June 13, 2006
So. The 2006 MoCCA art festival. After the amazing adventures we had in New York last year, it was pretty much a no-brainer to head back there again. This time round, I piled into a rental van with Chip Zdarsky, John Martz, Rosemary Mosco, Parrish (whose last name I totally don’t know how to spell, my bad), with Chris Butcher and his gentleman friend Andrew driving and navigating their way to New York and back. As crazy as Chris usually is, we left late Thursday night at around 11PM and drove without pause until the sun had risen and we had arrived in the Big Apple.
That’s Chip Zdarsky’s noggin blocking my view out of the van.
John Martz, I presume.
At yet another rest stop in the early morning. Those crazy Americans sure make their lampposts weird.
By far the best license plate we saw on the drive down. Unicorn power!
We had loaded the van to capacity with all sorts of Canadian goodies for our American friends, which included Lay’s ketchup chips, Coffee Crisps, and Kinder Surprise eggs.
After an amazingly smooth border crossing (easily our fastest crossing yet — we were expecting to be accused of being Canadian terrorists or trying to steal women away from America), we arrived in New York City at around 8:30 in the morning. Sitting in the centre of the back seat of the van for the entire ride was unpleasant to say the least, and I only managed a half hour’s worth of sleep for the entire trip. Nevertheless, Ro, Parrish and I were dropped off at the fabulous Steve Carey’s apartment, where Ro and I would be staying again, along with Ryan North and Allene Chomyn (who were driving down separately).
Just a few days prior to our trip down to NYC, Steve had found a guide on Chowhound outlining a food tour of the lower east side, and after all our foodie adventures last year, there was no way I was going to turn this tour down! I decided to document every single stop on this tour, as well as every other meal I had for the remainder of the weekend, because I figured if I had eaten myself close to death and needed to tell my doctors what I ate as I lay dying, I could simply point them to my camera. Anyway, we met up with Sara Rosenbaum in the afternoon, and then we were off on our eating tour!
Foodie adventure #1: Katz’s Deli
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: For the quintessential NYC deli experiences, no place beats Katz’s, on the corner of Houston (pronounced “how-stun”) & Ludlow Sts. You’re there specifically for the pastrami sandwich. When you enter, you will be given a ticket. Instead of opting for table service, do what the “natives” do and get on line for counter service. When you reach the counter, put a $1 for each sandwich in the counterman’s tip cup and order pastrami on rye. He’ll give you a piece to taste. If you like it (the best pastrami is juicy and has some fat on it), tell him o.k., and he’ll make your sandwich, give you some sour pickles, and punch your ticket. Then, continue along the counter for sides - the cole slaw is good — and drinks. Find seats at a table in the center of the room. (Tables along the wall have menus on them and are reserved for waiter service.) When you’re done, take your ticket to the cashier in front. It’s cash only. Note: If you are doing this “tour” with someone else, unless you have a gargantuan appetite, it would be best to share one sandwich in order to leave room for more tastings along the way.
The counter where our sandwiches were prepared. We followed the Chowhound’s ordering guide to the letter, although we forgot to pick up some of their coleslaw. I had chosen to skip breakfast in preparation for this tour, and as soon as I put the fatty pastrami sample the counterman gave to us into my mouth, I immediately started salivating.
Here it is: the best pastrami on rye I’ve ever had, with pickles and a Dr. Brown’s black cherry soda that Steve recommended. Not bad at all for my first meal of the day
Steve and I had agreed to split a pastrami sandwich between the two of us, and I was sort of regretting it at the time, because I could’ve totally eaten a whole sandwich on my own, but I chose to err on the side of caution, since I’d be eating all afternoon, and boy, I was really glad I did by the end of the day.
Rosemary, Steve and Dr. Brown. At the end of the weekend, I ended up buying several cans of Dr. Brown’s to take with me back to Canada.
Sara and Parrish.
The view from the back wall of Katz’s. Somewhere at one of these tables, Meg Ryan faked her orgasm from When Harry Met Sally.
That’s a lot of salami. I wanted to send my brother a salami, but I couldn’t remember his address off the top of my head. Next time, perhaps.
