City Mitten is BACK! No, I was not stolen in Jamaica and yes, I have lots of pictures to share from that trip… but right now we’re going to focus on the fact that I went to Fatty ‘Cue for dinner last night. Does this picture gross you out? It should not because it is delicious. Fatty ‘Cue is interesting and if you’re wondering if the food is fatty too, well the answer is that some of it, well, YES. We had heritage pork ribs (eaten before this photo) as well as ‘cue corlander bacon (also not in this photo and better than the pork ribs) and we also had (in this photo) broccoli salad (served cold and delicious), noodles and some sort of stew with crab. Pretty good! I must say, for all the hype I’ve heard about Fatty ‘Cue, I was imagining the restaurant to be much larger than it was. It was very small. The bar was cute. There was an alcohol bottle in the shape of a gun that we had never seen before. Staff great, food great and definitely had the Fatty Crab spin on it.

So there’s that. The next place I need to get to in Williamsburg is Fette Sau. SERIOUSLY. I think all of my dreams will come true there.

And that is all. We did not get any pie at Fatty ‘Cue because we couldn’t finish all our food as it was. Bummersville.

Happy Friday, by the way. I am sorry for being the WORST blogger ever but that’s what happens when you spend your birthday in Jamaica (Hey, mon) and then you return to a visitor by the name of My Little Sister – who, in fact, may be the best visitor I’ve had to date as we did things but we also just chilled. So yes.

Williamsburg, you are an interesting, interesting place. My (internet) friend Jim told me I wasn’t allowed to take pictures at ‘Cue cause I was there on a date, but do you know what happens after two drinks? Nobody cares! So I snapped what you see above. Hello, hello, and welcome back to City Mitten.

Well hello there, cake balls. Yep, that’s what they are. White cake in chocolate with sprinkles. They look a little like this:

Missy and I had sushi for dinner last week in Williamsburg and we wanted a little something sweet afterward. We went into a Louie G’s thinking we’d get ice cream but when the man behind the counter asked, “Ice cream or cake, ladies?” we had to ask what our cake options were. And one of them were cake balls! Three for $5. Sold! I wish they were chocolate on the inside instead of vanilla, but they were a perfect little snack with some milk. And perfectly cute too!

Also the main guy, Joe Glaser, is a contestant on Next Great Baker on TLC. Missy asked him for spoilers but he couldn’t give us any. He was cool. Good luck, Joe!

Don’t you wish you could have brunch every day? That would be so nice. This particular brunch was at Roebling Tea Room in Williamsburg and I will always support and suggest Roebling Tea Room because it’s typically fantastic – especially their mac and cheese. And it’s really cute.

In other news, went to the Yankees/Tigers game last night. Tigers lost, which was sad. But I still like the Yankees. We had some rowdy, rowdy boys behind us that were a little too much to handle, the worst cuban sandwich I’ve had in my life and some amazing garlic fries, which I had never even thought of trying. Delicious! But you’ll have to wait for Kelly Purkey to see any pictures, I shockingly enough did not bring my camera! Oh and we took the Water Taxi there, which means we traveled by boat to the Bronx from downtown Manhattan. It was lovely. Perfect day for a ball game. But now I am le tired. Always worth it though. Always, always.

Missy and I made it back to DuMont! And she was actually able to stay this time! Fabulouso. I think DuMont is becoming one of my favorite restaurants in Brooklyn. I mean I LOVE their outdoor patio. So much fun. If I lived in Williamsburg, I would be there every weekend. And then some.

Here is the famous DuMont burger. People swear by it. It’s good, but I’m still partial to the Shake Shack and Paul’s. Mmm. I did enjoy that it came with a plethora of pickles. Hamburger dills already on the burger and regular dill slices on the side. Good to know DuMont respects the pickle. As you should.  I would probably recommend DuMont’s mac and cheese over their burger as I think it may be the best in NYC (or at least top three) but it’s not available on their brunch menu, which is when Missy and I went. They do give you these for brunch:

Mini donuts! They were warm, too! Cuteness.

Also I would highly recommend Missy’s sandwich:

There were artichokes and feta and that’s all you need to know.

My goodness. What is appropriate to talk about on City Mitten? Well first I can tell you that this is Missy and you should know that by now. We met up Friday after work to shoot this fab video for Drinking Brooklyn.

It’s freaking hilarious. Things I learned from this video: 1) Always look at the camera even if you have no idea what you’re saying. 2) I need a hair cut. So yes, apparently I get really nervous if you throw a camera in my face, as witnessed by the fact that I informed the nation that I tend to go for guys who are “kinda scruffy” and I “check them out.” I don’t use the acronym “LOL” but I feel like it would be valid here. So we were at Rosemary’s Greenpoint Tavern and you can read more about our experience here. That bar is just so funny to me, which is why I laugh.

