BY DENNIS LYNCH | The owners of Chelsea Market staple Creamline have opened a new location in the heart of Chelsea that serves the same choice American classics that’s made it a favorite at the iconic food hall. Hunger and thirst in tow, Chelsea Now went to check out the new joint and chat with owner Harris Mayer-Selinger.
The Creamline team didn’t have to wander far before settling on their second location — a modestly sized canteen space at 180 Seventh Ave. (near the corner of W. 21st St.).
Mayer-Selinger explained that although the new store is only a 15-minute walk from Chelsea Market (79 Ninth Ave., btw. W. 15th & 16th Sts.), they’re serving two very different customer bases.
“Our guests at Chelsea Market are typically very international. We’re very proud of that. Sure, locals go there; but we wanted to see how the locals jump on the train with us, and so far its just been fantastic,” Mayer-Selinger said, adding that most of the customers on Seventh Ave. have been locals.
It’s also logistically advantageous, he said. Creamline sources all of its beef from its neighbor at Chelsea Market, Dickson’s Farmstand Meats, so they’re able to quickly get meat from there over to the Seventh Ave. location without much trouble.
The menus at both locations are the same — except that the Chelsea Market location also serves hard ice cream in their floats and shakes, whereas the Seventh Ave. location uses soft serve. Both styles are from Ronnybrook Farm Dairy (an upstate farm, and a partner in Creamline’s business). Ronnybrook supplies Creamline with all of its dairy, and actually supplied it with its name too: Creamline is the name of Ronnybrook’s non-homogenized milk, taken from the line of thick cream that forms at the top of the milk (Ronnybrook retail items are available at the Chelsea Market Creamline).
Creamline’s new location is much smaller than the Chelsea Market original, so seating is limited to a dozen stools in front of a wall-mounted counter — but you get a good look at your burger or chicken sandwich cooking up on the grill and the shakes coming together at the ice cream station. Mayer-Selinger called it a personal experience.
“I think it feels pretty roomy actually. What’s cool is you’re in the kitchen; it’s one in the same,” he said. “We have an open kitchen at Chelsea Market too. But here, you’re really with our cooks, who are also your service team.”
The most popular meal is not surprisingly the four-and-a-half ounce burger, the undisputed champ at the Chelsea Market location. They’ve sold around 600-650 of the burgers, but the fried chicken sandwich is giving the burger a run for its money on Seventh Ave. Especially popular is the new honey butter hot sauce chicken sandwich lathered in honey, Ronnybrook butter, and Frank’s RedHot sauce. We tried the honey butter hot sauce chicken sandwich and it was as rich as it sounds.
Creamline is the latest in a string of Mayer-Selinger’s culinary explorations. He’s chef’d at restaurants around the world in a variety of styles, but said his farm-driven ethos was primarily inspired by time spent at New York restaurants Hundred Acres and Five Points.
“I think as I matured as a chef I realized the quality of ingredients you get and your connection with people who supply them to you — whether its Italian, French, American, Chinese, Peruvian food — is the most important thing,” the self-professed champion of American food said. “So if you’re lucky enough to have a connection like what we have with Ronnybrook and our other suppliers, that’s going to make delicious food and that’s the business I’m in. I always, as a chef, want to make delicious food; it’s a bonus and a feather in my cap that I get to do it with American food because I’m a proud American — I love this food.”
Creamline’s farm-to-table, high-quality working-class grub isn’t necessarily groundbreaking. There are plenty of other quality burger joints in the city, but the price point here is definitely refreshing. A cheeseburger with New York cheddar, a Big Marty’s seeded bun toasted with Ronnybrook butter, lettuce, onion, pickles, ketchup and mayo runs you $8.50, and a chicken sandwich (on the same bun with a choice of sauces) is $8. Fries are another $4, but you can save a bit with the “Chelsea Combo” — $15 for a burger, fries and soda (or $18 to sub in a milkshake or float).
Speaking of floats, Mayer-Selinger doesn’t think they get the attention they deserve. Like everything else on the menu, Creamline’s floats are made with high-quality ingredients — Maine Root sodas and the Ronnybrook ice cream — and you can mix any flavors. He suggests vanilla ice cream and blueberry soda.
The popular vanilla shake is another example of powerful flavor by way of measured restraint: cream, milk, vanilla and sugar, all in the right amounts.
“It’s no frills, no fancy garnishes, just real vanilla and extraordinary dairy, and we want you to taste that,” Mayer-Selinger said. “It’s the same with our beef. One of my complaints with most any fast casual is you barely taste any beef. When I want a burger, I want to scratch that itch and taste beef.”
