Lure Fishbar: $17 “Lure Style” Cheeseburger is Tasty but Overpriced

January 31, 2008

NYC Food Guy finally made the pilgrimage to Lure’s subterranean location on the corner of Prince and Mercer and this is what awaited me. Looks pretty delicious doesn’t it?

Find out why it didn’t live up to my expectations after the break.

With two crispy onion rings crowning the pre-cut, untoasted brioche bun, this grilled cheeseburger is adorned with shredded iceburg lettuce, sliced tomato, sliced pickles, and “Lure sauce”, which is basically a tasteless Russian dressing.

Fries are included in the $17 price tag and come in a small dish with some ketchup, dijon mustard, and mayo for dipping.

You can order a normal cheeseburger for $16 or you can order it “Lure Style” for a dollar more. All “Lure Style” adds is a spread of this ordinary Russian Dressing:

I admit I had high expectations for Lure’s burger after William Tigertt called it the best burger below 14th Street and compared it to the legendary In-N-Out in a 2006 article on Eater.com.

Here’s where it all fell short:

1) The burger, while cooked to order, was grilled on a flat griddle, not over an open flame

2) The Lure sauce didn’t enhance the overall taste or add much flavor

3) The entire burger was smaller than I had hoped, a big blow considering the price

4) The bun was untoasted and would have benefited greatly from a smear of butter and a little time on the grill

5) The fries were too salty in addition to being too small for optimal dipping

Two good things about the burger:

1) Quality ingredients and careful preparation resulted in a burger that didn’t sit like a lump of grease in my stomach

2) In the end, the burger didn’t floor me but it was pretty tasty. It was not worth the $17 price tag but if you’re in the area on payday, as Adam Kuban remarks, this burger is worth a try.