Shake Shack

So much has been written about the Shake Shack in Madison Park that I didn't feel like writing about it. Then I read this
essay about the boring industrial design of the Shack and why would you want to take your out of town friends there. Tourists might wonder why you just didn't take them to Wendy's across the street. But I don't think that's the point. It's a centrally located place to enjoy the outdoors and get a cheap(for NY) and yummy meal. Simple formula that's wildly popular.
It's such a mob scene that they've installed a webcam to moniter the line all the time. The hype is true, Shake Shack is really good. So is it worth the wait? Definately not when you're dining alone. But if you're meeting friends and they can get in line while you're running late, it's great! I recently met up with Matt and Diana at Shake Shack and as Diana pointed out, the nature of fast food is that it's fast to make and fast to eat. Because the line is so long (everything is made to order), you're forced to wait and it gives friends the opportunity to catch up and socialize in line. Just don't go too hungry because you'll over order!
The food is simple grub — burgers, hotdogs, French fries, milk shakes, and sundaes.
Actually, the milk shakes are made with their frozen custard. Reminds me of the stuff I used to eat at Sandy's Frozen Custard (Sandy's is in Austin and they served a cone for 65cents!). The kiddie cup at the Shack is a buck fifteen, so the price is nice. The Shack also offers different flavors besides chocolate and vanilla. In fact, they are so organized that on the website, they have a calendar of the flavor of the day. Today's flavor is summer peach. Ooooh! Every Thursday this month, they're serving sour cherry. I'm going to have to bookmark that page.
I dig the burgers there (Prices vary from 3.23 for a single hamburger to 6.46 for a double Shack burger), but I also really like the mushroom burger ($4.15). It's actually a fried portobello mushroom cap with special sauce (mayo&ketchup), cheese and lettuce and tomato. I like to believe that this deep fried yummy is healthier than it's beefy counterpart. I'm probably wrong, but it tastes so right! I haven't tasted their hotdogs and Matt didn't give me a bite of his Chicago dog, but it looks good, doesn't it? I forgot to take a picture of the French fries, but they're just your run of the mill crinkle cuts. Save the calories and get a burger with the custard if you're debating between the fries and dessert. But if you like to live a little, then by all means, order it all!

Pies and Thighs

Isn't this a gorgeous sight? There aren't many places that I know of with good fried chicken under ten bucks. Charles' Chicken in Harlem is my favorite in the city, and luckily it's far from my apartment, so I haven't been up there in a long while. Closer to home, I love me some Mama's fried chicken with their cream drenched mashed potatoes. But it's the combination of the chicken and biscuit that I miss from growing up in the South. That's why I've been dying to try, Pies and Thighs. The NYTimes reviewed it a couple of weeks ago, but every time I've tried to go there (next to the Williamsburg Bridge at S.5th St. & Kent Ave.), Sunday after 4, it's been closed. So I smartened up and dragged Josh over there for an early Saturday supper.
As you can see, the fried chicken box ($8 including biscuit and side!) was 2 big pieces, one white, one dark, then a little wing tucked in the back of the basket. If you get it to go, you get a box. The meat was piping hot fresh from the fryer with a couple of shakes of tabasco on top. Nice crispy skin, not too much coating, but just enough to be satisfying. The white meat was amazingly juicy and I gave Josh my dark meat, so I could get half of his pulled pork sandwich, but I'm sure it was delicious.
And the biscuit! That biscuit was super buttery and hugely fluffy without being overly doughy. It was crispy on the outside, not hard like a hockey puck.
the only thing missing was honey to drizzle over the biscuit, but I didn't think about it until later. I was too excited.
Even though it took me three outings to finally eat here (They close when they run out of food?), it was sooo much better than my 2 attempts and final tasting of the much anticipated Dirty Bird, the organic fried chicken joint on 14th St. bw 7th & 8th. I should try it again because I've heard it's gotten better, but when I know that Pies and Thighs is so damn good, why would I go to a place that has good ideals, but the food is mediocre?

