Interstate Food & Liquor

My roommate and I, who live just down the block, stopped in for a quick dinner expecting an average burger and cocktails but were totally blown away with one of the best burgers I’ve had in the city and some super tasty drinks. The guacamole was outrageously good as well, which pleased us both so much as we have been on the hunt for good guac in the neighborhood but had been disappointed on so many occasions. The service isn’t 5 star but there isn’t anything wrong with that. The food is really cheap and they can honestly charge a lot more if they wanted to. For the price and quality of the food, you just can’t go wrong.

OK… service has definitely been better the times I’ve gone back, but still incredibly slow. but man, I’m craving that tuna burger.

Tuesday evening at 6:00pm I was the only customer. It must be a late night place. I had the burger that so many say was great. It was a reasonable size and OK.

Perhaps it doesn’t deserve the fifth star — perhaps this is a 4 ½ star joint.
I found it entirely by accident due to it being just a couple of doors down from Casa Mezcal when I walked by last night, and was immediately taken by the atmosphere, so made a mental note of the name. This morning I checked it out on Unilocal,and then went over to test the brunch menu.
Wow. The burger, while not the best I’ve had, comes awfully close. The tuna burger is definitely well seasoned, but absolutely hit the spot.
Three drinks? Yes, please. I may well go for brunch again tomorrow.

I was heading to a Rock show with my colleague and we were lamenting the fact that Acme was now long gone and that Nice Guy Eddie’s had recently followed. This was bad since each were close enough to enjoy for the place we were seeing the band. After wandering around aimlessly for about an hour I asked a dude who we passed on the street where we could find a good burger. He said «try the Interstate down the block» without hesitation, so there headed were we.
It was brutally hot that day and the humidity was oppressive so a cold beer was a welcome thing. I had an Allagash White which was on tap, I don’t remember what my colleague had though. I ordered the American Burger Deluxe which was fantastic and also came with bacon on it. They made the burger exactly how I wanted which is medium well. For appetizers we both shared a plate of jalapeño poppers which were made fresh by their Sous Chef Martin. These rocked and were so much better than having them from frozen supply.
I didn’t get to Unilocal!this until tonight which comes after my second visit to the Interstate and this time we sampled the Fried Pickles as appetizers and for my main meal I tried the Blackened Seabass Tacos. I needed something different from a burger and these were the right choices. The tacos were on the light side in my opinion and served with guacamole and a cole slaw. Very tasty. Today we also sampled their fresh guacamole dip and chips. No complaints with any of their fare that is for sure.
The staff seemed friendly to me and I had no real difficulty in getting my drink refilled or the food out to us. So far I’ve had nice conversations with both bartenders that have been met and even the chef when it was not crazy busy and he was out in the main part of the restaurant. I will be hitting this place again soon for sure.

What a spectacular find on a random Thursday night. Live music, a spacious feel to a narrow space, delicious cocktails and (my favorite) some great down home bar food.
Pickle backs, sweet tea vodkas galore and jalapeño poppers are the perfect match for a hip crowd and some fun music. I am so pleased to have found this fun place and will definitely be back for brunch and some more late night tunes.

Went there on a Saturday evening with a small group, including a 1 year old. Service was prompt and friendly. The food was great — everything from the sloppy joes to the sliders to veggie burger were quite tasty.
We tried the goat cheese jalapeño cornbread and really liked it – in retrospect we should have ordered more sides.

God is in the details, as the adage goes, which at first impression in the first fifteen minutes here merited only only two stars. They were out of the organic vodka, but they had Tito’s. They were out of dry vermouth. They were out of fresh lemonade for my friend’s tequila drink. The menu wasn’t updated to reflect my other friend’s meal choice.
But the work-​arounds for these deficiencies were reflective of the high quality of both of the service and the food overall. An Open Table reservation had five us here at 8:00 p.m. on a Sunday night, and we were the only diners in the place for almost two hours. This would normally set off alarm bells, but this notion was quickly doused with the first round of cocktails, and further snuffed with the delivery of the appetizers – jalapeño poppers and fried pickles. These were just good on their own, but excellent compared to their fast-​food counterparts.
The main dishes here, however, really excelled. As none of our party is vegan, I didn’t get to see any of these options, although they looked great on the menu. The «meat platter» with two each of mini sloppy joes, mini local hot dogs, and the American Classic sliders was a double-​triple hit. Each were independently flavorful, and cooked to perfection. And filling as stand-​alones, more than filling with appetizers.
Our experience overall was great, and I look forward to returning… Even if only to observe the cute guy at the bar texting on his quaint Blackberry.

