Restaurant experiment: Shake Shack at Citi Field

Shake Shack

Citi Field, 12301 Roosevelt Avenue

Flushing, NY 11368

http://www.shakeshack.com/

I must say that the Shake Shack at the home of the Mets doesn’t quite replicate the experience of the original Shake Shack.  Though both places, you wait in a long line for your burgers.  Zing!  Here, the wait clocked in at about 35 minutes.  Standard.

I paid around $16 for the double Shackburger and a shake.  Yikes.  Though it’s Major League Baseball, so what can you expect?  I have fond memories of a nearly $10 hot dog from years and years ago. 

I guess this is going to turn into an article on how Shake Shack Flushing is different from Shake Shack Flatiron.  The orders come out much faster (no buzzer doodad), and I couldn’t request onions with the burger though later I realized I should have checked out the condiments stand for possible onion treasures.  The edges of the beef patty were burnt, but the double is definitely substantial and heavy (nixed fries since I’m not too into the crinkle cut).  McRae and I had to sometimes take breaks in between burger bites.

Here’s the new part of the review: the shake.  Since I’d never sipped a Shake Shack shake (say that ten times fast), I was looking forward to the experience.  The Citi Field SS has only vanilla and black and white shakes. the latter being I guess half chocolate and half vanilla.  Do you want to consume a week’s worth of sugar in one cup?  Then the shake is for you!  Wow, that was sweet overload.  I lamented that strawberry shakes were absent from the menu and joked that there were only 1.5 choices since vanilla is part of the black and white.  Maybe I should have ordered vanilla though it could have been just as sweet.  Kora agreed with me regarding the shake sweetness.  At least it wasn’t runny.

Let’s go Mets!

Restaurant experiment: 35

35

35 Lispenard Street between Broadway and Church Street

New York, NY 10013

212-226-8123

http://www.35restaurant.com/

Wandered around Tribeca and ended up here. Not that was was really craving Thai food, but 35 lucked out and was in the right place at the right time.

35 is a strange name for a Thai restaurant. Can’t say I like that. I ordered the lunch special: $8.50 for an entree (chicken/pork/beef) and appetizer. 35 looks all lounge and dark and slinky. The waitress was sweet and polite.

• Thai salad–”Lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, carrot and bean sprouts with light peanut dressing.” This was okay. Lots of peanut dressing. I did dig how the cucumber skins were selectively peeled away to create a striping effect.
• Pad Thai (Thai fried noodle)–”Traditional Thai stir fried noodles with tofu, bean sprouts, scallions, roasted peanuts, and egg.” I guess this didn’t really taste what what I expected/had in mind. The portion was huge, and I could barely clean the plate. Needed more scallions and egg. And I’m kinda used to the main to emerge when I’m done with the appetizer, not while I’m still working on the first course. Sigh.
• Thai iced tea wasn’t on the menu. It was $3.

What I didn’t like was being told that I couldn’t use my plastic because the minimum was $15. Screw that nonsense. I left all secretly huffy.

Restaurant experiment: Genesis Bar & Restaurant

Genesis Bar & Restaurant

1708 Second Avenue between 88th and 89th Streets

New York, NY 10128

212-348-5500

http://www.genesisbar.com/

Steve was having a birthday (as a girl at work declared, May is a month of birthdays), and so Stacy and I joined him and a small group for birthday dinner and drinks.  Genesis has sort of an Irish slant to it; some employees had Irish-ish accents.  The crowd was a little older compared to a lot of bars on the Upper East Side.  There was another birthday party too, dancing at the bar, getting some middle-aged man to dance along which we observed and were pained by.

I ordered the 4 points burger which was “black angus beef topped with three cheese on choice of white or wholewheat toast” ($10).  The whole wheat toast was my selection because at least I could fool myself into thinking I was being healthy, with all that cheese, no way.  If you are a cheese fan like me, this burger is your pal.  The fries were funky though, and I can’t recommend them.  There was some wacko aftertaste, and Stacy posited that the oil hadn’t been changed in a while.  It was almost an orange peel taste.  Ick.

