meatloafing

This weekend was a little rough. We rode the Cyclone again and hurt ourselves. Dinner with our good friends at DiFara did little to alleviate the pain.

Meatloafing: i had a bad difara experience
it was sad :/
Slice: wha happen?
Meatloafing: out of cheese
romano or whatever
crumbly
also used sage instead of basil
and the son who sux was working
son w/ really bad posture had night off
and daughter wasn’t there
dom and son got in a tiff
son stormed off, started sweeping
idk

(more…)

As cranes hover in the Williamsburg sky, prices at Dumont Burger have soared even higher. A regular burger now costs $13. What? Dumont Burger, get real. Hold your horses. The condos aren’t filled up yet, the economy is collapsing, and the neighborhood will always need an excellent, moderately priced burger. Don’t you already sell your burgers at a higher price at regular Dumont? And presumably an even higher price at Dressler? [We love both places. —Ed. ] And you guys just opened the takeout place next door. So I’m guessing you’re doing well, and I don’t see how jacking up the prices is really necessary. Respect the customer. But anyway, if you want to sell $13 burgers (formerly $11.50, I believe), allow us to make a few suggestions:

• Add a cup of finely shredded red-cabbage coleslaw to the plate
• Place one or two onion rings atop fries (or next to salad, if that option is chosen)
• Turn up the fucking heat in the winter so we aren’t forced to opt for takeout even thought we planned to eat there, and the drive to my house basically ruined the fries
• Buy some stools with backs
• Put lemon in your water without me having to ask

One of the few convenience stores in downtown Austin [Ben Lim]

Where to Eat: Cheese, Oysters, and (No)odles

Eating during SXSW is a bit tricky. Long lines and crowds can lead to a dinner of Cheez-Its, a granola bar, and a Frosty (mmmm). Fortunately, we arrived in Austin early to attend the interactive—and much less crowded—portion of the fest.

Our first meal was at the hotel TGI Friday’s, where the broccoli-cheddar soup and half a “club sandwich” (it’s served on an untoasted roll) with avocado met our needs. The soup had a robust cheesy flavor and the sandwich was mediocre ingredient-wise, but the combination really hit it. Grade: C+. Radisson Hotel & Suites, 111 E. Cesar Chavez St. → At Roux, a spacious “Cajun bistro” with memorably odd wall art, we sampled stuffed oysters, a peppercorn-crusted ribeye with fixins, and shrimp in brandy cream sauce—one of the best meals of the trip. (Read about the co–best meal in Part 2.) Grade: B. 214 E. 6th St. → The stark, empty, and depressing Mongolian Grille offered possibly the saddest, least appetizing collection of raw ingredients that has ever existed on a buffet line. The noodles, which they confiscated after realizing they weren’t supposed to be set out during lunch, were merely spaghetti and linguini. Around 20 different types of watered-down sauces—green curry, Asian blend, barely-white coconut milk, and so on—rounded out the selections. Grade: F.

Next: Bodegas Don’t Exist (a.k.a. Nodegas) & ATM Tips

(more…)

Meese? Cafe Zaiya, a Midtown lunch destination, sells a formidable array of cute desserts (not to mention cream puffs and fondant au chocolat at its a Beard Papa outpost). Our testers, Elizabeth and Karolina, tried a few of these: mango, raspberry, and chocolate mousse topped with assorted fruit and more chocolate. Here’s what they said. (more…)

Better than a random Midtown deli, worse than Burger Joint. It’s literally a good burger. Lunchboxr has the full report including my post-meal IM review. Here’s an excerpt:

Ben: mollie, please sum up your goodburger experience in a sentence or two.
Mollie: i was hoping for hand-cut fries. the meat itself was cooked as specified (medium-rare), but i had to remove the condiments and salt the patty.

[Lunchboxr]

Showing great promise for all of humanity, Lunchboxr.com has finally launched. Currently Midtown-only, it will soon expand to other New York City neighborhoods. The site will feature an option to input your location. Other plans include implementing weather forecasts to further customize your lunch choice—if it’s raining, you’ll know to order delivery (and from where), or Lunchboxr will suggest restaurants that are close by. Check it out!

• Pretty safe to say that Yum Thai is finally gone. It sucked anyway, but when will a good Thai restaurant open near me? [Midtown Lunch]
• The Pond at Bryant Park is closing tomorrow. Eff u, Fashion Week! Stop by and say hello to our friend Dan as he dismantles his fruits of labor.
• Twins separated at birth met and married. [Reuters, via Brooke] (I’m honestly not sure what I’d do in this situation…you can’t undo what’s already happened, so maybe just stay together? Weird/sad.)
• National Treasure: Book of Secrets sucks ass. Not even a good dumb-movie-on-a-lazy-Saturday choice. Enormous and not overlookable plot holes. Nicolas Cage just gets uglier, and I don’t understand why my beloved Helen Mirren was in this shit?

View Larger Map

• ZOCALO, a gem of a Mexican restaurant in Williamsburg, has reopened after adding a full bar on the lower level and also adding an entire second level. I thought they’d closed and I was sad for a very long time because I love this place. The remodeled interior is pretty weird—they utilized the space in an odd fashion—and makes me not want to eat on the premises, but the food is still really good and so I can get takeout and eat it in front of the television in sweatpants. Recommended dishes: Milanesa de Pollo Torta, Mole Pork Burrito, most stuff. 295 Broadway, 718-388-2161
• Favorite non-fancy grocery store cookie: Keebler Fudge Shoppe Fudge Sticks (Fudge Covered Creme Wafers). They’re very fudgy, very delicious—airy yet substantial wafers filled with a luxurious vanilla creme. (Only recommended if you can limit consumption to five Fudge Sticks per sitting.)

• Tragedy at DiFara last Wednesday: They’re out of artichokes until sometime this week. They were also out of porcini mushrooms, which was troubling but not as heartbreaking as the lack of ‘chokes. We had to order sausage, which was fine, and eggplant, which wasn’t as fine (it was chewy and weird, but luckily half the pie was plain…mmmm). Meatloafing urges you to call DiFara before you make the trip.
• We Went to the Movies: Awhile back, we caught an advanced screening of I’m Not There at the Tribeca Cinemas. Saw some d-list celebs and aggressively blitkrieged the hors d’oeuvres people at the reception and Q&A sesh with Todd Haynes. But my main reason for mentioning the film is that I think you should see it because it is amazing and Cate Blanchett is amazing, but much of the movie confused the hell out of me and I wish I’d done just a bit of research prior to the screening. I think even if you know a decent bit about Bob Dylan’s life, you’re still going to be like “huh” if you don’t know what the filmmaking process involved. Maybe not though; I could be dense.
• Midtown Lunch scoops out the 53rd & 6th daytime cart and its legitimacy. Is it for real? (Who cares, really? The daytime cart tastes delicious and there’s no way I’m going to wait in (on) line for an hour to get a cart dinner.)

It’s that time of the year again. As the temperature drops, we suggest 10 ways to boost your mood* and stay healthy throughout those troublesome winter months. Act now—before you’re too depressed to do anything about it.

(more…)