MP Taverna

Roslyn, NY
www.mptaverna.com



The Order: The MP Meal (Thursday): Meatballs, Beef Burger, Brownie. The Beef Burger, medium rare with 'traditional toppings' and spicy feta sauce.
Side Order: Comes with fries and gherkins.
$15
Drink Order: Southern Tier Double IPA


This entire place had a very 60s corner diner feeling, except that it was an extremely classy establishment. Frank Sinatra played overhead, there was exposed brick, and giant wood blinds. I think chicken wire is really trendy right now, as this place, and a lot of other newer restaurants have had it all over the place. The staff here at MP Taverna was friendly, even a bit overly attentive. The place, however, was empty. Not just not busy, but completely empty, which wasn't exactly what I'd expect for lunch at a restaurant where the chef got a 3 star Michelin rating. Then again, it was threatening rain outside. Still, I was the ONLY person in there not being paid.

The meatball appetizer was delicious. The sauce was thick and tasty, but not too overpowering, and the meatballs (2 of them) were soft, not really firm, and just melted in my mouth. I could seriously have eaten an entire platter of just those meatballs. But ah! You only get two of them! Give me more! These on a sandwich would be fantastic!

So the hamburger. Traditional toppings.... there were none. I would have guessed lettuce, tomato and onion, as opposed to nothing. No there were no toppings on this burger at all. It was meat and buns with sauce on the side. BUT this burger patty is HUGE. +2 points (oh wait, I still haven't come up with my rating system). I don't know what it is about chefs wanting to get that char grilled taste in their burgers. That's all you end up tasting. I had a taste of the spicy feta sauce before I put it on the burger and it was delicious, but I couldn't taste it at all with the overwhelming burnt taste of the burger! This time, however, I realized it's not the meat itself, but the bun. This bun was thick, and soft, but grilled so the edges were a little bit toasty. Great. Except that the top and the bottom of the buns were burned! Like.. black! The flavor of burning just got in the way so much that I had to slather almost all the feta sauce on the burger to mask it, and then suddenly, the burger was about the sauce, and not the burger itself. Now, undeniably, this sauce is awesome, but I don't want the burger to be a vehicle for the sauce! It was unfortunate, because the patty was cooked perfectly, and looked tasty, but in the end all I could taste was sauce and burning. I'd rather have had the sauce compliment the taste of the meat and bun together.

The fries here were simple, very lightly salted, and delicious. Obling, thick-cut fries, with the skin left on, they were a nice change in taste and consistency from the burger and the sweet gherkins. The gherkins did a lot to refresh the palette between bites of the burger, and to help clear away the burnt taste that seemed to last throughout the meal.

Ah. A music change. But wait. From Sinatra to some contemporary pop. Odd. With Sinatra playing, it felt as if the music was incorporated into the design of the atmosphere as a whole. Apparently not. But I'm wasn't there to critique the atmosphere. And then the music switched back to the old crooners and I was again perplexed.

The brownie alone is worth getting here. It's small, but rich and creamy, with massive chunks of soft chocolate throughout and a light dusting of powdered sugar. It is delightful, but you really need to like chocolate in order to finish it. I got halfway thru and couldn't eat anymore.

They have a decent selection of beers on tap, though it doesn't seem as if they've been curated in any way that makes sense. It's as if they have something for everyone without making any really bold choices. Stone IPA, fine. Ommegang Hennepin, ok. Wait, now it seems as if they're just picking the high scoring beers from Beer Advocate.

The meal deals are hard to beat here. A regular beef burger will cost you $13, so for $2 extra, you get delicious meatballs and a brownie? Not bad, though they skimp on the amount of fries. Similar deals may be worth it on other days, but I don't recommend getting this burger. For the price, its surprisingly uninteresting, especially from such a high-rated chef.