March 27, 2011
Live, from New York, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger! Tonight’s host is Whitmans in the East Village and featuring the ready for prime beef player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen...Whitmans!
And here we go down Fifth to 9th, hang a left and off we go to the East Village.
Oh jeez, this fucking poster is going to start haunting me. A second after I shot this photo a voice behind me shouted out, "There'll never be someone who can play Arthur like Dudley Moore." I spun around and agreed with...
This fellow, Metal Mike. We had a nice chat about movies, Paul Giamatti and New York. That's one of the things I like about doing this blog, all the different people you meet. Okay, onwards towards the cheeseburger, I'm starvin' like Marvin over here!
And here we are at Whitmans. I hope it's not crowded in here.
And look at this, not crowded at all. It's unseasonably cold out and I think a lot of people stayed home tonight. All the better for us!
I decided to start out with a can of Genesee and Claire behind the counter was happy to serve it up. Cheers!
There's tables next to the brick wall on one side.
But I opted to sit at the marble topped counter facing the white tiled wall on the other side of the room.
Here's a shot of my view from where I was seated.
The place is named after writer Walt Whitman, here's a drawing of him on the brick wall.
Guests are welcome to draw portraits of Walt which Whitmans will hang up. Here's one hanging in the back. Note the tin ceiling, nice!
Rose was working downstairs, but made a trip upstairs and I snapped a photo of her showing off the tip jar. If you eat here, throw something in here, the staff is nice and deserves it.
And before you know it, Mick shows up with tonight's meal. Let's check it out.
This looks like one tasty cheeseburger. And the orange coloring at the top isn't the cheese it's mustard. The cheese is...
In the middle of the burger. Oh my God, I think this is the best cheeseburger I've ever had!
Afterwards I decided to check out the lower level of Whitmans.
It's dark and the walls are a wooden brown down here. Kind of a romantic setting.
Speaking of romantic, here's a couple that's making out down here. Let's give them a little privacy and go back upstairs.
Here's Claire with Alex, I thanked them for the great service and cheeseburger and...
Glanced out the window and wished spring would get here. It was a chilly walk home. Goodnight everybody and see you tomorrow after dark.
My Meal
I had the specialty of the place, The Juicy Lucy, along with an order of homemade potato chips. For a beverage I had three cans of Genesee beer. The Juicy Lucy is a cheeseburger with the cheese stuffed inside of the burger, supposedly this was invented at one of two bars in Minneapolis. At Whitman’s they stuff it with pimento cheese, and add carmelized onions, lettuce, tomato and a special sauce. The homemade potato chips were also very tasty. Everyone that works here is super-friendly in a genuine way and it's a cozy little cheeseburger emporium with table and counter seating upstairs and a dining room downstairs. if you followed the 365 blog and have been following this one, you know I've been to a lot of cheeseburger places in the last 14 months. Well, I'm declaring their Juicy Lucy as the best cheeseburger I've had so far. It is the cheeseburger to beat and the one which all future cheeseburgers will be judged by. You have to check it out. I’m instituting a new rating system here at MAD for Cheeseburgers. It goes from one Wimpy (poor) to four Wimpy’s (delicious!)
MAD Cheeseburger Rating For Whitmans:
Whitmans
406 E. 9th St. (Near 1st Ave.)
212-228-8011
Further reading: Grub Street, Serious Eats, MenuPages and God Bless Burgers.
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An on-going Twitter conversation between the King and I.
Find out what the King suggested, this Monday at the Papaya Wars!
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A couple weeks ago Fat Al, one half of the fine team over at The Half Empty Glass, wrote a post about a company that names its bottled water, Fred. That is a really stupid name for a bottle of water. But it got me thinking about other names that would improve with the inclusion of the name, Fred. And so here a list of a band, a hairstyle, a movie and a shoe product that would all sound better if they incorporated the word “Fred” into their respective names.
Fred Zeppelin
Fredlocks
Fred
Freds
My, my the clock in the sky is pounding away,
There’s so much to say.
23 Comments | Share Article | tagged East Village, Fred Flintstone, The Monkees, Whitmans | 1 Reference
Reader Comments (23)
Whitman's burger has to be one of the best looking of all time. That cheese in the middle, man, I could almost taste it. The chips looked great also. Rose, such a pretty young girl but tattoo overkill (just my opinion, not trying to offend anyone). Good song from the Monkees, I like "Pleasant Valley Sunday", makes me feel like firing up the grill and throwing a few steaks on. Its like 90 degrees out today, hotter than hell down here.
Brick walls and tin ceiling, nice throw back to 365 days. That is an ungodly amount of mustard! But love the cheese inside the burger. The corner shot downstairs with the barn wood walls is my dream place to eat! Or live.