Later I ordered a frozen drink off the drink menu, the pineapple piña colada.  Isn’t that redundant?  Because piña means pineapple, and that would be pineapple pineapple colada.  Anyway, not important.  It could have used a heavier hand with the rum but oh well.

Genesis.  The name reminds me of Phil Collins.  Anyway, a solid safe experience.  A bit noisy with sketchy fries, so be aware.  But you can watch rugby on a flatscreen.  I’ve never seen rugby being played before, so it was actually fascinating.

Many happy returns to Steve!

Restaurant experiment: Lucky’s Famous

Lucky’s Famous

370 West 52nd Street between Ninth and Eighth Avenues

New York, NY 10019

212-247-6717

http://luckysfamous.com/

Lisa and I had dinner time to kill before we were going to a play in The Norman Conquests on Broadway. FYI: if you want the LOLs, The Norman Conquests brings ‘em. We ended up wandering around Ninth Avenue (good old reliable Ninth) in search of a place to get some supper. Passing a bunch of Mexican and Brazilian places, we turned a corner and I asked, “What’s that?” as I pointed to a bright yellow establishment next to Aki Sushi. We approached, and it turned out to be Lucky’s Famous, a burger place. Burgers? Tempting.

Since it was a mild day, the workers had thrown open all the windows, and along with the yellow/orange color scheme, Lucky’s was very cheery and smiley-face-y. Lisa and I were kind of skeptical since there were only two other people inside, but the prices were decent compared to some other places on Ninth. So we went in.

How this place works is that you order at the counter, pay, and they call you when your burger delights are ready to be consumed. I ordered a cheeseburger ($6) with fries ($3). I paid by credit card, and there was a line for tip. I am not very happy when this happens at basically fast food places. Then I feel guilty for leaving it blank, but it’s not a sit-down restaurant. All right, I’ll stop from going on about that.

The burger was fine, if a little on the small side. I was pleased that a generous person loaded a lot of raw white onions onto the burger. And it was well done as I had requested. The fries were crinkle cut which I don’t prefer in general, so they were decent but nothing marvelous. Closer to the last bite of the burger, I began to taste black pepper on my tongue. Lisa had this same issue too. Huh? I was not down with that. Looking at the picture, I’m reminded of Shake Shack. Knockoffs?

Well, I guess if Island Burgers and Shakes is too claustrophobic for you, you could round the corner to Lucky’s Famous. Famous is kind of a stretch. Lucky’s Acceptable?

Restaurant experiment: Tagine Dining Gallery

Tagine Dining Gallery

537 Ninth Avenue between 39th and 40th Streets

New York, NY 10018

212-564-7292

http://www.taginedining.com/

Lily, Afua, and I were going to knock pins down at the bowling alley in Port Authority, but they were being snotty and treated us like second class citizens because we wanted to use a coupon.  And it didn’t help that Goldman Sachs rented out 92% of the lanes for a fundraiser.  Boo, i-bankers.

Nuts to that.  Accepting that bowling was not to be, we strolled over to Hell’s Kitchen and ended up at Tagine Dining Gallery for dinner (Afua’s suggestion).  I wasn’t too pleased that the door was open and smoke was wafting in since some puffers were standing right by the opening.  Boo, smokers.

The atmosphere is welcoming, a blend of family rec room and Morocco.  Our waitress, a blonde chick with an Eastern European accent could have been more attentive.  Sweet fruity smells from the hookah at a nearby table drifted over.

The downfall of this place is that the prices are awful.  Can we say overpriced?  $16 for a margarita?  That better be the size of the Empire State Building and potent as hell.  Even speakeasy mixology bars like Pegu Club and Employees Only aren’t that costly.

As I grumble about the price tags, at least the food earned notice.  Afua and I split an appetizer called khobiza which consisted of “spinach, kale and collard greens, sauteed in garlic and lemon.”  It came with warm circular bread and dipping sauces.  Greeny indeed.  This was around $9.25 or so.

