When you walk by Luke’s Lobster, what do you do but stop and have a lobster roll?  After all the hype and positive press lately, I had to have one.

TC and I opted to split one, because we were on our way to get burgers at Brindle Room (review of our experience to come).  This is the lobster roll before they cut it in half for us.

Funny story: as I picked up my half of the lobster roll, a teeny tiny fruit fly flew into it.  I looked at it and debated picking it out, but realized I’d have to contend with getting mayo all over my hands, possibly not getting the fruit fly anyway, and maybe dropping lobster on the sidewalk.  So I ate the darn thing inside my lobster roll.  Nom nom nom- extra protein?

Not too much mayonnaise, and tons of lobster, I was pretty happy with my half.  Very fresh sweet lobster.  Love! 

Yvo says: I enjoyed my half of the lobster roll very much (thanks TC!).  It was an interesting experience standing on the street facing Union Square and eating a lobster roll, trying not to drop it down my front.  Very tasty – if you see the truck, especially with no line as we saw it, you should definitely stop and get one!
recommended

Locations vary; check Twitter for exact details
http://www.lukeslobster.com/nauti

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Post tags: food trucks, lobster rolls, trucks/carts

We decided that to try maximum goodies, we’d split a 3-taco platter and a grinder. 

First was the bulgogi.  Pretty tasty, with just the slightest bit of a kick from the drizzle of sauce on top. 

Spicy pork, which was again very tasty. 

Spicy chicken which I didn’t like as much as the other two, but a matter of personal preference (it was a little too spicy for me). 

We also ordered fries tossed with Old Bay seasoning.  While they were fine – I mean, they were fried properly, and the Big D’s Secret Sauce was good – they were clearly frozen, maybe Ore Ida fries?  Sysco?  And that’s fine, but I can make those at home, so next time, I’d stick to just the tacos and grinders, stuff they actually make themselves.  Though if you really want fries, you could do worse for $2! 

As for the grinder – an “Asian style hoagie sandwich” – I ordered the spicy pork.  It comes topped with pickled veggies, cucumber… sort of like a banh mi, but they are very careful to not call it that – and rightfully so.  People get really angry when you call sandwiches banh mi when they’re not. I’m one of those people. 

I liked how crisp the bread was on the outside, and the pork was juicy and flavorful enough to hold up to the bread.  I wished there were more pickled veggies, making their taste known, but overall, not bad.  Definitely filling for $7 (we paid $6 with the discount), so not a bad lunch.  If you’re a big eater, add on the fries. 

I’ve heard that the dumplings are also good, but we didn’t try those (I’m super picky when it comes to dumplings!).  I wonder if they make the dumplings themselves?  (Yes, I fully expect someone to answer.  Hahaha!) 

Yvo says: I’m interested to see how Big D improves over time.  I know that when he first started out, there was some constructive criticism about the chicken, and he took that into consideration and changed the recipe – which seems to have worked out well for him.  So while what we had was pretty good, I have faith that it will be even better as time goes on and they figure things out!  (This was back in mid-April that I went, so perhaps they’ve even already figured it out.) 
recommended – especially the spicy pork grinder

Check their Twitter for location info!

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Post tags: food trucks, sandwiches, tacos, trucks/carts

One rather warm Friday afternoon, I made my way down to my old stompin’ grounds – across the street from where I used to work – and met up with my buddy, Cookie, for lunch… at Burger Shoppe.  I’ve been many times since they first opened (and I thought I’d posted about it more than once, but apparently not!), but right before I left, they released the mac&cheese burger… which, unfortunately, was only available after 4pm and I went during lunch to check it out.  Boo.  Since then, though, they put it on their regular menu, so this time, I was determined to eat one…

First, though, shakes!  Guinness for me, which was a little too much Guinness this time, and black&white for Cookie. 

Also for Cookie, a veggie burger with half&half – onion rings and fries, and side cups of barbecue sauce and Shoppe sauce.  She said it was unusually dry, but that she’s gotten it in the past and it’s been pretty good. 

As for me?  I finally got to try the mac&cheese burger.

To my surprise, I’d thought it was a burger stuffed with mac&cheese, but it was actually a burger that’d been mixed with cooked macaroni, then topped with a four cheese sauce.  Hmmm.  Interesting. 

