Phaaling in love
Saturday, July 24th, 2010
(4 out of 5 hot dogs)
Loading ...Brick Lane Curry House Too
235 E 53rd (2nd and 3rd)
Time: Everyday, 11-4
Price: Curry, appetizer, samosa, rice, naan, dessert, $10
One pleasant afternoon, I ordered the Brick Lane lunch special to-go, and brought my meal out to a bench on the East River, so that while I contemplated the curious spices of India, I was able to enjoy peaceful views of oily seagulls perched on tires, and the owners of Peking Dragon China House fishing for their nightly special (I’ll blog about that later!) A boat passed, and was it just my imagination, or did I hear gunshots? And I could have sworn I saw two Russians dump a body overboard before paddling away, but alas I was too engrossed in the texture of my paneer to know for sure. How does it stay solid on my fork but then melt so perfectly in my mouth? My curry was gone, so were the Russians, and anyway dark clouds were beginning to roll in from the north. I stood up, glanced at the river one last time and let out a deep deep sigh. And I thought to myself, Life is Good.
Aside from their feast of a lunch special, Brick Lane is also home to the infamous Man vs Food challenge, “The Phaal,” apparently one of the spiciest curries in the world. If you manage to finish, you get a beer, an official certificate, and your picture on their website- woop woop!
Urban Lobster Shack is located in a secret underground food-court. It’s sort of a lunch-speakeasy for people who have boring office jobs in midtown. When you enter the discreet office building location, a security guard gives you the evil eye as you turn left and go down an escalator into the seedy underbelly of Manhattan. The “Shack” is less of a shack, and more of a kiosk that could easily be converted to hawk bedazzled cell phone cases during other business hours. The lobster roll is tasty, although it fills you up only about as much as a hotdog (coulda eaten 3 of ‘em). The side salad and a mini-cup of coleslaw are fine too, but don’t do much to curb that terrible hunger that is slowly, minute by minute, engorging my body and soul.
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.
After a $25 Asian 
After the previous post, it seemed like an appropriate title. But yet again, we are just talking about food (food that just happens to not be heated above 118 degrees Fahrenheit to keep the enzymes intact.) Raw meals, contrary to logic, usually cost upwards of $30, so this is a pretty good deal if you want to experiment with the raw lifestyle. I tried the spinach onion ravioli with pasta. In this case the ravioli shell was made of paper-thin turnip skin and the pasta of shaved squash. It tasted good at first, but you can only eat so much. Since the food here is filled with fiber, and often nut-based, a small plate will surprisingly fill you up. The best part of lunch was my drink, the fresh-squeezed apple cider, it was spicy and thick and clear. To be honest, I felt a little ill for a few hours after I ate, but perhaps was just my body adjusting to eating real food after twenty-four years of high fructose corn syrup and bleached enriched white flour.