I suggested getting the bastilla, “pheasant pie delight. Stewed pheasant in saffron broth topped with almond and cinnamon glaze, enveloped and baked to perfection.”  This set us back approximately $24.  After Blondie set the plate on the table, we were all momentarily confused and though she brought the wrong order out.  A dessert instead of an entree.  Seriously, it was small.  Maybe a little bigger than a bagel.  Okay, not that small, but you get the picture.  While each flaky sweet meaty bite was a delight, Afua and I needed more.  More more more.  Tagine, you a tease.

Restaurant experiment: Eatery

Eatery

798 Ninth Avenue at 53rd Street

New York, NY 10019

212-765-7080

http://www.eaterynyc.com/index.htm

Eatery reminds me a lot of Cafeteria, like its slightly less “cool” (though I like less cool) younger sister. I’m not a cool kid so it all works out. Since it was a Thursday night, Eatery was doing brisk business but no four hour waits or anything like that, though it sounds like that might be the case during weekend brunches.

Mostly I selected Eatery as our pre-rock show destination because of its proximity to the venue. I arrived before Stacy and put my name down on the list even though there was no wait really. The host, a gregarious fellow with a blue labret piercing, was very welcoming.

Stacy showed up, and we were seated. Our waitress wasn’t as rad as the host though. She seemed to be irked when Stacy asked about her Brooklyn Lager which was taking forever. The waitress blamed the bar. Yeah whatever. I did find it funny that the waitress carded the boy next to us. The noise level of Eatery bothered my sensitive ears; some shouting happened.  Or maybe Eatery was just getting my eardrums ready for the show to follow.

The complimentary crispy things were yum. They were served in a dim sum style steamer. Crunchy with a hint of sugar. Very Asian. I like to call it styrofoam since the consistency is just like that. Stacy ordered an appetizer of barbecued duck flatbread since I suggested she should get that over the shrimp spring rolls which also sounded curious, with crazy combinations going on. The flatbread had a hint of spicy, and there were greens on top, so you could pretend to be healthy. And generous amounts of cheese.

I ordered the white cheddar meatloaf ($16.96). This baby came with “tempura onion rings, buttermilk mashed potatoes and white cheddar fondue.” I couldn’t eat all the onion rings though no matter since I’m not even ga-ga over onion rings in general. The meatloaf had crossed the line into too garlicky. Yes, that is possible. I left a tiny portion of that behind on the plate. I’m ashamed. Yet, I stuffed every last dollop of mashed potatoes into my mouth. Those were the bomb. Seasoned perfectly, milky, cheesy. Yes yes yes!

As for Stacy, she selected the mac & jack which was freakin’ incredible. It was so delicious, and I wished I had ordered that instead of the meatloaf. Ordering regret, sigh. The frizzled onions on top were somewhat out of control, but yeah, awesomeness.

I of course mentioned that there was a Drosophila mutant called Frizzled. Nerd.

If you go to Eatery, make sure to order something with a lot of cheese. Because you are bound to be satisfied; it’s an ooey gooey failsafe!

As for the bathrooms, one was out of order so there was a small line to join. Ugh. There is a huge frosted glass wall separating the two bathrooms, so I assume you can see the shadowy shape of another in the other space? At least it wasn’t a clear window.

Properly pleased with supper, Stacy and I set off to partake in the “Take Me Out” band.

Beta banded memories from the corner of my mind

An article titled “Rooted Sorrow” published in the April 27, 2009 issue of Newsweek captured my attention.  Ironically, a piece about memory is being lodged in my memory.  As Kylie Minogue would say, I just can’t get [it] out of my head, so I figured, I will write about that.

The original findings around which the article orbits is from a researcher named Karim Nader, presently at McGill.  His conclusion, presented at the Society for Neuroscience in 2001 I’m guessing, was that long term memories, when retrieved, can be altered before they return to storage, aka reconsolidation. 

This theory suggests that memories are like bedsheets.  You know, when you can’t get them back into the packaging exactly like how they were before they were opened?  I’m trying to come up with a better analogy, but that will do for the time being.

The tragic issue is that Newsweek completely failed to mention Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of the best movies ever.  All right, it’s mentioned in the online photo gallery, but that doesn’t really count because I was reading the paper edition, and it’s still not mentioned in the story.  Shame on Newsweek.  Here’s an article from Forbes on Nader which came out in 2007 and brings up the movie.  Props to Forbes.

