Midtown Lunch

I’m not usually one to have a liquid lunch unless you count milkshakes, so when I kept seeing Twitter posts from Frites N Meats about their Kobe beef burger doused in Maker’s Mark I was not particularly intrigued. But then a burger craving hit, the truck was downtown, and I figured it was time to taste some high-quality meat steeped in booze while sitting on a park bench. Was this a better vehicle for a lunchtime drink than a flask? Click through to find out.

First, a couple of notes about what you can expect from Frites N Meats post-crash that wrecked their original truck. You’re still going to have to wait in line while your burger is cooked to order, but in order to actually get food you have to fill out a checklist with what you want and your name. I suppose it’s a good system, but it made things a little chaotic. Other than that the menu is mostly the same with weekly special burgers and that one involving alcohol.

The Maker’s Mark burger is going to set you back $12 – so obviously it’s not an everyday indulgence. Once I tacked on an order of frites ($3) this was one of the more expensive lunches I have eaten for this site, but after tasting the burger I felt it was worth it for a couple of reasons.

That first reason, which I feel should be stressed, is this burger is absolutely brimming with bourbon. Really, after the first bite it was like I was eating bourbon. This was probably because not only is the meat soaked in it, but so are the onions and oven-roasted tomato slices sitting on top. Oh, and all of the juices from these three things soaked into the brioche bun, making that also taste like bourbon. I could have used some lettuce or something that wasn’t soaked in alcohol, but I had ordered the burger as is with no modifications. I ate this at my desk and I was a little afraid my boss would think I’d stopped at the bar on my lunch hour because the smell of bourbon was also pretty prevalent. So, in closing: If you don’t like bourbon, do not order this burger.

The fries were excellent and made a good palate cleanser when the taste of booze was getting to be too much. And really, who needs something fancy like sorbet to cleanse your palate when you have twice-fried potatoes?

If you have a little extra money in your wallet, and want a sneaky way to have some bourbon come lunch time this is worth a shot. And make sure you don’t have to drive or operate heavy machinery afterward.

Frites N Meats, (917) 292-9226 on Twitter and the Web