Sassy's Sliders

[Fat Guy]

This brilliant little restaurant from Michael Ronis (a co-owner of Virgil's and Carmine's) is basically an upscale White Castle, the difference being that everything is fresh and of exceptionally high quality by fast-food standards. The bite-size burgers are about an ounce each and they're served with chopped onions, pickles, and ketchup on a steam-heated potato bun. We were over there the other day doing a television shoot and I was amazed, during the man-in-the-street interviews, at just how loyal some Sassy's customers are. There are people who work and live nearby (86th & Third, right next to the original Papaya King) who eat there every day. There are Wall Street types who send car service to pick up $400 worth of the little things (99 cents each) for corporate group lunches. And there are people who became addicted when the place was downtown who actually ride the subway to the Upper East Side just to eat there now. The fries are crispy and good (not as crispy as I'd like, but not soggy by any means), skin-on, from fresh potatoes, and always come right out of the fryer. In addition to beef, you can get turkey, veggie, and a couple of other burger types. There are also a few torpedo sandwich options like Philly cheesesteak, and there are chicken wings, soft-serve ice cream, and Dippin' Dots. Oh, you can get sweet potato fries, a popular item. The organization of the restaurant is also quite good, with four employees (one at the register, one on the grill, one on the fries, and one doing prep) able to serve many hundreds of people a day. I'm surprised there hasn't been a proliferation of these places. It seems a New York answer to In-N-Out burger: A locally owned, quality-minded fast-food chain that serves superior fare to its competitors.

http://www.sassyssliders.com/home.html

[Justin Burk]

Not much to say except "word." Sassy's is the best. I don't think I've ever had anything there besides the cheeseburgers and cajun/garlic/sweet potato fries, but I've never felt the need for anything else. I'm not real fond of that neighborhood's food options, but that is a great hot spot with Papaya King & Sassy's right next to each other.

[Stone]

This is a bit off-topic -- But isn't Carmines and Virgils owned by the same group that owns EJs and Ollies?

[Fat Guy]

As I understand it, it's not exactly a group. It's more like they're independent restaurants owned by various partners some of whom overlap sometimes. Artie Cutler was really the tie that bound most of those efforts. Here's a little bit that I wrote about him when I was reviewing Artie's deli:

The late Arthur J. Cutler was never a household name, but virtually every one of his projects was and still is: Carmine's, Ollie's Noodle Shop & Grill, Dock's, Virgil's Real BBQ, Gabriela's, Polistina's, Jake's, Columbia Bagels, and perhaps some others -- it seems I never stop learning about places in which he had a hand.

Cutler owed his Midas touch not to any particular skill as a chef, but rather to his amazing ability to rethink, retool and improve any restaurant concept. His knack for creating ultra-popular and successful restaurants time and again derived from adherence to the Cutler formula: Locate some industrious partners with a desire to excel, figure out what core attributes define the pleasure in a particular type of cuisine, pick and choose the most compelling features of the best examples of the genre, consult with the experts and guardians of tradition, and put it all together in a commercially viable, professionally managed arena. Then, continue improving in response to criticism and intelligent suggestions.

Cutler's ultimate project was to be, before he fell victim to a fatal heart attack at age 53, the first attempt in ages to build a traditional 1930s-era New York delicatessen from the ground up. It's no secret that many of New York's formerly great delis have been slipping -- those that are still in business, that is (let us all take a moment to remember Bernstein's on Essex) -- and Cutler certainly knew it. Though Katz's remains definitive and Carnegie is still quite good, we can't depend on the old-timers to satisfy our deli needs. The Second Avenue Deli now disappoints more often than not, Pastrami King's move to Manhattan and its subsequent gender reassignment (it is now Pastrami Queen) has yielded little more than a serviceable sandwich shop, and the Stage Deli has degenerated beyond recognition. And the Upper West Side, though long a New York Jewish intellectual and cultural center as well as home to Zabar's, Barney Greengrass and all manner of definitive Jewish establishments, hasn't hosted a legitimate Jewish delicatessen in ages (Fine & Schapiro hardly qualifies).

So, in his absence, Cutler's wife of 32 years, Alice, picked up the gauntlet with the help of her brother, Carl, and partners Jeffrey Bank and Chris Metz. Together they proceeded to fulfill Cutler's dream and opened Artie's New York Delicatessen in October 1999.

[jaybee]

Steve, I knew Artie from his early days at Murray's Sturgeon Shop. He once told me that he loved Jakes Fish Store the best of all the establishments he helped start. It grew out of Docks. He was a truly lovely man; gentle, kind, smart. His friend Godfrey and he were the ones who started Carmines. I think Godfrey is a partner in Ouest.

I wrote about Sassy's Sliders a long time ago. I was delighted when I "discovered" them. But I've been less than happy with my visits there. Friday I stopped in to the White Castle on Fifth near 33rd Street. Surprisingly, I preferred their product to the "upscale" copy. For some reason Sassy's leaves an unpleasant reminder in my gullet long after eating them, and I found the taste and texture of the White Castle product peferable. I'd be interested in any comparisons you or others make. In fact, if you want to arrange a tasting, let's do a side by side. Game?

[Fat Guy]

I'd love to assemble a family tree on Cutler and his various partners, mentors, and disciples plus all their restaurants.

I didn't do a side-by-side on Thursday but I did have burgers from Sassy's and the 103rd Street White Castle within an hour of one another. I thought there was no contest: The White Castle meat is barely recognizable as meat. It's some sort of frozen-into-a-block-and-machnie-sliced nastiness with the consistency of moldy cheese, whereas Sassy's uses fresh ground beef that remains true to form in the end product. The White Castle buns are cottony and taste like the absolute lowest form of bad supermarket bread, while the Sassy's potato-flour buns are quite nice -- I'd like to get hold of a larger size to use for burgers I cook at home. And of course Sassy's fries are edible whereas White Castle fries are perhaps the worst of any national fast-food chain. In terms of gastrointestinal after-effects, I don't know about the gullet but I can testify that Sassy's are much easier on the tummy!

Of course I'm always game for a rematch or five.