ADSUM (it's so HOT right now) Brunch and a weekend recap

This weekend was like an MK FriendFest; somehow many stars aligned and I ended up catching up with a bunch of very dear friends I hadn't seen in awhile.

WEEKEND RECAP
Friday: HH with J Sho, fish tacos and bourbon, drinks at Locust Rendezvous - the ultimate dive bar - with Jessica, Mogg and other HS buds, swooning over a fleeting crush on our bar server (what? she was adorable and edgy at the same time!), creamy drinks and more bourbon pours.

• Jose Pistolas - GREAT BEER selection, awesome bartenders, okay table waitstaff and forgettable food. J and I were super excited about the fact that they had 3 different kinds of fish tacos on the menu (fried grouper, grilled mahi mahi, seared tuna), but we ordered the grouper and mahi and both landed somewhere in the range of okay to bad. She didn't even finish hers! We also got a half order of the nachos and I can see the potential, but they weren't particularly great. However, since we didn't get them with meat or guac, I concede that they could be awesome and we just didn't get them the right way. 
• Locust Rendezvous - This is the kind of place that can either by depressing or awesome - I think it would mostly depend on your mood/state of mind. I found myself totally digging the chill, dark and bare-bones bar feel of it. Plus, our hot server was really attentive, funny and totally engaging, which really helps when you're surrounded by sad, frown-faced old dudes with scotch on the rocks. The most notable event of this part of the evening was that Jessica can now drink White Russians and not vomit. YAY!  

Saturday: brunch with one of my favorite couples/family (the DINGS + 1 Erik), SYTYCD finale on DVR, Step Up 3D (aka the worst movie of all time) with "ChiLex," a beer and snackies at Varga Bar, impromptu dinner at Garces Trading Company with the Caldwells including Baby Caldwell, then Grace's bday drinks at Lucy's.

• Adsum Brunch - full review below
• Step Up 3D - ok really... I know you may laugh, but I was really excited about this movie. Say what you will about the Step Up movies, but no matter how corny they are, they're still enjoyable. NOT really so with this installment. It felt like it was just an hour and 40 minutes of terrible scripting, a crude mechanism for showcasing the effects of 3D without actually paying what's due to the integrity of awesome choreography. A total hot mess. Sad. ChiLex (I think I still prefer ChiFong), Soopah and I basically just giggled the entire time.  
• Varga Bar - this is the best place, period. But, also the best place to wait until your table is ready at Garces Trading Co! Thank Goodness they have good IPAs on tap again. Was a bit disappointed at the lack thereof the last time I was there. Plus, hello - how can the fall off the bone wings always be so consistently good and arrive at your table so quickly? HOW, Varga bar, HOW?
• Garces Trading Company - you know how I feel about this place. Those feelings still stand. Plus, any dinner with adorable Baby Caldwell is going to be a good time. I will note that this place and our server really surprised me because they were SO adept at handling a toddler at the table - super kind and attentive, and great about handling his egg allergy as well. It was Julie and Jim's first time here and they really enjoyed the prosciutto pizza and scallops. Thanks for dinner, guys!   

As you can see, Baby Caldwell loves bread. Everyone should it bread this way - Pure Joy.  

Sunday: eat, sleep, TV, repeat.

These full weekends really make me appreciate all that Philadelphia has to offer. I sit back and remember that I'm super fortunate to have the friends and connections that I have here - and I acknowledge that having lived in the same town for most of my life does have some benefits.

So, right - BRUNCH REVIEW.

:: Adsum ::
address: 700-702 South 5th St, Philly
what we ate: chorizo corn dogs, omelet, egg pancetta and potato hash
Located at the corner of 5th and Bainbridge, Adsum is one of the new, "hot," restaurants right now. You can't look through food blogs, news or twitter without seeing several mentions of this place. It's not surprising since they just opened their doors a few weeks ago and Exec Chef Matt Levin is of Lacroix fame. You can see from the creative and adventurous menu that he has the goods to back up his pedigree.

