I arrived again in New York on Tuesday, May 15th. You may have noticed a lot of Caroline in New York lately, but Rob simply couldn’t get away. While our abbreviated summer breaks didn’t exactly align, I was still happy to spend whatever time with Rob that I could, even though he would have to spend several hours of my trip in class. But we made time for other things.

For some reason, the night before my trip, I just needed to have a corn dog. I thought back to our experience at Nathan’s Famous back on my first visit in October (http://omnomwithrob.tumblr.com/post/18079503148/this-post-will-make-every-food-pyramid-cry), and knew this was what I needed. So the second Rob picked me up from the bus stop, that’s where we went.

We couldn’t make a very timely trip to Coney Island, but luckily Nathan’s (http://nathansfamous.com/PageFetch/) has about a bazillion locations. We went to the closest one, which was over by Times Square and very sadly resembled a mall food court, flanked on either side by KFC and some corporate soft-serve thing. But at least there was a place to sit, unlike the original Nathan’s!

I think we had this discussion the last time I posted about Nathan’s, but I really think liquid cheese product tastes like butt. So the cheese fries we’d intended to share ended up in Rob’s tummy - but let’s be real, that wasn’t the reason I came. Those corn dogs were as deeply delicious as they had been the first time I had them, and while it wasn’t exactly the most romantic (A BOUQUET OF CORN DOGS AT THE BUS STATION WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE ROB), I love how he humors my acute onset of corn dog fever. Welcome back to New York!

Caroline

After seeing Giada, we spent some time back at the Pratt studios so Rob could work before he took me to the bus station. We were planning on going to Chop’t (http://www.choptsalad.com/) for lunch since I loved it so much the last time (http://omnomwithrob.tumblr.com/post/20847354367/thats-why-we-had-to-chop-you).

But as you may remember from a few posts ago, I love ordering online. While scouring their website for their closest location, I discovered that we could just order it over the internet and have it delivered! Hot dog.

I got the steakhouse salad again, but I honestly can’t remember what Rob got because I was so upset. I requested a mix of balsamic vinaigrette and ranch dressings (which is what I did when we’d been there before), but they didn’t put in any ranch! I took a few bites but couldn’t commit to eating the whole salad that way…it wasn’t what I paid for!

Rob really needed to keep working, so I did something I hadn’t anticipated doing that day, if ever. The time had come for my first time venturing out alone in New York City. In a ranch-deprived fury, I stormed out of Pratt and down 6th Avenue, taking a nearby bodega by storm. I demanded (politely) a cup of ranch dressing from their salad bar…and a ginger ale.

The extra expense was totally worth it - I would rather eat an $8 salad that I enjoy than a $7 salad that isn’t what I wanted. I’m not usually like this! Time and time again I have eaten the wrong order, an overcooked entree, etc., and never said a word. But something about salad dressing just lights a fire under me. Luckily, these salads come in portable plastic bowls because I had lost time in my endeavors and had to finish it on the bus back to Richmond.

Caroline

As some of you may remember, Rob made me a twitter account about six months ago so I could further my explorations in omnometry. On Sunday night after our tummies were full of that delicious Mediterranean food, I logged on for a little bit. I’m not very exhaustive with twitter, usually only skimming the first couple of scrolls, so I thought it to be very serendipitous that I should happen to see Giada de Laurentiis tweet that she would be having a book signing at the 30 Rock NBC store the next morning!

So first thing Monday morning, that’s where we went. And there she was, the host of such Food Network shows as Everyday Italian, Giada at Home, and Giada in Paradise, as well as a mentor on The Next Food Network Star. You could stack all of those words together and it might be bigger than she is.

There we are together! I couldn’t afford to buy the book she was there to sign, “Weeknights With Giada” (http://giadadelaurentiis.com/products/8/weeknights-with-giada), so I thought it would be silly to wait in line just to say hi. Seeing her in person was still really neat.

I know I know, it’s not exactly a food post. But Food Network is on so often in my apartment while I’m working that I find myself adapting a lot of the recipes I see, and making them gives me a little sanity in the craziness of grad school. I was really, really impressed by how genuine and friendly Giada was to each and every person she met, constantly standing and hugging and taking pictures, her smile never wavering. That would be so exhausting for me, and I really admire how hard she works to connect with her fans! It would have been great to shake her hand, but it was still a fun experience to be in the presence of a star.

