Goodnight, McHale's Pub-- Link to Picture
I just learned about this-- a terrible way to start the new year.
The venerable westside dive (featured not-so prominently in the movie She's the One), McHale's Pub, closes its doors tomorrow, January 1st, 2006. Someone's gonna turn the block into condos. Not enough condos on the westside, I guess. For 5 years as I worked on 49th and 8th, McHale's was my favorite place to eat in New York. Oh, I've been to all the big names-- Jean-Georges, Daniel, Le Bernadin, Danube, Veritas. Call me a heathen, an idiot, whatever-- not one of these places has an entree that compares with a McHale's bacon-cheddar burger. Picture a pound of beef covered with a pound of bacon and cheddar cheese, with another pound of homemade fries on the side. It was as if the cook would open a new pack of bacon for each burger. The waitresses would always bring both ketchup and mustard and pickles for the burger...that's how you know you're in Manhattan, when you're given mustard to put on your burger.
Words just cannot do the McHale's burger justice. Anyone familiar with Claes Oldenburg's Giant Hamburger might get an idea, but not really. It was one of those meals, like going to any fancier restaurant, that for us, was an event. A McHale's burger for lunch and no one even thought about dinner. Some us didn't think about lunch the next day. I believe someone coined the phrase, "food coma" upon leaving McHale's and returning to work.
After a year of being unable to conquer the beast, someone came up with an idea. We'd have a halftime, a 15-minute intermission after eating half of the burger. We'd go into the grimy bathroom and wash our hands and face, take a swig of beer, and then, ding ding, Round 2. The results were better, but more times than not, the burger would still win. It would defeat us emotionally and physically. On a hot summer day, you'd emerge from the dive and could immediately feel the grease of the burger ooze out of your pores. I'm really going to miss that.
The venerable westside dive (featured not-so prominently in the movie She's the One), McHale's Pub, closes its doors tomorrow, January 1st, 2006. Someone's gonna turn the block into condos. Not enough condos on the westside, I guess. For 5 years as I worked on 49th and 8th, McHale's was my favorite place to eat in New York. Oh, I've been to all the big names-- Jean-Georges, Daniel, Le Bernadin, Danube, Veritas. Call me a heathen, an idiot, whatever-- not one of these places has an entree that compares with a McHale's bacon-cheddar burger. Picture a pound of beef covered with a pound of bacon and cheddar cheese, with another pound of homemade fries on the side. It was as if the cook would open a new pack of bacon for each burger. The waitresses would always bring both ketchup and mustard and pickles for the burger...that's how you know you're in Manhattan, when you're given mustard to put on your burger.
Words just cannot do the McHale's burger justice. Anyone familiar with Claes Oldenburg's Giant Hamburger might get an idea, but not really. It was one of those meals, like going to any fancier restaurant, that for us, was an event. A McHale's burger for lunch and no one even thought about dinner. Some us didn't think about lunch the next day. I believe someone coined the phrase, "food coma" upon leaving McHale's and returning to work.
After a year of being unable to conquer the beast, someone came up with an idea. We'd have a halftime, a 15-minute intermission after eating half of the burger. We'd go into the grimy bathroom and wash our hands and face, take a swig of beer, and then, ding ding, Round 2. The results were better, but more times than not, the burger would still win. It would defeat us emotionally and physically. On a hot summer day, you'd emerge from the dive and could immediately feel the grease of the burger ooze out of your pores. I'm really going to miss that.
posted by L3K at 8:14 AM
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