HI HI HIYA! Welcome to the blog once again! Today's entry will be about one of my favorite pit stops on the way to AC which also happens to be a kind of historical landmark...ROLL N' ROASTER! Be prepared to have the best lunch/dinner/2am munchie trip of your life.
Roll N' Roaster has been around for decades. To put it in perspective, my 55 year old father can remember taking his dates there on a friday night during his teen years. Like I said, been around for a WHILE. The place has not changed a bit! It still is decorated the exact same way. Orange and yellow themed plastic booths with a huge pick up counter in the front where they display the 3,000 items you can have smothered in gooey cheese sauce. They have everything from your original roast beef sandwiches to pizza pies and fried shrimp. Everything on their menu is A-may-zang.
For this trip, my Dad and I got the original roast beef sandwich, onion rings, and a vanilla shake. The roast beef sandwich is probably the best thing you'll ever have in your life. I always order mine medium rare because I like it bloody juicy and double dipped in gravy (for no extra charge). The roll is perfect, it holds the gravy and keeps the meat nice and moist without becoming too soggy. The meat is seasoned perfectly and the whole thing is just a big ol' piece of GODDAMN DELICIOUSNESS.
Next were the onion rings. Now, I usually don't eat onion rings because I usually don't like fried things, but these were epic. A little well done and Krunchy as heK. Some people go a little crazy and order a side of cheese sauce to dip these babies it, but I usually go for the classic dip in ketchup, you can't go wrong with that.
My favorite part of the meal, without a doubt, is the one, the only, VANILLA SHAKE! YAYYY! Without a doubt, the best shake you will ever have in your life. Creamy, cold, smooth, vanilla goodness topped with thick airy whipped cream. Oh boy, now I want one. This place is SO good, you will have it stuck in your head from the first bite. Before you die, make it your life's mission to enjoy Roll N' Roaster and it's fine gravy dipped sandwiches and the best shake you'll ever have. This place rules.
Menu
Full Meal
Medium Rare
Pure Heaven
Hello Everyone!
It's been a looooong week, and I could use a good blogging. I hope everyone else could too! This week I'm going to write about a great little Japanese pub type place called Hagi. I would best describe it as a tapas bar with Japanese food with $12 pitchers of Sapporo and Kirin. Pretty awesome.
Chris and I went to Hagi last week before a preseason Ranger game at the Garden. We took the 1 up to 50th street and walked west towards 8th ave. Don't be confused when you get there, you definitely want to take the stairs down to the creepy basement restaurant, it's where all the goodies are! Also, make sure you get there around 5:30-6PM on weekdays and at 5PM (opening time) on weekends because if you don't, there will be a pretty long wait. The restaurant itself probably only has about 15 tables that could hold 50 people at a time. So, it's pretty tiny. But what it's lacking in size, it makes up for with tasty tidbits. Everything on the menu is pretty much under $8. woohoo!
As I was waiting for Chris to meet me there, I ordered some kim-chi and a pitcher of Sapporo. The kim-chi was exactly what I was expecting, pretty standard. It was a good start. When Chris FINALLY showed up, that little booger, we got to the good stuff. We started off with some yakitori yummies. Yakitori is basically just meet on a stick grilled with sweet terriyaki-ish sauce brushed on it. We tried the Wagyu beef, pork belly, duck, chicken skin and calf liver. I'd have to say that my favorites were the beef, duck, and chicken skin. Don't be afraid of the sound of it, it's actually amazing. Like ordering BBQ chicken and biting into the first bite and getting that awesome sweet burnt crunch but instead of being one bite, its a whole stick! Awesome! (I ordered two!).
After those babies, we got some gyoza and wasabi dumplings. The gyoza were great, very crunchy and light - in fact they were so good, Chris ordered another one just for him lol. The wasabi dumplings are great. The pork inside is seasoned like the pork in gyoza but with a hint of wasabi and I'm pretty sure the entire dumpling dough is infused with the hot stuff. It burns so good! My sinuses were cleared for a week after I ate those thangs! Finally, we ended the meal with the terriyaki squid. It was really tasty. Very tender and grilled to perfection and went well with the sweet sauce.
After the delicious meal, we went on to see the Rangers kick some ass and had a pretty great night. So definitely go there, don't be afraid that it's down in a basement, and don't be afraid of the sometimes weird food on the menu. Be adventurous! If it's on the menu, someone is ordering it and loving it. Try it!
Kim Chi!
