This weekend I checked out several new places. The first, however, was not new. My first stop after arriving was the Madison Square Park Shake Shack. There are few things more relaxing than sitting in the park on a warm afternoon with a burger and fries. All Shake Shack haters should return their friend cards immediately.
Two hours later I had a second dinner at Pulino's. The latest in the McNally restaurant empire of Balthazar and Minetta Tavern fame. It was good bar pizza, but certainly nothing to write home about in NY. Also, it was super yellow inside so nothing came out that well. Brunch on Saturday was at Freeman's. A very charming, rustic "colonial American tavern" hidden at the end of a nondescript alley. I won't really comment on it, since a couple of friends have gone and reported in greater depth here and here. My friend and I got stuck in a dimly lit corner anyway, so I wasn't really able to take advantage of the natural light in the less sequestered areas.
That evening I had dinner at Totto Ramen. Totto is my favorite kind of place to eat. The wait was a bit excessive, but I always prefer the small, intimate places without pretense where the only presentation is watching bowls of ramen being assembled while the other guy individually blow torches each piece of deliciously fatty pork. The ramen itself is comparable to the other NY greats, but the pork was definitely the best I've had. I stopped by Totto's sister restaurant, Hide-Chan, as well, but it was surprisingly substantially inferior.
I also got soup dumplings at Shanghai Cafe before I left. New York represents a dilemma for me. I often don't really want to go, but my stomach wins out. There's going to be a day when I'm too old and tired to care enough to sit on a bus for four hours to gorge myself. Regardless of when that happens, I will come back to visit Dom DeMarco at least one more time before he retires.
