trippingwithmarty - (Almost) Live, From New York City!

Entries in Sophie's (1)

Sunday

Mar112012

Black Market

Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Black Market with special guest star, Sophie’s and featuring the Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher! And now, please welcome special guest star, from the East Village, Sophie’s!

I'm meeting some friends for a few pre-cheeseburger drinks here at Sophie's in the East Village.

Some of the specials of the day are listed on this chalk board out front.

This is a classic East Village bar that's been on the block since the early '80's.

There's a pool table in the back room that's always has a game in progress.

And here's the special guest stars of the evening, clockwise from left: Shawn, Goggla and Lindsay. Great to have them on board for this Cheeseburger Saturday Night!

On the way out I noticed a portrait of East Village artist, Markand Thakar. He was a regular here at Sophie's and he recently passed away. You can read more about him at this post at EV Grieve. After reading about him I was sad I never got to meet him.

We were originally going to go to the Black Iron Burger Shop, but it was packed five ways from Friday, so Shawn suggested another place...

Black Market, which was just a couple blocks away. It looked great to me, I had been drinking since about four in the afternoon and needed anything to sop up the suds in my stomach, so this place looked perfect! Thanks for the quick thinking, Shawn!

In addition to oysters, cheeseburgers are a specialty here, so it's a perfect destination.

It was crowded inside and the bar was filled with texting texters, so we shied away from there.

The front area is nice and dark with candlelight and tiny lights for illumination.

Luckily, there was some tables in the back, so we got seated right away. The place has a somewhat elegant vibe to it, yet it's a friendly atmosphere and the people working here are really nice and welcoming.

And here we are at our back table. My only flash shot of the night!

This is our pretty waitress, Micki. She was really nice and quick with a beer, who could ask for anything more?

A view of the restaurant from our back table.

We started off the meal with an appetizer of deviled eggs. They were topped with caviar and were a decadent delight!

We all ordered the same meal, the cheeseburger and homemade seasoned fries. Looks pretty good, right?

A delicious burger! Thanks to Goggla, Lindsay and Shawn for joining me on tonight's cheeseburger outing!

My Meal
The menu here is fairly simple, the three specialties of the house are listed on the window in gold leaf: Oysers, Cocktails and Burgers. Sounds like a decent holy trinity to me. Being that it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night, we skipped the oysters and went right for the burger and it was fantastic. The burger is made of a Pat LaFrieda blend of beef and topped with American cheese. It’s served with a bakery fresh bun and crispy seasoned french fries. We had the deviled eggs as an appetizer and as good as the burger was, the deviled eggs, at least for me, were the highlight of the meal. They’re topped with caviar and your taste buds come alive at the different seasonings going on within the egg. The most prominent being mustard. A decadent treat, and I highly recommend it.

There’s also a vegetable burger on the menu as well as a New York strip steak, a gruyere and chive omelette served with fries and a grilled cheese sandwich made of white cheddar and gruyere cheese with grilled onions and arugula. The house special is called The Last Waltz which is two dozen oysters and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot.

There’s eight specialty cocktails available as well as a decent selection of bottled and draft beers.

Burger Rating
Three Wimpy’s, a great burger!

Sophie's
507 E. 5th St. (Near Ave. A)
212-228-5680

Black Market
110 Avenue A (near Avenue A)
212-614-9798

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Grub Street and Village Voice.