California Livin

Mal and I have officially made it back to San Diego, CA. It has been awesome catching up with friends and family and trying to get stuff situated. We are living at my parents house, like the champs we are, for the time being with the hopes of moving back to the North Park/South Park area eventually. Gotta have moolah to do that though.

Mal is officially getting her job back at Jet Rhys. She could not be happier about this as she learned so much in New York that she thinks could really be put to use there. The salon is also very stoked to have her back.

As for me, kind of up in the air. Within the next week or so I will really try and put my ear to the ground and watch out for potential jobs. But it has been a rough transition for me. Going to New York with no job lined up was scary enough. Coming home without one lined up and not a ton of money is a whole different beast. It is definitely something I am still trying to cope with. But all in good time is what I keep telling myself.

That being said, if you har of anything that you think my super awesome talents my fit into, feel free to let me know.

I am not 100% sure what I am going to do with this blog. Especially since the Burritos have returned. And boy, have they returned. If any of you have any ideas of what I can do let me know. Considering starting to do the Unemployment Line again, but not really looking forward to it. But we will. Good talking.

Till next time...

Epic Long Post About Three Things...

Food, Valentines Day, and Dubstep. Two of those things are very near and dear to my heart. I bet you can't guess which two. I'll give you a hint, it's not dubstep.

I will start with the food though. Been a couple since I posted. And let me just start off by saying, food is fucking expensive. Even the cheap food is expensive. That being said, Mal and I went out for Valentines Day the day before actual Valentines Day. Mostly because I see V-Day as an amateur night. So I try and stay away from the people that annoy me. We also never really do anything for actual V-Day. That includes gifts. Well this year, we both decided to get each other something. Mal got me Refused tickets. Sold out Refused tickets I might add. So stoked. I got her something really thoughtful, amazing, and cute. But clearly she doesn't care about it cause she hasn't told ANYONE. Guess I will just have a good ol fashioned barrel fire.

Anyway. The night before V-Day we went to this restaurant in East Village called The Redhead. Super tasty food and drinks. I got the Hemingway which was golden rum, grapefruit, lime, and maraschino liqueur. Mal got the Tejano which was tequila, roasted pineapple, and smoked chiles. For food, we started with the soft pretzels served with Kentucky-style beer cheese. Definitely something I could eat all day, everyday. For the entrées, I got their burger. Delicious. And Mal got the buttermilk fried chicken, which was amazing. Not salty at all which is how I think a lot of fried chicken dishes get ruined. No pictures, but trust me, it was all damn good.

The next night was actual V-Day so we decided to make a dinner and a movie out of it. At home though. So I picked up a bottle of a very nice 12 dollar Prosecco, we ordered some really good Italian food from Nonna's and watched Garden State. Pretty solid V-Day.

We went to this place by our house in Lower East Side called Berkli Parc Cafe. Heard they had good sandwiches, and we all know how much I love sandwiches. I got their turkey sandwich. It has arugula, chipotle mayo, onions, gruyere cheese, and pickled mangos. Damn good. 

Mal got their Thanksgiving All Year sandwich. Turkey, sweet and sour cranberry sauce, sprouts, cheese, and mayo. She didn't really enjoy it, but it sounded good.

Yesterday we decided to get lunch over in Brooklyn cause Mal needed to look for models and I was in the mood for a burger and fries. And let me tell you, DuMont is the best burger I have had in NYC. First off, it was massive. Got it medium (which is something a little new for me, as I usually go with medium well) with lettuce, bread and butter pickles, pickled onions , ketchup, dijon mustard, and mayo. So so so so good. The fries were killer as well. Wanna make a good fry? Crispy on the outside (almost crunchy) and soft on the inside. They did it well.

Got a nice Lynchburg Lemonade to wash it all down with.

Mal got the corned beef hash. Had a couple bites and it was pretty darn good.

Every plate comes with 3 little donut things. Mal ate one before I could even get my phone out.

As much as I am dreading the humidity that is gonna ravage my crotch in the summertime, I am so excited to see this view.

