I haven’t been keeping up with blogging, but don’t worry, I have lots of restaurants to write about! Last Wednesday, Chris and I headed to Dash Dogs on Essex and Rivington for some hot dogs, sliders, and sodas. (Do you see how I’m trying to eat healthier?!) Dash Dogs opened a couple of years ago as a “fun project” for the owners, who own a seafood restaurant down the street. They sold hot dogs with different toppings and had lots of customers after the bars closed (who doesn’t like to eat junk food when they’re drunk?!) and started adding in sliders (bite-sized burgers) after eight months or so because they were sick of eating hot dogs all the time (I don’t blame them). The restaurant is bite-sized itself with only a couple of stools and some standing room, but the place is very cute…and how long can you stay somewhere eating a hot dog, anyway? The toppings are all listed on the mirror:
We both ordered the dash combo, which is one slider, one hot dog, and a soda, for $7 (you can pick any toppings, too). I picked the Infamous Stoned, which came with chili, cheese wiz, and crushed fritos.
and a slider with avocado:
The hot dog was pretty delicious, especially with the cheez wiz and fritos (what a nice touch). I can imagine how long the lines get after the bars close because this would definitely hit the spot. The slider was okay, but nothing special (maybe I picked the wrong topping. Next time I’d try something with the garlic aioli). Chris’ hot dog just had sauerkraut (nothing fancy) and his slider had cheese and sauteed onions:
Overall, I think the place was really cute and the owners were all really nice and talkative, and I think I’d stop by again when I’m on the LES. Go check it out!
By
grace.g.yang
路 June 11, 2007
Under:
Brunch,
Chelsea 
On Sunday, I headed over to Sarabeth’s in the Chelsea Markets. Sarabeth’s are located all over the city, but since we were looking for something quick, so we decided against trekking up to the UWS. They’re known for their preserved fruit spreads (not jam, mind you):
and the Sarabeth’s we went to in the Chelsea Markets is also a bakery:
The menu at Chelsea Markets is limited (their kitchen isn’t as large and most people just go for coffee), but they did have french toast, topped with bananas and raisins:
The french toast was actually not bad, although it’s probably not as good as the ones available at the Sarabeth restaurants. I didn’t really care for the raisins, but the bananas and fruit spread were a good combo. The fruit spread was extra sweet and I think orange with apricots.
I ordered the pumpkin waffles with a sour cream topping:
These are supposed to be really special from Sarabeth’s, but I couldn’t have been more disappointed. 馃檨 They weren’t fresh (I’m guessing they made waffles in the morning and let them sit idle while they made other baked goods because my waffles were REALLY soggy before I even put any syrup on them). Also, the waffles were lukewarm at best…I mean, couldn’t you have stuck them under a heat lamp for a couple of minutes so I didn’t have to eat cold waffles??! The pumpkin taste was not that special and the pumpkin seeds on top of the raisins on top of the soggy waffles just didn’t do it for me. Chris, on the other hand, enjoyed both dishes. I think we’re going to try one of the places on the upper west side one of these days.
On Saturday, Chris and I went to Madison Square Park for Shake Shack, but then I remembered about the 5th Annual Big Apple BBQ Block Party, an event I wanted to go to because I love pulled pork and bbq. We figured we’d check it out and I’d get a pulled pork sandwich and if we were still hungry, Shake Shack was right there, meaning it was a win-win situation for our tummies. Here’s the rundown of the vendors that were at the event:
You could buy a $100 bubba pass, which allowed you to skip the lines and purchase $100 worth of food, but we didn’t have enough room in our stomachs for all that BBQ (well, I could’ve done it, I think). We decided to stay away from NY BBQ since we live in the city and ended up picking two places – our first stop was Salt Lick BBQ:
Based out of Driftwood, Texas, Salt Lick BBQ specializes in beef brisket, sausage, and cole slaw:
The beef brisket was actually a little tough, but the sausage was so delicious. I don’t eat beef brisket that often (since I have no idea how to cook brisket), but I know that brisket shouldn’t be as tough as Salt Lick’s. The sausage was really juicy and fatty…which seems to be the general verdict for all the foods I eat. Also, the coleslaw wasn’t overpowered by mayo, which made it edible (I hate cabbage).
