1/12/2013

Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien Hotel New York

Burger Joint is usually named as one of the best 10 burgers in NY.
However, even though it's a famous burger plate, it's "hidden" in Le Parker Meridien Hotel New York.
I've seen the light sign board last year but as I wasn't in good health condition, I didn't eat the burger.
This year I prepared well; no junk food the day before, especially midnight, and also I had a little snack in the morning so that I can eat the burger.

When we got there was around 1PM and the waiting line was already long but of course shorter than any ride of Disney.
This is the sign I took a photo of without zoom.
As it's famous and the hotel knows what it'd be like, they set poles and tapes to make people line up precisely.

About 10 minutes later, we got closer to the sign.

Another 10 minutes or so, we were close to the entrance, where people still line up to reach the cash counter.

By the entrance, there's a board "You eat, we tweet."
I think we waited for about 30 minutes to order.

There's a cardboard by the cash counter and it shows how to order the burger.
"The fastest way to get it right"
Step 1: Hamburger or cheeseburger
Step 2: How d'ya want it cooked? (rare, med-rare, medium, med-well, well)
Step 3: What d'ya want on it? (lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard)
with everything, call it "the works"
Be ready to order or else you go to the end of the line.

Also there's a small sign "cash only" underneath the how-to board.

I thought it's not friendly or nice but on the other hand, this board is helpful what they want the customers to do. --- Definitely they want us to say the minimal words to get the burger done.

Right next to the cash counter, a guy was yelling and kind of threatening customers who didn't show up soon enough to pick up the foods, which was pretty irritating.
However, a female cashier shut him up and told me to calm down, so I felt at least she's got a little bit of  "The customer is always right /a God" spirit.

Behind the cash counter, they're cooking a whole bunch of patty. 
I simply wonder how they can handle that much of meat at once and cook it right (rare to well-done.)
While my fiance was ordering mine, too, I got a spot to seat.
It was right next to a garbage box, but I didn't care or less since we'd leave as soon as we finish eating.

Reminder; it's PACKED and everyone is seeking to get a table or counter seat when people are almost done eating and start rolling up and cleaning up the mess by themselves (because none of the employee would wipe the table or floor).
Tables and box seats were full of people eating, but I found a counter table by the cash counter/kitchen.
Basically, when you're done eating, you need to get out.
This photo was taken from where I was sitting and you can see people are lining up to the cash counter but also looking around.

Inside of the eat-in, there're a lot of notes and autographs but I'm not sure if it's all from famous people as I didn't take a look.

I got a hamburger without mayo and mustard, and also my patty was medium as I ordered.
I didn't expect this burger would look like Japanese McDonald's; nicely piled up and no veggie would be hanging out from the burger, etc.
And I was right.
This is how it looked like when I opened the paper wrap.
Not bad except the pickle is almost on the ground (paper wrap).

Fires were just regular cut fries and freshly cooked.
We're lucky enough to get a seat (by the trash can), we could have a ketchup bottle and paper napkins on the counter for this.
If you decide to have them to-go, you might need to eat the fries without ketchup.
It was medium but we didn't finish it and left maybe 1/3 of the fries.

The burger uses regular bun without sesame seeds.
Lettuce, tomato, onion, and pickles were all fresh.
Decent amount of ketchup.
My patty was perfectly cooked to medium and I was pretty surprised.
The beef patty might have been seasoned a little bit, but it's roughly grounded, meaty, and juicy.

To be honest, I doubt if it's worth waiting for 30 minutes to get this little burger in a small and crazily busy eat-in, but if you have enough time to try one of the best burgers in NYC, I don't think it'd disappoint you at all.
And you can say you've been there and had the burger.

When we left the place, we saw a long line.
The line was actually cut in the middle as it had grown too long and been cutting other people's way.
We guess that they might have thought of coming in around 2-3PM so that less people would be eating there, but actually it was wrong.
I think it's always crowded unless you go in as soon as the Burger Joint opens. 
Open from 11:00AM, according to the homepage and also it says, "If you don't see it, we don't have it!"

Waiter and waitresses at Knave, which is a little bar and some comfy sofa cafe/bar near the Burger Joint and still inside of Le Parker Meridien Hotel New York, were asked by several people where the Burger Joint was and they all said the same thing to them, "That side and you'll see a line" and pointed the direction with index finger.
They might have been asked about the burger place more than what they've got at the bar.

Burger Joint (inside of Le Parker Meridien Hotel New York)
119 West 56th Street,
New York, NY 10019

Tagged: , , , , , ,

1 件のコメント :

  1. You actually make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this topic to be really something which I think I would never understand. It seems too complicated and extremely broad for me. I’m looking forward to your next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
    skip bins brisbane

    返信削除