Lately, Soopah and I have been making an effort to hit up as many great brunch spots as possible so we knew this was a must hit place. What cemented Adsum as our brunch for this weekend was the Foobooz post from Friday with the full menu... I'm fairly certain "UHM, does that say CHORIZO CORNDOGS?!" was our immediate reaction. What made the experience even better was that my very dear friends Michelle, Kwan and Erik just so happened to be in Philly for the weekend and were planning on joining us for brunch.

We arrived a good 15 minutes late and found my awesome friends sitting at an outdoor table, on the shaded side of Bainbridge, Slyfox Pale Ale, Mimosa and Porter on the table, aviators on, just being cool and waiting for us. <3 these guys. So we sit down, order a dogfish 90 and a mimosa, and immediately tell our server what we want to eat and so brunch begins. Mind you, the point of this last paragraph (other than to share how awesome these guys are), was to mention that Adum has a great beer/drink selection. :)      

ricotta beignets: vanilla + strawberry marmalade

Beignets are this French, fried dough concoction - usually rolled/covered in sugar... so essentially, a DOUGHNUT. Which is primarily why I'm not really much of a fan. However, these beignets were really delicious. Amazingly, the dough tasted light and buttery and crumbly in the perfect way, but at the same time had this rich denseness that was bursting with flavor. It was probably a bit sweet for a starter, but I'd definitely recommend as a dessert. 

chorizo corndogs: fried hen eggs + black beans + cilantro crema

Clearly, this was the dish that I was excited about - and apparently so was the rest of our table. Michelle, Kwan and I all ordered the corndogs and we were not disappointed. The breading was crumbly and crispy - and the chorizo sausage was spicy and salty. The cilantro cream was a nice bright counter flavor to the heat of the chorizo and the beans helped to settle all the flavors down. The fried eggs were perfectly cooked and was delicious with each bite of corndog. I don't know if this was a perfect dish though - I mean, I enjoyed it thoroughly, but I don't think I'd order it again. I wish the chorizo would have been a bit more... moist, perhaps? It was quite crumbly and I thought maybe it was the round shape of the corndog that wasn't optimal. I think because they were basically corndog balls, the chorizo to cornbread batter ratio were off towards the center. But yeah, I'm really nitpicking here. 

poached eggs + pancetta + shallot-potato hash + hollandaise

SOOOOOO GOOD. I was surprised but the shallot-potato hash seems like it's their potato mainstay - like Adsum's version of home fries - and it is ridiculously good. The potato is shredded and formed into a triangle of awesomeness. There were pancetta pieces throughout  (of course I wished there was more) and the eggs were placed on top. The poached eggs were a tiny bit overcooked, but still really tasty so I would imagine the perfect execution of this dish would make it even better. We were surprised to find a relatively thick layer of caramelized onions between the potato and eggs, but they really added that extra something to the dish that took it to another level.       

omelet: heirloom tomato + chimichurri + farmhouse cheddar

I didn't try this, but Erik said it was quite tasty. It also came with the potato hash YUM! Plus, I love anything with farmhouse cheddar. 

OVERALL, I liked this place a lot, and the menu items are definitely the draw (though the interior decor and outside dining are quite nice and memorabl), but definitely on the pricey side. With the mimosas, beers and food, our bill racked up pretty quickly. Besides, I wouldn't say it even makes my top 5 brunch places in Philly, BUT it was extremely solid and makes me look forward to when we return for dinner.  

Royal's Brunch, Burgers and Beverages

SATURDAY
Obviously, we brunched. I mean, it was SATURDAY, after all. Our brunch must-try list is still ridiculously long, but we are really chipping away at it week by week. This past brunch brought us to Royal Tavern. Man, that place is good. We had already been a few times because we love the beer selection and the staff, but we finally made it down there to have their brunch fill our bellies and dayummmmm was it good.

