Pearl Street Diner, July 20, 2005
Pearl Street Diner
212 Pearl Street
Seeking out new places to eat lunch in the Financial District using good ol' MenuPages, preferably with costs in the lower digits, I came across the Pearl Street Diner. Now, I could say that I wanted to go here because of cost, proximity to the office or giving myself the chance to try yet another of New York's burgers. All of which would be true.
But as faithful readers of this blog may notice...I tend to group my eating habits in some way. Most recently I've been in a bit of a bistro rut. Try saying that ten times fast.
I've also been in a New American rut, a Lower East Side rut, a Union Square Hospitality Group rut and many others. Some of which are self-imposed.
And this visit to the Pearl Street Diner will hopefully be the start of another self-imposed rut. You see, I've been trying to get to the Black Pearl and the Mermaid Inn but I never seem to be in that area or people back out on dinner plans or something. So by starting with Pearl Street Diner, I hope to keep the momentum going.
So anyway, I walk over to the diner and am immediately seated at the counter top next to a hefty guy eating a caesar salad with grilled chicken (the chicken are not strips so much as thick pieces - it looked excellent), with a rare, but vacant seat to my right. The rareness proves to be true as a new patron quickly grabs the last seat in the diner. A waiter in front of the counter asks what I'd like to drink. My unsweetened iced tea is in front of me before I even have a chance to look at the menu. But with the grill in front of me and burgers sizzling away, my mind was made up. It was almost as if they knew I wanted that burger from the minute I walked in, as that burger cooking was slipped on a bun, fries dumped on a plate with a small split pickle and a tiny paper ramekin of very white cole slaw and delivered to me in about 2 minutes total time.
Despite not really having to rush my lunch today, I was in and out of that diner in what seemed to be 4 minutes. Truth be told, I wasn't, but it seemed that way. And they weren't trying to rush me either. It's just one of those super-high turnover diners where the food is ready right away and the check is there close behind.
I loved this diner. The food was your typical NYC greasy spoon kind of stuff - but made well and tasty, but the atmosphere was electric. I could have sworn I'd been in this diner before. And in fact, I'm sure of it. My dad used to work for Emmitt, Marvin and Martin on Wall Street back in the day (they still have the old fashioned elevators with elevator operators at 48 Wall St. which is super cool) and I'd bet anything he took me there, though he can't remember one way or another.
So, I'll probably head back there later this week again - the Turkey Club looked good, but then hopefully to the Black Pearl for a lobster roll. If you know of any "pearl" related restaurants that I should know about, please let me know. Thanks.
212 Pearl Street
Seeking out new places to eat lunch in the Financial District using good ol' MenuPages, preferably with costs in the lower digits, I came across the Pearl Street Diner. Now, I could say that I wanted to go here because of cost, proximity to the office or giving myself the chance to try yet another of New York's burgers. All of which would be true.
But as faithful readers of this blog may notice...I tend to group my eating habits in some way. Most recently I've been in a bit of a bistro rut. Try saying that ten times fast.
I've also been in a New American rut, a Lower East Side rut, a Union Square Hospitality Group rut and many others. Some of which are self-imposed.
And this visit to the Pearl Street Diner will hopefully be the start of another self-imposed rut. You see, I've been trying to get to the Black Pearl and the Mermaid Inn but I never seem to be in that area or people back out on dinner plans or something. So by starting with Pearl Street Diner, I hope to keep the momentum going.
So anyway, I walk over to the diner and am immediately seated at the counter top next to a hefty guy eating a caesar salad with grilled chicken (the chicken are not strips so much as thick pieces - it looked excellent), with a rare, but vacant seat to my right. The rareness proves to be true as a new patron quickly grabs the last seat in the diner. A waiter in front of the counter asks what I'd like to drink. My unsweetened iced tea is in front of me before I even have a chance to look at the menu. But with the grill in front of me and burgers sizzling away, my mind was made up. It was almost as if they knew I wanted that burger from the minute I walked in, as that burger cooking was slipped on a bun, fries dumped on a plate with a small split pickle and a tiny paper ramekin of very white cole slaw and delivered to me in about 2 minutes total time.
Despite not really having to rush my lunch today, I was in and out of that diner in what seemed to be 4 minutes. Truth be told, I wasn't, but it seemed that way. And they weren't trying to rush me either. It's just one of those super-high turnover diners where the food is ready right away and the check is there close behind.
I loved this diner. The food was your typical NYC greasy spoon kind of stuff - but made well and tasty, but the atmosphere was electric. I could have sworn I'd been in this diner before. And in fact, I'm sure of it. My dad used to work for Emmitt, Marvin and Martin on Wall Street back in the day (they still have the old fashioned elevators with elevator operators at 48 Wall St. which is super cool) and I'd bet anything he took me there, though he can't remember one way or another.
So, I'll probably head back there later this week again - the Turkey Club looked good, but then hopefully to the Black Pearl for a lobster roll. If you know of any "pearl" related restaurants that I should know about, please let me know. Thanks.
posted by Michael Mahle at 1:37 AM
1 Comments:
As promised, I made it back to the Pearl Street Diner a few days later, this time tackling a club sandwich. The traditional (depending on where you are from I guess) club was your run of the mill turkey club. But run of the mill is sometimes all you are looking for. And once again, PSD lived up to its expectations.
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