The Juicy Lucy does get mentioned on the news here in the Twin Cities from time to time, I've never had one myself, but yours looks spectacular, Marty!
Genesee beer ! Wow ! I cut my beer teeth with Genesee as a todler to the beer world :)
The burger looks great .... reminds me of the burgers we had at Amity Hall last December :)
Genesee and Claire ... what more does a man need ?
@Al: That was the best cheeseburger I've ever had! 90 degrees? I'm jealous, it's still freezing here, winter refuses to go away!
@kari: The downstairs dining room is great, you'd love it!
@Jaws: I forgot you live in the city where the Juicy Lucy was invented! You should seek one out and send in a photo if you get a chance.
@GENE: We should try to hit this place when you get here in April. Best cheeseburger ever.
Wow, I must admit that the King does give messages more often than celebrities of a purportedly more divine nature.
Genny! I went to school in Rochester, home of the mighty Genesee River and Genesee brewery. At the time I sported fredlocks, and we used to drink it because the deposit on the can was nearly worth more than the contents. (We drank it because we were poor, not to build on our hipster street fred.) The running gag was that it was doubly economical; it was cheap to buy and your body didn't have to go through the trouble of converting it to piss.
I've seen PBR, Reingold, and now Genny make a comeback. It would honor my late grandfather's memory if you could find either Schlitz or Schaefer as well. (It's from him I inherit my francophobia, he always said he didn't like traveling in France, too many Germans shooting at you.)
In regards to the lovely eatery. Whitman's seemed lovely. I could easily seem myself going there and leering at the staff like a real unsettling creep.
My apologies for the lengthy comment. I may have fred too much.
"Hay" Daddio!
THAT is one beautiful Cheeseburger!
A great post today.
I can almost taste that burger through the monitor.
A GOOD use of color in the blog!
Now I'm hungry.
Ah man....You live in a great part of the world. Now that is REAL burger. I'm going to sydney today, and now I've made it my mission to find the best burger in Sydney and see how it compares to Whitmans.
To Whitmans!
@csp: I will make it my duty to find a can of Schlitz in New York City. I will search until I'm Fred in the face.
@"Boris:" Best cheeseburger I've had in my travels, Daddio! it'll be tough to beat that one.
@Clacky of Bunt's Downunder: I'll be anxious to see that kind of burger you uncover in Sydney! TO WHITMANS!
@MAD: I'll have to try Whitmans - if you say it's the best ... that says something !
19 more days .... Yankees - Whitmans - Ruby's ... what a weekend !
@GENE: A definite stop for sure!
damn if csp is apologizing for his/her post i'm begging forgiveness for mine right here...
MAD...you promised a hellua post and chessebuurger...you fuckin' delivered!or should i say whitman's did?...your photos mirrored a number of others as well did your praise of this mouthwaterin' chesseburger...
damn Jaws you have never checked out the what appears to be feud 'tween Matt's and 5-8 and formed your own opinion...short of amazing...
GENE...was weaned on "jenny"...along w/ rolling rock, UC, PBR and on occasion "black label" ("Hey Mabel! Get off the table the quarter is for the beer" )
clacky...best of luck on your "downuderr" quest...waitin' for the results...
I like mine with lettuce and tomato
Heinz 57 and french fried potatoes
Big kosher pickle and a cold draft beer
Well good god almighty which way do I steer for my
Cheeseburger in paradise
-Jimmy Buffett
@raginrr ... absolutley some Rolling Rock ... some Black Label ... lots of Yuengling :)
@raginrr: No forgiveness needed for your fine comment and cheeseburger lyrics! And yes, Whitmans did indeed deliver, I was just the messenger via MAD. As I said earlier, it's really going to be tough to beat this burger. KOC (keep on chewing!)
MAD...nice one w/ the KOC...
rr
@rr: Thanks! Inspired by none other than you!
@MAD & Raginir; I no longer own a car and am retired from driving a hack. A round trip in a taxi to Minneapolis from Blaine = $50 to $60. That would make for one expensive cheeseburger, even by N.Y. standards, even though I'd love to go down there with my nikon and give you all a full report!
@Jaws: If you ever do make it there, you have to send pictures of the burgers!
yeah jaws...did not know your situation...does explain why you don't have an opinion on Matt's or 5-8....
rr
Thanks for checking out Whitman's - I've been wondering about this place and now that I've seen that incredible cheeseburger, I must have one!
@Goggla: It's the best cheeseburger I've ever had and the potato chips are great too. You should check it out. Take a photo, yours would be a lot better than mine and I'd love to see it!
I feel the same way about cream ale as I do about Anthony Perkins, but the cheeseburger looked delish! Add Whitman's to my agenda! I'm gonna eat mine downstairs so I can make out with it first.
@Biff: It's added and your burger makeout session sounds like a great idea! Just watch it, you might burn your lips!