Theater District Lamb Burger: Critics Rave

Posted by: Michael Orey on October 09

Lamb, Pork, Beef, Chicken. That’s my order of preference for the most commonly served meats – or center-of-the-plate protein portions, as I once heard them called. So when one of my colleagues mentioned that a nearby place called The Perfect Pint served a great lamb burger, it set me salivating. We went today, and I was not disappointed. The Perfect Pint is on West 45th Street in New York’s theater district, and at first blush seems like many of the other pubs in the area that offer little more than faux atmosphere and lots of beer. (It’s Web site also plays a continuous loop of jaunty Irish music that will drive you mad if you leave it up too long.) There’s no shortage of brews on the menu at Perfect Pint, but I was there for the burger. Okay, somehow a Bass Ale showed up with it, but let’s talk about the protein portion. Topped with Pepper Jack cheese and tzatziki sauce, it was both distinctive and delicious. Ample, too; it and the very good fries that came with it filled me up for the afternoon, something lunch seldom does. Given the generous amount of food, the $13 price of the burger doesn’t seem unreasonable, though it puts it well beyond what I typically like to spend for lunch, especially when you add on tax and tip. And beer. The rest of the menu reflects the same culinary eclecticism found in the burger: Bangers and mash (of course), pasta with pesto cream sauce, a Turkey Cuban sandwich, Asian calamari salad, lobster quesadillas, and crab cakes served with applewood smoked bacon, white cheddar and jalapeno pepper. Some of the combinations strike me as weird, but hey, the Greco-Irish-Tex-Mex mash-up of the lamb burger came out quite tasty.