www.parkermeridien.com/eat4.php
The Order: Cheeseburger, medium rare. With 'The Works' (lettuce, tomato, onion, sliced pickles, ketchup, mayo, mustard).
Side Order: Fries $3.90
$8.04 + $3.90 = $11.94
Drink Order: Sam Adams Boston Lager
Burger Menu Rating: 8.5/15
Walking into Le Parker Meridien from their 56th avenue entrance, you're greeted with large columns, marble floors, tall ceilings, and a wall of mirrors. Nothing to suggest that there's a secret burger restaurant tucked away. Of course, if you've heard anything about The Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien, as a lot of people have, this is nothing new. But there still is that excitement of the first time going, as if you don't believe it's really going to be there. When you walk in, it's a large quiet, echo-filled hall and as you look around for the tell-tale neon sign that quietly marks the entrance to The Burger Joint, you begin to hear faint, muffled rock music. And suddenly you see the sign. It's real! It's not some big practical joke that hundreds of thousands of previous would be patrons are in on.
I saw the sign... and it... opened up my eyes..
You walk down the corridor. The music gets louder, and the lighting dimmer, until you turn the corner and BAM!, you're inside the mythical place. A divey burger-bar hidden in the lobby of a swanky hotel. Where do I learn the secret handshake? A tip of the hat to the marketing geniuses behind this one. My interest was piqued from the get-go. And now to have my expectations filled.
When you get in line, and there's always a small line that moves quickly, you notice a dimly lit, cardboard, and hand-written sign that states the rules of this particular burger joint. Any patrons of Pat's, in Philadelphia, already know the drill - know exactly what you want before you get up to the register, or you will be sent to the back of the line. Ahead of me, a couple of tourists. They clearly haven't read the sign as they get up to the top and the somewhat annoyed and taciturn lady taking orders tells everyone in line behind them to come on up and skip them. Time is obviously being wasted here. I step right up and order with confidence. My only question: where the hell is the drink list? Oh. It's this tiny little other hand-written sign that also spells out exactly how much everything costs. HOLY SHIT. This is going to be more expensive than I thought. $8 for a cheeseburger?! At this little dive?! I have to remind myself I'm in a swanky hotel and the theme of The Burger Joint is just a facade. So I cough up the $18+ dollars for a burger, fries and a beer and am lucky to find an unoccupied stool in this tiny place.
Similar rules to Pat's in Philadelphia.
The orders fly out of the kitchen at breakneck speed. Another woman behind the counter, who is also clearly 'over it', shouts out name after name. When she gets to mine, I leap up and am quickly in front of the counter. But even while I'm standing there, quickly snapping a picture, albeit a very poor one, of the small menu, my name continues to be shouted across the room. She hasn't looked up, or heard me say "that's me!" to her repeatedly, so finally I have to lean over the counter, wave my hand and reach for the oil-soaked paper-wrapped packages of delicious goodness.
Sitting down, I ripped open the sopping brown bag of fries and unwrapped the burger to reveal what I've been waiting for. The burger wasn't smooshed, but slightly askew, revealing the myriad ingredients stacked on this burger. I would have loved to have been able to say that 'this was clearly done on purpose so when the burger is unwrapped you can see everything this burger has to offer' but it was more clear, because of the speed of the chefs, that this was quickly and haphazardly slammed together in an effort to move the burgers out of the kitchen as fast as humanly possible. That being said, the burger was only SLIGHTLY askew. The kitchen here, it seems, is a fairly well-oiled machine.
At first it seemed a perfect medium rare. But alas, I was deceived.
The burger at the middle was a pretty perfect medium rare and the patty was fairly thick. Both good signs and great to see, especially at such a talked-about restaurant. But that was definitely not the case across the entire patty. After the first three or four bites from the center, the meat quickly lost it's vibrant pink and took on a more gray color (Please forgive the bad pictures. This was a spur of the moment visit.). The flavor of the meat was fairly present, but only really towards the edges of the burger. However, the culprits here seemed to be the other ingredients, rather than the patty itself. While the crunch of the lettuce, tomato, onion and pickle revealed fresh, tasty ingredients, the amount of sauce on the burger was a bit overwhelming, lending the taste of the entire burger to the tangy flavors of ketchup and less to the balanced, or beef-driven flavors I've grown accustomed to in high end burgers.
And then the fries. What a disappointment! It had been a long time since I'd eaten fries that were so oily that I couldn't continue eating them before I'd gotten halfway through. With almost no salt, or other seasoning, to speak of, these fries were almost tasteless, and totally unsatisfying. Only by dipping every single fry into ketchup could I eat any more of them.
If you remove the hype surrounding the 'secrecy' of this tiny little burger joint, What we're left with is a normal, diner-style, cheeseburger that, while being tasty, a decent amount of food, and made with quality ingredients, is only barely worth the price tag. It's not a problem of the ingredients, but a problem of execution. The meat wasn't perfectly cooked and the sauce was overpowering. For that kind of price, I expected a little bit more effort. Perhaps, though, my expectation had gotten too high with the excitement of finding out about The Burger Joint's secret location. There's no doubt that this was a good, even above-average burger, but for my part, it didn't deserve the top ten NYC rankings. Do I feel duped? No. Did I learn the secret handshake? No. But I am full, and the kid in me is still grinning about being let into the club.
Cooked Correctly: 4/5
Design/Ingredients: 2.5/4
Plating: .5/3
Value: 1.5/3
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