ANYWAY the top picture is Missy with me at DuMont which is going to be one of my top favorite places to eat in NYC. It’s awesome! Outdoor garden, fabulous food, beautiful ambiance! Unfortunately Missy was not my dining companion, she was leaving and when she told the girl who seated us I was meeting a guy, the girl asked me for his name and I was like, “Uh…” cause it took me a few seconds to remember. Awesome!

The best part, which is another reason I love DuMont so much now, is later after the guy arrived and we had dined, I was walking back from the bathroom and the girl tapped me on the arm and said, “So how’s Bob? Everything going okay?” We shared a laugh. And his name was not really Bob, but I figured I’d protect his innocence because “Bob” was kind of a dud. Ha!

The only other picture I will post from DuMont is this one:

Beautiful, beautiful white Sangria, with lots of berries. I loved it. And if you’re curious, “Bob” got the burger because I made him (not even kidding) and I got the mac and cheese because it’s famous (rightly so) and we also got the chocolate cake in the end to split, which typically comes with peppermint ice cream but we substituted with mascarpone (I hate peppermint). It was delicious! Anyway, DuMont deserves a real post after this one, perhaps I will be able to go back with Missy one day, maybe even for brunch this weekend when my homegirl Nora is here. Yeah, I dig it.

Uh oh… this is my third post in a row that involves drinking. What does that say about me? Haha. Well, at least it’s Friday. :)

This week I went to the Radegast Hall & Biergarten in Williamsburg. It’s a pretty big beergarden, and one of the few in NYC. A friend of mine was having a guys-only birthday shindig and decided to invite the girlies last minute, and they didn’t have to tell us twice. Five of us ladies arrived together and a bench packed with probably 15 guys confronted us when we walked in. It was quite the scence.

This is Chris, Lucy and Jessica. That’s not even Jessica’s beer.

And of course I had to invite my Resident Beer Appreciater:

Missy Kayko!

If you’re curious about Radegast, most of the beers have German/Belgium roots (duh, it’s a beergarden afterall). It’s fairly large but it gets crazy packed on the weekends (think bridge and tunnel) but it’s definitely perfect for a weekday. I had the Blanche de Bruxelles Witbier, the lightest beer on tap and you can get them in a liter or half liter. The liters are HUGE! It’s not quite Germany, but I’ll take it. :)

In other news… SO GLAD IT’S FRIDAY! Have a good weekend!

Guess what? I freaking love Oysters.

So here are some really dark ones that I had at Marlow & Sons when I was on another date with Kelly Purkey (whose first and last name sound so good together I pretty much always say the whole thing). We decided next time we might bring boys.

I actually couldn’t remember if I liked oysters or not when I ordered them but once I had one, I remembered the last time I had them at DBGB Kitchen and Bar. And they were good. So I like Oysters. They have $1 oysters at the Mermaid Inn and now that I definitely know I like them, I may be hitting up that deal.

So Marlow & Sons. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There are wayyyy too many good restaurants in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. It pains me.

Marlow & Sons is too cute. I need to go there for a lunch one day or something so you can see how truly beautiful it is. The front part is a general store with all kinds of candy and who knows what else, but it is too cute!

For dinner, Kelly and I each ordered the same thing: risotti with short rib. Mmm hmm.

There was a salad on top, a layer of short rib, followed by a layer of risotto. I would say we were pretty pleased. We were also starving. But I would order it again even if I wasn’t.

Another thing I would order again: the chocolate tart with sea salt.

Whomever came up with the idea of adding sea salt to chocolate is a freaking genius. I tried a Mast Brothers candy bar like that before and almost died. So this chocolate tart was delicious. I do have a question though: what exactly is a tart? I was thinking this would be more pastry-like, not that I wasn’t at all pleased when it came out more like a hard chocolate/caramel pie. The crust was super chocolately and super crumbly and the rest was like two layers of hard chocolate with caramel in between. Pretty good!

Well now I know why everybody and their brother talks about Marlow & Sons. And this is why I go to dinner with Kelly:

And because AS I WAS TYPING THIS, she emailed me a picture she took with her fancypants camera of me and some glorious artwork on our walk back to the subway after dinner:

Williamsburg, What?! I love it.

Would you like some Dr. Pepper ribs? Or how about some bacon mac and cheese?

