GOOOOOOOD. I WILL BE BACK!
http://www.alwayshungryny.com/reviews/mark-burger/
Beef Slider, Bacon Slider, Fries, Guinness, Shake
33 St. Marks Place
At 2nd Ave
New York, NY 10003
(212) 677-3132
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Lunch Daily: 12:00PM-1:00AM
Dinner Daily: 12:00PM-1:00AM
Neighborhood Downtown East, East Village
Cuisine Hamburgers
Price $
Website stmarksburger.com/
The Hungry Goat — October 20, 2009
On the Mark
With everyone obsessing over Bill’s Bar & Burger there is a sleeper that is going under the radar that may just be serving the best sliders in New York. It was hard to imagine that something could have been missing from the already cramped restaurant row that is St. Mark’s Place. But with last week’s opening of MARK Burger, it became alarmingly clear that what it was missing—craving, even—was a good, cheap burger (or in this case slider) joint.
The food on the restaurant’s concise ten-item menu, is simple and straightforward, and all the better for it. The meat (a mix of chuck, short rib and sirloin) is ground fresh in-house. The 2oz. Beef Sliders, a great value at $2 a pop, are all dressed with gooey, melted American cheese and slivers of sweet onions that get fried onto the patties as they cook. According to Operating Manager Helah Kehati, traditional toppings such as lettuce and tomato have no place here because they hide the flavor of the burger. It’s a philosophy that myself and other burger connoisseurs can appreciate.
The sliders are in the style of those served at cult-favorite, White Manna in Hackensack, New Jersey. But as Jeff put it, “in the case of White Manna, the student has surpassed the teacher.”
No hyperbole: these sliders are unreal. They’re juicy, cooked to a perfectly consistent medium, and have robust beefy flavor. What’s more, the restaurant offers a trio of homemade sauces: jalapeño-honey, chipotle ketchup, and barbecue—all of which pack a punch.
The Bacon Sliders ($2.75) are MARK Burger’s real innovation. They’ve solved that classic problem of the bacon burger wherein you bite it only to pull out the whole piece. Instead of topping the burger with bacon they pre-broil and mix it in with the meat so that as it cooks the fat releases. The concept is brilliant, but in practice, the bacon flavor is a little subtle and not as pronounced as you would hope.
Also on the offer are crunchy, skin-on, thin-cut fries, shakes (the Guinness shake is made with a syrup reduced from the beer), and homemade individual-sized pies. There is wine, and beer from various microbreweries, and in the winter expect a warm, spiced red wine to make an appearance.
As for the space, the CowParade cow out front and the graffiti mural on the exterior adjacent wall (courtesy of the tattoo artist who works upstairs), should signal that MARK belongs to St. Mark’s Place. And according to Kehati, that’s the goal, to offer back a taste of the authentic, non-corporate, un-froyo side of St. Marks. Considering the great value, cool vibe, and late night hours, MARK Burger should be packed with East Village locals and NYU kids looking for some post-revelry grub in no time.
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