Sunday, August 14th, 2010—Bar 217
Day 217—Saturday, August 15th, 2010
Mark
Okay, the PayPal donation bell has rung and I want to thank 365 commentator, blogger and lover of wood, Kari for a generous donation of 20 dollars! Within her message Kari said that she wanted a cheeseburger. Well, ask for a cheeseburger and you will get a cheeseburger Kari! For today is Cheeseburger Saturday Night and I think I’ve found a place that has great sliders. There’s a place I discovered through Google called Mark and they specialize in sliders and fries. The reviews I’ve found have been great, so let’s go check Mark out. Kari, this cheeseburger is on you, thanks so much!
On my walk over to St. Marks Place I stumbled upon a street fair on University, so I had to stop and get a...
Corn dog!
And what is it with socks being sold at street fairs? Please go away!
As 365 commentator "raginnr" knows, I've been plagued by sock sellers for over a decade. Check out this place on St. Marks. It's not time for new socks, so leave me the fuck alone! You socksucker you!
And here we are at the Mark burger bar.
It looks nice and cozy here.
And friendly and cute bartender Angie serves up a cold Six Point draft. And she didn't even make fun of me when I ordered it as a Five Point. I've always been a point off my whole life.
The menu is above the bar and grill.
There's an ongoing slider challenge here and the latest winner is Ryan, who ate 18 sliders in one sitting. If you can beat this, your sliders are free and you get your name on the board.
The backroom has comfortable chairs and tables to relax and dine at.
And there's a nice patio in the front with a great view of St. Marks Place.
The fryer buckets are standing tall, waiting for fries.
This guy got a warm welcome as he came in, let's go see who he is.
His name is Wendell and he's a regular in here. Angie said he's not the number one customer, but he's close.
Erik is the head chef here. He graduated from culinary school in Portland, Oregon and he designed the menu.
The sliders start out here...
And they end up here. I'm getting hungry!
Here's Angie with waitress Donna. Both Donna and Erik have been here since day one, over ten months ago.
I place my order and Erik rolls up his sleeves and gets ready to get down to business.
And ta-da! Here's my order. I got a regular and a bacon slider and fries.
And the verdit is...great slider! One of the best I've ever had.
All done, goodnight, everybody!
Review
A burger joint has risen among the ramen, noodle and frozen yogurt shops on St. Marks Place. Actually it’s a slider place and it’s approriately and simply titled, Mark. The bar is a long, shotgun, railroad space with an outside patio, tables in the front and back and a long wooden bar in the middle. The customers are mainly neighborhood regulars, jonesing for their daily two buck slider and fries fix. The bartenders and staff are super friendly and it’s easy to see why this new kid on the block has become a popular spot.
The bar is limited to draft beer and wine, with the draft offerings including, Blue Point, Toasted Lager, Six Point and Guinness all for five bucks a pint. There’s two types of sliders, the regular with cheese and onions (do I have to spell it out?), and a bacon slider where the bacon is incorporated inside the burger. The burger is a mix of chuck, short rib and sirloin and is ground fresh in-house on a daily basis. The buns are driven in daily from a bakery in Pennsylvania. Other items on the menu include a cup of chili, fresh cut french fries and homemade pecan pie. Everything here is homemade even the four types of ketchup including: regular, barbecue, chipotle and jalapeno. And the jalapeno really packs a hot punch. The mustard is homemade as well and made with Guinness beer. And speaking of Guinness, there’s a Guinness milkshake on the menu. I was going to try it, but after five Six Points, two sliders and fries, I was done! And happily so.
Mark
33 St. Marks Place (Near Second Ave.)
212-677-3132
31 Comments
Reader Comments (31)
Good video by the Rutles, cheese and onions, get you hungry for those amazing sliders. Well sliders have been a staple of bars for decades and now it's gotten really trendy. Mark goes the extra mile and really puts effort in a quality burger. I just like the basic, cheese, onions, and a pickles, oh and the bread toasted. Good to see a place like Mark, and how about that meat mixture with chuck, short rib and sirloin,,they are serious, thats the way to do it.
A corn dog, two sliders, fries and five beers, the dinner of bar-crawling champions! The burgers look great, nice choice. And I love the T. Rex song! And like Al said, the Cheese and Onions song is always a welcome Rutles treat!
Mark's sliders just have to be light years beyond White Castle from what you've said, and the sock stand in combination with yesterdays references to Frank Zappa made me flash on the ballad of St Alfonso's Pancake breakfast from the Apostrophe album...I don't think I'd care to sample any of St. Alfonso's pancakes considering what might be mixed in with the batter...urk!
@Jaws: Great Zappa reference!
