We in Harlem right now (Taken with instagram)
Nice meeting you, Lance! Next time, try Devin’s Fish Market down the street (it’s tastier!) or Margie’s Red Rose Diner.
Cool pics I shot of the Bad Habbits who will be releasing “Acid Reflux” later this year!
Benovic Bradley
Recently, my siblings and I were strapped with ideas on what to get my mom for Christmas. By chance, around Thanksgiving, I saw that she received a flyer for Porgy and Bess on Broadway.
Basically, we grew up listening to my mom sing this musical around the house. When you’re a kid and your mom just starts yelling about living on Catfish Row…you can imagine one would be rather confused. But over the years, I guess we grew to appreciate the musical…So, we decided to get her tickets to see the play on Broadway. She is pretty excited about it.
I was just as excited when my sister surprised Russell and I with tickets to see Stick Fly. I had recalled hearing something about the play one morning on New York One, and I knew that it was produced by Alicia Keys…What I did not know was that it had a star-studded cast including Mekhi Phifer (Soul Food, 8 Mile, Dawn of the Dead) Dule Hill (USA’s Psych), veteran actor Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Condola Rashad (Phylicia and Ahmad Rashad’s daughter) and more note-worthy actors and actresses.
I won’t give the story away, but it includes family drama, racial, social and economic debates, and it inspires truth and honor.
I’m honestly not a huge fan of plays or live performances, but Stick Fly grabbed my attention from beginning to end. Alicia Keys did a wonderful job with the music and the cast is made up of a truly talented group of actors.
If you’re also running up dry for gift ideas (for a birthday or even for the steadily approaching Valentine’s Day), don’t rule out purchasing some tickets to a Broadway play. Broadway Week is also coming up, so you can snag some 2 for 1 deals too.
Benovic Bradley
NYC Foodies’ Paradise
I am facing a dilemma of cosmic proportions. I must prepare my gullet. The debate at hand is clear:
Which restaurants are going to make my cut for Restaurant Week 2012? With dozens of choices for fantabulous $35 dinner prixe fixes, it took a lot of research and determination to narrow my list down to these six:
Delmonico’s
Butter Restaurant
The Capital Grille
City Lobster and Steak Company
Morimoto
Maze
Oh the choices! Oh how my mouth waters. Between you and me, my top two picks are Butter and Maze.
Benovic Bradley
Have I mentioned how friggin’ awesome the Cuban burger at Coppelia on 14th St in NYC is? It’s a burger topped in pulled pork AND chiccarones. (via 11 Best Burgers of 2011, NYC - New York Restaurants and Dining - Fork in the Road)
(via ffffood)
Why did we ever move from Queens?
Benovic Bradley
This guy is making somewhat 1000-3000 a day picking (crap) off the flo.
NYC has some good cracks.
Benovic Bradley
Russell and I finally visited Shopsin’s for lunch.
Their hours are kind of weird, but since we both had today off from work, we scooted there straight off the F train.
Shopsin’s is squeezed into a tiny corner in the Essex Street Market. We were quickly seated at a table for two and even though we had both studied the menu vigorously beforehand, we still needed about 10-minutes to finalize our lunch choices.
Rusty got a half-order of the Mac and Cheese pancakes ($10) with a side order of bacon ($5) and I got the Gallant sandwich ($15): turkey, bacon, avocado, cranberry mayo on a ciabatta-esque roll. Water was served in large plastic cups.
We both enjoyed our food, and Rusty loved the fact that he got his own bottle of 100% maple syrup. The pancakes were perfect, I thought. And my sandwich was giant. The ingredients seemed very fresh, and the turkey was cut in thick slices.
The sliders seem like a popular option at Shopsin’s. I saw two people nomming on them while we were there. The fried chicken mac and cheese sliders ($16) looked very tasty. If the breakfast and lunch platters weren’t so expensive, I might order one of them.
I also got a cafe au lait ($1.50 for a small) from Porto Rico Importing Company while we were at the market, because their coffee was recommended by Russell Senior. It actually was pretty good tasting coffee. I was pleasantly surprised, but it got cold very quickly.
T’was a good lunch and I can’t wait to visit Shopsin’s again! If you plan on visiting, remember that they’re a cash-only establishment.
Benovic Bradley
A couple of months ago, I caught this episode of ‘Throwdown!’ where Bobby Flay challenged Melba, a soul food maven with a restaurant in Harlem. Bobby contested Melba’s infamous chicken and waffles with strawberry butter.
I won’t tell you the outcome of the Throwdown; you can watch for yourself. However, I can tell you that when I saw a Groupon for Melba’s, I quickly purchased and lugged Russell to the restaurant in the Columbia University area of Harlem.
The atmosphere was nice, but the restaurant was very small. I liked the candlelit tables and the low-hanging lights, but if we hadn’t arrived before the dinner rush, or made reservations, I am pretty sure we would have been in the cold waiting for a table.
Once we were seated, we ordered the Southern Crab Cakes as an appetizer (about $9.95); the Southern Fried Chicken and Eggnog Waffles (about $14) and the Southern Style Catfish with potato salad and macaroni and cheese (about $14).
The crab cakes were delicious, moist and came with a spicy dipping sauce that Rusty and I both enjoyed. It was a great start to the meal. I was surprised when Russell’s plate arrived, however, because it wasn’t quipped with a giant waffle like the one Melba made on ‘Throwdown!”, but instead, three mini-waffles. Rusty also remarked that the serving portions were on the small side. The waffles were delicious though, and the chicken was extremely moist, skin perfectly crunchy. I also enjoyed the strawberry butter, but was expecting it to be a little bit more flavorful. My fish was also moist and flaky, very good. Whoever is frying stuff at Melba’s obviously has that section of the kitchen covered.
I was pretty disappointed with my sides though. The mac and cheese was of the spicy variety, which is great when you are in the mood for it. However, I found the spiciness of Melba’s mac to be too blunt and over the top. The spice was also inconsistent throughout the dish. The potato salad was also way too salty and had too much relish.
All in all, with the $20 Groupon, the meal was a steal. But I would have been slightly dissatisfied if we had to foot the real bill, $39.98. Because I bought the Groupon, Rusty left a $10 tip.
Melba’s also has a small bar with custom cocktails that start at around $9, kind of pricey.
So our stop for soul food is still Amy Ruth’s (which is cheaper, serves larger portions, better taste — way better mac & cheese, and you can’t forget the kool-aid!). But if you want to change things up a bit and hit up a yuppier-soul food joint, try Melba’s at least once.
Benovic Bradley