Caroline

We spent all of Sunday working our little hearts out until our stomachs caught up. When hunger struck, we just knew we weren’t going to make any special efforts. So we ordered in!

From a vast array of options, we finally settled on Brooklyn Pita (http://brooklyn-pita.com/), since I was craving Mediterranean and I will always have allegiance to places that let me order online. None of that pesky phone business.

We accidentally ordered way too much food, which is probably my favorite problem to have. We each got a sandwich and fries, plus an order of hummus and pitas. I was worried that a small order of hummus would just come in a tiny cup, but it turned out to be even more than we needed!

Rob went with the chicken shawarma sandwich, which he polished off with a happy smear of hummus. I may be wrong on this, but I think shawarma is when they put a bunch of meat on a huge vertical spit and they carve it off…right?

I had the falafel sandwich…the menu said it was the best-selling falafel sandwich in Brooklyn, AND it was only five dollars. How could I say no? I haven’t had any other falafel sandwiches in Brooklyn, but I could see why this one was up there. I was especially fond of the way the pickles and red onions tasted with it.

We both finished our sandwiches and got a few fries in before calling it quits. We saved the pitas and hummus for later and succumbed to the couch, wondering how the heck we had gotten such a filling meal for so little money!

Delivery is always fun for me, as I lived too far away from town growing up to indulge in its magical aid to laziness. Even now, having discovered the temptress of delivery in college, I usually limit it to greasy pizza or Chinese. To actually have a nice hearty Mediterranean food brought to our door was a real novelty.

In short, we can certainly endorse Brooklyn Pita for your hunger and delivery needs! It was delicious, stick-to-your-ribs food on the cheap. And the online delivery is just the hummus on the pita (like icing on the cake…right).

Caroline

Sorry for the brief hiatus…I’ve been in New York visiting our blog’s very own namesake, as well as attending painfully long orientations for school. I would like to welcome you back with this happy image.

The morning of Sunday, April 22nd was met with butter in a hot pan. Rob makes a mean breakfast, and he fixed some for me while I got ready for the day (and took pictures, of course).

Breakfast with us is generally dictated by whatever we can rummage out of the fridge that would taste even remotely good with an egg or a piece of toast. That day, the main players were onions and mushrooms (and Parks and Rec).

He scrambled them up with a couple of eggs to the tune of Leslie and Ann, and of course this kind of thing only takes a minute or two.

Rob is the type who likes his breakfast in a tortilla, and while it isn’t my own go-to, I sure don’t mind it when he makes it for us. He is also a slave for muenster, so if you ever want to bribe him, you know what to do.

Such a perfect way to start a rainy Sunday around the apartment!

Caroline

Since it was the weekend before survey (finals week for art students), we had spent our Saturday at the Pratt studios so Rob could work. I played Cake Mania. And after, we were ready to get together with our friends Frank and Kirsten for some Mexican food!

I have known Frank since we were knee-high to a duck’s ass, and we were dance partners in show-choir in high school (he was the only one tall enough for me). AND he met Rob completely independently of me in college…isn’t that weird? He had just moved to New York a few months before, and we were excited to get together and meet his pretty girlfriend, Kirsten. They either a) showed up in this limo, or b) were forced by me to pose by this limo like they showed up in it.

We searched for a long time for a Mexican place with cheap margaritas, and after striking out a few times we finally found Taqueria Lower East Side over on Orchard (http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-lower-east-side-new-york#query:taqueria). It was a little bitty place that we had to wait quite a while to get into, but I tell you what, those margs, while no El-Maguey $1 slushie machine, were flowing. $5ish? Not bad for New York.

Rob and I ordered up an assortment of tacos - I had the fish, the lamb, and the chorizo…I think the lamb was my favorite of them all. The fish  were good too, but the chorizo was a little too reminiscent of bacon bits for me.

Frank and Kirsten both enjoyed the enchiladas verdes with rice and beans. Why am I so bad at taking pictures with my phone? 

Why didn’t I take a picture of the guacamole? Because really, that’s what stole the show. And I’m not even a guac person at all! Instead, we have this picture of Rob and me…if it looks like we’d been at school all day, it’s because we were.