In all the subways trains there are these art pieces. They rotate every couple of months and this one has definitely become my favorite. It is by an artist named Sophie Black. It is basically a run down of every person that you will see on the train. I recommend looking at it for a while and you will see some pretty hilarious stuff. Mal and I have decided that she is the girl with the short black hair in the yellow jacket between the homeless guy and the fisherman. I am the guy to the left of the clown with headphones on playing his iPhone.

And now for the Dubstep portion of this post. As some of you may know, I have a job working for a company called Ledge Entertainment. I am having fun there and am learning a lot. One of the things we are starting to get into is Artist Management. One of the artists we manage is a girl from Israel named Shira. I highly recommend watching this video of her covering Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." Well she is currently playing some shows with these dubstep artists known as Masss, also from Israel. I went to one of their shows on Saturday. Let me preface this by saying, I am not a fan of Dubstep. For many reasons. But I can appreciate why people like it, especially now that I have seen it live. It is easily danceable.

That being said, UGH. First of all, I had to be there at 2 in the morning. Cause apparently all these shows don't start till 10 PM and go till like 5 AM. Aside from the raging headache the music/smoke machines/lasers raping my eyes, it was pure comedy. The people. Wow. From the girl doing the same dance moves over and over and over and and over for the ENTIRE time I was there. The 5 girls with Skrillex haircuts. The gay guys hardcore dancing/making out at the same time. How do you do that? The "professional" photographer taking pictures of the lasers on the ceiling. The random guy with a mic yelling things. The guy in the suit. The girl who looked like Jared Leto on her phone the WHOLE time. The guy who was clearly roofied. The girl who was clearly roofied. The guy standing in the corner who clearly roofied both of them. The vampire guy. The guy who clearly thinks spinning a girl around over and over is the way to get her in bed. And the super out of place grunge guy. And then there was me. The guy whose mind was being blown by all of this. This is truly a site to see. Just bring ear plugs. Like heavy duty ones.

Sandwiches and Booze

Haven't posted about food in a little so here it goes.

Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday are Mals "days off." I put it quotations cause on her days off she has to go look for models. This means, I tag along. It usually goes like this:

1. Wake up around 9 AM EST
2. Check internets for all going on in the world.
3. Get dressed.
4. Leave and go to one of three places.
• Soho
• Union Square
• Herald Square
5. Once there, she looks for models. I continue to check out the internets and try and "help." Most of the time I pick out girls with the wrong hair. But it's the thought that counts. I will have you no that I am caught up on ALL the cool fashions though. Thats what I get from going into Forever 21, Uniglo, H&M, Victorias Secret, Zara, and every other god damn store with over priced clothes that will never fit me, every 2 days. 

The one good thing about going out and doing this is getting to try new food. That and exercise. We were up near Herald Square yesterday and I was in the mood for a sandwich. Yelped and came up with this place called Num Pang. Holy moly was it good. I never thought I would say this, but I think it was better than Saigon Banh Mi. They basically do banh mi sandwiches on crack. I had the Roasted Chicken 'Chimi'. Roasted chicken with cucumber, cilantro, pickled carrots, chili mayo, and the kicker, pickled apples. All on another great sandwich places bread, Parisi Bakery. 

Mal got the Boneless Spare Ribs. That was some tender meat. Pork spare ribs, cilantro, pickled carrots, chili mayo, and a spicy tamarind glaze.

It isn't expensive but for the size of the sandwich, it could be cheaper. That was my only complaint. Other than that, really good. Plus how can you beat old school hip hop blaring in the place and walls with this all over them?

After we found all the models we started to head home. But we stopped in at this place a couple blocks from our apartment called Schillers Liquor Bar, where they have a killer happy hour Mon-Thurs 4 to 7:30 PM. All original cocktails are buy one get one free. They have a drink there called Schillers Storm that is mighty tasty. Makers Mark with ginger, pineapple, and plum. I could drink it for days. 

Work is going alright. Still trying to find my place there, but it's good. I finally feel like I am contributing so that puts my mind at ease. Hoping to get into our own place, by the end of March/beginning of April? I don't know. We will see. It could be sooner if you guys wanna right some checks. Just sayin...

