The future home of the bulgogi hotdog — I photographed, then devoured, the one you see here at last October's Chusok Festival — is still some weeks from opening day. It's hard to be more specific; when I peered past the plywood, much of the light was supplied by an acetylene torch.
New York Hotdog & Coffee
245 Bleecker St. (at Leroy St.)
Usually I get the cherry dip.
Many folks swear by 'em, but these hamburgers are too firm and dry for my taste. Dressed in this case with pickles, tomato, ketchup, and mustard, the standard burger ($4.29) is a double, perhaps in part because Five Guys presses their patties flat and cooks them well done. By contrast, the hand-cut "single origin" fries — the source of each day's potatoes is printed on a blackboard by the front door — are softer than I like. Five Guys is certainly generous with their servings, though: A large ($3.99) filled a pint-sized cup, and nearly as many fries littered the bottom of the bag.
Five Guys
255 South Main St., Newtown, Connecticut
(one of many locations)
203-304-1193
www.fiveguys.com
The Big Kahuna cheeseburger ($9.25), 12 oz. of Angus beef with swiss, cheddar, and caramelized onions, was big and gloppy. Served with fries. Shown below, the calamari ($6.95) were more indifferent than their presentation suggests; the aioli dip was less spicy than advertised.
Kona Grill
230 Tresser Blvd., Stamford, Connecticut
(one of many locations)
203-324-5700
www.konagrill.com
You're gonna need a bigger boat. (R.I.P., Roy Scheider.)
I managed to finish off three-quarters of my sharkfin pie ($7.95); what remained was big as my fist. This chain restaurant's most celebrated dessert is named for its shape, as you'd imagine, not its ingredients: butter fudge ice cream, honey-roasted peanuts, fudge, peanut butter, an Oreo cookie crust, and whipped cream. Don't try to land this monster without plenty of help.
Previously: an oyster sampler, one each of Blue Point, Malpeque, Fisher Island, and Fanny Bay ($8.50), was fine; pan-roasted mussels ($9.95) and broiled cod ($17.95) were adequate; garlic broiled shrimp ($18.95) was timid with the garlic. Scallion mashed potatoes, which accompanied both entrees, were short on scallions and could have been hotter, too. Service needs to be more attentive.
Mitchell's Fish Market
230 Tresser Blvd., Stamford, Connecticut
203-323-3474
(one of many locations)
www.mitchellsfishmarket.com
The crunchy-crisp, "nicely spicy" coating on my two-piece chicken dinner (with dark meat; $2.99) sealed in the juices so thoroughly that I nearly scalded my lips with the first bite. Salty, too. Biscuits were OK, no more.
Popeye's
Many locations
www.popeyes.com
The Classic Single (just 53 cents, even with the tax).is palm-sized, but only if you have small palms, and the burger patty (or perhaps paté) is just thick enough to stand up to pickles, ketchup, and a little onion. I'll down a couple when nothing better presents itself, but I wish White Castle would do away with those wasteful individual cardboard caddies.
White Castle
Many locations
www.whitecastle.com
You'll find ample opportunity to experiment with fancy flavors at Ciao Bella, though even a small cup ($4.75) will cost you. I've enjoyed their malted milk ball gelato, especially the little crunchy bits; the cantaloupe tarragon sorbet — sandy orange with flecks of dark green — has a gentle, refreshing melon flavor.
Orange-A-Peel (shown; large; $5.65) blends orange juice, frozen strawberries, frozen bananas, and ice into nonfat frozen yogurt. Nice, even if the strawberry flavor was overwhelmed, and very filling. Another time, Mango-a-Go-Go (small; $3.95) blended passion fruit juice, mango juice, mangos, pineapple sherbet, and ice. The only flavors that surfaced from the thick slush were mango and pineapple; tasty, even so.
Jamba Juice
Many locations
For old times' sake, I grabbed a bite here rather than at the putative (but unbranded) branch of Sylvia's that displayed Chinese, Southern, and Indian offerings under heat lamps. At KFC, mayo-soaked pieces of breading dripped like sludge from my "original recipe filet sandwich" ($4.19), which also sported a chicken patty, sliced tomato, and shredded iceberg lettuce on a bun. Small, and it didn't taste like any original recipe I remember.
KFC Express
Inside Terminal 4 departure hall, JFK Airport
(one of many locations)
After a half-dozen misses in Port Authority, I finally found a Peter Paul Mounds (1.75 oz.; 74 cents) at a newsstand as I was headed up to street level. Dark chocolate suits the coconut much better that the milk chocolate in Almond Joy, but Mounds is still way too sweet compared with my co-worker Marie's chocolate eggs, from Rutherford (New Jersey) Congregational Church. Not that Marie's are lacking in sugar: According to the printed notes that accompanied the egg carton, each year the congregation makes about 1,300 dozen from 500 lbs. (dark) chocolate, 600 lbs. confectioner's sugar, and 475 lbs. coconut. Yet even though mine was the size of a small egg (perhaps even a medium), I didn't get that cloying feeling at all.
Hudson News
Inside Penn Station, ticket level B, Eighth Ave.
