[Snacking by Wilfrid: October 21, 2009]
Color me surprised. I assumed this would be another entrant in the hipsterly downmarket stakes, doing its best to look like a greasy spoon pit-stop. Not at all.
Smooth-countered, amber-lit and attractively staffed, it's a bit upmarket for St Mark's. Does not look like a tattoo parlor.
And yet the prices are right on target for this cheap-eats-and-suds strip. Regular sliders $2 (add bacon for 75 cents), tap beer $4, wine $5. Necessary, of course, to be competitive with prices in adjacent bars, otherwise customers could just take their burgers across the street - but this isn't Bud Lite. Abita and Spaten Lager are among the entirely decent offerings. You could just sit here and drink.
The sliders start life as meatballs of raw ground beef. The cook punches them flat on the griddle, and crushes onions into them then robes them with cheese slices. The patties weren't overcooked - a touch of pink inside. The bacon didn't add much. The ketchups did - outstanding smoky chipotle and hot-fruity jalapeño. I suppose the sliders will remind devotees of White Castle: they didn't remind me of it too much, which is a compliment.
Fries looked fine - didn't try them.
You will know it by the sign of the cow.
