty heated up and slapped on a bun!

While the burger isn’t vegan (sorry, vegans!) it is house-made. They both are, actually – Petey’s menu boasts not one but two veggie burger options. The “Garden” (celery, peas, and carrots) and the “Southwestern” (black beans, corn, cilantro, and peppers). Maybe I assumed the burgers would be mediocre because those names sound like they are ripped from a box of Morningstar frozen patties. But now knowing that I had a house-made burger to look forward to, I excitedly ordered the Southwestern.



The bun was your standard fast-food burger bun, lightly toasted. Nothing special. And the lettuce was barely-green iceberg, although the tomatoes were fresh and the spicy mayo was quite tasty.



But the burger patty itself was a total treat – spicy and flavorful, with a fresh sweet crunch from the corn kernals, crispy on the outside just the way I like it, and only slightly falling apart as I bit into it. It’s burgers like these that really exemplify the difference between a homemade patty and one of those mass-produced frozen ones.



Not only was the quality of this burger a most pleasant surprise, it was also the cheapest veggie burger I have ever reviewed at a restaurant thus far! Not bad, Astoria (now can my neighborhood just get a vegan pizza place already? Please?) Plus, they deliver – in case you aren’t crazy enough to walk around in the snow like I am.



Cost: $4.29
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
Burger patty: 4      Bun: 2      Toppings: 2

Petey’s Burger
30-17 30th Ave
between 30th and 31st Street
Astoria, NY 11102
718.267.6300

YumVeggieBurger review #43