A taste of N'awlins

I am a self-proclaimed sandwich snob. I could eat sandwiches every day. Every single day for the rest of my life. I love them so much that I follow a blog that reviews a new sandwich in NYC every day. So, when they posted about a cozy little creole joint serving southern favorites,  I all but slammed my laptop shut and bolted out the door. 

It's officially summer in New York and the only thing more unbearable that the relentless humidity is having to go underground to take the subway. That being the case, I have found myself spending more time in Lower Manhattan that normal just to avoid the public transportation situation. Lucky for me, Cheeky's Sandwiches is located on the Lower East Side and is a pleasant 1.5 mile stroll from my apartment. And if I needed anymore convincing to hit the road, I could always remind myself that a trip to the LES means I get the pleasure of walking through China Town to get a front row view of the live toads, snakes, and eels being sold by the pound. But the real treat is the stench of old fish sitting out in 90 degree weather that is sold on the sidewalk markets. Love China Town, really do. 

If I wasn't looking for the address, 35 Orchard Street, I would have definitely missed it. That's such a trend in NYC...not displaying the name of your business on the awning or window. That trend usually implies that the restaurant has a Michelin Star or, at the very least, is shockingly expensive. 

Not at Cheeky's. This little shop, which wasn't much larger than my studio apartment, could hold 10 patrons, tops. It was decorated like some little mom 'n' pop deli that you'd find deep in the bayou. Metal roofing covered the ceilings, seating consisted of a few red bar stools and some matching picnic benches, fresh flowers were placed in old beer bottles, and your meal was served wrapped in white craft paper. 

Cheeky's charming interior

The menu is short and sweet. I always put more faith in a restaurant that has only a handful of items to choose from, but each are dynamite. Nothing scares me more than seeing a menu that goes on and on for pages; just pick one thing and master it. That's exactly what Cheeky's has done. You can choose from a handful of New Orleans inspired sandwiches including a shrimp and oyster po' boy, a seared pork chop and mustard sandwich, or what I had, a fried chicken sandwich on a buttermilk biscuit. There's nothing over $8.50 on the menu, which I think is more than fair for a gourmet sandwich.

The chicken had such a thick breading and was so heavily fried that it would make even Paula Deen blush. The perfectly fried chicken was placed inside the best buttermilk biscuit you've ever had, topped with pickled cole slaw and country gravy. I know what you're thinking, and no, I'm not kidding. It was perhaps the closest thing to heaven that I've ever eaten. I've never been so pleased with a sandwich in all of my sandwich eating days. It had so many of my favorite foods crammed into one little buttermilk biscuit. I wish that I could put into words just how good this sandwich was, but I don't think I can.  

 

I think I might cry.

Bagels with chutzpah

The best bagels in all of New York? Probably not, but they have a great selection, great hours, and are two blocks from my apartment.


The Financial District is a funny thing. Monday-Friday I have to walk down the middle of the streets while dodging traffic just to avoid the hoards of pedestrians dominating the sidewalks. Come Saturday and Sunday, I'm lucky if I can find a grocery store open past 5 p.m. Apparently Leo's is the place go for a weekend breakfast. If you come here on a weekend morning, expect to wait at least 20-minutes. The line will most likely be out the door and wrapped around the street corner. In all fairness, the store only holds about six people at a time, so it doesn't take much to move that party outdoors.


They have a ton of options. every possible cream cheese concoction you could dream of and standard sandwich toppings like chicken salad, tuna salad, smoke salmon, etc. Their scallion cream cheese is ridiculously good. Don't leave Leo's without it. I'm guessing they have about a dozen bagel flavors. In fact, on St. Patrick's day, they even made green bagels!

Another reason I like this place: they don't act personally offended when I ask for my bagel to be toasted. Murray's Bagels, a NYC local and tourist hotspot, which is famous good reasons, refuses to toast their bagels. It's their claim to fame, and also the reason I refuse to go there. If I'm going to make the trek to Chelsea to get a toasted everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, which, I'm paying for, BTW, I really mean it when I say I want it toasted. Not a problem at Leo's.


Service has been a little questionable. I've had both great and downright rude experiences. But for $3.25 for a toasted BLT-bagel sandwich, I can't be too picky.