One of my problems with Dirty Bird is I didn't crave any of their sides. Corn bread, maybe, dirty rice, no. They have some other stuff, but not that much. When I eat chicken and biscuits, I want collards. And collards I had at Pies and Thighs!
The greens were delicious, flavored with a bit of the pulled pork that was cooking in the smoker in the concrete garden we were sitting in. Josh's pulled pork was quite good as well. Smokey and quite spicy with a vinegar based sauce. The bun melted under the sauce and the heft of the chopped coleslaw, but it seemed more homey with that wonder bread kind of bun. We shared his huge side order of potato salad. Mayo, mustard, dill, little red potatoes, and the same yummy pickles that topped the sandwich were sprinkled in the excellent salad.
Oh yeah, we splurged on the key lime pie. It was good, but was a little too fresh, it was still warm! It was still good, but creamier than tangy.

hambun

hambun
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

There have been some minor annoyances at work lately. Solace has been mostly food related. After the rat incident at the 34th St. subway stairs, I started taking the stairs on the east side of the street. It was serendipitous because I stumbled upon a tiny Chinese bakery that serves yummy cheap treat. I think the lady thought I was Chinese the first time I went there as I was wearing my Departed tee shirt. The bloody character covering my chest says, "dead." I'm holding a half eaten ham bun with cheese. I tried not to eat it while walking to work, but I'm weak when it comes to cheese. This ain't a fancy treat, it's literally a white bread bun stuffed with a slice of ham lunch meat and a piece of American cheese melted (a little burned) on top. This yummy breakfast cost 75 cents and the accompanying watermelon milkshake coast only $1.50. The milkshake isn't pictured, because it's just a pink drink, but I have to divulge that it wasn't really a milkshake. It was watermelon (seedless) sweetened with simple syrup then blended with ice. I know I ranted about seedless watermelons recently, but when a treat is that cheap, I don't care!!!

Another Salad Day

salad
Originally uploaded by i_eat_ny.

Today was filled with bad luck. While I was running up the stairs at the 34th St. subway stop to get to work, a huge black rat ran down the stairs. The guy in front of me screamed like a woman, then of course I screamed. I could hear the dirty rat's talons tapping on the concrete. It was an omen of bad things to come. I'll spare you the bloody details of my visit to the dentist, but long story short I was tortured mentally and physically then paid $300 for it!
As a result, I'll be putting myself on the frugality plan again. Adios cocktails before dinner and popcorn at the movies. Hello budgeting and babysitting.
I really wanted a watermelon juice from Mexican Bakery on East 4th St. and 1st Ave to cheer me up, but I decided buying my own watermelon was the way to go. For $2.75, I get one juice, but for about 4bucks, I'll get a slice of watermelon that will last me at least 3 servings. (Such a rip off when you're from Texas, but I've gotten over this.) So I went to three different bodegas in my neighborhood looking for watermelon with seeds. Everyone has gone seedless it seems! Have people become so lazy that we can't even be bothered to spit out seeds? I refuse to buy seedless melon, there's just something wrong about them and they aren't as sweet. I finally found them at the deli bodega on East 7th St. on the east side of 1st Ave. I remember a couple of years ago, people were handing out flyers not to shop there because they weren't union or something, but life's about choice. And I needed that seedy watermelon for my feta, cilantro, snow pea and lettuce salad. There's just something about the feta, melon, cilantro combination. I heard that the combination was from the times of Mesopotamia. Or maybe it's the Mediterranean. Whatever. The cilantro really brightens up greens, the salt of the cheese and juicy sweetness of the watermelon rock together. A splash of lime juice and a few grinds of pepper are all that's needed for dressing and now I'm looking foward to tomorrow.

