What about green eggs?

This is funny and creepy! I wonder what they taste like?

More closings

There's a scene in the movie, Prime, where Meryl Streep is eating a pastrami sandwich because apparently that's what meddling Jewish mothers do. While I've since forgotten the rest of the film, I can't shake the craving for a pastrami sandwich. But I won't be getting one at the Second Avenue Deli anymore because it's gone. Another victim of expensive Manhattan rent bites the dust.
You probably know by now that the owners owed back taxes and the rent skyrocketed, so the restaurant shut down last week. I had no idea they would take everything down so quickly. There's nothing there except the stars on the sidewalk and a dirty imprint where the sign used to be. The clock is gone, the blue awning, the guy sitting outside the deli in the wheelchair that used to get free soup...
My hands were freezing and I almost dropped my camera, so I threw up my hands and gave up.

Polish GI

After brunch with Josh on Saturday, I was supposed to go to a lecture at the gym about craving sweets. But as I passed the window of Polish GI (1st Ave. bw 6th & 7th), I noticed this lovely loaf of poppyseed cake. I was dying to find out if the buttercream was lemon or vanilla. So I skipped the lecture and got a nice slice for just $1.50. I started getting the shakes because it was taking so long to get a good shot of the cake. That's why the picture is blurry. The cake was perfect, each bite was fluffy and had a bit of crunch from the seeds. The cream was vanilla and studded with almonds on the top. This would be a perfect cake for a tea or if you were meeting a friend for coffee somewhere that didn't serve dessert. Check it out!

Chinese pizza heaven

I've been a working girl since age 14. When we lived Roanoke, my sister waited tables at Hunan Chinese Restaurant. The owner's of the restaurant, the Ku's, needed someone that could pack the take out orders. Lena suggested me. Child labor laws be damned! I got paid in cash on the Fridays and Saturdays that I worked. Between babysitting and Hunan, I was the richest I've ever been in my life. I learned a lot from the job too: how to fold napkins into a fan; busboys don't play guitar with long pinky fingernails; one should wear her long black hair in a ponytail when packing white rice in every meal, scallops are often made of shark, all kinds of things. But one of my favorite dishes I learned about from the restaurant, was what the cooks called Chinese pizza. The scallion pancakes weren't on the menu, but the salty fried dough flavored with bits of scallion were a special treat that I got excited about when I saw the dough resting in the refrigerator. I've eaten a lot of different scallion pancakes in my time and they were all fine. You almost can't go wrong with fried dough. It's just that Hunan's will always be the holy grail. However, Li Chuen's pancake is pretty damn close to manna from heaven. (By the way, are there any records of what manna tastes like?) Located at 17 Catherine St. just off of the East Broadway stop on the F, the tiny storefront is dusty with flour and stuffed with boxes and bags of scallion pancakes and other treats they sell to wholesale.
The first time I went into the shop, the owner's kid was helping out at the register and all of the women molding steamed buns were laughing at his attempts to cut 3 stacked pancakes with a large cleaver. HIs mother swiftly took over but it was he who helped this gaijin with the contents of what looked like an empanada. Inside this Chinese turnover, a yummy mix of scrambled eggs, scallion and rice noodles added a punch of flavor and protein. Plenty of dumpling houses carry this treat, but this one was nice because it wasn't as greasy as others I've had. I certainly can't say that the scallion pancake isn't greasy because it is, but in the best possible way. It's actually the perfect treat when you only have $1.25 and you have pms.
PS. The name on the awning and the name on their product label is spelled different. Go figure.

I miss Santa

This pizza chain, Abitino's replaced everyone's favorite down and dirty West Village slice, Joe's, on the corner of Carmine and Bleeker. I once saw a celebrity there, but I can't remember if it was Tobey Maguire, or Lukas Haas or Elijah Wood. That Joe's closed in late 2004, and I wasn't that upset because the Joe's a few stores down is still open and at the time, my Joe's (different owners) in the East Village was still open. Mica and I always planned to do a segment asking people why they went to the corner Joe's instead of the one at 7 Carmine, just another regret.
Anyway, another one of these Abitino's opened on 2nd Avenue (and E.10th St.? ) in December in the old space that was tea house turned pan Asian restaurant no one ever went to. I actually sampled a slice one night before we went to see "Brokeback Mountain." The plain slice wasn't terrible. I'm not saying it was fabulous, just that it was fine. The strange thing about this place is that it hasn't been open since. I looked the place up online and they list "strategic partners" like Coke and Ferraro Foods. There's also some story about a family opening their first store in Brooklyn in 1974, blah blah blah, but I'm not buying it. I think Sbarro's from the mall just changed their name to Abitino's. It's easier to pronounce. And there's another pizza place opening on Second Ave., a place called Singa's Famous Pizza. I did the online thing and it's not Indian fusion pizza. It's another localish franchise. There's a bunch in Queens. I guess I'll try it, but I'm not going to like it.
I miss Joe's near my place. I wish I had a picture to show you. Yet another regret. His huge belly was really something impressive. It was like Santa, but instead of a bowl full of jelly, it was probably full of pizza.