In case you didn’t get the memo, Clarke’s Standard now has combo meals. That means you can go into the location at Maiden Lane & Pearl St. and order by number if you so desire, but since this is not McDonald’s it might be best to actually say the name of the thing you wish to eat in a combo. Before, you had to shell out more than $10 for just the sandwich or hot dog if you wanted fries on the side. Now you can get two of those things plus a fountain soda in a “Butcher’s Combo” for less than $10 before tax. It’s a wise move, and in my opinion a good deal. 

Your options for a combo are a cheeseburger, a honey mustard chicken sandwich, a turkey burger or a jumbo dog, with either regular or sweet potato fries on the side. As I had already tried one of their burgers when the location first opened I went with the hot dog which is their standard variety, topped with three-onion red sauce and a squiggle of brown mustard. As a side I got sweet potato fries (not pictured is the 12 ounce fountain drink).

The hot dog is a pale custom blend with a snappy casing and it outsizes the bun it’s in. The stewed onion topping is tomatoey and complemented nicely by the brown mustard, although eating this is a bit messy due to the hot dog taking a bit more work to bite through than your standard dirty water variety.

The sweet potato fries are a breed I have not seen before: waffle-cut. They were pretty good, and a bit crispier than the normally soft sweet potato fries. My only not would be that they don’t appear to be salted and I didn’t see any packets of salt to sprinkle on them. I would also like to note that in addition to adding the combos to the menu, Clarke’s Standard has done away with a couple of items including the banh mi hot dog and the cheesy tater tots.

After adding up the cost of the hot dog, fries and a fountain drink, the $7.95 I paid was definitely cheaper than the $10.75 I would have paid before. Kudos to the burgeoning chain for seeing that some of us can’t afford to pass the $10 mark for a burger and fries lunch.

Clarke’s Standard, 101 Maiden Lane (at Pearl St.), (212) 797-1700

I was out of town running a marathon earlier this week when Clarke’s Standard officially opened its doors on Maiden Lane (at Pearl St.), but was more than happy to go eat a burger and fries after punishing my body for 26.2 miles.

The place was not too crowded at prime lunch time mid-week and it only took a wait of a few minutes to get my lunch. You’ll find no complaints from me about Clarke’s Standard’s food in this initial review, but I do question whether a burger and fries lunch of more than $10 (with no drink) from a quick-service place has become the norm.

The burgers range in price from a regular hamburger for $6.75 to the black and bleu burger for $8.75. You can also get four different permutations of hot dogs including a $6 version topped with nothing but three onion red sauce and a banh mi version for $6.75. If you’re not into red meat, there are turkey and veggie burgers and two types of chicken sandwiches, along with a host of potato-based sides, milk shakes and ice cream cups.

I ordered a green chiles cheeseburger ($7.75) which comes topped with American cheese, charred, chopped green chiles, garlic aioli and mustard. I also added on some hand cut fries ($3) to my order although they also have sweet potato fries and tots. My total with tax was nearly $12.

There were a lot of flavors going on with the burger – beef, cheese, mustard, chiles, garlic aioli – that my mouth was a little overwhelmed at first. The burger itself was great, still slightly pink in the middle with a nice salty sear on the outside. I also appreciated that the bun was appropriately sized to the burger patty and that the top half had been toasted.

The fries were also tasty, and nicely salted. This should be the norm, but I can’t tell you how many places I’ve gotten fries from that do not salt them at all and then just give you little packets to shake on yourself.

Plus, I loaded up on fancy spiced ketchup and tomatillo relish from the self-serve bar they have. I would suggest you take advantage of this extra since you’re paying a lot to eat lunch here.

That leads me to my hesitation to ever eat here again. Yes, it was quality food handed to me in a hurry, and it’s still cheaper than nearby Zaitzeff, but I have a really hard time paying more than $10 for a burger and modest cup of fries no matter how much free fancy condiments I can get with it.

What did you all think of the food at Clarke’s?

Clarke’s Standard, 101 Maiden Lane (at Pearl St.), (212) 797-1700

The second location of P.J. Clarke’s quick service burger offshoot, Clarke’s Standard, is opening Wednesday Monday at Maiden Lane and Pearl St. The storefront was originally Goodburger which was extensively damaged in hurricane Sandy. Clarke’s Standard took over the space and had to do a lot of renovations before opening.

What can you expect? Details straight ahead! 

Here’s a look at several of the burgers from when the first Midtown location opened in February. The concept is that of a butcher shop, with a focus on the burgers that are popular at P.J. Clarke’s, and they have some takes on the potato sides that I’m pretty excited about (tots! cheesy fries!).

They also have custom ice cream flavors from a Massachusetts company. The only downside seems to be that you’re probably going to pay more than $10 for your lunch.

Clarke’s Standard, 101 Maiden Lane (at Pearl St.)

Signage went up on the Goodburger replacement, Clarke’s Standard, at the corner of Maiden Lane and Pearl St. recently. There’s no sign of when this new offshoot of P.J. Clarke’s will open, but hopefully it will by the time warmer weather comes around since there’s a nice space for outdoor seating out front.

Earlier this week Lunch’er Jamie wrote in to say that the Goodburger on Maiden Lane (at Pearl) which has been closed since hurricane Sandy was gone and being replaced by…another burger shop. Lo and behold, something called Clarke’s Standard is going in there, with paper in the windows promising freshly ground burgers and homemade sausage. It looks like another location of Goodburger in Midtown is making the same switch so either they’re owned by the same company, or Clarke’s Standard is just picking off faltering burger joints. Watch your back Five Guys!