The Big Game

Just to preface, I know this post isn't about food. I am trying to get better about writing about other things besides me getting fat. So just pretend to enjoy reading it.

I bet you thought I mean't the Superbowl huh? Well not really. That being said, I will start this rant by saying that I really enjoyed the game. Two great teams battling it out. But...

All the Superbowl really is, is a giant dramatic ad. Sure there might be some sports going on in the background, but does anyone really care? I mean, live in New York and Giants were in it, yet I noticed more cheering for when Audi killed vampires or when Uncle Jesse got head butted or when Clint Eastwood announced he is running for president or when Madonna stopped singing. "The Big Game" is really just to see who has the better ads.

It's just one of those anomalies that people eat up once a year. Sure the ads continue to role the other 364 days but do they really matter to you? "Here We Go," is really just something you say as a joke, if you say it at all (I know I don't. Except when I am pretending to be SWAT or something). But the Budweiser #makeitplatinum hashtag took off like wildfire. Averaging about 50 posts a minute today, so you can only imagine what it was like yesterday with 111.3 million viewers of the Superbowl. Basically Budweiser is trying to say, "Hey, we have something new that can compete with the hip micro brewers out there." At a 6% alcohol level, they might be right, but if it tastes anything like Bud Light, I'll stick with the micro brewers.

111.3 Million viewers. According to Nielsen that is the most viewers of anything ever. It was predicted that about 10 million people turned over to the annual "Puppy Bowl" at half time. So let's just go out on a limb and say 100 million people watched the half time show. That means 100 million people watched Madonna "sing," "dance," and "prove to everyone that she still has got it." Listen, I know people can't really perform at the half time show. But in my eyes, that should make everything easier. IT'S YOUR SONG! YOU SHOULD KNOW THE WORDS! And it's not like she even had hundreds of people close to the stage to watch her fuck up. It was just her shitty dancers, pointless LMFAO, her pointless band, Nikki Minaj, and then MIA. Listen, I get it MIA. You wanted to do something crazy. But what does yelling, "shit" in your 10 second cameo on Madonnas new song and throwing the finger out accomplish? Perhaps most outraged is the Parents Television Council. PTC President Tim Winter released a statement taking NBC to task for the slipped finger.

"NBC fumbled (BAZZZZZING) and the NFL lied because a performer known as M.I.A. felt it necessary to flip off millions of families," Winter said. "It is unfortunate that a spectacular sporting event was overshadowed once again by broadcasting the selfish acts of a desperate performer."

Of course MIA has come out and said that she was, "struck with a case of adrenaline," and "didn't mean anything by it." How dumb are you? I don't know about you guys, but when I have adrenaline, I don't go and do stupid shit in front of 100 million viewers. But that's just me. Do I care that she yelled shit and flipped the camera off? No. But I don't care about a lot of things. But something tells me that her doing that, may have upset a handful of people.

I enjoy the Superbowl. I love everything that comes along with it. The game, the food, the beer, the commercials, hell, even the half time show makes me laugh. But, like I said before, it is all just one giant dramatic ad. That, at least for me, makes no difference in my life. I will not be buying more Doritos, buying a hideous Fiat, giving Matthew Broderick a high five for his complete sell out of Ferris Buellers Day Off, pay to see The Darkness, give George Lucas any more of my money, think Regis Philbin isn't a zombie, and most of all, think Battleship is going to be any good. 


3.5 million dollars for each 30 second ad. Their were about 36 different advertisers during the Superbowl. Many with mulitple commercials. From what I could find, 92 different commercials ran during the game. Let's just round down and say 90 to be safe. Simple mathematics will tell you that is 315,000,000 million dollars just to run an ad. That's not even to produce it. If I am the main consumer, that's a whole lot of wasted money. And even if I am not, that's a whole lot of wasted money. 


But football is fun. :)

Yes. I Know. I Have Not Blogged In A While.

I have been busy. Mostly working. Other times exploring. Other times sleeping. Other times pondering life. You know? Stuff.

