Yesterday marked the opening of a new venture from one of the New York food industry’s young, female, powerhouses—my friend, Heather Tierney. The Burger Shoppe, new to the Financial District, is a hip place blending a couple of different old-fashioned eras in one bi-level space and specializing in the classic sandwich that transcends all trends and time periods: the hamburger. Before yesterday’s official opening, Heather invited The Supper Club to host a kind of “Shoppe warming party” Thursday night for members and guests. There were plenty of fashionable, young Gothamites in attendance and Heather’s not one to leave her guests hungry, so there was tons of food (including beef, veggie, and shrimp burgers) and tons of bubbly and cocktails. She passed some of the munchies herself as she mingled with guests, hoisting a tray despite her cocktail dress and bejeweled ears. The classiest move of the night, however, was Heather’s including her mom in the festivities! She ran the coat check and chatted up the Supper Club crowd!
Erin and Celest came to the party together and I met up with them there since I had a date prior, forChampagne and oysters at Blaue Gans with the Italiano. There was a little birthday toasting for him, a little birthday planning for me…two Pisces and we are getting along swimmingly! Then we headed over toWater Street and the event.
The atmosphere of The Burger Shoppe is a real treat. The first level looks like an authentic (not Times Square, Disneyfied)‘50s soda shop, but when you climb the narrow stairs to the second floor, you enter a modern saloon-like space complete with a long wooden bar and exposed-filament light bulbs suspended in Mason jars. It’s clubby, masculine, and comfortingly well-worn, but trendy enough to pull in the Wall Street types with promises that the model-looking bartenders will, indeed, know how to mix a mojito as well as a manhattan.
I saw many familiar faces at the event, includingVictoria from Moet Hennessy, who was eager to talk to the Italiano about the wine industry, Josh Beckerman, magician and prankster, Tamsin and her girls from The Supper Club, and even Richard Nouveau himself, who was talking to Celest at the bar when I arrived. Wearing his signature 3-piece suit, he air-kissed me when I approached, and said he was in the middle of telling Celest that The Burger Shoppe is going to serve the city’s most expensive (his obsession) burger, and that he’s to be the namesake.
“Is this true?” I wondered. “For $150?”
What will they do to improve upon Daniel Boulud’s $120 “Royale” icon? I mean, the $4 version I sampled last night was pretty damn tasty (for the record: wonderfully moist patty, a suburban-classic slice of American cheese, fluffy white bun, good trimmings—though tomatoes are so out of season, and I don’t like them on sandwiches anyway, so the Beefsteak slice was removed; the whole thing stayed put together really well, and it was a nice size for the price the place is charging). But I can see the Wall Street secretary now, calling in the lunch order for the board of Exxon Mobile,
“Can I get a dozen ‘Richard Nouveau Burgers’ please? And twelve chocolate milkshakes with bendy straws?”
I have to admit, I am rarely in the Financial District, as I find it a bewildering part of the city if you aren’t an uber-capitalist, but rather a FOOD maven with a penchant for dining after 6pm. But, I will certainly be checking in on Heather’s new joint. Celest and Erin already said they are going back to try the $5 ice cream sundae. I’ll tag along for the French fries.
July 20th, 2010 - 4:33 PM
Love your site Kimberly, love your writing :)