"Made-to-order smash burgers—beef or vegan; single-, double-, or triple-patty—are the specialty of a new Lower East Side shop. A big part of what makes the Big Mac appealing in pictures, a burger aficionado I know mused the other day, is that the patties extend past the perimeter of the bun. But then you actually get one, and most of the time you can barely even see the patties. We were sitting outside Smashed NYC, a new burger shop on the Lower East Side. He peeled back the black-and-white checkered wax paper folded around the Big Schmacc, a highlight of the menu. Two thin jagged-edged disks of deeply browned ground beef hung floppily over the limits of three halves of Martin’s “Big Marty’s” sesame roll; there was clear visual evidence, too, of sharp-cornered, barely melted slices of American cheese, shredded iceberg lettuce, crinkle-cut pickle coins, and Creamsicle-colored Smash Sauce. This is what it’s supposed to look like, he explained, with the authority of a biologist." - Hannah Goldfield