Wasabi Dumplings
Gyoza (6)
Duck,Pork,Skin,Beefs
Liver (yum)
Terriyaki Squid
Hey Foodie Friends,
I hope everyone is doing well and keeping their tummies full! Today's post is about my favorite little Mexican restaurant on Long Island called Mangoes. Not only is the food always great, but they are family owned and so so so nice! I should thank Chris's Mom and Dad for introducing me to this place a couple of years ago, because I've been there probably twice a month every since.
Usually, when I go to restaurants, I love to try new things off the menu once I know it's a good place. Howeverrrrr, when it comes to Mangoes, I can't help but but order the shrimp fajitas every single time I'm there. They're THAT GOOD! They go for $17 and you get 8 medium sized shrimp atop a pillow of sizzling sweet onions and green peppers, rice, beans, and dollops of guac, sour cream, pico de gallo and 3 homemade tortillas. Yes, homemade. The onions and peppers are always cooked to perfection; they are caramelized perfectly so that they are as sweet as candy. Since I love spicy food, I order mine minus the green peppers, PLUS sauteed jalapenos on the side. Wooooie! Hot and Spicy goodness. Another great addition, if you like hot and spicy things, is their homemade habanero hot sauce. You have to ask the waiter/waitress to bring it to you because it's not out on the table. It'll be our little secret ;). After I house the entire thing, I feel like Professor Klump, but it's so worth it! Oh Mangoes, how I love thee.
Chris usually orders mole poblano. That's one dish I truly do not understand, and I don't know why. Everytime he gets it, I try it and my brain doesn't know what to make of it. Is it chocolate? Is it spicy? I just don't know. But, I have tried the mole at other places, and I seem to think (and Chris agrees) that theirs is pretty damn good. So, I guess if you understand what that dish is supposed to be, it's good and you should order it. If not, GET THE FAJITAS!
Oh, they also have really good table side Guac for about $7. It's worth it, you'll love it. Get it, eat it. MMM!
Shrimp fajitas/jalapenos/hot sauce
Sides
Mole Poblano
Tiny bit of Guac left
Hey Guys!
Sorry it's been so long since my last post but I've been a tad busy! Anyway, this time I will be writing about my culinary experience at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.
We arrived about 3:30pm for a 4:05pm start, the perfect time to EEEAAAATTTT. Walking in, let me just tell you, this place is huge! It's like a museum, but the most crowded awesome museum you've ever been to. So first thing's first, we had to try Lobel's Steak Sandwich. I've heard rave reviews so I had to check it out myself. I had to see what a $15 steak sandwich was all about. After walking in a giant circle looking for it, I finally found the butcher window and knew I was close. There was an older gentleman trimming and slicing the meat, preparing it for the sammies and next to it was a line that wrapped around itself and led to a little sandwich stand. I got on line and it took about 10 minutes to be served, not as bad as I thought. I ordered my sandwich medium rare, paid, and headed to my seats so I could start eating.
I opened the plastic container and my first thought was, "holy shit this thing is HUGE!" The meat was cut in quarter inch thick slices and bathed in thick brown meaty gravy slapped on a nice fluffy round bun. I had high expectations. I took my first bite and I hate to say it, but I was a little disappointed! The meat was not medium rare, I think they dipped it into the gravy for too long and overcooked it. The thickness of the meat was too much, it was tough to bite through the sandwich and chew it up. The gravy was good, but it needed some salt. The best part of the sandwich to me was the bread, which isn't a very good sign. The bread was sweet like challah and soft on the inside. The whole sandwich was too big and tough to eat like a sandwich, it was more like eating pieces of steak and then biting a piece of bread. It was so filling I had to save half for later, bad idea. The longer you let it sit there, the tougher it gets to eat. So, my overall opinion on that is...EH. I've had much better steak sandwiches, and it's really annoying because it could be so much better if they knew how to cut a piece of meat. Dayum!
Next, I had to try the Philly Cheese Steak from Carl's Steaks, so Chris and I split it. Now we're talkin! This sandwich came piping hot, meat was smokin, cheese was perfectly melted. It looked damn good, now how did it taste? AMAZING! In fact, it was so delish, that I forced myself to eat my half of the sandwich after eating an entire Lobel's sammie. Needless to say, I was stuffed. But the meat was so tender, the cheese so perfectly creamy and salty, and the onions so sweet that I couldn't stop eating! That was the highlight of the day after the Yanks lost to the Sox 6-3 (BOO!).
Meat Man!
Lobel's
Inside the beast
Carl's Cheesesteak
Inside the masterpiece
Menu
Full Meal
Medium Rare
Pure Heaven