It poured down rain through most of our dinner, so we stayed and enjoyed each other’s company for a while before it let up. I am still kind of in awe of what a rare thing it is to spend an evening with your boyfriend, an old friend, and a new friend. And really really good guacamole.

Caroline

We poked around the apartment for a while on Saturday, and Rob thought he’d make me a nice manly lunch…especially since we have a new man in the house, John the Dachshund!

John is a 10 year-old foster doggie bunking with Rob and his roommate Marina, and he loves to watch Rob cook (we have that in common). And that day, Rob was making some delicious dogs himself…beer brats!

Lately, Rob had been getting his meats from a place called Fleisher’s Grass-Fed and Organic Meats (http://www.fleishers.com/), the likes of which I am always on board with. But unfortunately all we had for this batch were some good ol’ Johnsonvilles, so my maiden Fleishman’s voyage has yet to be.

I have actually never cooked with beer (so ashamed), so I was surprised and delighted to see how it fluffed up like a slice of Junior’s lemon meringue!

It’s close quarters in that kitchen since the stove is right up against the wall, but I managed to saute some onions and mushrooms for our brats while Rob manned the brats. He always manages to have some nice veggies on hand, so I also boiled some string beans and then seared them in butter.

I am kind of a sauce-o-holic, so I dug around in the fridge and found some super fancy local barbeque sauce that I think Marina got him for Christmas, some dijon mustard, and I think a little vinegar? There was more than that, but I don’t remember exactly now…still, it was sweet and tangy and made for a very nice drizzle over the beans.

Finally time to eat! Rob is so nice and let me have the one with the only remaining hot dog bun in the house. It’s like in The Wedding Singer how Glenn doesn’t let Julia have the window seat, except opposite. Hot dog buns are my window seats.

Pretty good stuff! Rob is such a natural with meat-makin’, it must be written into the Y-chromosome. I see a lot of corny neighborhood barbeques in our future.

As for John’s future, he gets to stay! A few weeks after this little lunch, his owner ended up giving him to Marina for keeps. Despite barking at me and doing this weird little dachshund pounce-attack, he is a good little doggie who found himself a good home.

Caroline

I had recently watched an episode of The Best Thing I Ever Ate, and I always perk up when they mention something in New York that Rob and I might be able to try. Well that particular night, the theme was “All American Foods,” and Rocco DiSpirito went on and on about the cheesecake at Junior’s (http://www.juniorscheesecake.com/) in Brooklyn.

So let’s just say it was no accident that I suggested we go there after our hot dogs at Bark with Tyson and Kristen. Going to famous places for dessert is always justified, since it’s usually never more than ten bucks or so, and you can end up getting a great experience at a place you might not otherwise be able to afford.

We walked down Flatbush Avenue to Junior’s, and as soon as we walked in, we were greeted with lemon meringue pies the size of…I don’t know, your mom. Rows and rows of decadent desserts lined the to-go bar at the front, making it very hard to leave after a meal without getting some, I imagine.

We took a seat in the enormous yet largely empty restaurant…eerily similar to a Cheesecake Factory, now that I think of it, though a little less Hobby Lobby and a little more tacky diner. Choosing from among their cheesecakes proved so impossible for Kristen, she actually went with one of those sky-high pieces of lemon meringue pie.

She was so baffled by the marshmallow-esque meringue that Tyson just shook his head and uttered the title you see above. Rob, on the other hand, had little time for questions between bites of HIS unbelievable selection, the chocolate mousse cheesecake.

Tyson had the strawberry cheesecake, which is really just plain cheesecake topped with a heap of strawberries suspended in this crazy gelatinous goo. It reminded me a lot of that strawberry/pretzel/whipped cream dessert that I can’t think of the name of, but maybe you know what I’m talking about.

As much as I love cheesecake smothered in chocolate and fruit (and boy do I!), I generally err on the side of “when in Rome.” I was in New York, at the place that boasts New York Magazine’s #1 cheesecake in the city, and I wanted a plain ol’ slice of the New York style.

Even back in the Midwest, where the best cheesecake you can get is generally found in the freezer aisle between the Cool Whip and the apple pie, I really love plain cheesecake. While this shockingly didn’t taste enormously different from what I was used to, it was still so rich, creamy, and delicious that I hit a wall right about here.