:: Royal Tavern ::
address: 937 East Passyunk Ave, Philly
what we ate: bloody mary, mimosa, burger, cuban omelet, curry chicken sandwich, sloppy joe 
Oh. Does that look like a lot of food to you? Did you think maybe a large group of us attended brunch together? HA! Oh, no no - that was a list of all the things that Soopah and I had the pleasure of eating on Saturday - JUST THE TWO OF US. Impossible, you say?? Well, it wasn't in one sitting, so it was very possible. We just found that brunch was so enjoyable, and we saw soooooo many things on the menu that we just HAD to try, that we made a return visit. THAT EVENING. You  may think we're sad, but I'd say we're geniuses.

Anyway, during BRUNCH, of course we had a bloody mary and a mimosa. PERFECT. They use siracha in their bloody marys instead of tabasco, and it results in a thicker tomato-y, spicy beverage. The mimosas were also heavenly, with just a splash of orange juice with a healthy pour of champagne.

Angus Burger: bacon + caramelized onions + smoked gouda + pickled longhots + chile mayonnaise + seeded brioche bun
The issue of who makes the best burger is widely discussed and debated in Philly foodie discussions. Amongst the frontrunners is always the Royal Tavern burger. And hell yes, it should be. I was a bit worried that it wouldn't live up to the hype (because hell yeah there is a lot of it), but I was pleasantly surprised to find that it totally does!

The burger meat was perfectly seasoned! I really dislike when places don't use enough salt, or use too MUCH salt, for that matter (I'm looking at YOU, PYT), but this burger was fantastic. Even more exciting, is the bacon was ever so present (that's because my burger pet peeves are as follows: bland meat, minimal bacon presence, mushy bread), which is something I'm always happy to find. The pickled longshots provided a nice kick without being overwhelming and the large, thick slice of smoked gouda really held up within the mix of those flavors. YUM. I don't know that either I or Soopah loved the bun, but we didn't hate it. So I mention our ambivalence for that component - you know... just to be fair and pretend we're objective or something.  

Cuban Omelet: with ham + pulled pork + pickled veggies + mustard + vinegared sliced potatoes + flour tortillas
My recall is currently terrible, so I may not have included all of the ingredients that were included in this dish. But, I'm sure you get the picture. Cuban sandwich, omelet-style! This dish came out of nowhere and we foudn it to be AWESOME. We folded in pieces of the omelet into the tortillas and stuffed with the veggies and potatoes to make little wraps. Added a bit of siracha and BAM, deliciousness.  

Right-O. Then, when we came back for Dinner (hehehe)............... we came right back to try the other items that had been taunting us earlier during the day.

Sloppy Joe: beef in a spicy tomato sauce + hand-cut fries
The vegan sloppy joe was the sandwich I had really wanted to try, but this past weekend, the beef sloppy joe was one of the specials. At the behest of our adorable bartender, I went with the beef version. It was definitely excellent - tart, tangy, spicy and tender. I think the bun they used was the same as the burger, so again, I was ambivalent about that part, but the meat was great. Brought me back to the olden days of high school cafeteria dining - but properly gourmet'ed up, of course. * ah, nostalgia *  OH yeah, and there was cheese! C'mon. CHEESE! <3

I do need to note that the hand-cut fries at Royal Tavern are freaking unbelievable. Crispy, flavorful and addicting. It took everything in me to not gobble up this entire plate of them.

Chicken Frankie: indian curry chicken + indian slaw + warm lovash + hand-cut fries
Our very interesting bartender told us that they make a huuuuuuuuuuge pan of curry chicken and just let it simmer (simma simma) for super long periods of time. He also said, if you pay attention, you can taste the TLC in each bite. Yes, we tasted it... YUM.

Frankly, this frankie (HAHA, sorry, had to), is delicious, but if I had to choose where to eat a curry meat in a wrap, I think I'd prefer the japanese style beef curry burrito at Maru Global, but at least we have OPTIONS!

