Brad's: The NYU Institution That Does

Location: Waverly and Mercer

NYU students love to bemoan the absence of a community. We're so not mainstream with our lack of campus and a general unwillingness to reach out to anyone we didn't meet freshman year living on our floor. Sure, there was the brief dalliance with Blarney's freshman year, but then the cops busted them and now it's the narrowest bar in the universe with a slew of sad alcoholics.

But I have a friend with an uncanny ability to believe and commit to things/concepts/people/ideals whole-heartedly. He is just "some kid from the third world," but he is probably the greatest patriot I have ever met. He longs for the days when Bush was in office, thinks that there are places in the US that are more or less American than New York (but Jack Donaghy was wrong), and called "The King's Speech" the "Definitely, Maybe" of 2010 (no connection to patriotism, but that's probably the most generous review that movie will ever receive....Colin Firth you peaked with Bridget Jones).

Ryan is definitely, maybe thinking about the Academy's snub

Anyway, this friend discovered Brad's, the third place to occupy that corner in my 4 years at NYU. And he believed in it, called himself Brad's spiritual son. So, like any conscientious member of our generation, he made a Facebook event, guaranteed everyone toasted subs until 4 AM, lobbied for the creation of American jobs through drinking, and promised a "Brad's of a night." Basically, it was my duty as an American to be there and answer the question Kennedy asked in 1961.

Historic photo of Kennedy wishing he were eating

a toasted sub instead of wedding cake

So to be honest, I don't really remember all the details of Brad's Night Out. All I know is that it has been compared to the Egyptian democratic uprising. Basically, it was a big fucking deal.

Anyway, I went back. I got the promised toasted sub. First of all, the meat and coffee are organic and have all the titles to make you feel like an upright informed liberal college student. Second, they have potato chips as a topping. Third, the sandwich does not fall apart on you as it is tightly packaged. I got an Italian and it had an excellent selection of meats. Not as good as a meat salad, but I have to learn to lower my standards.

More importantly, Brad's actually feels like an NYU spot. It feels like a place where you could just run into people you know. It's like Seinfeld's diner, or HIMYM's MacLaren's, or that place they go in Sex and City where they just eat yogurt during brunch and point at each other with melon at the end of their forks. It feels like a wholesome 1950s America (even though the prices do not match the era the place alludes to) with a 1960/70s soundtrack in the middle of a New York in which you have to be mildly cynical about everything you encounter.

Conclusion: Yes. Feel nostalgic for an era you never lived and might never have actually existed.

Dine LA Week - Starry Kitchen

... and we're on a roll! Second post of the day!

A quick retro-post on Dine LA week, fueled by the last bit of coffee caffeine-fueled energy from three hours ago, and after hours of staring at this screen and starting to feel like my eyeballs are going to fall out.

Dine LA graced our presences once again these past two weeks, with prix fix menus that gave us quite a bang for our buck. our? Anyways. A friend and I took advantage of the last day of Dine LA week 2, determined to go to a restaurant offering the most exotic fare.

Our choice? Starry Kitchen in Downtown LA. On the lunch menu - appetizers included pandan chicken, crispy kimchi rice cakes, mac & cheese (w/ bacon, shiitake mushrooms, jalapenos & caramelized onions ), entrees - spicy korean black pork belly, braised vn beef, lemongrass tofu, desserts - pandan flan, young banana & warm tapioca, durian flan cheesecake.

Started I believe as an illegal restaurant operation in the apartment of the owner, now they have a nice little spot in the somethingsomething center in Downtown, which is also home to one of the Mendocino Farms locations (had a gruyere and steak melt on a pretzel roll here, it was fucking delicious. I would never normally pay $10 for a sandwich, but this one was worth every penny. Anyways, I digress.) Or so this is the story I believe I heard. It's 1am, delirium has set in, don't take my word for it.

But getting to the meat of the matter. Firstly, ambiance was nice, simple but homey feeling, the owner was even there to take orders and provided recommendations and made sincere small talk (can small talk be sincere?) and told multiple people that they don't fuck around here and mean business with their food. That, I appreciate. Also the ladies working at the counter were so nice and were so nice about giving me water refills (I am a BIG proponent of customer service making all the difference)

I got the mac and cheese (sucker for mac and cheese, and it was "exotic"), pork belly and durian cheesecake. Durian, definitely a polarizing fruit - you'll either look past the horrible stench and appreciate the odd sweetness of the fruit's flesh, or you'll think it both smells and tastes like asshole. I personally, am quite a fan - brings me back to my days in Singapore.