Bacon-​infused Bloody Marys. Fried pickles. Im sure they have other things on their menu, but really, who cares?
The bloody marys at this little spot are the best ive ever had. period. (i will NOT go get one right now… i will NOT. leave it. good).
quality pickles (think deli/​diner style) + fried + delicious dip = I need more than one order.
good vibes at this bar. music not too loud, laid back enough to meet up with or without having your «look» on.

I have yet to try the food here, but the bar is really cute. Its a long hallway like establishment with two levels. The graffiti on the wall makes it interesting. The drinks have a good pour, and the music is fitting.

Well, well Interstate, it’s about time I write you the positive review you deserve. This place is absolutely great, and a solid addition to the LES bar/​restaurant scene.
As someone who lives in the LES (and quite possibly across the street from IF&L) I have seen many bars come and go here, but this one seems to fit the bill for the neighborhood. Intimate vibe, great music, and a very fun, friendly group of bartenders/​waiters who do a great job of accommodating even the biggest or smallest party. Drinks are awesome, strong, and inventive. It is more on the whiskey bar side of things, but has a lot of great options, inventive cocktails, and beer on tap. On the weekend the restaurant transitions into your standard bar with lots of tunes and often a bit of dancing.
Now the food. Definitely a great down home feel to the food… think amped up comfort food. Overall, I’m a huge fan of the tuna burger, mac n cheese, veggie chilli (a huge fan of the chilli really, it tastes like there should be some meat in there but there isn’t), the fries, the FRIED PICKLES, and many of the egg dishes. I have heard very positive reviews on the burger, but have never tried it. And if you come for brunch, it might be one of the best deals in the LES with $ 20 for 3 drinks and 1 entrée you are sure to leave fully satiated and sauced at the same time. The brunch menu also is pretty extensive and includes most of their regular items. Oh and ask for a pickle back shot. Just do it. They make their own pickle juice.

Can I just have one of everything please? OMG loved this place. So glad my friend introduced me to this little gem. We were able to get a resi for 8 on a Saturday — not sure what that says about the restaurant but hey I was happy to be there.
Bottles of wine — under $ 30? yes, please! Appetizers that speak to comfort food cravings, yes please! I loved it all — guacamole, chicken wings, jalapeño poppers, sliders, hot dogs with macnchez on top, sliders, and mac n chez.
I hope I can go back again someday.

I went with a group of 12 people to celebrate my birthday. I would not go back.
Pros:
Pickle back shots are great.
Waitress was really attentive.
Cons:
They added things onto our bill that weren’t ours.
The tuna burger had to be sent back because it tasted like a tuna-​flavored salt lick. When I got my next one 20 minutes later, it was undercooked, had no salt, and made me nauseous.
½ of our table had overly salted food. Note to chef– seasoning and salt are not synonymous.
I won’t even ding them for being a hipster haven. That’s on me.

3 words for you: bacon bloody mary

The place is always empty. I have been 3 times and ordered the American burger each time. It’s the best burger I can remember in Manhattan.
It’s a little annoying to see the waitress gabbing with her friend at the bar for 20 minutes without checking on the only table in the restaurant, but she was friendly enough and didn’t mess the order up. That’s really all I have come to expect out of bitter NY service people, so I’ll stick with 4 stars just because the burger is so damn good. The fries are also good. I am a supporter of allagash white draft as well.

We went to Interstate for Sunday brunch. We were one of 10 people in the restaurant. We ordered at 12:05pm and sat down for our drinks and a wait. Turns out a long wait. In fact, a very long wait. At 1:05pm, after asking for the second time where our food was, and hearing from the waiter that our food was «coming», we finally paid for our drinks and left. Really, they had two people in the kitchen and a total of three people ahead of us to make food for. I ordered a breakfast quesadilla. These take about ten minutes to make. I proceeded to make one for myself at home (and it took eight minutes.) This place is pathetic and, when it goes out of business (when, not if), they should realize people eat out to get good food in a reasonable experience. Interstate provided neither.