Foodie adventure #2: Russ & Daughters
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: When you exit Katz’s, turn left and continue along the same side of Houston St. You will come to Russ & Daughters, famous for all sorts of smoked fish and many other goodies. It’s not a restaurant, but they make sandwiches to go.
I didn’t get a sandwich, but I did decide on a smoked salmon croquette. The salmon was perfectly salted, and the aftertaste it left in my mouth was simply incredible.
After Sara had bought some black licorice and other assorted candies, we were off to our next stop.
Foodie adventure #3: Yonah Schimmel’s
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: After leaving the Russes, continue west a couple of blocks until you reach Yonah Schimmel’s. Get a tasty potato knish, and make sure to ask them to heat it up.
I had never had a knish before in my life, and I was really looking forward to it. I was taken completely by surprise at how rich it was. According to the lady that sold us the knish, it was made with nothing but mashed potatoes, onions and spices. We split this knish between the five of us, and then Parrish went back and bought another one.
After filling our bellies with some really heavy food, we took a much-needed break from the eating for a moment to meet up with the Playground Ghosts gang, who would be joining us on our mad food tour.
Once we had all met up and the introductions were made (more on the Playground Ghosts crew a little later), we headed off for the next stop on our tour. Along the way, we saw this little playground, when Sara happened to notice that this tree was growing something unexpected…
Foodie adventure #4: White mulberries
Not exactly part of the Chowhound tour, but Sara stopped to pick us some fresh mulberries. A lot of people questioned the sanitation (and sanity) of eating mulberries from a tree in New York, but seeing as this was a food tour, I would’ve been remiss not to try at least one.
As a few of us proved, it was unsurprisingly not deadly. Tasty, even.
Foodie adventure #5: Kossar’s Bialys
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: When you’re finished licking your lips, go back to Houston St. and make a left (east) one block to Norfolk St. Turn right and walk down Norfolk until it ends at Grand St. Two places to look for at the corner of Grand and Norfolk: Kossar’s, for freshly baked bialys (another very NY food) and the Donut Plant (self-explanatory).
Here was another New York staple that I had never sampled before. It turns out bialys are similar to bagels, but instead of being boiled and then baked like a bagel, a bialy is simply flavoured and then goes straight to the oven to be baked. And while I enjoy a bagel as much as the next guy, I think if I had to make a choice between the two, I’d definitely go with a bialy.
Foodie adventure #6: The Doughnut Plant
Right next door to Kossar’s Bialys was the Doughnut Plant, where they had some truly outrageous doughnuts.
I was rather taken with the Doughnut Plant’s windowsill.
Their tres leches doughnut. At this point in the tour, I was beginning to have problems finishing all of my food. I only managed to eat 2/3rds of my bialy, and then I could only manage a 1/3rd of this doughnut that Sara bought. I ended up carting this doughnut and my bialy around with me for the rest of the day.
I don’t exactly remember what this doughnut was, but I do remember it being very berry-like. I had to try a little bit, after all.
A few of us also bought some fresh watermelon juice (with sugar cane) from the Doughnut Plant, and reviews were mixed at best. Ro disapproved, but I liked it, so much so that I ended up drinking much of people’s leftovers.
Foodie adventure #7: Gus’s Pickles
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: Next, walking west along Grand St., you will come to Orchard St. Turn right. At 97 Orchard, b/t Broome & Delancey, you will find the Tenement Museum, where the tour will show you what life was like for immigrants to NYC at the beginning of the 20th century. (www.tenement.org) To keep this spot food-centric, have a pickle at Gus’s Pickles, which is at this location.
Next stop, Gus’s Pickles. Check out the barrels and barrels of pickles! We decided to skip the tour of the Tenement Museum, since Ro and I had been travelling all night long, and our lack of sleep was seriously starting to catch up with us. Andy Runton joined us on this stop of the tour, much to everyone’s delight.
Now that’s what a good pickle looks like. Well, it would if this photo was in focus.
