MEATBALL OBSESSION

510 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY 10011

(212) 260-8646

I walked past Meatball Obsession the other day and grabbed a menu. They serve one thing. Meatballs with marinara sauce and bread. Did someone really create an entire restaurant based around the greatest hero sandwich ever created? Well, almost. It's not a restaurant. It's a kiosk on 6th Avenue and 14th Street. Like a brick and mortar food truck, which I think Meatball Obsession should do by the way, it has no tables, no chairs, no roof over your head when it rains. And on this particular day, no place to get out of the heavy wind. Nonetheless, I wanted lunch and had made up my mind to try them out. You know what? They were great.

Meatball Obsession calls itself the "Home of the Original Meatball in a Cup", which isn't a stretch since they're the home of the only meatball in a cup. Essentially, you have two options here. Meatballs in a cup with a side of bread, or meatballs in a piece of bread hollowed out to form a cup. I tried both. They offer beef, pork, chicken, or turkey meatballs with a variety of toppings for an additional charge. I tried the Beef and the Turkey and both were fantastic. I was honestly shocked how good it was. I only wish I didn't have to hoof it all the way to Union Square to sit down. Looking at the photo below, where the meatball sits in a veritable soup of marinara sauce, you might think that they went a bit overboard with the sauce. Not so. The sauce was also crazy good and by the end you're wondering why you didn't order extra (they do sell extra by the way).

If you opt for the sandwich, you get a piece of hollowed out ciabatta bread with the meatball and sauce cocooned within. It's an interesting way to get around the age old and near chronic problem of New Yorkers eating meatball subs and getting sauce all over their shirt while crossing the street.

A single meatball is $4.50, two are $7.50, and three are $10. The meatballs themselves aren't small, but they're not large either. I'd go for getting two instead of one, just to avoid feeling hungry ten minutes after lunch. That said, they are open until 11pm, so you can always go back. I plan to.

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