Salad Days

Sometimes it’s so hot here in the city, one doesn’t really feel like eating. Who are those nutjobs? There’s so much great stuff to eat right now!
Summer is the best time to buy fruit at the farmer’s market and blend them into smoothies. Don’t waste your money on stupid Starbucks and Jamba Juice, make that shit yourself. Save the dregs of your morning coffee and throw it into the freezer for a mocha milkshake later. Now is the time to buy tons of blueberries (Chances are they’re on sale and grown in New Jersey. Since they’re local, you don’t have to feel guilty about those Chilean bananas. They cancel each other out.) Freeze those babies for winter when the farmer’s market it only selling apples. As far as veggies, I’ve been pretty satiated with the sugar snap peas, but I’m really lusting for corn on the cob and tomatoes.
While I’m waiting, let's talk about one of my favorite salads that’s available and delicious all year round. When a chopped salad contains meat, is it a called a chopped meat salad? At New Saigon on 1st Ave. (bw East 3rd&4th St.), it’s the #27 Shredded Chicken Salad with Lime Juice. I’m not so lazy that I’ll have this salad delivered, but I will call the order in to pick up. When I’m tired after a day of sitting in front of the computer eating Doritos at the office, this salad seems healthy. It’s made of cabbage, carrot, iceberg, cilantro (and sometime parsley), red onion and chicken. I think the dressing is actually lemon rather than lime juice, but I only think that because the cooks garnish the salad with extra slices of lemon. It’s fresh, cheap and so much faster to have someone else do all that chopping!
When I need that salad, but I have company, I don’t take them to New Saigon because it’s a take out joint and verges on depressing. Instead, I’ll take them to Chinatown, as I did when my Godmother visited last month.
On the way to Nhå Hång (73 Mulberry St.), we passed a Hare Krishna parade on 5th Ave while catching up on the past fifteen years. Nhå Hång is even better when you have a large group because the food is consistently good so you can order a lot of dishes. It’s a little exotic for food adventurers, but safe enough for the picky. It’s also great when you have jury duty, they serve cheap ban mi sandwiches and lunch specials. The first and last time I went to the World Trade Center before 9/11, I had dinner at Nhå Hång with a bunch of friends. Marsha had an open studio art show on the 98th floor, and we went out for a big dinner afterwards. This was the first time I went to NH, but it certainly has not been the last. The salt and pepper calamari, #73 Goi gå xé phay (Viet Style Shredded Chicken Salad with Mint and Lime Leaves) and the 7 treasures ice (jello and beans is weird, but fun) are dishes I love ordering. The salad is especially good because they serve it with those crispy chips that stick to your tongue. They remind me of those pastel colored egg cartons.
Pho Bang (157 Mott between Broome & Grand) serves this same shredded chicken salad, but the atmosphere at NH is a little better and I don’t think that Pho Bang has lime leaves in their version of the dish. I’ll just have to go back there and refresh my memory and my palate with this terrific salad.

A Provocative Act

I've been dying to try Pies and Thighs because I love me some fried chicken and biscuits, but when Josh and I went there, it was closed. Luckily, I had passed by Dana and Chris on the Williamsburg campus and they recommended what I thought was some kind of reggae Carribean restaurant, Marley and Sons. Bob had a bunch of sons, right? When we got the restaurant, I realized Marlow and Sons is owned by the same folks that gave us Diner and is more of a wine bar seafood shacky type place. No jerk chicken in sight.
There was an article in the New Yorker a couple of weeks ago about oysters that schooled me on that rule regarding oysters. You're not supposed to eat them on months without r's. For some reason, oysters know what months don't have r's in them and they have sex during that time, so you shouldn't eat them because they taste like their gonads. Or something like that.
Oysters are very sexy—they're wet, salty, and can be a little bit funky. I should write about oysters using some kind of sexy metaphors, but that seems kind of overdone. Besides, I was with my number one gay boyfriend. Josh and I were a bit apprehensive at first because it was a hot day and we're neurotic about getting sick, but after a stiff Mint Julip and Moscow Mule (ginger beer, lime and rum), we had no fears. Plus each oyster was only $1.25, it was happy hour(Mon-Fri 5-7 & Sat&Sun 2-6)! I wrote down the names of the oysters, but I lost the paper. You'll never remember the names anyway. All I remember is that the big ones were from the West Coast and the little ones were from the East. Or the other way around. Never you mind, all you need to know is that the big ones were funkier. The big ones were fleshier and creamier if you like oysters. Or phlegmier if you don't. The little ones were nice and briny and tasted fresh like the sea. I dug the little ones which goes along with what the New Yorker article mentions. Women like the smaller oysters. That article harped on whether or not people chewed the oyster. One farmer kind of kneaded it with his tongue, while another just bit it once. A chef said he learned as a kid that you had to chew it or else it would go down your gullet alive! Whatever the case, we had four of each oyster and it was the perfect amount. We then shared a nice, but not as interesting as the oysters, mozzarella and salami panini.
Marlow & Sons 81 Broadway, Williamsburg. Call for hours at 718.384.1441.