Empire Diner is an iconic Chelsea landmark that underwent a recent renovation and re-opened as a more upscale diner but still with a classic diner feel in decor. The menu has "classic" diner food but all with a twist - so they have lox but it's served with burrata, they have mac and cheese but it's served with black truffle butter and orzo, they have a pork chop that's served with kale and pancetta, and grilled cheese with roasted tomato.
Lav and I started with house salad ($6) and she got the mac and cheese ($10) as a main and the charred broccoli with romano cheese ($6) while I opted for the Empire Burger ($16) because I had just come from Core Fusion and was starving. The house salad was in this small bowl and it was way over dressed with a very sour like dressing. It had a kale base which I don't mind but it hadn't sat in the dressing long enough and it still had the tough texture of kale that's unappealing. I love a good salad (even basic house salads) but this one just didn't do it for me in any way. The burger came out and the high end twist was that it was served on a brioche bun (of course) and it had special sauce, cheddar cheese, pickles, onion and lettuce and a side of fries. It was a pretty decent burger, nicely medium rare in the middle and very juicy but not sure if it's really worth $16 as it wasn't anything crazy special. The fries were nice and crispy and salty and complemented the burger very well. I had a bite of Lav's mac and cheese and while appreciate that they were trying to do something different, mac and cheese is just something you don't screw with. I wasn't a huge fan of the orzo base and it wasn't very cheesey in the gooey sense but it was very heavy on the parmesan which is not a cheese that I think works well with a mac and cheese dish. The broccoli was nicely charred and was served in a stalky presentation - so if you don't like the stalk of a broccoli, don't order this but I didn't mind it.
At this point of the dinner, I was not super impressed but luckily we opted for dessert and that is what really pushed this from a 2.5 to 3 rating. We opted for the Brooklyn Blackout Cake ($10) - I am normally not a huge chocolate fan but I make an exception for blackout cakes because they are usually so delicious. The one here was no different. It was a decadently moist devil's food cake base with a yummy pudding filling. The slice was huge and served with a refreshing side of creme fraiche and if I hadn't felt so guilty I could have finished the whole thing on my own but I had to exercise restraint and stopped after a few bites.
In the end, I still prefer my diner to be more casual and on the low-brow side. I appreciate what they were trying to do here especially since it's on the hip 10th Ave which has been opening up a lot of fancy restaurants but it would have been better off staying a true classic diner. Total bill: $35/pp with tax and tip
Photo Credit: Yelp
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