Foodie adventure #8: Il Laboratorio del Gelato
From the Lower East Side Chowhound Tour guide: Finish up this gustatory adventure with a stop at Il Laboratorio del Gelato, at 95 Orchard.
This was the second-last stop on our tour (we had rearranged the Chowhound tour to cut down on the walking), and this gelato was a great way to wind down the tour. Pictured here is my mint / raspberry / strawberry gelato.
Foodie adventure #9: Egg Cremes
We had decided to get what Chowhound says is “the quintessential NY drink” — the egg creme — last, as Steve knew of a great place on the walk back to his apartment, so we let him lead the way. It was a neat little nondescript convenience store with no apparent name, and we all ordered ourselves some of New York’s famous milk-and-soda water concoctions.
Since everyone had ordered the chocolate egg creme, I decided to buck the trend and order a vanilla egg creme. For me, it was a surprisingly good way to wash everything down and end the tour. The tour was over, and I was still standing, although barely. We headed back to Steve’s place to regroup.
We had been eating food non-stop from 1PM to almost 4PM, so when we walked by these dogs, I couldn’t help but imagine what they might’ve tasted like. They wouldn’t let me eat the dogs.
Back at Steve’s, Andy is finally reunited with his ketchup chips…
…and then Andy is reunited with his arch-nemesis, Humlan, the Hypersexual Swedish Bee. Also, Shana to his left.
Ro, Steve, Chris Yates and Allene Chomyn taking a much-needed break before we heading out to Central Park.
Waiting for the subway to arrive at the 23rd Street station, Colleen AF Venable waves to us commoners.
Chris as a leprechaun?
Ryan gives Allene a lift.
Ryan and Steve, kings of Central Park.
Ryan and Chris egg each other on to run through the fountain. Proving that He Is A Man, Ryan complies in this video. Play-by-play commentary provided by Andy Runton.
The aftermath.
After a pleasant stroll through Central Park, we all hopped back on the subway back to head to our next destination…
Ro had this to say about this photo: “[this is] a picture of me and Shana vigorously discussing postmodern anthropology while Andy is like WHAT”
…Crif Dog! We were planning to meet up with the Dumbrella crew later in the evening for some crif dog madness, but some people were getting hungry (not me though; I was still full from our food tour), so we all broke up to get some food.
While we were waiting for the kids to get their food, I took the opportunity to set the high score on the Crif Dog’s Ms. Pac-Man machine (admittedly, it’s not a very high score) that Ryan desperately tried to beat, but failed miserably.
Ryan makes his second attempt to crack my high score, while David Malki watches on.
We abandoned Ms. Pac-Man to rejoin the group who had gathered in the nearby park, where this dude was sleeping at one of the chess tables.
After everyone had their fill of dinner, we headed back to Crif Dog to wait for the Dumbrella gang to show up. Several beers were had while Steve kicked our asses on the Galaga machine.
Foodie adventure #10: Crif Dog
The moment that the Dumbrella boys show up, Rich Stevens immediately makes a beeline straight for the Crif Dog counter. I order my two crif dogs moments after him, getting one with sauerkraut, and a ’surprise’ dog, which turned out to be a tasty bacon-wrapped salad dog. Man, I had forgotten how heart-stoppingly good these things are.
Rich’s surprise dogs were even more amazing than mine, with two of his dogs consisting of a fried egg and ketchup, and another of coleslaw and chili (!!). The strange orange glow isn’t from the crif dog itself; it’s actually Rich documenting his own crif dog experience, which you can view on his flickr page.
Look! It’s Jeff Rowland! He was also documenting MoCCA over the weekend, only in comic form.
The aforementioned Rich Stevens.
There’s John Allison in the background, looking kind of blurry.
Jon Rosenberg and Andy Bell.
Ryan and Steve ended the night by combining their powers for a Fastball Special.
After jam-packing the entire day with food and the company of good friends, it was time to call it a night, for the MoCCA festival was a scant few hours away. We all parted ways, and we retired to Steve’s apartment once again. However, I foolishly joined Steve in a nightcap that involved two glasses of Johnny Walker Red, which would be a recurring theme for the next day…
To be continued.