Yes I have officially started my job. The company is called Ledge Entertainment. It is an event planning company that specializes in radio festivals. We also do artist management and tour planning. I am super excited about working there. It is something completely different from what I have done for pretty much my whole career, but that is good. New city, new job, new everything. Well, almost everything. But in all seriousness, I am very excited for something new, and very excited to be working with this company. PLUS, one of my coworkers (there are only 4 of us) not only lived in San Diego, but also played in one of my favorite bands from SD, Da Bears!

Like I said before, it has been a while since I have posted so I got a couple of places that I want to write about that I have eaten at. First place is an awesome sandwich shop called Barnyard. It is in Alphabet City, which is about a 10 minute walk from our place.

I got the Mexican Cuban, which I am starting to find out is something a lot of places do around here. It is slow roasted pork, ham, swiss, avocado, pickled jalapeños (which were awesome), dill pickles and mayo. I went with the chipotle mayo though. Seriously good sandwich. A little on the greasy side, but seriously good.

We went back to a place I previously posted about. Rattle'n'Hum host tons of specialty beer nights. Well a couple Tuesdays ago they hosted a California beer night.

The selection was pretty decent. I think 15 beers in all. From San Diego they has Ballast Point, Greenflash, and Mission. Outside of SD they had Anderson Valley, Lagunitas, Firestone, Moylans, Nectar Ales, Northcoast, and Sierra Nevada. Not a crazy selection, but it did the job.

One thing we have noticed living here, in a 7 story walk up (we live on the 5th floor unfortunately), is that there is always shit just lying in the bottom lobby area. We have taken 2 things from there. I know what you are thinking, "Andrew, you are seriously disgusting." In most cases I would agree with you. But after careful examination we have grabbed two things from said area. The first one? A small shelving unit which we doused in bleach and other cleaning solutions. It has saved us a TON of room. The second was just yesterday. Sitting perched on a ledge right by the front door of our building were these:

Stoked.

Yesterday we decided to be tourists and go do the Statue of Liberty. Is it absolutely perfect weather in NYC right now. Yesterday it was 60 degrees most of the day which was amazing. So riding on a boat to Liberty Island looking at this, ain't too bad of a day. 

The Statue was cool. Not as cool as the first time I went back in 2000 when we could actually go in the head, but still cool. 

Most epic picture ever taken. Just so you know.

We kind of turned our Statue of Liberty day into a date night, so we went over to Brooklyn in an area called Cobble Hill (which we fell in love with) and saw Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Not exactly a great date movie, but a seriously good movie. One of the best I've seen in a long time. 

Afterwards we went to a highly rated pizza place called Sottocasa. Honestly, it was good pizza, but just WAY too acidic. By the second slice it was hard to get down cause it burned so much. Good, but not amazing. 

Worked today only to come home to a package from my mother. Here are six reasons why she is truly the greatest.

An Update of Sorts

Been a pretty mellow couple of days. It finally snowed yesterday. But I guess it's not going to for another week or so. I love the snow here. For multiple reasons. The biggest is, the wind is usually pretty minimal. New York is cold, but definitely manageable. But when it is bright blue skies and like 15-20 mph winds, it is the WORST. Cuts right through your layers. So I can definitely handle this.

Went to a sandwich place on Friday called Cheeky's Sandwich. It's on Orchard St. which I turned down off of Rivington in the Lower East Side. Definitely one of my favorite streets in New York. Ton's of cool shops, art galleries, museums, and bars on Orchard. I got their pork sandwich. All their sandwiches are pretty simple but pack a ton of flavor. Mine was marinated seared pork chops, caramelized apples, onions, and mustard on challah bread. Pretty good sandwich. A bit overpriced, but good. 

That night Mal and I went over to Brooklyn to see Portugal. The Man at Brooklyn Bowl. This is the second time we have been here (the first for Dum Dum Girls) and I am really starting to like this venue. I just wish they booked better bands. This was definitely the best I have heard Portugal. The Man sound. You can tell that as they get more and more popular (bittersweet) that they are really just honing in their live sound, which has always been good. Playing for about an hour and half and they played a little bit of everything. But what just blows me away is how they are now playing stuff off their debut, Waiter: "You Vultures!" Everything is so layered and so good. The highlight of the set, for me at least,  was their 10 minute version of "Elephants." Throw in the best cover of "Helter Skelter" (Sorry Thrice) that I have ever seen, plus a cover of "All the Young Dudes" by Bowie and of course the Etta James (RIP) cover of "I Would Rather Go Blind" in the encore. You can check out the rest of the setlist here. Couldn't have asked for a better show.

