JG Mellon

Looking back over the blog posts, it suddenly occurred to me that I go out to eat a lot. Maybe not as much as a true New Yorker with only some ketchup packets and a bottle of bubbly in the fridge, but not a bad showing either. I may however, be losing my New York dining touch.

The other night I cajoled my friend to meet me at JG Mellon for a burger, and my New Yorker's sensibility for "authentic" and "simple" meals must be on the wane. Getting a table involved being very nice to a curmudgeonly but sweet-hearted fellow manning the door that spoke of decades of familiarity.

Service was brusque, the menu choices equally short, and the burger fine, but for once, the rigmarole to get there didn't quite seem worth the effort.

Faced with only these fries as my only accompaniment, I found myself craving the sort of middle-American joint I have trained myself to disdain. I wanted a TGIF-sized menu with buffalo wings and jalapeno poppers and a myriad of caramelized onion, avocado, fried onion, blue cheese burger topping choices.

J G Mellon's, good, but it just didn't quite do it for me.

J G Mellon's, 1291 3rd Ave. (b/n 74th and 75th), 212-650-1310