Our waitress was SO SLOW, so we had to wait quite a while for our to-go boxes. And even when they did come, we couldn’t figure them out! Little plastic cubes of doom. They popped open the whole way home, too.

But let’s be real, it’s hard to be mad when you know you get to have leftover cheesecake for breakfast (high five).

We had a great time at Junior’s, despite the iffy service and the faulty doggie bags. I recommend taking a lot of friends with you if you go so that you can try as many kinds of cheesecake as possible in one sitting. That’s one of those perks of friendship that nobody ever tells you about. More cheesecake.

Caroline

We had a double date planned that Friday night with our pals Tyson and Kristen, and they were happy to meet us in Park Slope for a little Bark, where wieners are the name of the game (http://barkhotdogs.com/).

We snagged a table and put in our order up at the front, where they actually have a bunch of their recipes available on little cards! How convenient for Rob, who has demanded that I whip up a batch of their baked beans ever since.

It was tough to choose which dogs I wanted, though I actually thought there would be more than ten choices at a place that specializes in gourmet hot dogs! Since it was my first time there, I finally decided on some of the simpler choices - the NYC dog and the Bark Dog.

Kristen was a little more adventurous and got the Pickle Dog (with house made pickles!) and the Beans and Frank Dog, topped with those wonderful beans that I am now equipped to make!

I think Tyson got the Bacon and Cheddar Dog? or it might have been the Chili Cheese Dog. But either way, he paired it up with what was becoming an obvious theme for the night, those magnificent beans.

Rob broke the mold by having a crispy pork sandwich along with his Bacon and Cheddar Dog. The sandwich was really good, but the coleslaw on was SUPER spicy…for me at least, I’m a big pansy.

Cheers!

Tyson was gracious enough to share some of his beans, which is more than I would have done because they were SO good. I’m really not much of a bean-eater, but the pork and raw red onions made these absolutely perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing about them.

The fries were pretty good too…Rob and I shared an order, and I thought they were mighty fine. It took some serious willpower to subdue my curiosity (and desire) for the GRAVY FRIES I saw on the menu. Another day, my friends, another day.

Like I said, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t more different kinds of hot dogs to try, but I guess it makes sense that they do a few options really well than have a mess of mediocre dogs. The two I had looked and tasted really similar, but were obviously different from anything I’d had before.

I think next time I might try the Kraut Dog…I am a huge sucker for sauerkraut. And Kristen swears by that Pickle Dog, so I might have to take up with that one too. The nice thing about Bark is that Rob goes there somewhat regularly, so I know I’ll get a chance to try them!

We enjoyed our dogs over a few pints of Bark Red Ale (is there anything they don’t make in house?), and I appreciated that we were able to recycle the cups, cardboard, and tray paper. Plus I, with the crudest, most naive taste in design, was actually very pleased by their branding. Dating Rob has given me a slight appreciation for pretty type, whether it’s actually good or not. Overall, we really enjoyed Bark…it’s a great place for spending time with friends (they have huge tables, which is rare for New York), and you can even grab a few treats for your dog on the way out :)

Caroline

April 19th, 2012 was the three year anniversary of our first date, and I made it just in time. My bus was originally supposed to get to New York at seven, then at nine, and finally at ten. Then there was a FIRE in the subway tunnel, so we had to take a cab back to Brooklyn if we wanted to celebrate in the usual way.

On this day every year, just like we did on our first date, we eat cheap Chinese takeout at an awkward distance from each other on a couch with a movie. Like this.

But we were in jeopardy this year…what with all the delays and now the fire, we were worried we wouldn’t get our Lin’s Garden (http://www.menupages.com/restaurants/lins-garden/) before they closed at eleven, ending our streak. Seeing my disappointment, Rob immediately hailed a cab and we sped across the Brooklyn Bridge, on the phone with Lin the whole time.

Bless Lin’s heart, she stayed open fifteen minutes late for us so that we could have our sesame chicken and crab rangoons on our anniversary. And it was delicious, as always!

I never would have dreamed when Rob Bratney picked me up outside The Reserve in his red Ford Taurus that I would be meeting him three years later in midtown New York City and watching Empire Records on his couch in the Empire State. That’s bananas.