The past Friday, I’ve finally eaten out with Mary and her friend and fellow co-worker, Mei. How Mary and I know each other was actually through Robyn. Small world, no?
We’ve been discussing for nearly several weeks about getting together for lunch and despite the fact that it’s recruitment season (Mary being snowed in with a TON of work by her bosses), she promulgated that Friday would be our lunch date, whether her bosses like it or not. Hey, I don’t mind. I don’t have anything urgent to take care of on my end. After exchanging several emails with Mary and Mei, we finally decided upon having our faces stuffed with stuffed cheeseburgers from Stumble Inn, after I was inspired after reading A Hamburger Today’s post about this place.
Menu cover & Interior
Trekking up from our offices in the cold (not bitter cold, like today’s high of 19 degrees Fahrenheit), we finally made it. In this quiet, sort of cozy neighborhood bar it was speckled with a man lingering at the bar and a pair of men sitting at one of the tables. The sole waitress told us that we could sit wherever we like and sat at a table near the windows, peering out the sidewalk facing East 76th Street.
We pretty much knew what we wanted to eat and didn’t really try too hard deciding upon which Juicy Lucy we wanted.
Mei’s burger and ketchup action
Mei ordered The Second Avenue Stumbler; a burger that encased swiss cheese and sauteed mushrooms with a side of tater tots. Unfortunately, I don’t have an innards shot but when she ate her burger, a lot of juice leaked out – most likely it’s the water from the sauteed mushrooms. She told me it was good. I did try her tater tot and it tasted like the frozen variety and it’s on the greasy side.
Mary’s burger and fries
Mary customized her burger with American cheese and sauteed onions and a side of fries. But made my eyes open wide was the moment after Mary took a bite of her burger. Just take a look below…
Gloriously cheeesy
Don’t you understand now? It ooozed a ton of melted, gooey cheese! My brain pretty much had the emotions of this emoticon: @.@. I haven’t tasted it either since I have a burger before me as well.
American Burger
My American Burger was stuffed with American cheese and crispy bacon and like Mary, with a side of fries. The burger is cooked too well for my preference (I like medium rare burgers) but I know their intention is to heat and melt the cheese within the burger. The bacon flavor wasn’t strong enough for me even though there were bacon bits in every bite. Methinks there’s too much cheese in ratio to bacon. As for the bun, it’s the generic, soft hamburger bun that I prefer. It doesn’t require much chewing and it doesn’t screw up the texture of the meat and filling. The fries tasted like the typical frozen fries, nothing to write home about.
Hmm…not as coma inducing as I thought
It was a fun hanging out and having lunch with Mary and Mei. This excursion just made us a tad aware of some possible food spots in this bleak area of Manhattan, especially burgers.
Address:
The Stumble Inn
1454 2nd Avenue
New York, NY 10021 (map)
Holy Moley! Yum… that shot looks great. CHEESE! Love it!
that thing looks like a monster… wonder if they could figure out a way to melt that cheese without cooking it all the way through…
I do not live in NYC (fortunately), but I DO love hamburgers. Your review of the Stumble Inn was very good.
Right up there with the so-called “experts”.
When business takes me your way, I will definitely sample one of their burgers.
Melissa: Thanks! Melted cheese is a very seductive thing. :)
Danny: If they actually do manage to cook it medium-rare, all is BLISS!!
DocChuck: Thank you so much! :D Personally, I think other burgers in NYC fare better than Stumble Inn’s but the obvious difference is the fact they’re stuffed.