I really love that Royal Tavern has such a wide variety of interesting dishes, like the tempeh sandwiches, tofu banh mis, shepard's pie etc. I mean, c'mon... basically there is something for everything. Plus, it's so cozy, quaint, casual - really lets you focus on the food and BEER.

hidden GEM of a brunch place

Our brunch adventures continue! Last Saturday, we made our way over to Cafe Estelle. We had been talking about trying Cafe Estelle for some time, so we jumped at the chance to finally visit. This restaurant is tucked away on the ground floor of an apartment complex on 4th street (between Callowhill and Spring Gardne) and somewhat hidden from streetview, so I feel compelled to really talk this one up, because it's soooooooo worth the trip.

:: Cafe Estelle ::
address: 444 N. 4th St. Philly
what we ate: croque madame, french onion soup, breakfast pizza
First, I love the restaurant's way of promoting a "healthy and sustainable way of living" in a simple and non-preachy way. All of their take out and paper products are made from sustainable, recycled and compostable material, and they use local and organic products as much as possible including their organic brown eggs, naturally raised free range meats, hormone and antibiotic-free dairy.

I also really liked the little details here - airy open spaces, simple fresh flower arrangements at each table, mismatched ceramic coffee mugs just like the ones you have at home!

AND, you even have several options of different kinds of coffee at Cafe Estelle - all are fair trade, organic and locally roasted.

All these little things add to a great brunch experience, but ultimately it's of course about the food.

Croque Madame: egg dipped brioche + smoked ham + gruyere + fried egg + potatoes 
This is, without exaggeration, my favorite brunch dish I have had in a long time. The egg dipped brioche, which is baked on-site, was the perfect moist, soft, but with crisp toasted edges consistency. The smoked ham had just the right mix of salty and savory meatiness and the gruyere was a perfect melted layer holding everything together.

Add to that, the fried egg, cooked over medium, and you've got gooey yolk coating everything with the soft egg and you've added even more flavors and textures.

NOTE: the croque madame comes with mixed greens, but being the brunch fatty that I am, I had to request potatoes. And I would definitely do it again, even though the potatoes themselves weren't particularly special (other than the fact that they are crisp potatoes and that is always good, obviously). Cafe Estelle's potatoes are cubed to a pretty good size and have very crunchy edges, but there weren't any other dimensions of flavors.

Breakfast Pizza: provolone + homefries + housemade pancetta + fried eggs
We don't really see many breakfast pizzas on menus, so we were super excited about the inventiveness of the breakfast pizza and gave props to Cafe Estelle for having it on the menu.

The good things about this included the portion size, the perfectly cooked egg, and the fact that the pancetta used is another example of meat that is prepared in house.

Look how pretty it looks with the egg broken over the pizza!

The slightly less awesome things included a dry and somewhat thin crust, barely noticeable cheese and imperfect potato to crust carb ratio. My biggest disappointment was that I had to think about what could have been. I feel like this pizza would have been VASTLY improved if they had used thinly sliced pieces of potatoes, rather than their cubed homefries. Surprisingly, I think that having smaller pieces of the pancetta may have worked better as well - the long strips made it difficult to eat. IMO, the cheese was too mild for this pizza; a stronger flavor would have helped bring these flavors together. However, it was still an interesting dish to say the least. Ultimately, I'm not sure I'd get this dish again, though. I mean, there were just so many other awesome sounding options available and given how good the croque madame was, I'd want to try the other dishes out first.

French Onion Soup: toasted bread + melted swiss cheese
The soup was tasty enough, but nothing special. Soopah thought the broth was a bit too sweet; I thought it was sufficiently sweet to be considered onion soup.

To conclude, I loved Cafe Estelle. There was something just so FRESH about the decor, their ideas, and the attitude here. Plus, the entire staff was very friendly and helpful.

One more note about the little things - many brunch or breakfast restaurants either charge you extra fees or give you dirty looks when you ask if they have a "to-go" cup for coffee as you're leaving their establishment. It's not really required that they oblige with a "to-go" cup once you're on your way out the door, but I have always appreciated the places that do. Cafe Estelle certainly accommodates this request and does so with great cheer and appreciation. Given how tasty their organic fair-trade coffees are - this is such a huge plus!

only the Kitchen Sink

Thank our lucky stars - we have been brunching more regularly again. There really are few things better than a relaxing Saturday afternoon that begins with a leisurely brunch of egg-y and meaty things with generous helpings of carby things like potatoes and bread!

