Springing into Spring
Monday, March 22nd, 2010
(0 out of 5 hot dogs)
Loading ...Well, it’s that time of the year that ITJS is taking its official Spring Break. I’m off to Barcelona and the Principality of Andorra for a week! But don’t be jealous, it’s not all wet t-shirt contests and fruity drinks with the little umbrellas; I will be hard at work doing field research to uncover the best and the cheapest meals that Spain has to offer. See you in April along with 50% off Sushi and an unlimited mimosa brunch!
To appease my recent craving for Thai food, I stopped by Rhong Tiam (formerly Curve), which happens to be two doors down from another great Thai 
I was heading home, minding my own business, when I tripped on an uneven piece of sidewalk, and ended up at the Stumble Inn. But this was no ordinary piece of cement; it was a magical sidewalk that transported me to a bizarre Twilight Zone where I was trapped in a straight-to-DVD National Lampoon’s movie and couldn’t get out. There were greasy nachos, $1 beers, and a party playlist to rival the frattiest frat house. I went to use the restroom in the basement, and the Women’s Room door was propped open, and I saw two girls without their tops on, adjusting each other’s bras for maximum cleavage. In the Men’s Room someone had spilled chili all over the floor and toilet seat. At least I hope it was chili… Back upstairs, my friends were challenged at beer pong by a wicked cheating French team. But in the end, the good guys won, and I can only imagine that the pompous pair was so ashamed that they took the next flight back to Charles De Gaulle. Upon exiting, the outside world was drab and drizzly in comparison, and I went into a deep depression. If one dark night you go walking on 76th Street, and you stumble on a slanted sidewalk, you too might be lucky enough to visit this Brigadoon of the Upper East Side.
I have had a few crushing disappointments in my life; once a friend pulled the tag off Humprey, my camel Beanie Baby, making it virtuously worthless, and another time Marissa Cooper got in a car accident and died on The O.C., only to return once or twice in ghost/flashback-form. My experience at Wicker Park is right up there with those horrible defeats. After hearing about Wicker’s all-you-can-drink dinner, I was fully expecting to have a great hump day, dish out four or five hotdogs, and share an amazing special with my loyal readers. However, things were rocky from the beginning. The menu was very limited and the waitress refused to make any substitutions for me and my vegetarian date (even refusing to replace a steak with a side salad…) On top of that, service was slow, we had to wait over twenty minutes in between wine refills. In AYCD situations, I’m not picky about mediocre food, lack of ambience, or the abundance of fratty douchebags. I’m there to drink as much as possible in the allotted time and fully capitalize on my $25. But after three of four glasses (we hadn’t even finished our entrees yet), our server told us that we had been there too long, and wouldn’t give us any more wine. The NERVE. It occurred to me that this restaurant shares its’ name with that God-awful Josh Hartnett movie. In both cases, I would forego Wicker Park, stay in with a bottle of Trader Joe’s wine and watch 40 Days and 40 Nights.
9th Avenue has about six Thai restaurants, all in a row, all called Yum Yum (I suppose a better name than Yuck Yuck). I saw a lunch special advertised outside (!), so a friend I went in and were seated by the hostess. A couple minutes later, she came back and said, “You no eat heel go other Yum Yum same food!” And with that, we were shooed outside and into another restaurant with the same lunch special and slightly different décor. It was empty, except for an angry theatre-producer type who was complaining that his meal was undercooked and he was NOT going to pay (Pre-Tony jitters?) I ordered some sort of noodle dish with vegetables (luckily not undercooked), and had dumplings and a Thai iced tea for my sides. Other side options included soup, salad and spring rolls. It was a good value, and everything tasted fine, although if I were in the restaurant naming business, I probably would have just called it Yum, not sure if it deserves the second Yum.