Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stardom is relative I suppose

All Star Steakburger by jaceman4
All Star Steakburger, a photo by jaceman4 on Flickr.
I only knew this place by name because what we usually referred to as "99" was Ranch 99 Chinese supermarket in the West Coast, so seeing one in New York threw us off a little. The font for the numbers was kind of similar too, but then the horseshoe around it informed us that it was a restaurant of some sort and we didn't think much of it. Later, on a visit back to New York (the state not the city) from Washington (the state not the city) a friend and I were trying to decide where to eat and we were suggested to try this place in lieu of its reasonable price.

The burger, called the All Star Steakburger, was basically a pretty thick, bacon cheeseburger. Everything on it was okay. The meat was okay, the fixings run-of-the-mill, they did have bacon, but everything was plain to the point of being unremarkably immemorable.

The fries were fries, and cole slaw was cole slaw. Overall comparability I'd rate it with Denny's or something. Not somewhere I'd go out of my way for for a burger, but something safe if you happen to be passing by.

Thursday, July 7, 2011

Experimental failure

Tear Jerker by jaceman4
Tear Jerker, a photo by jaceman4 on Flickr.
Okay, maybe my title is a bit too harsh, but in my opinion, this place certainly wasn't worth all the hype it had going into it. Seriously. I came to Lunchbox Laboratory with high expectations, perhaps too high. Despite it being happy hour, and my coworkers treating me out, I still can't really honestly say that I would ever feel justified returning here. Not to say it was bad, but I personally don't think it was good enough to justify the price you pay, at least for the Tear Jerker.

The patty was a regular patty. They say kobe beef, and I'm sure the quality is better than your run-of-the-mill stuff you'd find elsewhere. Maybe I just got the wrong burger (again). The fixings on the burger were again nondescript. Your standard iceberg lettuce, a slice of tomato, a thick pickle wedge, some cheese. Of course being the Tear Jerker, it came with roasted jalapenos and some other stuff. The sauce was a buffalo sauce base, meaning: hot sauce and butter, basically the stuff you put onto hot buffalo wings. The bun was a bun, it served well enough. To be honest, the burger was spicy, and it was a good spicy, but there was so much of it you tasted only the buffalo sauce and jalapenos, the burger itself only adding texture. For all I knew, I could've been chewing on boca slathered in hot sauce on a bun.

All in all it wasn't bad. The tater tots were a nice touch on the side, though you could get sweet potato fries as well, which were a plus. I'm not a huge fan of shoe string fries, but they have them as well. It's a decent place to go, but frankly, to me, way too overpriced. The burgers are a bit small and frankly not really worth the menu cost. It's a novelty place, but that's about the only reason I'd go back.