I am hoping to god that I start my job this week. Starting to go stir crazy. It's hard when Mal goes to work only cause, like I have said before, we don't have a ton of money, so for me to just go out and spend it on stuff, especially stuff that I know at some point Mal would probably want to do, sucks. So yea that being said, I really hope I start this week.

Last year when we came here in January, the day we were leaving we were walking through Chelsea Market and noticed that there was a huge chili cookoff going on. I was bummed that we could not participate because you needed to have tickets. Well this year, we got tickets and it is next Friday. So stoked for the NYC Chilifest. I just feel bad for anyone that will be around me for the next week. Nineteen different chili's (including last years winner Northern Spy Food Co), corn bread, cheese, and all the Sam Adams beer we can handle. 

Another FOOD MEGA POST???? sorta.

So Mallory started her job yesterday. She had an absolute blast. It's gonna be a crazy handful of months, but all worth it in the end.

In other and not so surprising news, we ate some more awesome food. Yesterday while Mal was at work I went to this slider place called, Mark.

They do some really good sliders and are relatively cheap as well. Pretty simple. Meat, onions, pickle, and cheese. I add some ketchup. I could eat these things all day. Their fries are also super good.

After Mal got off I met her at a beer bar called, Rattle 'N' Hum. Lucky for us, it was imported beer night. Tons of beer Mal and I had never even heard of, almost to a point where I was overwhelmed. I went with the St. Feuillien Triple. Really really good beer.

It's a pub, so they have pub food. I went with the Tequila Chicken Sandwich with fries. 

I guess they do a lot of special beer events so we will definitely be back. Next week they are doing a California beer night, so you can bet your ass we will be there. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HAVE BALLAST POINT BARMY ALE.

Today, Mal needed to go look for some models so we went over to Brooklyn, Williamsburg in particular, and went to this sandwich place that I had heard about called Graham Ave. Meats and Deli. 

I have eaten a lot of sandwiches in my day. And a good amount here in New York. I have never had a better sandwich. And boom goes the dynamite. Everything about the Godfather sandwich I got was insanely good. Chris Grillo knows exactly what he is doing. Hero bread, mozzarella, sweet peppers, 3 Italian meats, lettuce, onion, mustard, and their own special blend of oil and vinegar. Every bite was so damn good.

I had a bite of Mal's plain ol Salami sandwich, and it as well, was amazing. It is a shame this place is in Brooklyn, cause I honestly think I would be there every day.

After we got back to Manhattan, she needed one more model so we went to Union Sq. I guess every week day they have the Union Square Market. Tons of local stuff (vegetables, fruit, fish, meats, cheese, etc) all on the cheap. I got a bag of apples. One of the apples (and I have no idea which one) was the best apple I have ever had. I feel like I am starting to repeat that sentence a lot...

FOOD MEGA POST!!!!!

Not really mega. Just 3 places that I have been to in the last few days that I haven't had time to post about it. First is a pretty good and definitely cheap Italian Café called, Gaia.

The more and more I eat Italian food around here, the more and more I love, which I didn't think was possible. We have pretty much became Yelp fiends and try and read just a little something before we go anywhere. I know that kind of takes away the pleasure of experiencing new places on your own, but as a person living in New York with not a ton of cash rolling in yet, I want to get my moneys worth.

Gaia does fresh Italian Café food. Panini's, some pasta, salad, and lots of coffee and desserts. I went with the Militare Panini. For 5 bucks, it was pretty damn good. Mortadella with smoked carciotta and honey mustard. I kind of wish the bread was a little left crunch as it made it hard to eat, but good none the less. 

