burgers

you know i like burgers.  and i really like them with tasty crispy bacon under and over melted cheese.  sometimes i like to throw some bleu cheese on their for a little zing, but i have to have really thought through this since i don't keep bleu cheese around very often.  i've even waited in line for a burger before.  sometimes at wendy's where my standard order is a "double cheese plain, add bacon and mayonnaise."  sometimes i've waited at burger king where my order is similar to that of wendy's.  so i understand what it is to wait in line for a burger.

what i don't get is what i saw last night.  i've catered a number of events now.  i've seen some real celebrities.  i refreshed the water glass of michael phelps recently, and even bob costas!  it was exhilarating.  in fact i think i handle myself pretty well around celebrity types especially since one of the brat pack from some of those 80's movies lives in my building and we ride the elevator together.  you would know her.  but do i freak out when i see her?  do i get tongue tied?  do i rush to her for an autograph?  no, no, and no.  

so last night i was working at the chelsea market.  very cool building since it stretches from ninth avenue all the way to tenth.  that's a pretty good stretch for new york.  anywhere else it would simply not exist.  an indoor marketplace with cheese shops, wine shops, a couple more cheese vaults, a wine vault, some bread stores, a glassware shop with a selection of wine glasses for all the wine you can buy in the other shops...and i'm sure there must be a cutting board shop and some fun knives so you can cut up all those cheese varieties. 

chelsea market is primarily on the main floor.  the second floor is the headquarters of the food network.  yes we have a network entirely dedicated to food.  one of their celebrities is, apparently, a guy named bobby flay.  i almost titled this blog, "who the hell is bobby flay?!" since i had never heard of him.  i guess he is a burger chef who has become famous for taking a well shaped beef patty and dragging it by the stove, putting some potato chips on it and a bun and calling it a crunch burger.  the one i had was pretty rare.  sure it was tasty, but it was burger!  and where was the bacon?!!  

well, there was a burger station in chelsea market and that was the area i was bussing last night.  two words...night mare!  bottleneck all night.  and just to make it more fun, this booby flay guy comes out and stands behind his burger table every now and then.  the people went nuts for him.  cameras appeared out of nowhere, camera phones popped up over the crowd with their little blue screens jerkily tracking a moving target.  he'd stand there and smile his winning smile, serve a burger or two, sign autographs, and then disappear again behind the screen.  but the impact of his appearing made an already ridiculous crowd even worse and practically immobile.  felt like i was back at csu and some frat party with wall to wall people and very little movement.  i half expected to see a toga any moment or some naked people get passed overhead.  

behind the little screen was where i was going all the time with my teetering trays of empty wine glasses and mostly eaten burger plates for the trash.  i saw bobby back there.  seemed pretty normal to me.  nice guy.  i guess he makes a good burger.  

but once again i ask, where was the bacon?!