(one of many locations)
212-971-6800
Picked up a Peter Paul Almond Joy (1.61 oz.; 65 cents) but not its sibling, Mounds; I wanted to compare both with the dark chocolate-covered coconut Easter eggs that my co-worker Marie brought to the office. Haven't had Almond Joy in years; the combo of milk chocolate and coconut is just too sweet.
Kmart
Many locations
At a group lunch, a pair of seek kababs (unskewered minced lamb and onion; $7.95) offered a pair of fat cigars that were lightly spiced, dense, and delicious; a pair of samosas ($5.95) were not quite crispy enough outside and mushy inside. Onion nan ($3.95) was adequate; keema nan ($3.95) seemed undercooked. Chicken korma ($11.95) reminded me of chicken a la king; like the keema nan, chicken vindaloo ($12.95) and lamb rogan josh ($12.95) also seemed undercooked. Best thing on the table: aloo dum ($10.95), half potatoes stuffed with cottage cheese and spices in a mild sauce. I'll look for them again, elsewhere.
Baluchi's
240 West 56th St. (Broadway-Eighth Ave.)
(one of many locations)
212-397-0707
Pulpo, indeed. Octopus salad ($4.99 per pound) was mushy; the vigorous seasoning improved it only a little.
On numerous other occasions:
A jar of Square brand "traditional Polish salad" (670 g.; $1.99) included white cabbage, carrots, onion, and red and yellow peppers. Colorful, but unsurprisingly it tasted more of the vinegary brine than any vegetable. (What had attracted me to the supermarket display was the cucumber-heavy "Swedish salad with onion." I switched salads when I saw that it, too, was a product of Poland.)
During Rosh Hashanah, I ventured to the salad bar ($4.99 per pound) for tsimmes, a cold carrot salad often sweetened with honey. Usually, I understand, it's more of a stew and can include many combinations of fruit, vegetables, and even meat. Here, the carrots are still a little crunchy, and they're accompanied by raisins in a not-overly-sweet white liquid.
Soho Natural blueberry soda (23 fl. oz. can; 99 cents) was reddish, highly carbonated and had a reasonably good flavor considering that "blueberry" does not appear anywhere in the list of ingredients.
Dr. Brown's Cel-Ray soda (12 fl. oz. can; 89 cents) gets its flavor from an extract of celery seed and "other natural flavors," as well as "high-fructose corn syrup/sugar." One can be refreshing, especially if you like your vegetables, but I can't imagine ever drinking two.
For a late-night snack, a quarter-pound of Kaserei brand champignon with peppercorns cheese ($14.99 per pound) tasted much like a Bavarian brie, heavy on the pepper. Dessert was a "movie pak" of Nestle Goobers (3.5 oz.; 99 cents) that won out this evening over the Raisinets and the Sno-Caps. Managed to save more than half till I got home.
Another evening, I was searching for some berry-flavored kefir, a yogurt drink that occasionally is almost too thick to drink. Ronnybrook's version, in blackberry (12 fl. oz. plastic bottle; $2.99), "made with eight live cultures, including four buttermilk cultures," was nicely sour; goes down easy.
Morton Williams Supermarket
Many locations
I would've guessed that white chocolate Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (1.5 oz.; 75 cents) had more calories, or more fat calories, than the milk chocolate version, but I would've been wrong. Now, if we can just get this second variety loaded into the office vending machine…
Duane Reade
224 West 57th St. (at Broadway)
(one of many locations)
212-541-9708
Yuengling Lager (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $4.99), Pottsville, Pennsylvania. A dark amber lager with the faintest of aromas and even less flavor. "A good drinkin' beer," as Jimmy Breslin used to tout Piels.
On numerous later occasions:
Rheingold Beer (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $4.99), New York. Murky golden color; aroma of corn (or some other vegetable. It's not bitter, not sweet, but it's not an extra-dry treat, either.
I've always liked Necco wafers (1.5 oz roll; 65 cents) because the lemon and orange flavors (though certainly not the chalky texture) remind me of long-ago flavors of Junket. Those other Necco flavors: lime, cinnamon, wintergreen, licorice, chocolate, and clove.
Brooklyn East India Pale Ale (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.49). Medium amber; fruity, hoppy aroma; thin mouthfeel with an insistent, sour aftertaste.
Presidente "pilsener type beer" (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.39), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Brewed from a "fine selection of malting barley, hops and corn grits." Pale yellow; aroma suggests nothing other than the thin, nondescript taste.
Red Stripe Jamaican lager (six 12 fl. oz. bottles; $7.39), Kingston, Jamaica. Straw colored; smell and taste reminiscent of spoiled vegetables. I recall this beer tasting much, much better, and if only for sentimental reasons, I'll find occasion to give it another chance.
Rite Aid
2833 Broadway (at 110th St.)
(one of many locations)
212-663-3135
Rebel beer (16.9 fl.oz; $1.29), Havlickuv Brod, Czech Republic. Bitter hop flavor.
The Food Emporium
2415 Broadway (at 90th St.)
(one of many locations)
212-873-4031