I’ve decided nobody really cares about the music I go see because no one ever comments when I talk about it. I cannot imagine being a music writer because I do not know how to put sounds into words. At all. I mean how do you convey the experience of a concert through type? Well, I don’t know! So here’s some food to make us all feel better.

It’s from The Brooklyn Star, where I went with Kelly last week. I think we are doing an entire food tour of Williamsburg with the way this is going. Next up is Marlow and Sons.

The first thing you should know about The Brooklyn Star is that it is tiny. From the outside, I thought I was just peering into the bar area, but it was the whole restaurant itself!

There’s a tall table in the middle that I think would be really fun to sit at. It would be like sitting at a friend’s dining room table. The second thing you should know: food here is good. We had biscuits to start and I had the Dr. Pepper ribs and the mac and cheese, which I took home for lunch the next day. I love day old mac and cheese. Kelly got chicken fried steak with mashed potatoes and warm cole slaw. Good, good.

Basically, Kelly and I only go to romantic places together because this would be another great place for a date. And they have Brooklyn root beer!

I had just been reading about The Meatball Shop earlier that day and they have root beer on tap so I was like, “Whaaa? I need that.” This wasn’t tap but I’m sure I’ll be at the Meatball Shop soon.

And there you have it: The Brooklyn Star.

First: this is the jam you need to listen to while you read this post: D.A.N.C.E. by Justice. A lot of times I come onto City Mitten and tell you I’ve found a new favorite thing. Well, you can add this one to the list: Brooklyn Bowl.

Brooklyn Bowl is a new bowling alley in Williamsburg. It’s also a bar. And a restaurant (serving Blue Ribbon food!). And a concert space. It is amazing. It’s huge and the walls are wooden and the classic bowling theme is done well. It’s truly beautiful.

Basically, I’m thinking of having my birthday party here. And if I don’t, then you should. Because it is awesome.

We went to Brooklyn Bowl for the Hot Chip afterparty/dj set. They had a show at the Music Hall of Williamsburg earlier in the evening. Oh, and that’s them djing in that top picture. Hot Chipppppp!

Um, I guess this is the part where I tell you how long we waited outside and how freezing it was. There was a group of nine of us and we waited outside for at least a half hour. We were pretty miserable but we learned our lesson that we will pass on to you: If you’re going to an event/show at Brooklyn Bowl, buy your tickets ahead of time.

Once we finally got in, I was super impressed. Just thought to myself, “Yes, this is Brooklyn. I love you.” I also couldn’t get over the number of good-looking people in attendance. Hello.

We Are Wolves came on and did a live show first and they were a bunch of crazy cats with crazy hats. Totally fun:

They were cool. Oh my goodness I cannot believe how much I was dancing! It helps a lot to have some of your favorite people around, but the overall atmosphere was just fantastic. Big ups to my friends Jodi and Sophia because they had been walking around Manhattan allllll dayyyy and still got down pretty good.

Hot Chip came out probably around 2, with a bunch of their crew dancing on stage. I loved it. The dance floor is huge and everybody was dancing, doing their own crazy thing and it was so much fun! I think the last time I stayed out that late dancing was on a Spring Break trip to Cancun in college. Ha!

Moral of the story: Brooklyn Bowl was definitely the best thing I did this weekend. And yes, I did watch the Superbowl. :)

Have you been to Diner? It’s only the place to be in Williamsburg. It’s a Kullman Diner from the 1920′s and it is sooo cool. I was excited just opening the door.

It’s dim-lit and you feel like people who are people are there with you.

I loved looking at what everyone was wearing: guys in extreme sweaters and girls with giant bows (that was our waitress).

The menu changes, so they write it onto your paper tablecloth as they describe the dishes. It’s legit. I went there with Miss Kelly Purkey and we were both so happy to be there. She ordered steak and I had pork chops and we were both happy. Even happier when we got dessert. Flourless chocolate cake, I think yes!

Very light and fluffy and very delicious. Definitely on my top three in NYC.

The next person who visits me in New York is definitely going with me here. Because it’s awesome.

We walked back to Manhattan over the Williamsburg Bridge, which was a first for both of us and where I got the picture from yesterday. It was so pretty. So here’s another:

Lovely! And my night didn’t even end there.

I met up with my friend Joe and we went to Death & Co for some fancy drinks. Really fancy. My drink had both Absinthe and champagne in it. Just so you know. I love speakeasys and Joe knows them all. He went to a “real” one after Death & Co. and saw Kei$ha. Tik Tok!

A final note: Kelly had her fancy fancy camera with her when we were at Diner and I was sooooo jealous. I need to stop planning trips for awhile and get myself an SLR.

Happy weekend, everyone! I’m going to D.C.! :)