Though the reliable standby has always been Sabrina's Cafe in South Philly, we have been making an effort to venture to other places since there are so many talked about Brunch offerings all over the city and we want to try them all. Sometimes, these adventures help us find true gems, like Day by Day (omg, I still need to write that review up) in Center City, but sometimes, we are left feeling somewhat unsatisfied - which is exactly what happened this past Saturday at Green Eggs Cafe. 

I had been wanting to go back to Green Eggs for brunch since I had stopped by a few months ago. Based on the croissant I had tried that day, I was concerned the food would just be MEH, and after our brunch visit, I'm not convinced it wasn't. Was that too many double negatives? Heh, I guess you could say, I'm undecided about this place, and I most definitely wasn't blown away.  

:: Green Eggs Cafe :: 

address: 1306 Dickinson St, Philly

what we ate: cheddar grits, breakfast burritos, "the kitchen sink" 

Trifecta made a big mistake on Saturday. Two of us ordered the same dish. Disast. Why would we do this?! I blame hunger, the unbearable heat/weather, and just plain short sightedness. Honestly, the lunch menu here has always sounded much more interesting to me, but for some reason, I felt like since we were brunching, I must have eggs. As a result, Soopah and I both ended up getting the breakfast burrito. 

Breakfast Burrito: flour tortilla + eggs + olives + corn + chorizo sausage + signature potato + tex mex cheese + topped with Pico de Gallo + sour cream + avocado slice + fire roasted red pepper black bean sauce

Looks like a long description, right? On the menu, they actually list all of these ingredients that are in the burrito and I was very excited about this. The burrito sounded hearty and I thought the olives and corn would be nice additions. What they don't tell you is that the "signature potato" includes huge pieces of red and green bell peppers. Which, in my hatred of that wretched vegetable, immediately makes me go EWWWWWW. 

Okay okay okay, I know that not many people agree with the EWWW assessment of bell peppers, but whatever your take on it is, it's undeniably a strong and very distinctive flavor. So, I'm sure for those folks that LIKE them, they add great flavor dimensions to dishes, but for those of us that really have a strong aversion to them, it taints the entire dish. ESPECIALLY, when they sneak up on you, like they did in the breakfast burritos. And, btw, the signature potatoes are in other dishes as well (like the kitchen sink, but I'll get to that later), so diner beware. 

I ordered mine without the black bean sauce and I think that is preferable. Otherwise, with the way it's poured onto the dish, you can't really avoid it if you find that you don't care for the flavors of the sauce.     

I want to say that if it hadn't been for the bell pepper sneak attack, I would have enjoyed this more. But then again, Soopah didn't really love it either and he digs bell peppers. 

I really wish I had stuck to my guns and ordered the Kobe Slider Trio off of the lunch menu, which sounded very tasty and interesting since it comes with 3 different styles of sliders. OR, the crunchy peanut butter stuffed french toast, which I'll be honest, I have been thinking about since my first glance at the menu. What stopped me from ordering them, you ask? Well, it's my goshdarn pickiness rearing its ugly (anti-Foodie) head. The description says that the stuffed french toast comes with a layer of cream cheese and I kept getting stuck on the idea that I'd hate it. It's ridiculous really. I have tried veal tongue and frog legs, but gave up on this dish before I even tried it because of cream cheese. I MAKE ME SAD. 

The kitchen sink: two eggs + cheese + our signature potato (!!!) + sausage + topped + homemade jumbo biscuits + sausage gravy 

If I had to break this down, I'd say the presentation definitely rocks, but the food itself was okay. The eggs and cheese part were pretty yummy - well cooked, but once again, the bell pepper factor in the potato mixture came into play here. J. Giggles hates bell peppers as much as I do, so again, too much sneak attack pepper taste. The sausage pieces were great. If anything, I wished there were a bit more of them throughout - but hey, isn't that always true? More meat, please! 

