Fat Kid Day in NYC

I recently spent two days in New York City. The two days were actually one full day and two half days. The full day I spent most of my time eating. That and walking to the next place that I would be eating. Here is a rundown of some of the awesome treats I had. The counting of calories is not allowed.

Started the day off with a quality New York bagel from Nussbum and Wu. They also had Stumptown Coffee, a nice little touch.

Got myself together and headed off. I needed a pickle. The spot to go was The Pickle Guys. You stroll into a small downstairs room filled with barrels of pickles and make your selection. Doesn't seem too fancy until you finally bite into them. I tried some of a full sour, half sour, and a spicy sour. Before I left I asked the helpful picklesmith what the one other thing I needed to try was. He handed me a piece of pickled pineapple. Holy shit was he right, seriously devine. Sweet, tangy, just perfect. Once outside I gave all the others a shot. The spicy sour was the champion in my book, with full sour coming in second and the half sour the odd pickle out.

From there the quest was Katz's Deli. We started walking out there and what just happened to be in the way? A rather famous cupcake place that makes most of their stuff vegan/gluten free/artificial sugar free. Babycakes! We split the Red Velvet cake a little later at a Starbucks. 

More than anything, I got the strong flavor of coconut. There's delicious sweetness with a slightly gritty texture. Not a favorite, but certainly something awesome to happen upon. 

From there we kept walking and were at the famous deli in no time. The walls are covered in pictures of every celebrity. The counter has like 6 stations to order at. I went to all of the wrong ones before I made it to the right one. I attempted to order 1/8 lb of both Pastrami and Corned Beef. The guy quickly cut up a 1/3 lb off Pastrami and asked "good?" At nearly $30/lb it wasn't that good. I took the pastrami and didn't get to try it's non-smoked companion. That said... oh my god was it delicious. So tender, loaded with flavor, piping hot... just incredible.

Some strolling around Chinatown, gawking at knockoff purses on canal street, and some other seeing of sights and it was lunchtime. I can't say I was exactly hungry, so good thing there was an hour long wait to order and a nice park to stand in for the wait. The place is Shake Shack. Something of a burger legend and I got to try it. 

Double Shake Burger. Shroom Burger (Not mine, still amazing though). Cheese Fries. Fair Shake (Not very good).

A little bit of hamburger heaven. Thick and juicy. Fantastic bun. Wonderful flavor. Easily bests its National Chain rivals.

Cheese fries with a tasty little american and cheddar blend on them.

At this point it becomes a solo adventure and I head over to Eatily. This is Mario Batale's grocery store filled with everything delicious and expensive. I wondered around for probably an hour just looking at the deli - with 8 different types of proscuitto, the meat department - with Pat LaFrieda cuts, the vegetable department - with CRAZY things like white eggplant, and the vinegar zone - with the most expensive vinegar EVER. 

The bottle is 3.4 oz. 

I then stumbled upon a cool little collection of street vendors. With no room for real food, I did the next best thing... dessert. I walked up to the guy with a big block of ice and he turned it into shave ice. Too bad it wasn't very good. 

Some time shopping, some time moving, some time sitting, and it was time to head out for dinner. The spot was a strange place at the end of a subway line in Flushing, NY. It was, humorously enough, a mall food court - the Flushing Mall Food Court. A mall food court where no one spoke english, we were cut in line constantly, vegetarian food was extremely rare, and when it was found... we weren't quite sure it was actually vegetarian. I got the special form a place that I just learned was named Lanzhou Noodle. I thought the place was actually just called hand pulled noodles. Anyways, it had good fresh noodles, some cut of beef, a pork rib, and a fried egg in it. I later had some mediocre scallion pancake and deep fried pumpkin cake in a second attempt to find vegetarian food. Finished it off with a crazy ice cream crepe type thing. All very fun, but it was time to leave. 

And there you have it, a day of gluttony in NYC.