Mal's best friend Cassie was in town for a couple days this past weekend. So we tried to eat as much good stuff as possible. She ended her trip to NY today by going to Brooklyn Bagel & Coffee Company. I went with a plain bagel and their AMAZING jalapeño asiago cream cheese. Just know that they cover the bagel in cream cheese. So I scraped about half of it off and it was perfect. The best bagel in NY so far.  

We haven't really done the Jewish deli thing yet cause honestly, I am not a huge fan of the style of food. Though Kat'z is about a 5 minute walk from our apartment, but it is always swamped and it is ridiculously expensive. But today as we were walking home through the Flatiron we decided to grab some lunch. I pulled out my list of places that we want to eat, and the first place in the Flatiron section was a sandwich shop called Eisenbergs. If you go to that website make sure you look at all the pictures. Celebs and "celebs" alike, LOVE this place. And what's not to love. It's tag line is, "Raising New York's Cholesterol Since 1929."

I went with the Reuben on rye, with pastrami, cole slaw, provolone, and dijon. Definitely one of the better sandwiches I have had in NY. The cole slaw really mellowed the meat (which like I said before, I don't really enjoy that much) and the mustard added a nice ending flavor. 

Mallory starts work tomorrow and I won't be starting for another week and a half or so, so I am gonna try and do some new stuff on the blog. Maybe not all New York centric. I am thinking about doing a monthly mixtape or something along those lines, so maybe look out for that. 

Jurassic Park Post Rock? YES.

I know this blog has pretty much been about food since I started it. Wasn't my initial plan, but food is pretty awesome. So here, without further adieu, is a post about music. Subway music to be more specific.

There is a band that I first heard about 2 years ago called, You Bred Raptors? I don't remember how I heard of them, but I did. And I am so glad I did. Post Rock. Jurassic Park themes. Masks. I AM IN.

They are a three piece consisting of a bassist, drummer, and cellist. The bassist plays an 8 string and is incredibly good. The drummer is all over the place with his time signatures, and the cellist, at first, doesn't seem to make sense, and then you hear it and realize, yea that needs to be there.

They play a lot of subway shows and are registered with the MTA as an Artist for Transit. We finally got to see them tonight at the Herald Sq. - 34th St. station. And they definitely did not disappoint. I shot a video of them playing and a picture.

Here is their song "Archeopteryx."

Someone please tell me how every post-rock band hasn't taken this band on tour. Go buy their shit! 

The Diner of All Diners

So it's not often that you are comped a full meal and drinks. Hell, it's not often you are comped anything. (Why is that by the way?) But last night, Mal and I, OH we were comped alright.


It seems like new restaurants are opening EVERYWHERE and EVERYDAY here in New York. People who frequent Portland know all about Pok Pok Wing. Well one of those just opened up about a 2 minute walk from us. It replaced BaoHaus, another huge food pilgrimage stop. Since we have been here, 6 new restaurants have opened within a quarter mile. And I am sure just as many have closed. It is seriously cut throat. Am I complaining? NOPE. I clearly like food. And the more options I have, the better.


Our good buddy Jay moved here about a month before us from San Diego as well. He has been in the restaurant business for quite some time and was looking to pick right up where he left off in SD. So one night we were at a bar called The Summit. Awesome drinks. Probably some of the best we have had yet. We got to talking to the bar tender and she mentioned she was opening a restaurant of her own. Jay being the sly guy he is, offered his card and they exchange all the necessaries. Well fast forward about 2 months later, he is the night GM of the restaurant.


And this isn't just some restaurant opening up. First of all, it's a diner. Diners are awesome. But this isn't a normal diner, it's a gourmet diner. With a world renowned chef to boot. The guy who owns it is Mathieu Palombino. He is also the owner of a pizza place that is suppose to be one of the best in the city called, Motorino. Just google his name and TONS of articles come up. Did I mention that this place is also a full bar? With cocktails? Like good cocktails? The Summit Bar owner, Hamid Rashidzada, is the guy who provided the drink menu. Google his name too and you will see how popular he is as well.



So Jay informed us about a week ago that they are going to be doing a friends and family night before the restaurant opens, and said that he put our names on the list to go. Needless to say, we were stoked. We haven't really had a "nice" meal since we have been here, mostly because it is so ungodly expensive. He also informed us that EVERYTHING would be free. Jackpot.

