Friday, September 29, 2006

Metro Cafe and Wine Bar

Metro Café and Wine Bar.
32 East 21st Street (between Park and Bway)


Ok so the last two burgers I wrote about were awfull. No help what so ever in giving you ideas on what to eat. Its about time for a real jem. I think I will even award this placewith the title of


“Best Date Burger Place”

(I think that is the first offical title ever given out by this blog)
No they don’t have some huge burger to eat lady and the tramp style (hmm could be interesting…very messy though), but they do have a great burger, good ambiance, good service, and a huge wine selection.




It is called Metro Café and Wine Bar so the fact that they have a lot of wine shouldn’t really be a surprise. I did like how they had over 100 wines by the glass to choose from as well as little sampler flights. This city is full of good wines bars though, if it wasn’t for the fact that this bar had a dam good burger I wouldn’t be writing about it.
Metro had quite a few burgers to choose from. Beef, Lamb, Turkey, Veggie, and American Style Kobe Beef. Many places today falsly label Kobe Burges. Kobe Beef is like Champagne. Just any wine with bubbles isn’t necessary Champagne. Real Kobe Beef is also not legal in the US, so ether that place is not telling the truth or they are just breaking the law.
I decided to go with the Kobe Style Burger. The burger that arrived was massive. With a whopping 9oz of beef you would think after four bites this burger would be all over the plate, the table, my lap, the floor; a recipe for disaster on any date.

In a true feat of culinary architecture the burger stayed in tact for the whole meal. The patty was very firm and well packed. Most burgers this size split apart when lifted. The glazed bun also helped reduce slop potential but not becoming overly soggy mid meal. The only thing falling to the plate was all the juice from the burger (lots and lots of it).
The Beef tasted great, and with the generous heap of grilled onions and all the sides I was def. stuffed after eating. I am not sure if the Kobe Style is really any better than the standard burger it might be a way to just make a few extra bucks.
This is a place that I am sure I will come back to so I will have to go with the less expensive version next time and write an update.
The burger wasn’t the only star of the meal. My pickle would probably have been Second Ave Deli worthy, the Cole Slaw, also great, though maybe a tad sweet for some of you sourpuss’s. The Fries were fantastic. About 3x as thick as the ones McDonalds serves and they had a slight crusty-ness to them.
The meal might get a little pricey if your burger coma prevents you from leaving and you decide to stay and order wine after wine by the glass, but all and all that wont be a bad use of your money or an evening.


The web page also has a 10% off coupon (click here for it).

Type: kinda classy, date burger, thick burger
Price: Kobe Style Burger, fries, slaw, coke and tip was a little under 20 (non-kobe style was a few bucks less expensive)
Recommended?-Yes for sure. Stay for an hour or two.

Links to other reviews of Metro Cafe and Wine Bar:
Citysearch


Wednesday, September 27, 2006

HELP FIGHT CANCER BY DRINKING AT HOME

So as some of you know my 4th anniversary of overcoming Hodgkin’s disease has recently passed. Coincidently my friend Michelle just happens to currently be participating in a fund raiser for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
Since I would not be alive if it wasn’t for the work of this organization and others like it I have made a donation and I am asking you all to please do the same.
This weekend before you go out and party I would like you to drink 2 drinks in your apartments. It would be nice if you would then “say this is for (insert my name or anybody else you want to think of)”
Now with that 20 dollars you just saved by not paying for 2 overpriced drinks at whatever bar you are on your way to can instead be sent to do good by clicking on this link.

Click Here

Please feel free to take more than 2 shots. If you are really totally broke then at least send this to a bunch of people.

I don’t meant to try and guilt trip you all. Just think of it from a pure business standpoint. The money you save = The money you donate. You come out the same (plus even a tax write off)

Thanks a bunch,
Steve

Sunday, September 24, 2006

BAMN!



BAMN!

St. Marks btw 2nd and 3rd.
www.bamnfood.com



NYU STUDENTS NOW MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN CLEAN LAUNDRY OR COIN OP MUNCHIES

The concept seemed a tad scary and interesting all at once. A restaurant that sells the majority of its food via self serve vending machines. Open “25 hours” the sign reads.Its all junk food all the time. The machines were filled with the usual bowling alley/pool club snack bar chow. Anything you could imagine deep fried and then stuck under a heat lamp.
Aside from typical finger food such as mozzarella sticks, corndogs, chicken wings, and french fries, they also had some interesting concoctions such as mac and cheese croquettes , fried PB&J and something made out of spam. For the low price of 10 quarters you could also get a hamburger.
I had zero expectations as approached the machine. All burgers sold out…hmm that means I would get a fresh one from the short order cook…expectations went up slightly. It took a good 5 min for them to make my burger, about the same time as it would at Blue 9. I started to get a little excited. I even ordered two. One teriyaki style and one regular.




Finally the two burgers came. They looked ok. Decent size, esp for the price. Big fluffy buns, real lettuce and tomato. Unfortunately The first bite of the regular burger had me wishing I had just tried the deep fried mac n’ cheese. The burger was dry and tasteless. The teriyaki burger was slightly better but I didn’t really even want to finish either.
To be fair this really isn’t even a burger place. In other visits I had tried some of the other stuff and it wasn’t too bad. It’s a quarky little place (though not as good as the late NY Milk Shake CO.) that is a nice addition to the world famous St. Mark’s junk food row.


Type: Vend-o-burger
Price: Cheep
Recomend: No, not for the burger.

Links to other reviews of BAMN!
Citysearch
A Hamburger Today

Sunday, September 03, 2006

BUBBA BURGER--LET'S GO (get a new brand) METS

Bubba Burger- Shea Stadium


So the official hamburger of Shea Stadium and my beloved Mets is the Bubba Burger. Whats a Bubba Burger? Well its not really as good as it sounds. Bubba’s is a new (or at least to me) brand of frozen supermarket patties. Now the fact that Shea stadium is using frozen patties should be no surprise. They have to make hundreds of these…and quickly. For years the building has been serving them and now somebody finally had the good idea to charge a company extra money for the rights to be “The Official Burger of The New York Mets”. I mean do what you have to do in order to get pricey players like Pedro and fellow M.O.T Green!
So now for the Burgers. As far as foil wrapped burgers go the bun was not too mooshey and this was probably the thickest self serve burger I have ever had. The problem was that with the added thickness it just ment their was more of THE WORST FOIL WRAPPED BURGER I HAVE EVER HAD IN MY LIFE!!!!!! Ouch that hurt so much to say. Mets I love you. Do what you have to do to sigh big name players…put ads on the toilet paper, put a billboard up everywhere…just give up on Buba! At least throw on some lettuce and tomatoes!
So yes that hurt, stick to hot dogs Mets fans.

Type: Foil wrapped crap
Price: not worth a single penny
Recommend: No…but LET’S GO METS!!!!!!