Behind a velvet curtain that reaches from the lobby floor up to the ceiling of the swankyLe Parker Meridien Hotel hides one of the best burger joints in Manhattan. And it’s completely unmarked, except for a neon sign of a burger. So I had to save this spot for a special night — when Ian and I went to the Team Coco Tour at Radio City Music Hall.
Complimenting this juicy burger was a glass of the finest Cabernet Sauvignon available in Manhattan in a box.
Here’s one of Ian’s recent productions. My favorite line in here (that Ian wrote on the spot) is “Violate: the color intermediate between red and blue.”
Yelp gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
118 W 57th St, between 6th/7th Ave
About the Cheeseburger & Comedy series.
My doctor told me to cut back on dairy and red meat, which in layman’s terms means “write a blog about cheeseburgers.” I’m no food critic, and a pretty simple man in general, so most burgers will score a 10. This purpose of the series is not to offer useful information on where to find the best patty in NYC. It’s to provide a structure for sharing stories about the pursuit of comedy in Gotham, and a justification for the increased dining-out expense. My wife is a former Deloitte accountant, so I get audited every fiscal quarter.
I’ll date back to the New York Comedy Festival to mark the official birth of this series, giving me an excuse to re-post my photo with Ricky Gervais. Before the show, Ian Berger, producer for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and I grabbed dinner at the Redeye Grill. The venue is not on my list, but Ian picked it for proximity as it’s directly across 7th Ave from Carnegie Hall. about a 60 second commute. Or approximately 90 secs in traffic. It was a little on the swanky side for my liking, but the burger was very good.
After a hilarious one-hour set which included an Elmo cameo, we went backstage to give Ricky a few notes on his Noah bit; chatted with the opener Todd Barry, also Janeane Garofalo, then headed off to the afterparty at the Empire Hotel rooftop bar, where they served some amazing Kobe beef mini-burgers that tasted even better than our dinner.
After much internal debate over the burger critique, I decided to give the Redeye Grill a 10.
Redeye Grill
890 Seventh Ave. @ 56th St.
(212) 541-9000
See reviews from Zagat and Yelp
Here’s one of Ian’s field pieces, “Borderline Cops”
To be fair, it wasn’t a “thousand” stars, but more like two or three. And, it didn’t happen all in one evening, but was spread out over almost a fortnight. The celeb-fest kicked off when I had lunch with Spider-Man creator Stan Lee in Santa Monica. He was attending a small storytelling conference in Santa Monica, where I was speaking on a panel about comedy film.
The following Thursday back in NYC, I went with Daily Show producer Ian Berger to Carnegie Hall to see Ricky Gervais, as part of the New York Comedy Festival. We went backstage after the show, and had the opportunity to critique Ricky’s act, and a few episodes of “The Office.” Also met Todd Barry and Janeane Garofalo, who is a lot less political in person. We hit the After Party at the Empire Hotel Rooftop bar. I don’t think I’ve stayed out that late since senior prom.
Photo: the WSJ gang Rhona Seymour, Melissa Magdits, Nancy McDonald and Ian Berger.
Then, Friday night, my wife and I attended the NYC premier of THAT EVENING SUN. Hal Holbrook and Ray McKinnon were at the theater for a Q&A. On Saturday night, I saw the film for the fourth time, and had drinks after with Scott Teems and Carrie Preston.
