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