The mac and cheese was alright, a bit of a disappointment to be honest. The cheese part of the mac and cheese is CRUCIAL to get right - and although this claimed to have a 5 cheese sauce, I think it was more sauce-y than cheese-y. The flavors of everything else in it was quite delicious though and made sense in the dish (whowouldathunkit), I think I would have enjoyed it immensely if it were just a bit creamier.

The pork belly was fairly good, although my experience with pork belly is not very extensive and was not totally sure what to expect. Had a pork belly bun from Flying Pig truck once, and that practically melted in my mouth. This, on the other hand, was a little drier, and now thinking about it, not particularly memorable. It was served with an option of spam rice, regular rice & singaporean noodles or brown rice. The singaporean noodles were alright, although I'm not really sure what flavor profile they were going for. The sauce seemed to cover the noodles more than be a PART of the noodles. You know what I mean?

Durian cheesecake. Very intriguing. When you first bite into it, the cheesecake flavors hit, then the durian comes in at the end of it through the aftertaste. I think this dish would have been better as a plain flan, a more jello-y texture. The creaminess of it threw it off a bit for me, but I would definitely order it again.

Other things that were ordered that are worth nothing: the kimchi rice cakes (they were really more rice balls, but technicalities, technicalities) were DELICIOUS. It was just the right amount of kimchi flavor held together with rice and a touch a cheese. By far the favorite thing I tasted in that meal. Also I had not realized until that meal that young banana was distinctly different from regular banana, and that I enjoyed warm tapioca pudding.

Would I go back? maybe...? You can definitely get a meal for less than $10 there and be completely stuffed, and there are definitely things on the menu I would go back to try, but as of now, there are far more places I'd rather try out, and why go back to something if you don't absolutely mouth-wateringly crave and love it.

BU Cafeteria: A Fringe Lifestyle

Location: Literally, definitely right behind Fenway Park, conveniently located on BU's campus

I first started visiting Boston my freshman year of college because I had high school friends who went to college there. This is not a post about that unmitigated disaster. The first couple of times I visited I definitely looked like a vagrant because I somehow never had the appropriate bag to travel with so always wound up just stuffing my clothes into a plastic bag. I subsequently mastered light traveling with a backpack and things started looking up for old Kathy S.

In my Benjamin Button years...

Anyway, last weekend, my roommate and I braved the Fung Wah (the name that launched a thousand puns) and arrived in Boston around dinner time with a small suitcase and an air mattress in an at the time stately Macy's bag. (Of course, the fact that we got into the city around 6:40 meant that we were stuck in traffic for 45 minutes coming in which prompted Johnny to send multiple texts expressing his anger and puzzlement over the fact that we did not control the speed and time of arrival of the bus. Sample texts include: "Wrap it up!!! Are you still in traf???")

Finally, we got on the T...and promptly headed to a dining hall looking homeless, and, honestly, treating BU like a soup kitchen. Johnny opened the haggling over 1 meal swipe for 5 people with the words, "So you think I could get 3 meal swipes for the price of 1?" After expressing sincere dismay over the worker's refusal, citing precedent, things seemed to be getting worse. The meal-swiper (pretty sure that's the official title) called our friend out on trying to sneak in, he countered with asking that she give us 5 meals for the price of one swipe, and sensing that her resistance was futile and that she was working for Big Dining, she gave in and let us all in for free.

And so we marched in, triumphant, dragging a breaking suitcase and a bag with steadily enlarging holes in it. But no matter. On to the food stations. BU had a nice assortment--some pasta, salad bar, sandwiches, a carving station, burritos (but watch out for who's wrapping them...). Everyone had one or two servings; Johnny decided to go around the world. After a return visit to the sandwich station, Johnny set the sandwich down and concluded that the sandwich would "do [him] dirty" but the man would not be stymied by this fact. In general, Johnny lives like he is preparing for an imminent apocalypse or at the very least total economic collapse. He has stated that he will "eat anything, anytime, anywhere for any reason," and never leaves the dining hall without stealing some fruit. Maybe I'm just myopic, though.

A sandwich like this one could very well do you dirty.

Although Johnny's eating habits are similar to those of a generation that survived WWII, those of his friend are even stranger. While she complained about the fact that he takes forever to eat, Johnny described her eating habits as those exhibited by feral children raised by Asian wolves (she is Asian), and reminisced, like a haunted man, about times when she has gotten 4 or 5 rotisserie chickens and eaten only the skins. They are, after all, where all the nutrients are stored.

Conclusion: Powerplay or be powerplayed.