I’m three weeks behind, so let’s get right down to it!
Tuesday: Lunch at Food For All Nations: I went back to my old standby, the Dante’s Inferno. The sandwich starts out on an Italian flat bread with pepperoni, salami, deli mustard, onions, and hot peppers. I add sauerkraut and horseradish. This is probably the spiciest sandwich you can get in Charlottesville without having to add your own hot sauce. It is absolutely delicious, and oh so spicy. In addition, I got the black bean salad, which is a perfect way to put out the fire of the sandwich. They also had tons of samples out, which made for excellent appetizers.
Tuesday: Dinner at El Tepeyac: I can’t believe I’d gone 14 weeks without eating at El Tepeyac. In my opinion, it is the best Mexican restaurant in town. It did an excellent job of nestling into the hole in my heart left by El Girasol closing. Michael and I had dinner there, and I ordered some sort of steak entree. Unfortunately it was so long ago, I don’t remember. It doesn’t really matter, though, because I don’t think you can go wrong here. Funny story, the first time I came here, I placed my order and that meal was one of the tastiest things I’ve ever had in my life. The second and third time i came back (which was within a week), I ordered the same thing, and received a different dish than the first time. My order was misunderstood the first time. Now, I go back and just order different things off the menu in the hopes that I’ll stumble across whatever I ordered that first night. It hasn’t happened yet.
Wednesday: Late Night Snack at Gray’s Papaya: And now begins the NYC trip. As soon as I arrive, my friend and I head out to a bar, the Dead Poet, and drink until it closes. We stumble out onto the street and decide to go to Gray’s Papaya, a supposed New York legend. They sell fresh juice and hot dogs. I had two or three hot dogs with onions, kraut, and mustard, and I only wish they had hot sauce to put on them, too.
Thursday: Peter Luger Steakhouse: This was our super expensive meal for the trip. In fact, it is probably the only time I’ve ever spent $70 on a meal. Peter Luger has been in business for over 100 years and has been rated NYC’s number one steakhouse for twenty-two years in a row. Needless to say, expectations were high. Unfortunately, they were not met. There were five of us, and we ordered the Tomato and Onion Salad, Creamed Spinach, Hash Browns, Porterhouse for Four, and Lamp Chops. I insisted on the Tomato and Onion Salad because I’d read so many things about it on various reviews on the net. What the reviews failed to mention is that the Tomato and Onion Salad consists of sliced tomatoes and sliced onions. That’s it… a row of 3/4” thick cut tomatoes and onions. As for dressing, they said to use the house steak sauce (which tastes like cocktail sauce). Next was the steak. An enormous platter of sizzling porterhouse drowning in butter. It was pre-cut, which I don’t understand the appeal of at all, as it just means the meat has more chance to dry out. The steak was good, but only due to the quality of the meat. They use USDA Prime meat, and it shows in the texture of the meat. There was absolutely nothing special about its preparation though. As soon as I find a source of USDA Prime meat locally, I’m buying some, just so I can prove to myself that there was nothing special about Peter Luger. As for the rest of the food, the Lamb Chops were double thick, which made them super juicy. The sides were nothing special. In a blind taste test, I don’t think I could tell them apart from Boston Market. I definitely ate my fill, but walking out, I felt totally ripped off. All the people I was with were from Alabama, and they felt the same way. We decided that it has to be a northern/southern thing, because plenty of steakhouses in the south can get you a comparable steak and superior sides for a third of the price. Despite all that, I’m still kind glad we went just so I know now.
Friday: Lunch at Monster Sushi: Back when I worked for ThoughtWorks, I had a two month stint in NYC. On Fridays we went to lunch at Monster Sushi. I’d say it’s a middle of the road sushi restaurant: I’m not scared to eat there, but it’s not upscale at all. I don’t even remember what all we ordered, but it was delicious. I think there’s a few locations in NYC, and if you’re looking for some casual sushi, I don’t think you’ll find much better.
Friday: Dinner at John’s Pizzeria: The stipulations I provided for this meal was that I wanted to order a whole pizza and have a pitcher of beer. My NYC resident friend brought us to John’s Pizzeria on Bleeker Street. They don’t stock jalapenos on the menu, but they said I could go buy some at the store next door, and they’d put them on, which was pretty cool. The pizza came out with a light, flaky, crispy crust, heavy on the sauce, light on the cheese, with tons of toppings. It’s pretty much like they read my mind and determined exactly how I like my pizza. I’ll definitely be going back on my next NYC trip.
Saturday: Brunch at Fairway Cafe: We rolled out of bed and made our way up a few blocks to Fairway Cafe. All I remember is that I got the crab cakes and I was unimpressed. I need to stop ordering crab cakes anywhere except The Red Bar in Grayton Beach, FL, because I’m only ever disappointed.
Saturday: Dinner at Wondee Siam II: We went looking for a Thai restaurant and found this one on 9th Ave near Times Square. I’m sure there are 23,123 Thai restaurants just like this one all over NYC. The food was decent, but nothing spectacular.
Sunday: Dinner at Negril: A friend of a friend suggested this Caribbean restaurant in the Village, so we headed down there. I saw some tasty looking fish on the menu, didn’t think about it, and ordered it. I got a whole fried fish and spent the rest of the evening delicately picking it apart trying not to swallow bones. I will say that this place had one of the best Mojitos I’ve ever had. They also had a Guava Mojito which now sits in my top five most refreshing alcoholic beverages ever.
Two more weeks to go. Damn, I want to go to bed. So much for the blogalanche.