I joined a group of friends here for brunch recently. We didn’t exactly choose this restaurant – it’s more like we ended up here because it was one of the very few brunch spots that had reservations for a large party available on short notice.
I was shocked when I walked into a completely empty restaurant at 1PM on a Sunday. I’m not saying «empty» for effect here, we were literally the only people in the restaurant besides the staff. Eventually, two or three other tables filled, but it was still very, very quiet. I sincerely hope that business picks up for them, because we had an overall positive experience and I would like for the place to succeed.
The brunch menu has a good selection of items for about $ 8 – 11 each (with a few outliers on either end) plus side items for $ 4 and a small menu of cocktails. The real bargain here, though, is the brunch special – $ 20 gets you any one of the entrée items plus THREE cocktails. Since other restaurants are giving you one cocktail with your meal for $ 15, this is a great deal.
Let’s start with the drinks: We all started off with a bloody mary (some in our party ordered it with bacon infused vodka, others without.) I can definitely handle heat, but this bloody mary was just too spicy to enjoy. We ended up letting them sit for a half hour or more while the ice melted. Since the brunch special lets you choose from a bloody mary, screwdriver, or mimosa, we all switched after our first round, and those drinks were much more enjoyable. FYI, the mimosa is served in a much smaller glass than the other two drinks. I understand why, but it looks a little piddly in comparison.
Onto the food: Most of us started drooling when we read about the fried pickles on the menu, so of course we placed an order. I’ve had fried pickles before, but they have always been in chip form, where the breading overwhelms the pickle and the whole thing is a soggy, grease-​laden mess. Not so with these. These were actually pickle spears, breaded in panko crumbs and gently fried, then served with some sort of creamy sauce on the side for dipping. They were glorious. Highly recommended.
I ordered the omelette, which, according to the menu, comes packed with tasty ingredients like «spinach, gruyère, caramelized onions, chipotle aioli, [and] cotija cheese.» It also showed up with some diced tomato and onion sprinkled over the top. With ingredients like that, I expected a flavor bomb, but the effect was, overall, quite mild. It was tasty, well cooked, and there was a nice amount of spinach, but the omelette, while a solid choice, is nothing to go back for.
The real winner of the afternoon was the veggie burger. No fake meat here, just a patty of wholesome beans and potatoes with some delicious toppings on a well-​made bun. On her first bite, the friend who ordered this item exclaimed «Holy crap, the cheese is fried too!» She said it was delicious, and I went home with some serious veggie burger envy.
Other members of my party ordered the tuna burger, which consisted of a beautifully rare seared tuna steak on a bun with avocado and cole slaw, and chilaquiles, which contained all sorts of tasty Mexican ingredients in a pot covered with a fried egg.
The atmosphere was great – both rustic and modern at the same time. Plus, the service was friendly, and the price for this quality of food can’t be beat. I’ll definitely return, and I hope that enough people agree with me to keep this restaurant in business.

I am so sorry to only give this place 3 stars!
Honestly, *when the chef is in* (i.e. lunchtime), this place has the best burger in town. Seriously, burger perfection — combined with local brews and delicious cocktails — I hardly knew what to do with myself!
Sadly, if the chef is NOT in, the food is friggin pathetic. Stale buns, overcooked, over salted, over-​thought. Who cares about local clover on your sandwich when the stale bun is cringe-​worthy? It was like chewing on a wet sweater.
Additionally, how is there no happy hour?! There are too many cheap watering holes in that area to warrant dropping $ 12 on a cocktail at 6:00p.
Sorry, guys. I would love to support this place, but it’s too pricey for inconsistent food.

The Orchard St. block between Grand and Broome just keeps getting better. Interstate is a very cool little bar/​restaurant. I had a lot of trouble deciding what to order, so I went with the Interstate Meat Platter (3 dishes in one! Don’t worry, I split the dish with a friend) The burger sliders were good, the mini hot dogs were awesome, and the sloppy joe sliders were the best sloppy joes I’ve ever had.
I noticed that they had Allagash White on tap, so I went back a few nights later to check out the nightlife scene: fun B&T-free crowd and great music. I’ll be back soon!

As this is a ½ block from my apt– was very excited to see this place open! Cavernous and rustic– this place has a sweet vibe. We only had a few cocktails. but will surely be back for food really soon. The staff was very nice and excited about the menu. I better return for the watermelon salad before it goes out of season!

Goodbye Bunny Chow, hello hot dog trio.
The folks behind Spitzer’s and Woodwork broke down and reworked the BC space on Orchard, breathing an Americana styled bar and restaurant into the narrow bi-​level. The first floor features a towering ceiling, rustic wood tables and a central bar area from which patrons can order up $ 5 beer and shot specials or cocktails for fancy types. The menu offers up a selection of bar comfort foods with a spin. We sampled the hot dog trio of beefy franks covered in chili, cole slaw and mac ‘n’ cheese. It was dang tasty and I can’t wait to taste some of the other options (mmm, chicken pot pie?).
The upstairs loft area can be incorporated into the bar, or better yet used as a private party space complete with it’s own bar. Definitely a great area for throwing a birthday party or celebration for a group of 20 – 30 guests.
Can’t wait to see how this place develops, but so far so good!