Oh, I wanted to love you, Minetta Tavern, with your impossible reservations and your $26 hamburger. And you’re gorgeous. But I just don’t know if it’s meant to be. So let’s talk about it.
Minetta Tavern opened last year and has been all the rage. Everyone talks about the $26 Black Label Burger which is, yes, pricey, but this is New York and you can justify anything (It’s really good beef!). I’ve wanted it for 9 months. Tried to make a reservation a few times, but it never worked out until about three weeks ago when Kelly got us a reservation for 6 p.m. on a Thursday. 6 p.m. Like old people. But we’ll take it!
This is how light it was when we left dinner. Strange. Strange. Strange. It is summer. But it’s still strange.
Anyway, who wants to see this burger nonsense?
I was told to order mine medium rare. So I did. And now I’m not sure if I’ve ever had a medium rare burger in my life because I could NOT HANDLE IT. And I love my burgers juicy as can be. So I think I may be at fault there. And it was good. I think I was spoiled recently by having grass-fed burgers on an actual farm, because I was expecting/hoping to be blown away off my chair and it just wasn’t. I actually thought about how I’d rather be eating a burger at Paul’s. Yes I did. Or even the Shake Shack. The fries were delicious, that is true. The pickle, unfortunately, was sadness. Kelly and I think it kind of tasted like Tobasco. Sad. I could tell the beef was quality, but I think next time I should not listen to everyone and just get it medium. I also must report that I left some of the burger on my plate, uneaten. I’d say about three dollars worth. I just thought I was going to die, and not in the typical way that I use that phrase.
Now this was pretty good:
Chocolate souffle for two. I am sick of being served that tiniest baby size of chocolate cake at restaurants, so this was nice. Very warm and very gooey and we ordered a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side because how could you not? We liked this. But we’re still waiting for a restaurant to pry Diner out of our little hearts.
The sound in my head when I looked at that burger was whaa whaa whaaaaaaaaa you know? But I’ve found that its best not to listen to others when they suggest how to get the meat cooked. I personally only will eat medium or medium well. NEVER anything with rare….BAD NEWS!
Its a + that the fries were good but a crappy pickle is a dealbreaker!
I typically go with what the chef suggests, which is usually medium. Yeah pickle was sad.
Yeah, that burger didn’t not look worth it at all. I like medium rare…yerm.
Do you get medium rare at Red Coat?
I like mine medium rare and I didn’t feel ripped off at the price of the burger. @ DBGB, I felt ripped off.
Well you must be a “real man” haha. I like DBGB and I didn’t feel “ripped off” at Minetta I just wasn’t sold on needing it again. Also, you didn’t even have the Black Label Burger, as I recall. Or did you go back?
Of course I had the Black Label Burger, silly.
You didn’t have it that day I ran into you on the street! You just got the Minetta Burger!
minetta tavern fail :(
DBGB’s piggie burger was more exciting than the black label, i.m.h.o. Medium rare if you dare…either way pretty much same conclusion I had after dining at Minetta. At least you missed the awful Georgetown banker white bread regal ivy league suburbanite pining for urbanity crowd that I encountered.
I love your first paragraph. Love it! :-) I think if I got a $26 hamburger and it was “meh” I would tell the staff. I mean, dang. That’s about what I spend on lunches all WEEK normally. I envy your food budget!
Haha, you should see the things I make for myself at home. It’s not fine dining all the time, I make up for it in cereal. Ha! :)
i always get stuff cooked at whatever the chef suggests which is always seems to be med rare (tuna, steaks, burgers, etc)