Chris and I decided to be efficient and eat in line while we waited for our pulled pork sandwiches (the lines were like amusement park rides lines). We went with Big Bob Gibson BBQ from Decatur, Alabama:
While we stood in line, we watched the pitmaster pull the pork shoulder from the grill – he took out the bones and the obvious pieces of fat, then he pushed the shoulder forward and all of the meat just fell apart:
And our pulled pork shoulder sandwiches with their award winning bbq sauce:
The meat was really fresh (since the pitmaster pulled out the shoulder that we actually ate), but the sauce, in my opinion, didn’t have enough vinegar mixed into it. Overall, I liked the pulled pork shoulder from Big Bob Gibson’s BBQ more than the brisket and sausage from Salt Lick BBQ. The weather was great and there were a lot of different types of people there to celebrate bbq, including this fella:
Last night, Chris and I ventured into uncharted territory (Brooklyn) to have dinner at Peter Luger Steak House:
I made reservations a month ago (no joke – I called them in early May asking when their first available Wednesday was and June 6th was our lucky day) and we were definitely excited about having big juicy steaks. To give you a little background about Peter Luger’s, they started in 1887 and only select cattle that are considered PRIME by the USDA. Once they have the PRIME meat, they look at the color, fat, and conformation of bones. According to Peter Luger’s website, the color must be pink with an even conformation of fat dispersed throughout. This is referred to as marbling. If selected, the loin is brought back to the premises of the restaurant where the dry aging process begins. The loins of beef sit in a temperature controlled cooler where air circulates around them. After the meat is properly aged, it is butchered and brought up to the kitchen for broiling. Whew! That is a lot of work for a piece of meat!
We were promptly escorted to our seats for our 7:45 reservation and started munching on rolls:
They had actual pieces of onion in their bread! Another shot of our expertly arranged rolls:
I usually really dislike onion bread/bagels/onions in general, but this bread was tolerable because the onions weren’t too pungent, but still had a little flavor. The butter that came with the rolls was also really creamy and tasty. Okay, onto the food we actually paid for…
Since we had a month to prepare for our glorious night of steak, I asked for suggestions on what to order from some Peter Luger regulars. Out of all the people I spoke with (some had never even been to the steak house), everyone said that I absolutely HAD to try their bacon, so that was the first thing we ordered:
Do you see how much fat is on that bacon? I dove right in and it was incredibly juicy and fatty (making it a great piece of bacon). Chris, on the other hand, is health-conscious and picked off the pieces of meat (initially). After a while, he basically just dove into the fat. Even though he winced at the idea of the fat clogging his arteries, he agreed that it was definitely a good piece of bacon.
We also ordered the steak for two since my friend said it was a better deal than each person ordering their own steak:
The steak was definitely one of the biggest pieces of meat I’ve ever seen (a close second would be the 22 oz porterhouse I had at Shula’s in Orlando). The steak was one tasty piece-o-meat. It was juicy, tender, marbled, and had a great crust on top. A close-up of my plate:
In a previous entry, I mentioned that we purchased some Peter Luger Steak Sauce to put on our steak and that I thought it tasted like over-priced cocktail sauce that went better with shrimp than steak. I still think it tastes like cocktail sauce, but surprisingly, it paired really well with the steak from Peter Luger. One thing that surprised me about the steak was that I thought it was slightly plain on its own. I usually don’t use A-1 or anything with steak (I think it ruins the flavor) but for some reason, I couldn’t eat the steak without the steak sauce.
We ordered creamed spinach as our first side dish:
If you end up going there, I would pass on the creamed spinach. It’s a little too salty and it loses some of the spinach flavor. Plus, there’s so much steak that you don’t even need to order sides!
Our second side dish was French fried potatoes (a fancy way of saying french fries):
Another side dish I’d pass on. The fries weren’t crispy enough and they tasted slightly stale. Plus, they didn’t offer ketchup and we didn’t want to offend them by asking for it since we had so much Peter Luger sauce. A picture of me and Chris before we started on our eating adventure:
When we were almost done with our meal, I looked outside (just randomly) and saw John Turturro! He was very nicely dressed (I think he even had a scarf on?) and was having dinner with friends.
EDIT:
Chris and I went back for their burgers and they are pretty amazing:
Thank you to everyone that wished me a happy birthday through e-mail, phone calls, facebook, etc. 馃檪 I spent my birthday doing work (wow…this is what it’s like to be out of school!) and David Li took me out for cupcakes at Crumbs in the midafternoon. We shared a red velvet cupcake with cream cheese frosting in Bryant Park:
After work, I headed to Agave, a Southwestern restaurant in the West Village. It was a really beautiful day and Chris and I ate outside, taking advantage of the cool breeze. We ordered fresh guacamole, a grilled Adobo Chicken quesadilla, and Agave’s Kobe Beef Burger:
The burger had that awesome grill taste that reminds you of the summer and barbeque’s and the meat was really tender. The fries, on the other hand, weren’t that great – the fries probably needed to be submerged in the oil longer and the seasoned salt didn’t taste great (although I’m usually a big fan of seasoned fries).
After Agave, we headed to Pinkberry for the BEST birthday surprise ever. The Chelsea Pinkberry has the best customer service and they always give us the right amount of Pinkberry (the Pinkberry in Ktown makes the medium serving incredibly hollow). It was the perfect birthday celebration 馃檪
The next day (May 30th), was Chris’ birthday and I surprised him with a birthday cake from Fay Da Bakery:
On top of the awesome Chinese styled cakes they have, Fay Da also has incredibly delicious pork buns (too bad they’re so bad for you!). They also make good egg tarts and pastries in general.
Both of our birthdays were great – after eating Fay Da’s cake, we went to Corner Bistro for burgers – YEAH that’s what you get to do when you’re 23!
