Sheltered Girl Meets World

Eaten: Uyghur Cuisine @ Café Kashkar (New York City, NY)

The colourful Langsai Salad with heavily cumin spiced Samsa in the background.

I've said before that I like to travel by the seat of my pants, tossing the guide book in the back seat and visiting whichever roadside attraction has the brightest lights but I've changed.  Since the mishaps of last years American Road Trip I've learned that a flexible itinerary with details like addresses, hours of operation and alternatives can be useful and can avoid the dreadful vacation argument.  I still find making an itinerary painful but it's not the planning that gives me anxiety it's seeing the attractions, hotels and restaurants written down that reminds me of the expense of the vacation and how ill prepared my wallet is.

Wordless Wednesday: The Flatiron Building (New York City, NY)

Eaten: Freshly Steamed Lobster @ The Lobster Place (New York City, NY)

Order a live lobster or buy one that's been cooked earlier in the day.

My first time eating whole lobster was on a family trip to Nova Scotia.  We stopped at a family run restaurant overlooking the water and I ordered a whole lobster.  I was outfitted with a white bib, given tools and I did my best, with the occasional tip from our server, to get as much meat from the shell as I could.  I didn't expect to find lobster that fresh anywhere but in the Maritimes so it came as a surprise when we saw people hard at work deshelling lobster meat, dipping the white meat into a plastic cup of clarified butter on the concourse of the Chelsea Market in New York City.  We stopped window shopping and went on a search for the source and it didn't take us long to find it, the store is named after lobsters after all - The Lobster Place.

Yeah, he looks like a good size for two people to share.

The Lobster Place has been serving New York fresh Maine coast Lobsters since 1974 when they started making runs to Portland from its original location in the Upper West side.  Their approach was simple, deliver a high quality, hard-to-find product and do it with integrity.  Over the years they've moved from their original location to Chelsea and increased their product line to include not only lobsters but everything under the sea and quite the menu of prepared seafood.

In addition to steamed lobsters there are many different types of sandwiches, salads, sushi and a collection of chowders available for take away.  We walked past cases of whole fish, fillets, shell fish, oysters and the prepared food section to get to the back of the store where customers had cued to buy live or precooked lobsters.  We chose to steam a live lobster instead of buying one that had been precooked earlier in the day.  The cost is the same (market price) but there is a 20 minute wait for the lobster to be cooked which is easily spent browsing one of the many specialty shops at the market.

 

Don't look at me like that, you know you're tasty.

When we returned to the back of the shop our lobster was ready, sitting on a cardboard plate with a lemon wedge and small container of clarified butter.  We spent the next 15 minutes in silence, prying and coaxing meat out with the occasional 'ow' when a hand got too close to the spiky shell.  It was simple steamed lobster meat but it was deliciously luxurious and sweet without needing to open the container of butter.  Eating on a cardboard plate on a dirty table on the concourse of the market may not have been as beautiful as a small restaurant on the coast but the flavour and smell of the lobster made you believe you were there, for 15 minutes anyway.

 

Eaten: The Shack Stack @ Shake Shack (New York City, NY)

Shake Shack in the Theatre District.

I always find visiting New York City challenging.  Part of me wants to become a New Yorker - wearing stylish impractical footwear for a day of subway hopping and walking, avoiding Times Square at all costs and eating at delis morning, noon and night.  Not that I don't love deli's, but there is so much other food to enjoy in NYC and the bright lights of Times Square amaze me every time I walk through it in my comfortable not-so-stylish shoes.  It was after the boyfriend dragged me from Times Square that we stopped at another set of flashing lights, the Theatre District Shake Shack.

The Shack Stack - cheeseburger and 'shroom burger together as one.

Shake Shack has been serving freshly ground, hand formed burgers since 2004 at its original location in Madison Square Park.  Since then it's become a New York City favourite and has become known not only for it's burgers but for hot dogs, fries and frozen custard.  In 2008 they branched out, opening a concession stand at Citi Field stadium and five other locations around the city.  In 2010 the chain made the big move out of the city, opening locations in Miami, Washington even Kuwait City, Dubai.

No matter which location you go to, there will be a line to wait to order you're food and a line to wait to pick up your food.  At the Theatre District location we were lucky, the line that usually snakes down 8th Ave was short and we only had to wait 15 minutes to place our order for Shack Stacks and concretes, receive a buzzer and fight with other tourists and New Yorkers for table space.

The Shack Stack is a glorious combination of cheeseburger and 'shroom burger that's larger than your mouth and your hands!  When I finally got a grip, I bit into the beef, mushroom combination and was hit by a flavour explosion - literally.  I tasted the soft bun and cheeseburger and then I hit the crisp, fried portobello mushroom, stuffed with muenster and cheddar cheese.  Cheese bursted out of the mushroom onto my cheek, beef juice and Shack sauce dripped down my face on my shirt but it was delicious and I was happy - worth the clean up.

Pretzel! The Concrete with a glass of Brooklyn Brewery's Shackmeister Ale.

I washed down my burger with a glass of Shackmeister Ale, a beer brewed by Brooklyn Brewery exclusively for Shake Shack.  Served in a plastic cup the lightly hopped and bready malt brew was a perfect compliment to the umami packed Shack Stack.  I finished my meal with Pretzel! The Concrete - three scoops of chocolate frozen custard blended with peanut butter sauce, pretzels and marshmallow sauce.

I've been wanting another Shack Stack since I finished my first.  I'll either have to return to satisfy my craving or figure out how to stuff a portobello mushroom..