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Hidden in the luxurious midtown hotel is arguably the one of the best burger stops in New York. No, it's not as fancy as Daniel Boulud’s $29 fois-gras-stuffed, black-truffle-laced ground filet mignon burger. Nor is it nearly as pricey as Old Homestead’s $40 Kobe beef concoction (for the price of one Old Homestead, you can buy six burgers and still have money left over for fries and a drink) Rather, these burgers are made in the old-fashioned American way: hand-formed patties of salt-and-peppered ground beef.
Walk down the long corridor past the high-ceilinged marble lobby and tuxedoed concierge, and you’ll encounter an unassuming and narrow hallway with a small neon hamburger sign. Follow the arrow through the brown curtain, and you are transported to what can only be described as a rip-off of a wood-paneled college dive bar. Few restaurants in exclusive hotels have movie posters and sports photos on the walls alongside help-yourself-oversized bins of Heinz ketchup packets. This place does have an open kitchen, which seems to be en vogue in the finest restaurants these days, but this particular showroom is manned by servers wearing vintage t-shirts instead of pressed white uniforms. Take a deep breath of meat grilling and fries frying and you could care less about the relative dinginess of the digs; it only adds to the experience.
Colloquially called the ‘Burger Joint’, this otherwise nameless restaurant offers juicy 8-ounce Black Angus (chuck-sirloin mix) burgers ($6) grilled to bovine perfection. Sandwiched in classic jus-soaking spongy buns, these can be accompanied by a more-than-you-can-eat serving of super crispy fries ($1.50) and Sam Adams on tap ($3.50) or a decadent milkshake ($3). If coming with a date you can drop the line, “I usually eat at Norma’s (the breakfast-only restaurant in the same hotel that serves the $1,000 lobster and caviar frittata), but this place has much more character."
"Burger Joint" at Le Parker Meridien
118 W. 57th St. (btwn. 6th & 7th Aves.)
(212) 708-7414
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