Economy Takes Its Toll On City's Overpriced Burgers

How much would you pay for this burger?

The gourmet burger trend has come full swing in the city, peaking with that $175 burger at Wall Street Burger Shoppe a few years back, and possibly ending with a return to no-frills burgers at Shake Shack. The Post took a look at one victim in the burger boom-and-bust, Old Homestead Steakhouse, who were recently forced to reduce the price of their $41 Kobe beef burger to $19. That $81 burger seems nowhere to be found.

The steakhouse introduced the burger in the more plentiful times of 2003. Co-owner Marc Sherry said, “We were selling about 100 a day. The more expensive it was, the more people wanted it. Wall Street guys ordered it as an appetizer and sent a car service to come pick up the burgers." But then, tragedy struck. “It’s the reverse of 2003,” said Sherry. “The economy tanked and now people want a cheap burger and they order it ‘to go’ so they don’t have to pay a tip."

Sherry says they're turning lemons into, um, burgers and are "starting a reverse price war" with their $19 deal. Sorry, guys, but considering a Shack Stack and a shake is $14, and a deluxe burger with cheese, bacon, mushrooms, tomato and lettuce is $12.95 at Paul's, you may have already lost the battle. Are you willing to drop the extra cash on Kobe beef, or should they leave that for the steaks and let a burger be a burger?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jaya Saxena in Food on October 4, 2010 2:51 PM

Comments [rss]

John L

If I need a ridiculous bronosaurus burger I'll just go to Jackson Hole.

Jesse

Not a fan of the Kobe beef burger had it once and didn't do it for me. Found it way to salty. I'll stick to my veal/hamburger burger

Crapola

According to their website, their $19 Kobe burger is for lunch and is a 10 oz burger. Their dinner burger for $41 is 20 oz so where's the deal ?

ANGRYGOD11

Most people would not consider a 20 oz burger a human portion.

Petey

$19 for a burger isn't THAT bad in NYC.

schadenfreudian mensch

Do you want fries with that?

Petey

You mean its ala carte?

Såkandulæredet

If you haven't had it already try SoupBurg's burger. It got a #2 best burger in the city, and it's the normal price of a diner burger.

thefacts

Is it still around? Yeah delicious. I used to eat it at lunch when I worked in that area years ago.

So memorable.

Såkandulæredet

yep it's still around, there are a few of them I think.

youngpro

kobe burger aside, i've eaten here a few times and loved it each time. they have to be doing something right. 10x better than shithole strip house.

Splicer

From $41 to $19? In other words it's worth about $5.

schadenfreudian mensch

I'd say it's closer to $2.

Rocknrope

Good. This premo-burger nonsense was a dumbass bourgie fad anyway. Hopefully all those idiots who sent a car service to get their food because they wanted to seem all mack daddy have used up their 99 weeks of unemployment by now.

Kojak

I've tried the Kobe Steak burger & it was exquisite. But then again, it was expensed.

The moral of the story: Only get it if its not coming out of your pocket.