Business & Tech

Court Street's Moo Burger Bets on Variety

The long-awaited burger restaurant opens next week.

Moo Burger isn't your basic burger restaurant.

Sure, you can get a beef patty with cheese, lettuce and tomato, but there are a dozen other types of burgers on the menu too, ranging from ostrich to lamb, elk to veggie. 

Call it the smorgasbord of burger spots.

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"It's a burger place with a twist," said co-owner Nicholas Sakatis.

All ingredients are organic or natural, said Sakatis, and where possible, local.

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Moo Burger's sign went up last winter, and for many months the neighborhood has been buzzing with theories about the "organic burger" restaurant. The speculation can now come to an end: Moo Burger opens early next week.

Sakatis and his two cousins Steve Hatzimihalis and Nick Karathomas decided to open Moo Burger last winter.

"I always loved this area. I would come and go to Watty and Meg, Prime Meats," said Sakatis. "I always said I would love to do something in Brooklyn."

Sakatis ran a Greek supper club in Astoria for 10 years before his venture into the burger business, but he's signed on two-time Food Network "Chopped" champ Marc Anthony Bynum to run the kitchen.

"When he walked in I said 'You're hired!' " remembered Sakatis.

Besides burgers, the menu also boasts side dishes like mac and cheese balls, fries, onion rings and cole-slaw, as well as hot dogs, shakes and salads.

There is also wine and beer on tap.

Burger options include:

The Italian: 100% organic beef burger, tomato confit, fresh mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, micro basil

The Greek: lamb burger, grilled eggplant, pickled cucumber, olive tapanade, feta

Huevos Rancheros: 100% organic beef burger, refried beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, poached egg

Veggie: stacked portabella mushroom, zucchini, squash, eggplant, red pepper, pesto, tapanade

The interior of Moo Burger is warm, cozy and inviting. Salvaged wood from a barn in Minnesota lines the walls, and in the middle of the room are long sharing tables.

Is Sakatis nervous about the neighborhood's ?

"When 5 Guys opened [just up the block] I was a little nervous, but we're a totally different concept," he said. "They're fast food. We're organic. We're a restaurant."


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