December 19, 2006
A Taste of . . . Stand
Last night we popped by Stand, one of the newer entries in the rash of burger joints sprouting up around the city. Having been open for a mere two hours, it was already about 3/4 full. Offerings include eleven types of "Stand Burgers," ($9 - 12) ranging from the more traditional Classic, to the Mushroom Beef Burger (pictured above), to veggie, salmon, and poultry options. Fries come in regular and shoestring options ($4 small, $6 large), and, although they do not yet have their liquor license (but will be offering a dozen regional microbrews on tap when they do), they are mixing up shakes, floats, egg creams, and homemade sodas. One odd but pleasant surprise was the pickled egg ($3 pictured above), the only starter on the menu.
Stand, 24 East 12th Street between 5th & University, (212) 488-5900, noon until midnight. Take out and delivery also available.
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bestill my beating heart, but is that a pickled red beet egg I see? or is there some other bizzaro explanation for its wine-dark exterior?
This is a great review and all, except that there's not actually any assessment of the quality, relative value, or flavor of any of the entrees. I mean, yeah it looks good, but how about a few words on whether or not the burger actually tasted good?
wow. that is a bad looking burger. the lettuce looks sub-big mac quality.
I have to partially agree with Nick. The burger looks kinda appealing, but oh so dry. I guess that's what the sauce is for to go along with it? Love those two kinds of fries, though!
nick,
I didn't even notice the sub-par lettuce as I was too awestruck by that disgusting meat shot. It looks like a hunk of Silly Putty was rolled around in some ashes.
I can't imagine that it actually looks like that in person. Maybe it's my work monitor.
You should check out 67 Burger in Fort Greene. Just opened. Haven't been yet, but I've been hearing good things...would love for someone to test taste it before I do!
Is it just me, or does Stand seem a little pricey? $12 for a burger, a coke, and fries?
I stopped in last night. I'm a huge carnivore and love good burgers. Stand was horrible.
First the decor/staff. It used to be an old Kinko's, and having worked there many years ago, I could recall some of the layout. But Stand put little into decor and the place is stale. The seats are nice, but what's with the mirrors?
The staff were all superbly nice, but having them wear these boat/chuck taylor shoes was lame. No one notices and even if they do like me, what difference does it make? Guys in polos - lame. I'm not sure what kind of vibe the owner wanted.
Speaking of the owner. Someone that appeared to be the owner was present, and was an indifferent jackass to customers. He had a friend at the sidebar as they ate, drooping their coats over and empty table, that later a staffer had to remove when a customer wanted to eat at it. Another friend and 2 kids also graced the owner's presence, while I waited 20 minutes for a lousy burger. The owner guy even looked at me twice and should have notices nothing on my table.
The food: The marchmallow shake tasted awesome, but $6 for a tall Starbucks cup is ridiculous. Get some bigger portions. The string fries are useless. You can't eat them with your hands, and you can't eat them with a fork. They might as well be pototo stix out of a can. And mind you, I ordered them because I thought they were curly fries. My bad, but who serves potato stix?
The burger was OK. The meat was great. Bravo on using real beef. But the bun was too stiff, causing a bite to force the burger to slide out. Did you do any product testing, or just want it to look pretty?
I didn't get the cheese I added. At least it wasn't on the bill. The ketchup was horrible. Some "gourmet" stuff. Gimme real, basic ketchup. And the mustard? From some fancy ballpark in Chicago or something. It was sour. I recommend sticking to basics.
All in all, I had a horrible experience, as you can tell. I rarely get mad at restaurants, but this all added up to huge disappointment with a lack of basic customer service coming from the top.
I told 3-4 people in person to avoid the place. Now 100s more.
I think that the burger pictured above looks so unappetizing because it is a mushroom burger--maybe the mushroom is chopped up/mixed with the ground beef? Still, it looks terribly dry, and the lettuce looks downright pathetic.
Went to Stand last night and had a wonderful burger...perfectly charred, seasoned and with a very nice high quality toasted bun...Its not expensive because the burgers are large...What really won me over was the service...extremely kind and accomodating...Told the manager that i thought the coleslaw was overdressed and he replaced it immediately and took it off my bill...he let me know that it was their first week and that he appreciated the comments and that they were still working on consistency...Its this type of attitude that succeeds...good luck guys and welcome to the neighborhood