Burger Shoppe

After reading about Burger Shoppe’s opening over on NYC Nosh, I decided I wanted burgers.  Screw this making and bringing my own lunch in thing for one day – I wanted a good burger, I wanted Shake Shack actually, but this would have to do since I don’t work up by Madison Park, I work in the dreaded Financial District.  Luckily, this place is literally a 2 minute walk from my office building, so I deided to take Orzo along for the ride with me.  (Always game for new food experiences- that’s what it takes to be my friend.  Vegetarians need not apply.  JUST KIDDING!  I have a vegetarian friend!)

Unfortunately, the day we went (and the above picture was taken- it doesn’t look open…), there was a sign on the door (you can barely see it on the left hand side, under the reflection of the Subway awning) claiming that they had sprinkler issues and they were not openin until 2 pm that day.  It was 1 pm, so Orzo and I decided to head to our secret lunch spot (which I will be posting about, hopefully soon, as soon as my post stops getting eaten… it wants to remain a secret!) instead.  I disappointedly sighed and craved burger even more.

So we went back the next day, to a nearly empty place, despite NYC Nosh reporting that it’d been totally packed when they went.  We each placed our orders and received the burgers very quickly – so quickly that they must have been pre-made.  I quickly grabbed some counterspace (there were bar stools around for you to sit and eat) and opened up the paper holding my burger, wary of the problem NYC Nosh had reported of them steaming into soggy mess.  My burger didn’t suffer that problem, thankfully, though it wasn’t cold either.

Yumm.  We both opted for the “Real Deal” which is two Shoppe burgers, onion rings or fries, and a can of soda for $10; I upgraded for an extra $3 to a shake, since I really wanted to try one.  And pig out.  Unfortunately I couldn’t find on the menu (I’m blind?) the flavors, so relied on the cashier to relay them to me; she neatly forgot to tell me Guinness as a flavor and I didn’t manage to remember so I didn’t try that one.  Darn it. 

***Note: On MenuPages, they list the “Junior Deal” as the same thing for $7.  I thought perhaps the burgers were smaller, but when we got there, I checked and it’s actually only one burger, everything else the same, but these burgers are small enough to eat two easily.

My first burger was incredibly juicy, so juicy in fact that it ran down my hand, into my sleeve (augh, I’m a slob!) and exploded on my face.  Sure, it sounds funny, but I was a bit annoyed, I wouldn’t have minded a juicy burger provided the juices stayed inside a bit more.  It was extremely tasty though.  My second burger, quite the opposite, was dry and the lack of or minimal application of sauce was very apparent (neither burger appeared to have much “Shoppe Sauce”, but with the first, it was unnoticeable).  This is to be expected though, with ready-made burgers, I suppose, and I found the first to be so yummy I forgave them.

Orzo’s fries were nothing spectacular but not too shabby, either- just about right for a good burger place.

I actually liked my onion rings, though I also found them to be unspecial in any way; I like them as long as they’re crispy and not too bland.  These were very crispy and had real onion in them (another must), and were tasty… my only complaint is how few of them I received. 

My black & white milkshake was quite good; not so thick that I couldn’t drink it and just right, really, drinkable but still creamy thick.  Yum.

Overall?  I will definitely be going back (in fact I feel a craving hitting me right now, probably because I am really hungry from a too-tiny breakfast this morning) for burgers.  It has what I want in a burger place for lunch: reasonable prices, good variety, tasty burgers, and close enough to my office.  This will do just nicely…

Yvo says: While I wouldn’t say you should go out of your way for this place, honestly the burgers are very good and worth an extra couple of blocks walk.  You can’t find a non-fast food burger in this area for this price – you just can’t.  Any of the other places would require tip, and since they mostly are pubs, you’ll probably (if you’re like myself and my coworkers, at least) wind up ordering a beer as well, and then we’re just talking about a $20 lunch and that’s not really the kind of thing you want to make a habit.  Go here, eat well and inexpensively.
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