People rave about the Lower East Side Meatball Shop, which, as the same suggests, specializes in meatballs. We know from Wikipedia that meatballs can be made with all sorts of ingredients; Italian meatballs usually contain beef and or pork and sometimes turkey, while Ivan Reitman's 1979 Meatballs contained Bill Murray, ha cha cha. At The Meatball Shop, varieties include "Classic Beef," "Spicy Pork," and "Chicken." However, one devoted customer was recently shocked to learn that all the balls have one ingredient in common. Here's her indignant email:
I ate at The Meatball Shop (TMS) on a couple occasions, endured the long waits and enjoyed their meatball heros wholeheartedly. However, on my latest visit, I struck up a casual conversation with the bartender and found out that even though I may have ordered the chicken or classic beef meatball, they all contain pork. I was shocked to say the least. I then met with the manager who came by and gave me his "sincere" apologies for not notifying me of this and told me that all staff are required to make patrons knowledgeable that this ingredient is added to all meatballs.
I told him that out of all the times I have sat down and ate here I have NEVER been notified of this. The manager continued to apologize for the TMS's mistake as if it was a minor slip. I continued to explain to the manager about how appalling this discovery was, especially since this piece of information may be vital for those who have dietary restrictions, whether religious or not.
Overall, I find it appalling that Meatball Shop doesn't clarify this on their menu or state this to their patrons verbally. I understand that perfecting the perfect meatball requires you to utilize different types of meats, but at least have the decency to state on the menu that the "classic beef" is actually a "classic beef & pork" and that the "chicken" is actually "chicken & pork".
Indeed, there's no mention of pork on the menu posted on The Meatball Shop's website. Their publicist tells us, "This will be listed on the new spring menu that will be live in about two weeks. We are sincerely sorry that we caused issues for your reader and we do try and tell all our customers that the chicken and beef meatballs contain pork." The menu is certainly misleading, and it's an unfortunate discovery for someone who clearly doesn't dig on swine, but we can't help but think there's an element of caveat emptor here—after all, they're called MEATballs. That's a pretty broad category, and it gives these balls a lot of wiggle room.
