Bacon Cheeseburger

by Celia Sin-Tien Cheng
February 15, 2006

SPARKY’S ALL AMERICAN FOOD [CLOSED]
333 Lafayette St
(Bleecker & Houston Sts)
New York, NY 10012
212-334-3035

The original Sparky’s All American Food is in Williamsburg. It’s the space that is shared with Egg, so before noon, it serves breakfast goods as Egg, and in the afternoon it turns into Sparky’s All American Food, focusing on hamburgers and hot dogs. I haven’t tried the original Sparky’s, but the other day while on my way to Bianca, I noticed that the sliver of a space between Bleecker and Houston streets on Lafayette was occupied by the Manhattan location of Sparky’s. This outlet has been open for four months, but it’s in one of those spaces that’s easy to miss.

Curious to see if Sparky’s is good, I stopped by the next day. It’s a very simple space with no décor except for a black and white photo hanging of whom I presume is Sparky — a loveable-looking dog. The mission of Sparky’s is plainly stated on the backside of the menu: “Sparky’s Mission is to provide the purest and best-tasting food at the lowest possible price. It’s not easy, but we believe it is important to try.” It goes on to talk about the establishment’s support of local, family farms and sustainability.

I ordered a bacon cheeseburger with jalapeños, Cheddar cheese fries and a soda, which in total cost me close to $15. I think they are pushing it when they tell me that this is considered low-priced organic food. Zaitzeff also boasts using organic and fresh ingredients and the prices are also not low, but I can taste and see the freshness of the ingredients. I don’t at Sparky’s. Other than the two kids working behind the counter telling me in a friendly but clueless manner that everything is organic, I couldn’t tell much except that I felt a bit ripped off. My burger was overcooked. Though it seemed to taste fresh, I ate most of it because of the jalapeños I had added — adding spices is always the best way to open one’s appetite.

The cheese fries seemed promising. Instead of just having cheese drizzled over the fries they actually fry the cheese with the fries so that you get them all intertwined like a ball of yarn. But they were so overly greasy that after eating a third of them I was feeling rather disgusted and had to stop.

On my way out, I was curious about the bun that the burger is served on and decided to ask the two kids behind the counter what it was. Their answer was: “It comes from some bakery around here. I don’t know which or what it is but it’s ORGANIC.” Feeling disappointed and frustrated, I left with this thought: Overkill on the organic theme and pinning up your mission on the walls is meaningless when the staff has no clue and can only regurgitate lines that I am perfectly capable of reading myself. I wonder if the original Sparky’s in Williamsburg is different, because our Manhattan version is in need of a lot of help.

Also in American, Burgers, East Village