The biscuits (pretty sure there were 2 of them in there) were decent. They weren't buttery at all, so my guess is they bake these on-site just for this particular dish. I couldn't tell definitively, but I suspect if we had eaten them plain, they would have been on the dry side (like the croissant I had before!). As part of this particular dish, they were really really good. 

The REASON they were really good, however, is because of the decadent, creamy, savory sausage gravy..... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. The three of us were scooping this gravy up like it was soup. Wow, I realize that sounds gross, but it was really so good. Super rich, but not overly salty or overwhelmingly heavy. Without a doubt, this gravy makes/saves this dish. Again, mmmmmmMMMmmmm. 

Stone Ground Grits: Southern style + aged cheddar + scrapple chips

I had high hopes for this - especially after we had delicious grits at Tap House last week. I was crushed to find that the Green Eggs version were nowhere close to the tastebud jackpot we discovered in U-city. The scrapple was forgettable, at best. Even now, hard as I try, I can't conjure up enough of the flavor experience to make something up about how I felt about it. The grits were cooked well enough, but was too cheese heavy. It is surprising that I say that, but I would guess they used shredded cheddar mixed into the grits, and the result was that it thickened the grits too much. The grits, while they tasted okay, were too dense and thick and piece-y - almost lumpy - and that's not what you want. At least, that's not what I want. 

Sigh. So sad. Cheddar Grits... you could have been so good. Ah well. 

Maybe it was the choice of items, maybe not, but Green Eggs Cafe is not a place I'll be rushing to return to - especially while there is the rest of the South Philly Brunch Belt to try. Or, in Soopah's case, Sabrina's to return to. Or in my case, Day by Day. 

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part III, saturday brunch, culture and indulgence

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part I, the PLANNING

NYC Fat Tour Recap: Part II, friday fun & festivities

Part III, aka, brunch, tim burton is twisted, live NUDE art, and the kick-off of the FAT TOUR.

Saturday Brunch: Virage
even though we stayed out til 4am, we managed to get up bright and early to eat brunch at virage. it was close to the apt, tasty and i had been there before and knew about their brunch special.

:: virage ::
address: 118 2nd ave, nyc
what we ate: grilled chorizo and scrambled eggs, goat cheese tomato and asparagus omelette, steak and eggs over easy.
the menu at virage has schizophrenia and describes its menu as a mix of "French/Italian/Middle Eastern" fare. the weekend brunch special is a $14.25 pre-fixe menu that includes: a basket of homemade bread & muffins, w/choice of coffee or tea, Bloody Mary, Mimosa, Bellini, Screwdriver or fresh-squeezed Orange Juice with each item. awesome deal, reliably tasty food and good service.

i ordered: grilled chorizo + scrambled eggs with cheddar and scallions + potato hash + salsa

julia ate: goat cheese + asparagus + tomato omelette + potatoes

soopah got: steak + 3 eggs over easy + potatoes

Tim Burton Exhibit
if i may, i'll take a brief break from the recounting of all the food, and make a quick note about our adventure to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in new york. we had been trying to go for weeks in order to catch the tim burton exhibit before it closes on april 26. this exhibit was, in fact, the catalyst for the planning of this fat tour.

much to our dismay, we found that tickets for the burton exhibit had been consistently selling out every day (including weekdays) in these last few weeks of its showing, including for the friday and saturday we'd be in nyc. chiho was the hero of the day - his resourcefulness and interwebs skills managed to find us a loophole:

"if you buy a MoMA membership ($75), you can get guaranteed free entry into the museum at any time for one year, including special exhibits. you can also bring up to 4 guests and they will only  need to pay $5 each for entry. this loophole works for special exhibits AND it means you don't have to wait even for the "timed"/scheduled exhibits like the tim burton one."

SCORE. so this is exactly what we did. PLUS, membership is tax-deductible.

