New York’s Most Traditional Burger Joint

By Angela McCormack / February 6th, 2012 in Talks / New York / 220 views

Made as part of the This Must Be The Place project, where Lost & Found films explore the idea of home—and our homes away from home—PRIME takes a look at an extraordinary burger joint that’s been running strong since 1938: the Prime Burger Restaurant in Midtown Manhattan. Diners and cheap burger places always have that gritty and cosy appeal, but there’s something distinctly different about the charm of Prime—maybe it’s how the waiters are so smartly dressed, or how their order system consists of shouts to the kitchen; or maybe it’s the décor that has barely changed in fifty years, or how waiters like Artie insist on knowing regular customer’s name while Sandro tries to brighten up a person’s day with a humble, no-fuss kind of meal.

Prime has become an icon of Manhattan; while the city around its top notch real estate has swelled to new heights and towers with the pace of trends and change, Prime has remained, as ever, a traditional diner. What makes Prime so special are its charismatic employees—as filmmakers Ben Wu and David Usuisay say, for some of them, Prime is like their second home. Especially astounding are the kind eyes of Artie, who is about eighty years old and has spent more than three quarters of his life working at Prime. What kind of fast food joint can boast that kind of service, that staggering loyalty?

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