Amid the Kitsch, Trailer Park Lounge Serves a Solid Burger
Posted by Ed Levine, September 17, 2009 at 10:00 AM
[Photographs: Robyn Lee]
Trailer Park Lounge & Grill
271 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011 (b/n 7th and 8th; map); 212-463-8000; trailerparklounge.com Cooking Method: Grilled Short Order: Solid, beefy, well-charred cheeseburger Want Fries with That? The tater tots are great; sweet potato fries are worth trying too. Prices: Burger, $8.95; cheese, +$1.75; Double Wide Burger, $13.95
We are always on the prowl for a good burger within walking distance of Serious Eats world headquarters, yet somehow I had never made it to Trailer Park Lounge & Grill, which is a mere four blocks away. Robyn heard by way of Burger Conquest that Trailer Park actually made a pretty good burger, so this past week we hit the road to the kitschy storefront that is Trailer Park.
Us being us, we ordered a regular cheeseburger and a double-wide cheeseburger, one with sweet potato fries, the other with tater tots. Why? Because there were three of us, including Burgermeister Kenji. Actually, we also ordered a chicken salad sandwich, some chili, some mac and cheese, and a cheesesteak, figuring we would take our leftovers back to the folks at HQ. And you know what? We should have just taken Robyn's advice and stuck to burgers, because they were surprisingly good.
Kenji was surprised that adding American cheese to your eight-ounce burger ($8.95) costs $1.75 extra at Trailer Park. I was, too. But since it turned out to be a really solid burger—beefy, well-charred, and cooked as ordered, medium rare—it was easier to swallow the tariff.
The one-pound Double-Wide burger ($13.95) was basically a double cheeseburger club sandwich. Think of a Big Mac on steroids due to the third bun in the middle of the two patties. Though the Double-Wide is a ridiculously thick sandwich (think Carnegie Deli pastrami sandwich-thickness), it's also mighty tasty because the meat juices saturate all the bread matter.
Trailer Park's tater tots were perfectly cooked (aren't they always?), and the sweet potato fries were also mighty fine.
As for the rest of the food, meh—nothing worth the calories or the carbs.
does perfectly cooked tots mean they were good? also, do you drop your thing against frozen potato goods when it comes to tater tots? or do you think restaurants should make those fresh?
fair question, foodinmouth. Yup, those tater tots were good. And yes, I've actually concluded that properly fried and salted frozen tater tots are usually superior to the fresh variety cooked up by restaurants or burger joints with more serious aspirations. I just had some fresh tater tots at HB Burger in NYC and they weren't as good as the frozen ones at Trailer Park
Any place that serves tater tots is all right in my book. Can we get a roundup of all these heaven-like places? I only know of Big Daddy's, Crif Dogs, Rush Hour, and this place.
I would not have thought it was possible to make fresh tots, I always assume they were molded by some kind of machine then sprayed with a substance to make them fry up golden brown.
Charm City Burgers in So Fl (Deerfield Beach) serves EXCELLENT fresh fries, but also serves tots. I plan to try them on my next visit even though giving up the fries is a sacrifice. The burgers are quite good, however, so not too big a deal. I can always order the onion rings if the tots are not up to par.
I consulted for OreIda for about 7 months several years ago and watched them make tots in their Oregon plant. They are made from potatoes that are not large enough for either fast food fries or premium fries and are made with as much care as anything in their product line. By the way, peels are sent out to farms to be used for cattle feed once they are "blasted" off the potato.
The fryer is as long as a railroad freight car and pretty neat if you are into giant machines that process huge amounts of food every hour.
Ore-Ida -- I'm scared to try any other because I'm afraid they won't stand up to Ore-Ida, and since I don't buy them too often I don't mind paying for name-brand
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8 Comments:
does perfectly cooked tots mean they were good? also, do you drop your thing against frozen potato goods when it comes to tater tots? or do you think restaurants should make those fresh?
foodinmouth at 10:25AM on 09/17/09
fair question, foodinmouth. Yup, those tater tots were good. And yes, I've actually concluded that properly fried and salted frozen tater tots are usually superior to the fresh variety cooked up by restaurants or burger joints with more serious aspirations. I just had some fresh tater tots at HB Burger in NYC and they weren't as good as the frozen ones at Trailer Park
Ed Levine at 10:50AM on 09/17/09
Looks like "good eats" to me! Where in the hell is Alton Brown?
Lvn4life at 11:29AM on 09/17/09
Any place that serves tater tots is all right in my book. Can we get a roundup of all these heaven-like places? I only know of Big Daddy's, Crif Dogs, Rush Hour, and this place.
morley at 12:15PM on 09/17/09
I would not have thought it was possible to make fresh tots, I always assume they were molded by some kind of machine then sprayed with a substance to make them fry up golden brown.
redfish at 1:36PM on 09/17/09
Two items:
Charm City Burgers in So Fl (Deerfield Beach) serves EXCELLENT fresh fries, but also serves tots. I plan to try them on my next visit even though giving up the fries is a sacrifice. The burgers are quite good, however, so not too big a deal. I can always order the onion rings if the tots are not up to par.
I consulted for OreIda for about 7 months several years ago and watched them make tots in their Oregon plant. They are made from potatoes that are not large enough for either fast food fries or premium fries and are made with as much care as anything in their product line. By the way, peels are sent out to farms to be used for cattle feed once they are "blasted" off the potato.
The fryer is as long as a railroad freight car and pretty neat if you are into giant machines that process huge amounts of food every hour.
richopp at 4:22PM on 09/17/09
Can anyone recommend a really good brand of frozen tator tots for home use?
chascates at 12:47AM on 09/18/09
Ore-Ida -- I'm scared to try any other because I'm afraid they won't stand up to Ore-Ida, and since I don't buy them too often I don't mind paying for name-brand
leighana at 1:13PM on 09/23/09