Do I Get Fries With That?

When promoter Tommy Up opens PYT at the Piazza at Schmidt’s, he does what he does best: Shameless self-promotion.


He started a relentless war of words on Twitter for a burger smack-down challenging Stephen Starr’s Square Burger from his newly opened burger shack in Franklin Square to his own PYT Burger.

After days of unyielding tweets, all from Tommy Up of course, Starr sent out a one and only tweet announcing that the $15.95 burger at his highly rated upscale Butcher and Singer steak restaurant would be only $5.95 at lunch time, Monday to Friday. The tweet was sent out just before Philly Mag’s “Best of Philly” list was “leaked” giving the crown to B&S for “Best Burger, 2009”. A one-upmanship from Stephen Starr or just good timing from his marketing people? We don’t really care. We have burgers to eat!

We arrived at the restaurant two days after the announcement was made. The place was about 95% full compared to the usual handful of tables during lunch service. We were greeted warmly and were seated immediately since I had the [rare] wisdom of making a reservation.


We ordered the burgers (surprise!) after the wait staff had patiently presented and explained the menu to us. A look around the dining room found that almost everybody was having burgers (another surprise!)

Our lunch came swiftly after we watched a few burgers fly by us going to other tables as I was enjoying a nicely chilled Sam Smith Oatmeal Stout.

I asked our friendly and efficient waitress if they had been selling lots burgers for the past two days. She admitted that she did not the exact number but she estimated that if there were two hundreds covers, one hundred and eighty five would have been burgers. That’s a lot of meat!

10 oz of nicely packed dry-aged ribeye, brisket, and chuck charred perfectly sitting on a house baked brioche with a dap of the special sauce (tasted like Russian dressing to me), topped with sweet sautéed onion and English cheddar; with house pickled pickles, tomato and lettuce sitting to the side. Oh yes, this burger came with perfectly crispy fries too. I have had the Butcher and Singer burgers a few times before. What I had in front of me was not a down-scaled promotional size stand-in. It was the real deal!


The meat was moist, juicy, tasty, and cooked perfectly medium-rare. The burger was hefty in size which required certain skill to grab the unit without it falling apart in your hands. Tourist Tree gave up after a few bits and went with her fork and knife like a European. It was just as good as those burgers that I had there before. The craziness of pushing an infinite numbers of burgers through the kitchen door did not diminish the food quality. This $5.95 burger was worth every $15.95 of it.

I was most impressed with the staff. We were treated as customers dropping big bucks on steaks and drinking expensive wines even though we were just eating the best bargain lunch of the summer. OK, comparably speaking, I did have an expensive beverage. My beer cost almost twice as expensive as the burger!

Never let to be beaten at his own game. A few hours after Starr’s burger went to $5.95, Tommy Up decided that he would give a free burger in his restaurant after 5 PM to anyone who could produce a B&S burger receipt from lunch. So…in this game of customer courting and showmanship, Tommy Up has packed a competitor’s restaurant with paying customers who would cost him money when they come into his door for the free burger. Keep up with the good work, oh my pal Tommy. When you cat fight, we benefit!


The end of the story; or is it yet? He just started taunting Rouge, “…is for overly tanned older ladies & their tiny dogs…”

I am waiting for Starr to drop the price on the Kobe Sliders at his Barclay Prime…

BTW, I still have my receipt from the lunch, anyone want free burgers at PYT?