If you existed near me in 2013 or 2014 you know the vice grip that Disney’s Newsies the Musical on Broadway™ had on me. Whether it was the dancing, the Alan Menken tunes, the community or the politics I was hooked and saw this show [redacted] times. It was also incredibly easy and cheap to see, which aided this fixation.
Down the block from The Nederlander Theatre, which housed Newsies until it closed in August 2014 (RIP beloved), is Schnipper’s, an American counter service spot with seating aplenty serving good AND theater-district-affordable food. My order was also the chicken club (now called the Bros. Done Right??) but never went for the burger - until this past weekend.
My friend Alexa and I set a date to burger it up at the scene of many post-show meals. Alexa and I met on tumblr dot com in 2013 through the newspaper musical - I happened to be seeing the show on her birthday and she asked me for a video or two from the stagedoor. Some of Alexa’s coworkers read this newsletter so I hope you guys enjoy this fun fact!
Schnipper’s has a number of burgers and burger combos - I decided on getting the Old Fashioned with griddled onions and classic pink sauce ($10.50 or $17.50 with fries and a drink) and Alexa snagged the Schnipper’s Classic with a special cheese blend, caramelized onions, thick-cut applewood smoked bacon, baby arugula, and Schnipper sauce ($13 or $20 for the combo).
We grabbed our sodas and a table and realized they haven’t changed the bathroom code in the ten plus years we’ve been patronizing the restaurant (it’s 1103). Alexa’s burger came out first - tall in stature, with heaps of arugula and a thick pub-style patty. Mine followed shortly after with a very different profile. It was very Johnny Rocket’s-esque, dripping with the tangy pink sauce and bursting at the seams with strings of onion.
While I do love a simple no-frills burger, the equation here wasn’t quite right. With so few ingredients, there needed to be a clear balance struck with every component playing their part.
With a creamy sauce, a salty smashed patty and the sweet and borderline exorbitant amount of onions, I was really missing a fresh or zippy ingredient. Something that came to mind were the cherry peppers that Shake Shack puts on their Smoke Shack - an otherwise heavy bite, cut with some acid and heat.
I also would’ve loved a finer dice on the onion - getting through the slightly cooked pile created a difficult bite, not unlike my experience with Jubilee Market/20 Grams.
Overall I rank Schnipper’s at 22 - under Long Island Bar and above Bernie’s. “Christina, you’ve never reviewed Bernie’s, where did that come from?” I had Bernie’s a few months ago (for the second time) and it was so goddamn boring that I didn’t even bother and also their stans scare me!
Next week I’ll be doing another Manhattan burger - see you then!
