Hey POP Burger, Nice Buns!

If you think you’ve seen it all, think again. ‘Invisible’ burgers, billiards, and bawdy bulletin boards are wrapped in a blown-glass bow at what just might be New York’s swankiest fast-food joint.

By Ariel Vered

PROJECT: POP BURGER (UPTOWN)

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: Roy Liebenthal, owner of The Lemon, POP, POP Burger, and the late, great Café Tabac.

TEAM: Architect Ali Tayar, who collaborated with Liebenthal on the original POP Burger on Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. This is their fourth commercial project together. “Roy has great interest in contemporary art and rock music,” says Tayar. “For the POP Burger concept, we thought about how we could update the fast-food and saloon concepts and combine them.”

LOCATION: East 58th Street between Fifth and Madison avenues, overlooking the Apple cube, Grand Army Plaza, and Central Park. “I want to hit a broad range of people,” Liebenthal says. “It’s the heart of Manhattan, the center of New York.” It’s also right next to Bergdorf Goodman, so the thick-walleted couture crowd might be tempted off the South Beach Diet wagon.

DESIGN: The striking façade—a wall of blown-glass windows—is unique to the 58th Street location: “It’s the first time POP Burger is getting an expression on the street,” says Tayar. Inside, three levels make this not just a fast-food joint but a viable nightspot. On the ground floor, a 75-foot, backlit aluminum mural—laser-etched with porney food phrases, such as “mouth-watering hot burgers” and “sizzling steaks—will run the length of the takeout counter. Upstairs, the luxe lounge is conceived as a modern take on an old New York saloon, with raw white oak, mirrored tables, and red felt banquettes. The penthouse is a billiards hall with a full bar and a private room. 

MOTIVE: An avid art collector, Liebenthal wanted the restaurant to pay homage to his favorite artist, Andy Warhol, and to the popular culture he created. “Warhol’s greatest influence as an artist was his ability to fuse highbrow and lowbrow culture. That’s sort of what POP Burger is,” Liebenthal says. “It happens in the context of two burgers for $5. You can’t ever do pop culture with a $25 burger.”

MISSION: To fuse three icons of American culture—the fast-food restaurant, the saloon and the billiards hall—into a tri-level dining experience that appeals to—what else—an American audience marinated in all things pop. Just don’t call it upscale. “I don’t perceive it as that,” Liebenthal says. “Stylized, sure, but not upscale.”

THE CROWD: Time will tell, but its creators hope for a mix of classes, cultures, and taste buds; the kind of place New Yorkers will claim as their own while allowing for the inevitable tourist traffic. “If they like the product, that’s who I’m looking for,” says Liebenthal, who is a frequent visitor. Although, he adds, “I’m probably getting too old to hang out at my own restaurant.”

THE MENU: The “Iinvisible” burger is a popular and delicious menu item, as well as a direct tribute to Warhol. “In the ’80s, he did a sculpture in the nightclub Area, where he stood in front of a wall then stepped away from it, and called it an ‘Invisible Sculpture,’” Liebenthal says. And the invisible burger is? A portobello mushroom.