Our reservation was at 7. The restaurant seems done, at least I hope it is cause they open on Sunday, and it looks good. Classic diner style but still looks classy. We started off with drinks. I got the Jenni Lee. Bourbon, lime, bitters, and mint. A very smooth drink. Usually bourbon is the dark drink I try and stay away from, but this was damn good. 

Mal is a big fan of tequila, so naturally she went with the Sunshine on my Shoulders first. Herradura tequila, hibiscus agave, fresh lime, and orange bitters. She loved it. And it reminded her of our favorite place, The Ace Hotel in Palm Springs.

We then ordered some appetizers to get the food going. I didn't take any pictures cause to be honest, the plate didn't look that appealing. The food was good, but the plate looked bleh. We got a charcuterie plate with smoked ham, prosciutto, paté, salami, and smoked bacon. We also got a cheese plate that had bleú, brie, gouda, goat, and one terrible smelling one that I didn't even bother with. Mixing these two appetizers together was awesome. We then ordered some more drinks, of course. Mal got the Rupert Holmes. Coconut rum, coconut milk, bitters, jalapeño accent, and pineapple juice. A seriously tasty fruity drink.

And I got what was the best cocktail I have ever had. The 1879. Mitchers whiskey, orange zest, and bitters. I liked it so much that throughout the night, I had 3 of them. So smooth and delicious. 

At this point we had ordered our entree's and were just kind of enjoying our time. Our waiter came over and apparently thought we needed more alcohol. Not complaining. So he brought us over a 23 year old aged rum called Ron Zacapa Centenario from Honduras. It was the smoothest alcohol I have ever tasted. And full disclosure, we had two more towards the end of our night.

Needless to say, we were both feeling pretty toasty at this point. Me with two 1879's and the Jenni Lee in and Mal having gone back to the Sunshine on my Shoulders plus the Rupert Holmes. Our meals had arrived. If there is Mac and Cheese on a menu, Mal will order it. So that's what she did. A mammoth bowl of it at that. And it was fucking delicious. The best tasting mac and cheese is always the one that is stickiest. And this bowl of mac and cheese was god damn sticky. 

I ordered the NY Strip Steak. I rarely eat steak. And I only do when I know it is worth eating. This was worth eating. A 13 ounce steak is a big chunk of meat. And I ate every bite. It was, to date, the best piece of meat I have ever had. Ordered it medium and with the béarnaise sauce. The chef decided to send out all three available sauces (ginger ketchup, béarnaise, and red wine). Well, being that I am not the total food connoisseur, I started pouring the red wine sauce all over the meat (only cause I realized after tasting the béarnaise that it was just a tad too buttery). The sauce was insane. It brought out so much more flavor from the meat. It wasn't until I asked our waiter for another side of the red wine sauce did he point out that I was actually enjoying the ginger ketchup. WHICH BLEW MY MIND. Ketchup? On steak? Ew. Yea not this ketchup. 

My steak came with a massive side of fries that were absolutely delicious. Sans most of them were all cut in about half inch sizes, which is a huge pet peeve of mine. But regardless I dipped the shit out of those fries in the ginger ketchup sauce as well. 

After devouring the steak, our waiter informed us that the bartenders were jonesing to make a boozy milkshake. Yea, didn't turn that offer down. I got a milkshake that had vanilla ice cream, mint, cherry jubilee and bourbon. Not as thick as I would have liked it, but delicious and definitely boozy nonetheless.

Mal got a pistachio milkshake. Hate pistachio. But she seemed to enjoy it. 

At this point, we were both drunk, and both so insanely full. Two appetizers, twelve drinks, one 13 oz. steak, one cauldron of mac and cheese, and 2 milkshakes. What did we pay? 55 dollars (for tip). What should we have paid? $255.00 without tip. $310.00 with tip.

STOKED. Cannot thank Jay enough. Bowery Diner is gonna do awesome. This was by far the best meal we have had in New York so far. And not just because it was free. But because every bite and every sip was amazing.