Quick Bites: Schnipper's Cheeseburger

 [Pigging by Wilfrid: January 14, 2012]

I never expect to spend so much time in the Times Square neighborhood, but all kinds of things conspire to take me there.  One recent evening, I was on Ninth Avenue, very hungry. I recalled Josh Ozersky's description of the Schnipper burger as one of the least-appreciated in New York.

If not now, when?  I went inside the glaring white air-hangar tucked in the bottom of the Times building and ordered one.

Now, it's true that Josh was speaking of the burger served at Schnipper's Quality Kitchen downtown, but I assume the Schnipper brothers serve much the same burger everywhere.  I don't know why I didn't get pickles with it, but I got melted American cheese, lettuce and tomato.

The choice of degree of doneness doesn't always arise with diner-style burgers, but this time it did: I asked for medium-rare and that's what I got.  This meant not too much of a char on the outside, which given the dimensions of the patty was not surprising.

What I did like was the bread, which was a little firmer and chewier than your average white roll, and held together well.  The burger was fine.  Not magical; just fine.  But that underlines the perennial message that there isn't anything truly magical about Shake Shack either.  I prefer a hefty bar burger, but this was what it was intended to be.  The straight-edge of burgers.

Or "conservative" as Ozersky says.  He liked the bun too.