Note: there is some additional benefit if you're someone who lives 150+ miles away, you get 5 guest tickets and the cost of membership is only $60.

tim burton is one twisted man and his art certainly reflects that. i LOVED the collection - the blue woman whose eyeballs had popped out of her head and were lounging on a table nearby drinking a soda and listening to the stereo, animations of the adventures of stainboy, original sketches from his youth, etc.

 while entertaining, it did get a bit frustrating because of the number of people in each section of the gallery. it was too hot and unmanageably crowded. definitely took away from the experience.

on the 6th floor, we found nude people (!) - i mean PERFORMANCE ART installations by Marina Abramovic. she is a serbian/yugoslavian artist whose "work explores the relationship between performer and audience, the limits of the body, and the possibilities of the mind." there was a NOTICE sign at the entrance of the exhibit, but we definitely weren't prepared for everything showing in the gallery.

let's just say there were videos with nekkid people, live nekkid people, pictures of performances of nekkid people (there is a reason why all of her art involves nudity, but as with most art, YOU can interpret why that is for yourself). it IS quite shocking though, and we did continue to talk about it all day (all the while, giggling, of course teeheeheehee) ... so mission accomplished... sort of.

kick-off of the FAT TOUR 


NEIGHBORHOOD: Flatiron/Gramercy
after several hours at the MoMA, we finally made our way down to the first stop on the fat tour: SHAKE SHACK. our tour kicked off 2 hours late, we were starving and we misread the subway signs and waited unforgivably long for the right train, but thankfully, kahee had made it down to madison square park before us and grabbed us a spot in the very long line.

FAT TOUR STOP #1
:: shake shack ::
address: southeast corner of madison square park, madison ave and east 23rd
what we ate: 'shroom burger, shake stack burger
remember how i said we were starving and there was a long line? yea, by the time we got the burgers (which i think was after about an hour wait), we DEVOURED them. no photo. sad day.

'shroom burger: crisp-fried portobello filled with melted muenster and cheddar cheese + lettuce + tomato + shack sauce.
gooey cheese oozes with every bite of this mushroom burger. it's mostly cheese; i'd put the ratio at 6 parts cheese, 1 part mushroom - that is what makes it so delicious! oh, plus it's FRIED. this is the kind of non-meat sandwich i can be happy with.

shake stack burger: cheeseburger + 'shroom burger + lettuce + tomato + shack sauce
all of the delicious meatiness of a burger plus the rich fried awesomeness of the 'shroom burger... cannot go wrong here. shake shack burgers are truly so different than any other burger you'll try and the fried mushroom is a big part of that. the burger meat itself, while juicy and flavorful, isn't really THAT memorable IMO, but the mushroom i can go on and on about.

it really is tragic that we had no pics of the burgers. so, here:

or click HERE.

FAT TOUR STOP #2
:: defonte's of brooklyn :: 
address: 261 third ave, nyc
what we ate: hot roast beef sandwich + fried eggplant slices
soopah and kahee had always raved about this sandwich. we found that the sandwich was delicious and so was the customer service! we only ordered one sandwich for the 7 of us to share, but the owner came to chat with us and thank us for enjoying his food.

hot roast beef: roast beef + fresh mozzarella + fried eggplant + natural jus
the meat was juicy and flavorful with just enough jus to make the bread soft and moist. the thin layers of fried eggplant and mozzarella provided subtle flavors that didn't overpower the roast beef, but definitely added another dimension to this sandwich. the bread was surprisingly good and when i asked the owner about who his bread supplier was, he said if he told me, he'd have to kill me. sigh.

he DID however give us a plate of fried eggplant after we exclaimed about how WONDERFUL it was. i think it was restitution for his threat to off me, but whatever the reason, it was DELICIOUS.

the fried eggplant has a very thin batter around it and the slice of eggplant itself is incredibly thin. if you've ever had korean fried zucchini (or other veggie) slices, this tastes very similar. i don't think these are offered standalone off of the menu, but they are in many of the defonte's sandwiches. GET THEM. so good.

next up: Part IV, the fat tour continues in the East Village and Nolita.