David Burke at Bloomingdale’s

David Burke, owner of davidburke & donatella on the Upper East Side, opened up a small shop on the side of Bloomingdales, accurately named David Burke at Bloomingdale’s. It’s a small eatery on 59th street (close to cosmetics) and I ventured there with Chris last night for a bite to eat. I heard of them because of their “sliders” – small burgers that pack a punch, so I decided it was time to check them out. These cheeseburkers (haha – get it?) are bite sized beef patties with a sliver of cheddar cheese placed delicately on a crusty piece of bread (not a bun), all topped with half a cherry tomato:

Cute, right? They usually come in packs of three for lunch (as a meal) but for dinner, they are only served as appetizers. I ordered one (just to try it) and it was actually pretty delicious. The bread is what makes the cheeseburker special – you definitely have to bite into it because it’s pretty tough on the outside, chewy on the inside (in a good way). The meat didn’t taste too flavored, but for a cheeseburger, it wasn’t bad. For $3.95 though, I don’t think it’s worth it.

David Burke at Bloomingdale’s has a great deal for dinner – $24.07 for a prix fix dinner (appetizer, main course, and dessert). You can choose anything off the menu – there are no restrictions! (most appetizers are over $10, main courses are all $18-$22, and dessert are another $10 if you order them separately)…why wouldn’t anyone get the deal? Since I wasn’t that hungry, I thought it would be a good idea if I just got the cheeseburker and then Chris got the prix fix meal, but I would share with him. Great idea, right?

We started off with the lobster bisque – described to us as not a thick and creamy bisque like you would expect, but paired with apples for an interesting combination. I was skeptical, but we ordered it anyway:

Talk about presentation! I love the bowl. Anyway, the bisque was really quite yummy – I don’t like mixing savory with sweet (there’s just something wrong with that!) but they used granny smith apples and the tartness complimented the bisque. I also liked how the bisque tasted more like a chunky puree than a creamy mess that you might find elsewhere. Too bad there wasn’t much lobster (although whenever Chris found a piece, he offered it to me!).

For our main course, we ordered the filet mignon:

Talk about STEAKY! We’ve learned that if you want your meat medium rare, you should order it medium, especially with filet mignon. The cut is just too large for them to cook it all the way through (understandably) so they just kind of go as far as they can with what they have. uhh..yeah. So anyway, the steak was cooked to a perfect medium rare, the carrots were delicious (I LOVE carrots) but the potatoes tasted a little stale. I won’t hold it against David Burke, though.

For dessert, we ordered the blueberry and peach tart:

Who knew it came with a side of ice cream? What a wonderfully delicious surprise! The ice cream was pretty sour (raspberry with something that made it sour…I couldn’t tell what it was) and went really well with the super sweet tart (but not overly sweet).

Overall, the meal was great – I mean, $30ish for all that food?! The service wasn’t that great (the hostess was just walking around the restaurant aimlessly while we were waiting to be seated, the waitress took a while to get our order, she forgot to order our dessert, etc) but understandable since it’s a small operation in Bloomingdale’s. I enjoyed the meal and it was so nice seeing Chris since I JUST got back from Europe!