Lars and I were headed to see Keane at Radio City Music Hall (the last night of their tour, in fact!) and wanted to find a place to nom nom and guzzle brewskis beforehand, because that is what a British pop shows call for. Most New Yorkers will tell you that the area near Rockefeller center is a nightmare, tourist hellhole, devoid of anything unique or affordable in the food department. Knowing this, I figured I'd have to do some serious sleuthing to find a place that didn't make me want to kill seven bubbly, German tweens.
I had been to the Bill's Bar and Burger in the meatpacking district during my vegetarian years (aka "The Dark Ages"), and did not realize that they had opened another location basically next door to Radio City. This location scores major points for convenience. Upon entering the establishment, wait, whoa, this place is effin' massive. That can be a bit of a turnoff, but I understand that they have to accommodate a lot of business and tourist folks in that area. We made a reservation, so we had no trouble getting a table for two. We quickly ordered a pitcher of "Bill's Brew" (made by Six Point Brewery), which was really only the pricey part of our meal at $26. Lars called it, "an extremely drinkable beer", whatever the hell that means.
Our server was nice, attentive, and he made some good recommendations. He told us to stick with the burgers, which is kind of like duh, but then again I'm the idiot that was considering getting a buffalo chicken wrap, so his advice was heeded. I ordered the Mushroom and Swiss burger ($8.95) and Lars got the Spicy Jalapeno burger ($8.50). The food came out quickly, which actually kind of surprised me considering how packed this place was at 7 PM on a Thursday. I was quite pleased with the size and flavor of the burger. Other reviews had bitched about the 6 oz. size, but for real Roseanne, calm down. A 6 oz burger is plenty good, and when it's packed with flavor like this one was, you are not allowed to complain. You're just not.
My burger had lots of ooey, goeey Swiss cheese and chopped cremini mushrooms with lettuce, tomato and pickles. Lar's burger had pepper jack cheese, fresh jalapenos, pico de gallo and chipotle aioli. Yum. The meat was super well seasoned and game out on a sesame seed bun (+1!). My one complaint, the bottom of my bun came out soggy because of the burger's juiciness. But then again, I guess that's also a plus in its own right, because a juicy burger is often a dope one.
We decided to get a side of Disco Fries ($5.95) to accompany our sloppy burgers, because after three beers each, we've decided to give up on any semblance of health on this night. Disco Fries are like Poutine's slutty cousin. Covered in cheese sauce and gravy these things were THE BOMB. Like passionate love affair material. I probably could have eaten another whole plate, so I'm glad we weren't overly ambitious, besides we had like 12 more beers to drink (again, British pop calls for this sort of thing).
Overall, our trip to Bill's Bar and Burger provided a stress free, tasty meal that was easy (enough) on the wallet. I appreciated that they could have jacked up the prices on account of location, but didn't. It's so close to Radio City that it makes it a fine choice if you're looking for a quick bite and an impressive beer list before a concert. I wouldn't go out of my way, but I'd certainly go back before a future show.
(SIDENOTE: You will pay $8.75 for a Bud Light at Radio City, so do your best to get your drink on at Bill's first, or if you like stupid people, you can go to Johnny Utah's down the street for $3 PBRs until 9 PM. They have a mechanical bull there, and you will get to see drunk Long Island girls and corporate douches fall on their faces. Worth it.)
THE DAMAGE: $31.51 per person (including tax and tip)
OTHER DAMAGE:
- $150 for two Keane tickets.
- $30 for three drinks at Radio City. DAYUM.
- Hurt feelings after the older gentleman nearby refused to dance with me.
- Disturbing every friend in Astoria by calling them at 11 PM on a work night to see if they will come drink with me in a bar. No one appeased this need.
- Falling asleep halfway through Sleepwalk with Me later at home, despite the fact that it was a great movie.
- My horrid witch voice accompaniment (which can be heard below) to Keane's "Spiraling".
And as for Keane, THEY WERE AWESOME! Tom Chaplin (vocals) has the voice of a heavenly angel. If you're up for a night of soaring tenor refrains and well dressed Brits, man these guys can certainly BRING IT! They played several songs from their new album Strangeland. I'm not super familiar with this album yet, but I'm excited to listen to more after having seen this show. In addition, the covered all the hits - Is It Any Wonder?, Bad Dream, and Nothing in My Way from Under the Iron Sea as well as Everything's Changing and Somewhere Only We Know from Hopes and Fears. They killed it, and Chaplin was great at interacting with the audience. I wish the audience would have been a little more enthusiastic, but that had nothing to do with the performance. Also the older man in his 60s in front of me was clapping and getting down. I loved that!
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