Looks like very yummy burgers, and fries. Cheese, onions and bacon, all perfect accessories to meat. I would have replaced the beer with a shake, and there you have the perfect meal. Love their wooden bar, brings an old feel to a new place. I wonder how many people just randomly decide they need socks while walking about? Doesn't really seem like an impulse buy to me. But hey I have to actually drive to a store to get socks, so maybe you are missing the convenience of it all :)
@kari: I haven't bought socks for years, because my mom always gives them to me at Christmas and on my birthday, so my sock needs are always met. Thanks again for donating, very nice of you!
Great T Rex tune! Here's a Zappa/T Rex trivia question: What two singers sang with both the Mothers and T Rex? Answer: Howard Kaylan and Mark Voklman!
The cheeseburgers and fries look fantastic, nice addition to St. Marks Place.
rhoooo! THAT makes mr feel so hungry !!!!!!!!!!!!!! yuuuuum
and a corn dog, I forgot what is it again, even if I know I already ask the question at least 2 times in here !
WOW!! I understand now what want to say Jason when he says "sock me long, sock me hard" !!! I'm stupid... I always thought it was something sexual...
Cheers!
@Zioum Zioum: A corn dog is a hot dog on a stick covered in corn meal and deep fried. I love them! And I didn't know Jason was a sock man!
There seems to be a image in the mustard on ur corn dog .
Those sliders look awsome !!
ZioumZioum , Me Sock You Long Time , Happy Ending Happy Ending !
Oh my toughts on the Five Point Pint
"I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that they all came to points, and the little branches came to points, and the houses came to point. I thought, 'Oh! Everything has a point, and if it doesn't, then there's a point to it.'" – Harry Nilsson
@JHwang: Great Nilsson quote and album!
@JHwang: What Marty said! Great Harry quote.
@365: you need to enlighten me with an accurate description of what a slider is. I know its some kinda burger.
@Tim Clack: A slider is a mini cheeseburger, usually served with onions and maybe a pickle. The original sliders were invented at the White Castle fast food burger chains here in the states. Here's a link to more information. You have to copy and paste it, because I'm such a retard I don't know how to put a clickable link in here.
http://wwws.us/84k
mark looks like a great place to have a pop or a freaki' milkshake or three and some and "sliders"...nice tunes you are integrating... a little off topic...socks plague you...damn after the second or third perusing of "99" i interject socks into conversations that have nothing to do with socks...white socks, black socks, cotton...damn there i go...these people look at me like i do not speak engrish, am from another planet or just drunk...hell i maybe all three...oh well...nice post....KOC
rr
@raginrr: As I make my way back towards 6th Ave. I pause as I spy a gentleman near Madsion Square Garden who has set up an aluminum folding table on the street and is selling socks. Nothing else—no books, no bootleg CD’s, no incense, no wallets, no T-shirts...just socks. Piles and piles of socks. Socks, socks and more socks. White socks, dark socks, women’s socks, men’s sock’s, plaid socks, striped socks, polka dot socks, ribbed socks, thin socks, thick socks, woolen socks...what I’m trying to say here is that this fellow has a lot of socks for sale and I sincerely hope that I am making this fact clear to you, the dear reader. The sock salesman appears to be of Pakastanian descent, stands about 5 foot 4 inches in height and I don’t know why, but for some reason I think he has a wonderful sense of dental hygiene. He has that unmistakable look of someone who carries dental floss at all times. And as I’m standing here watching him mind his little portable sock store, I’m wondering. I wonder how much money he makes per day. I wonder if he lives in the city and if he can pay his rent by selling socks on the street outside of Madison Square Garden. I wonder if his dental floss is waxed or unwaxed. I wonder if he wears boxers or briefs...or, and excuse me for being so ribald, if he goes “Indian” in this steaming heat and has no underwear on at all. I wonder if he ever drops down on his knees while squealing at the moon like a piglet in heat and begs God for mercy. I wonder if he has ever stared at water running out of a faucet for so long that he involuntarily lapsed into hallucinations while his eyes crossed and his nasal passages clogged. And as I begin to walk away from the Pakistanian sock vendor I wonder, does this poor man, this seller of socks, this foister of footwear, understand that it’s not really the heat, it’s the humidity. As the mind boggles, I continue my trek.
Ha Ha Ha Ha
My The Sock's Be With !!
Ha Ha Ha Ha . opp's
May forgot the " A " , Ha ha ha
@marty, i can soooo relate to the mum & socks thing....i get the quinella from my mum, socks AND boxers every b'day/christmas....
& marks place looks awesome, my sorta restaurant.....one thing i LOVED in the states was the vast selection of fatty fried wotever takeaway food, plus 90% of these joints sell beer!!!....love it all....guess i'm one of the lucky ones who doesnt suffer from cholesterol problems (touch wood)....might have something to do with my greyhound physique, all prick & ribs......
I still think it was 100 bars in 7 days .....
@GENE: I gotta go back and do a re-count!
@365: That was a magnificent rant Marty. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
@Tim Clack: Thanks, it's from my 99 Beers book. Written a few beers...I mean a few years ago.