Nader’s recent research is focusing on the use of propranolol to treat individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).  When I read about his rat experiments, I was picturing him having a tiny microphone and interviewing the rats on how they felt after trauma.  “So Mr. Sprague, do you feel less upset about recalling me shocking you?  Ms. Dawley, do these memories still bother you?”

As someone with a particularly vivid memory and as someone who has taken a class on memory and as someone who had popped a propranolol or two, I feel as though I am a semi-qualified expert on this matter (or not).

Propranolol, a beta blocker, was developed to help those with high blood pressure.  It works by blocking the beta subtype of adrenergic receptors, thus negating the effects of the hormone epinephrine/adrenaline.  Net results include a slower heartbeat and lowered blood pressure.  Apparently epinephrine works to strengthen emotional memories?  Interesting.  That is why beta blockers are being explored as a viable option, along with painkillers, nausea drugs, and RU-486. 

In these highlighted studies, subjects with PTSD were instructed to write down their trauma in extensive detail, and then for six weeks, these people would pop propranolol before reading the account, with the idea that your body would act calm even though you were reliving a horrible experience.  The results were promising.  I guess it’s hard to really control for these sorts of studies though.  I wonder about using propranolol for years, long term use.  Do these folks have fewer upsetting emotional memories?  Flatter memories?

But hey, anything which can lessen the bad stuff deserves praise.  Though it would be much simpler if lab techs snuck in while you were sleeping and wiped the slate clean.  My brilliant idea is to someday develop a way to excise the unpleasantness, live life, and when ready, have the memory plopped back in if you’d like.  Just like cells frozen in storage.  They’re there if you want ‘em, but they can chill out if you don’t.

References

• http://scienceblogs.com/moleculeoftheday/2009/02/propranolol_adrenalin_armor.php
• http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/beta-blockers/HI00059

Restaurant experiment: Locale

Locale

33-02 34th Avenue at 33rd Street

Astoria, NY 11106

718-729-9080

http://www.localeastoria.com

Woo hoo!  My triumphant return to Astoria.  Too bad it was marked by dreadful rain.  But, if I correctly recall high school English classes, rain/water symbolize rebirth and cleanliness.  Okay, that doesn’t quite fit here.  Cleansing myself from the draggy work week?  Something like that.

Dayna suggested this place which she had been to before but not in quite some time.  Locale is randomly thrown into a more residential area of the neighborhood.  The restaurant is airy and modern, with black and while themes going on, white sheer curtains, silhouettes of people splashed here and there.  The hostess looked like an old roommate of mine.  She took our wet umbrellas for us and ushered us to a corner two top.

The seating is sort of tight, but the place wasn’t as full as it could be or normally would be.  Our waiter came over and recited a long list of specials.  Naturally I forgot most of them, and then I was impressed that the guy could memorize them all.  Hey Locale, that’s a sign your specials are too much.  Print them out or something.

The complimentary bread came with olives in olive oil.  I ordered a farfalle affumicate which was bow tie pasta in a brandy sauce, with peas and smoked salmon.  That dish was $13.95.  Here’s the visual.

Notice all that cheese on top?  Yeah!  I love extra cheese.  The pasta was fine.  Perhaps I should try making this particular dish at home.  Dayna ordered soup, and the bowl was as big as her head.  Her chicken marsala looked appealing as well.  She asked for her food to go along with a slice of lone bread which didn’t get eaten earlier.  The waitress returned and said she had given Dayna extra bread.  How sweet!

Because Mother Nature is a big meanie, it began pouring again as we left Locale.  No matter.  The meal just pumped me up for the rest of the evening (hello, sangria).

Call for abstracts!

Hello friends!

Would you like to write a post?  I would love to paste it in this here blog.  I can’t pay you in shiny ducats, but I uh, uh, I can foist glorious praise upon you.  Or when the weather’s a thousand degrees, I can buy you a Pinkberry.

I do have posts in the pipeline, promise.  I just want to feel what it would be like to be God an editor.