I have another new favorite restaurant. Surprise! But this one you have to make your reservation weeks in advance, which hasn’t been my style since Minetta Tavern. Not a huge fan of planning my dinners three weeks in advance, so who knows when I’ll actually get to go back. But anyway. It’s La Esquina and it’s Mexican, but not the Mexican you know… we had veal tongue tacos, for one… and they were delicious. The restaurant is located in the basement of a little Mexican cafe and you need that reservation to get downstairs and they are STRICT about it. So make a rez because downstairs it is so cool! I should have taken more pictures. Which, by the way has been the story of my life lately. I forgot my memory card for the second time this week and it was totally frustrating! I have no excuse for La Esquina, though, because as you can see my memory card was there.

Hmm. This week has been weird. Just feeling weird, ya know? But the past two nights I went to outdoor shows and they were lovely. First, The National at the Prospect Park Bandshell and second, The Wailin Jennys at Madison Square Park. Excellent and excellent. And I got to see a lot of people I really like. So life is good. And I’m looking forward to tons more things coming up too. I’ll just have to remember to bring my memory card.

I apologize if you do not like oysters because I’ve been featuring them on City Mitten quite a lot lately. And what am I supposed to do? I work full-time for a seafood restaurant and I happen to be thinking about oysters for most of my day. Not to mention, it’s pretty much the only thing that sounds good all the time. If you’ve never tried them, I’m not going to make any promises, because not everyone likes them, but I think they are refreshing and delicious and if you’d like to try them, I’d love to be the one to take you there.

This is my sister’s friend Kelsey trying her first oyster. I don’t think she was *entirely* sold but I was a moron and only ordered enough for everyone to try two. What was I thinking!? They all taste different!

It was also Sambe’s birthday so she got an extra large pudding (did I mention yet that we were at the Mermaid Inn East Village?).

Love it. We had a super early dinner because 1) we didn’t have a reservation so I knew that was our best bet and 2) we were seeing Next to Normal afterward!

If you haven’t seen Next to Normal yet, I really really suggest that you do. I’ve seen it twice now and I just think it’s fantastic. So get some tix!

In other news, you got lots of my sister Samb this week and you might get more of her next week too because I’m headed to Detroit again this weekend for her real birthday party! I’m so excited to see my family. Who knows what we’ll be up to. :)

I have a new favorite restaurant. Isn’t that how I start a lot of these posts? Well, what can I say? Eating in NYC is nothing but impressive and fun all the time. Except not all of the time. 95% of the time. So here I bring you to my new favorite restaurant in Park Slope: Alchemy. I also bring you my sister, Alexandra, for the upteenth time, but that’s what happens when I have a visitor as fabulous as she. Plus I love her hair. So I’ll keep posting pictures of it.

Anyway, Alchemy. I went there for the first time last week with my friend Mara and had their amazing, amazing shells and cheese. Mara had the burger which was also fabulous since, like me, likes to share. We sat outside in this beautiful backyard and I had just charged my camera and somehow forgotten my memory card! Bummer!

So now you are getting indoor pictures instead, because it was hot as Hades. It was also brunch.

Yogurt, granola, and fruit for Val.

Eggs Bennie for me. And of course Alexandra had their brilliant burger. You know, I really like Park Slope. And I really like Alchemy.

Somewhere along the way I got the idea in my head that I needed to try the Noho Star. The pear and walnut salad, specifically, when ended up being only okay. The best salad in NYC is still the all chopped up from Cowgirl. Oh, Cowgirl. But I took the girls to Noho Star when they were here so we could check it out, and my little sis ended up getting a BLT sandwich with a fried egg and avocado on it, which kind of shocked me. She’s not into food like I am and I thought for sure the fried egg would turn her off. But it didn’t, so apparently what I should have done was take her to Crifdogs for a real fried egg experience (on a hot dog)!

Anyway. The other girlies got chicken sandwiches or something. More exciting is that afterward we went to karaoke at Japas 38 and after that we went on a boat.

The boat ride was interesting. We danced a bit and then snuck our way up to the front of the boat for the prime spot when we pulled up to the Statue of Liberty, which was cool. And then we got very tired.

Have you ever had Ethopian food? Do you like it? Does it make you want to visit Ethiopia? Does it make you feel one with the earth? I think I’d rather use a fork.

We went to Bati this week for my friend Laura’s birthday. She loves Ethiopian food so 11 of us went to her fave spot in Fort Greene. We chose  meat and vegetarian combination platters. I was kind of stuck in my spot so I had Laura take this picture of the veggie combo for me:

The meat combo looked sort of the same. Different piles of sloppy stuff in all kinds of colors and consistencies. Underneath everything is a strange sort of rubbery bread that you tear off and use to scoop up the veggies or meat. Some things were really spicy. We all drank a lot of water.

I love group dining. We had some hilarious conversation which I will spare you of here. But I don’t know, I don’t really get the food. Everyone was talking about how great it was and how “satisfying” it was but at the end of the meal, all I wanted was a hamburger! I’m glad I tried it and it is fun and I’d happily go again… but only if it’s Laura’s birthday. :)

Seeing as how, I am City Mitten… when I go to certain places, I make people do certain things. When I was in D.C. this past weekend, my one goal was to go to Ray’s Hell Burger in Arlington, VA. There were a few grumbles from a few friends who wanted to keep napping (seriously) but I eventually got the clan together and forced our way over to Ray’s. I mean Obama ate there recently.