Our server asked how I’d like the burger to be cooked; I said medium rare without thinking about it much.  If I ordered this again – which I might not, given its $12 price tag – I would probably ask for it to be cooked medium.  As it was, with the soft macaroni mixed throughout, the burger itself was overwhelmingly soft and almost mushy, giving it a bit of an odd texture.  The flavor was fine, and I would even say it tasted good, but it didn’t “feel” like a burger.  Each bite just wasn’t meaty enough – it gave the weirdest sensation as I chewed through each bite.  Very… interesting.  I can appreciate what they’re trying to do here – and I might even try this myself at home, though I’d likely use sauced mac&cheese and maybe cut a hole in the center of the burger to ‘stuff’ the mac&cheese into, instead of mixing it throughout – but at the end of the day, I couldn’t say this was something I’d return to order again. 

Thankfully, Burger Shoppe’s regular burgers are yummy enough that an odd textured mac&cheese burger is no reason you shouldn’t go have a burger there. 

Yvo says: While I can’t say the mac&cheese burger is a must-try (aside from being able to say “I ate a burger with mac&cheese in it!”), it was definitely an interesting experience.  Fortunately, though, having been to Burger Shoppe so many times in the past, I can comfortably recommend you go there for a regular Shoppe Burger, or even try one of their other specialty burgers (which I can’t really comment on because I usually get just a regular Shoppe Burger – they’re good!).  Don’t forget a milk shake while you’re there – oh, and the onion rings – cuz those are also legitimately yummy, too.
recommended for a burger! mac&cheese burger is only OK though

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Post tags: Burgers, milk shakes

I recently went back to Bonchon on John for post-happy-hour-munchies.  This time, we were hooked up to the ultimate since Cookie knew the owner apparently.  Awesomeness!

We started off with an order of dumplings, which were alright.  Great snack type food but nothing mind boggling or game changing. 

Sir Eats A Lot ordered a chicken and a beef taco.  I know he enjoyed these greatly, and I tried a bite of each and agreed they were pretty damn good.  Great sauce on both, and moist protein with a good tortilla.  Nom.

Pretty standard fries. 

The chicken, per usual, was deliciously crisp and well-flavored.  Super moist meat and very garlicky flavor.  I even had some spicy by accident and though I thought I was going to die, everyone else seemed to like it very much.  They also brought over some green sauce that was super duper spicy, though some of my friends were dipping the spicy in that.  Craziness. 

I went back a week later with the same group of people (long story why), and tried the zucchini fries about which I’d heard many positive words.  And let me tell you, these were awesome!!!  Surprising me, they were slightly battered, super crispy on the outside, and perfectly cooked zucchini on the inside.  I was totally into the plate and even had some of the “I only eat meat!” people eating them and loving them.  Delicious!

Yvo says: The owner(s) were obviously very friendly to us both times we went, but beyond that, the atmosphere was pretty chill to hang out and eat and have a few drinks.  With so many people, the prices are really reasonable (almost cheap, even), and we sat for a long time just eating and drinking, the owners never bothering us.  They had some of the NCAA games playing while we ate, which was cool, and the waitresses are all super friendly and cute, offering great service.  I definitely recommend it for a different kind of after-work-drink/bite in the area.
recommended

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Post tags: korean fried chicken

Yet another one of my last days down in the Financial District, and the Wafels & Dinges truck finally showed up!  I was so excited to get to try them finally before I left for good.  (Actually, I’m pretty sure this was my last day ever down there, so it was excellent timing.)  I wound up having a long conversation with one of the guys working there while they made my wafel fresh… they were both very cool and fun to talk to, but of course, held my wafel hostage! 

Yes… come to me, my preciousss

A BACON WAFEL! with the bacon embedded, banana slices and maple syrup.  All that’s missing is peanut butter, or it could have been an Elvis take (which I told them, so if they’ve started selling that combo in the time since, it was MY IDEA YOU CAN THANK MEEE!).    I have to say, I was really impressed by the wafel.  I hadn’t expected to like it that much, eat half, get rid of the other half (my coworkers surprised me with a red velvet cake that day, actually), but I totally inhaled it all.  Crisp bits of bacon littered throughout a crisp but soft wafel (I waited a bit to eat it, so I’m sure the maple syrup absorbed into it, softening it up a bit)… the banana did amazing things with the salty, smokey bacon… I just really enjoyed my wafel more than I’d thought would be possible.  I don’t like waffles in general, but was game to try this Belgian kind.  I was very happy.

Yvo says: Pleasantly surprised by how this turned out to be so tasty!  I liked the combination I got, but I would love to go back and try more things.  Yum!
recommended

Check Twitter for location, changes daily!

© Feisty Foodie for The Feisty Foodie, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: pastries