Wall Street Downsizes the Burger

Somewhere between the fall of Lehman and the failed bailout, I found myself down on Wall Street for a schmancy catered party. As I walked past the ghoulishly-lit NY Stock Exchange, I wondered how the investment-banker crowd would be partying given the recent news. Would there be signs of economic meltdown? Would normally popped-up collars be sadly drooped?

When we arrived, it seemed the news hadn't hit most of these folks. The bar served organic vodka-tini concoctions, baby lobster rolls*, and shrimp skewers. And then, there it was. The downsized burger.


Now, we've seen the "slider" craze sweep across Manhattan like so many other lame food/drink fads. For the most part, these sliders remind me of the mini kid's whopper that Burger King carried circa 1989. They are not tiny, but they are not regular burger-sized either. Here, however, the burger was absolutely tiny. Yet, even at such a small size, this was a fantastic burger. The bun-to-burger and toppings ratios were absolutely perfect. I have no idea where the heck they baked these buns, but they were awesome. The caterers had cut out small pieces of lettuce to match the mini-burger patties. Plum or cherry tomatoes had been sliced to sit atop the meatball-sized burger, and a small amount of blue cheese topped it all off. The meat was high-quality and well-seasoned.

The only problem with this burger was that, at such a small size, I didn't realize how much I was eating until I'd hit mini-burger number ten. As I swooped in on each burger, I felt a bit like the star of "Attack of the 50-Foot Woman" but these burgers were worth it. So let this be a message of burger tolerance--delicious burgers come in all different sizes!

Jane rates:

(Or 10 baby calfs)