Here is a photo of two of my homeboys waiting in line to go inside Ray’s Hell Burger. The significance is this: Ray’s looks like absolutely nothing. I mean look at the sign, zero branding. This is a place you would just walk by if you hadn’t somehow heard of it or if you didn’t see the line. And you wait outside in line before they let you inside to wait in another line to place your order. But it works. Very efficient.

See inside: nothing much either. There is a fancy map to the right with push pins for where their guests are from. Once you order and pay, the cashier hands you a number card. In a few minutes, food runners come out shouting the numbers and you’d better respond fast cause they don’t have all day.

The burgers are huge:

I got mine Au Poivre, which I had no idea what that meant, but several @foursquare users recommended it and it was DANG GREAT and a little spicy! Kind of perfect! They have tons and tons of options, but I typically like my burgers old school: lettuce, tomato, pickle. And ketchup. That’s all you need, baby. Boy, were these burgers good. And juicy, which also means messy. Which also means I got burger juice everywhere. It somehow ended up on my left hip and my friend P was like, “Um, how did it get there?” because my hands had been above the table the whole time. Does that mean juice was dripping from my arm? Maybe? Does that sound disgusting? A little. Was it? Not at all.

Here’s P with his vanilla milkshake (and new tattoo, that you can sort of see on his wrist):

And here’s three more of my fabulous friends enjoying the fury of a Ray’s Hell Burger:

Now I know they were happy I got them out of bed.

Oysters and ice cream. An interesting combination, no? Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do. In Detroit last weekend, I went to a new restaurant called South Bar in downtown Birmingham and we ordered some Blue Point oysters. I’m becoming a huge oyster fan but I thought it was strange when they were served on salt, not ice. Not a fan.

South Bar is a strange place, anyway. My friend Abby told me it was like a restaurant in Miami and she was not kidding. It had the plush couches on an outdoor deck and seemed very… Miami. Or Meatpacking District. Is this the way downtown Birmingham is heading?

This is the Birmingham I prefer:

Dairy Mat! I’ve been walking (or driving) up to this place from my home since I moved there when I was two. And it’s still exactly the same. And you can get a face on your ice cream cone:

Or a flurry:

Now excuse me while I hunt down the nearest Mister Softee truck.

Oh, Detroit. Sometimes I feel like I know so little about you! I went to Hamtramck this weekend for some real Polish food. I’m 50% Polish and it was my first time there. Polish Village Cafe is in the basement of a house. In Detroit. AWESOME!

It was all Lynn’s idea and Lynn just got 50 City Mitten points (this is a new thing here, haha).

Polish food is pretty heavy. It’s meaty and potatoey and goulashy and all that so these pictures do not appropriate how delicious it actually is. I had leftovers that my friend Nora helped me eat and she would tell you it’s delicious, too.

Here’s the dill soup, like dill pickle. Really good.

And the City Chicken with mashed potatoes, beans, and kraut – their most popular dish.

I had the Hungarian Pancake with pork and vegetable goulash. It looked like a bunch of slop but it was SO GOOD. I would get it again. And here’s Michelli, sitting at the bar, because I made her for a photo op.

Polish Village Cafe is so old-timey and so sweet. It’s real Polish food served by real Polish people in a basement. And it’s cheap!

Next up on City Mitten: a real Polish bakery! :)

I love eggs benedict. I even like them when they are called “bagels benedict” because they are served on a bagel. I love homefries. I love brunch.

For any of those who know me in real life, or have been reading this here blog for a substantial period of time, you should know that I spend wayy too much time in an area called Long Island City, in Queens, because my two best boys live there. This past weekend was my third weekend in a row going there and sometimes I think if I was smart, I’d just move there, but I’m a Brooklyn girl at heart and home. Not to mention I’d like to keep Grand Central Station out of my daily commute.

Anyway, this is Kaitlin. She’s awesome and she’s lucky enough to live in P’s building. She also took us to brunch on at this new restaurant called Breadbox, which used to be an auto garage and is still smack dab next to a gas station:

P got salmon benedict and also this oatmeal which he says he put syrup on.

Really?

Breadbox was fun. The service was off. The food was good. I’d give it another shot except that for how much time I’ve spent in LIC, it’s amazing how little of their restaurants I’ve actually been to. Next!

Surprisingly enough, I have never written about Posto, one of my first favorite restaurants when I moved to the city. It was a block away from my first apartment (in StuyTown) and I have been there with many a’friend. And it’s definitely the first place I think of when I want a good Greek salad. In Detroit, you can get a Greek Salad at what seems like pretty much any restaurant in the city. When I moved here, I remember being shocked at how hard it was to find one on a menu (besides in Astoria, but how often do I feel like trekking out there?). So this one is pretty good. Lots of vegetables and a heap of feta, paired with olive oil and vinegar. I could eat in any day of the week. Oh, and they also have pizza:

We ordered two individual pizzas; one meatlovers (which I hate ordering, the word “meatlover” sounds so gross) and one fromaggio bianco (fresh ricotta, fresh mozzarella, spinach, and basil). I actually think my favorite here is the Meatball Classic, but we didn’t get it this time around. We did, however, get some bread pudding for dessert:

Cause that was necessary. The butter/sugar combination on the plate turned into a glaze that you could pick up with your fork. It’s all a little much. But it’s also a little good. And Posto is cute! You sit outside on picnic tables, which we snagged no problem, eating that day an old person’s dinner of 5 p.m. Score!