Last Wednesday at Chase Plaza, the Downtown Alliance held its tenth annual Dine Around Downtown™, a gathering of 50 eateries from Lower Manhattan. These ranged from the old standbys like bar food from Jim Brady's to extravagant venues such as Bouley. For $3 to $6, one could sample one of a restaurant's signature menu items and enjoy it in true Wall Street fashion—standing or walking about.
The selections come with the territory. How does Danube's Salmon in Watercress Sauce sound? Perhaps you'd prefer Harry's Oysters on the Half Shell
or Smörgås Chef's
Aquavit-cured Gravlax. Or do you favor Ancora Ristorante’s Kobe Beef Ravioli or
Stone Street Tavern's Lobster Mac and Cheese? The list went on and on. Me, I favored them all, but alas, so much food, so little capacity.
My instincts led me to the longest lines. I decided to try Delmonico's Steak Sandwich
first.
The $6 price seemed reasonable for a deliciously simple combo of tender beef on a fresh hero roll. The meat was seasoned sufficiently to obviate
the need for additional salt or pepper. I was still hungry, however.
After all the recent press reports, I couldn't resist sauntering over to the adjacent booth to try Wall Street Burger Shoppe's Char-grilled Angus Beef Cheeseburger.
The delicious $4 sample seemed like a relative bargain when compared with their much-hyped $175 Kobe Beef Burger. That's right, for less than two C-notes, one can enjoy a Wagyu beef burger with foie gras, aged Gruyère, shaved black truffles, golden truffle mayo, all dusted in gold leaf. It's available after 4:00 P.M. in the bar room only.
But does Wall Street Burger Shoppe sell a lot of these tony burgers? "Well, ever since the press, it's kinda been like crazy," explains co-owner Heather Tierney.
The motivation? "It’s kind of a promotion we did with Pocket
Change which covers the most expensive things in New York. And they asked us to create the burger," says Heather. One of these days, when my wallet becomes overweight, I might give it a try. Maybe.
Alas, I hadn't saved room for dessert. Not that there wasn't a lot of temptation, however. So many sweets, such as Financier Patisserie's Baba au Rhum and The Grill Room’s Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée, beckoned. Next time? Most definitely!
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