I tend to get obsessed with a certain food and eat nothing but that food for a few weeks, or until I have overdosed on the item and no longer like it. That happened last month at Leo's. I got pretty into ordering a toasted everything bagel with scallion cream cheese, lettuce, tomato, and bacon. And by "pretty into" I mean that I honestly ordered it for lunch and dinner for four days straight. That being said, I lost my cool and got a little aggressive with one of the servers. Picture this:


(ring, ring, ring)


Leo: "Leos!"
Amanda: "Hi, what time do you close?"
Leo: "6 p.m."
Amanda: "Perefect. Can I place an order to pick up in ten minutes?"
Leo: "No...we're closed."
Amanda "No, it's 5:49, you're closed a 6."
Leo: "We're slow tonight so I'm closing now."
Amanda: "Right...acutally you close in 11 minutes. Toasted everything bagel, scallion cream cheese, lettuce, tomato and bacon. Be there in 5."
Leo: "No, I'm closing now, you can pick that up in the morning."
Amanda: "Huh. Thank you for that option, I appreciate your creative thinking.


(click)


Oh, uh-uh.


I promptly hung up and raced out of my office and down the street. I arrived at Leo's at 5:55 just as my special friend was locking the door. I let myself in gave him a friendly "Hellllooooo, so glad you're still open, that's a pleasant surprise. Toasted everything bagel, scallion cream cheese, lettuce, tomato and bacon!"


My bagel tasted like spit that evening.

I've been to Leo's enough times to know that it's consistently good food. I always order some variation of a toasted everything bagel with scallion cream cheese. Whether it's with tomatoes, bacon, both, or none, it's always good. If there is such a thing as too much cream cheese, Leo's has that problem. There's easily enough cream cheese on each bagel to smear on another.


Despite the iffy service, Leo's is by far the best bagel establishment in the Financial District.  Great selection, dynamite bagels, and even better scallion cream cheese.

New take on tacos

Several pretty amazing things happened over the past couple of weeks.


1) My office, which was previously at 57th and Park Ave., signed a new lease in a building downtown  off of Water and Wall. My 35-minute, each way, commute on the notoriously packed 4/5 train just got upgraded to a cool five minute walk out my front door. Perfect timing, because I couldn't handle another 8 a.m. homeboy fist-fight, and was going to go postal if I had to listen to another rap song blaring out of some idiot's around-the-neck Beats.


2) I finally caved in and let my favorite film-studies graduate, Katie Gagnon, drag me to the movies...two weekends in a row! I've historically not been a big fan of movie theaters; I can't sit still long enough to enjoy a full movie, they're always so cold, and I can't stand hearing people shoving greasy popcorn into their pie holes. However, I think I have turned over a new leaf.


3) And finally, and the whole point of this post, I tried the famed Korilla BBQ!  Another benefit of working in the Wall St. area-- food carts that serve something other than chicken over rice and previously frozen knishes, are lined up and down the streets.


This is definitely not a post exclaiming that I've found some hidden gem in the land of truck-food. Korilla BBQ is quickly turning into a franchise-like operation with an addictive following. They've been featured on The Food Network's, "The Great Food Truck Race," have multiple cart locations from the FiDi  all the way  up to West 116th and has received shout-outs from multiple major New York blogs including, Serious Eats and Refinery 29. Korilla BBQ certainly doesn't need another review by an amateur blogger to help drive traffic to their Tony the Tiger style truck. But, being the self-proclaimed street-food connoisseur that I am, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to toss my $.02 in. (shocking)


Korilla BBQ has a simple, Chipotle-style menu.


Step 1: Choose your vehicle: taco, burrito, or a chosun bowl (fancy talk for a rice bowl).
Step 2: Pick your protein: chicken, pulled-pork, ribeye steak, or tofu. (why bother?)
Step 3: Pick your rice: sticky rice or bacon and kimchi fried rice. I actually think that's a mistake on their menu. I should call them and tell them to fix that. No one would ever actually pick white rice over bacon infused rice. That's my number one favorite food mixed in with my number three favorite food.
Step 4: Choose from a nearly unlimited list of toppings including: kimchi slaw, three different hot sauces, and a handful of veggies.


I wanted to sample a few different options but knew I'd regret my gluttony when my 3 p.m., post-lunch coma hit and I was found slumped over in my chair, possibly drooling. So, I exercised some self-control and chose a trio of tacos. I went for two steak, which the menu refers to as bulgogi, and one shredded-pork. I topped it with the only realistic rice choice, Korilla sauce and cabbage. Troy mentioned that I really should have tried one of the three kimchi options, since that is really the only thing making these tacos Korean, but I don't really like vegetables, so why would I like fermented ones? It was a totally unreasonable request.


The tacos were doubled-up, soft corn tortillas, which are my favorito! The beef is by far the best choice one the menu; it has the perfect sweet, grilled flavor that all BBQ meat products should include. Pretty big fan of the Korilla sauce, too. But then again, it’s mayo-based, so that's a no-brainer. My favorite part of the meal was the adorable little container it was served it. It was as if it was custom created to perfectly cradle three little warm bundles of deliciousness.

$7 gets you three tacos, which are more than any 5'2" girl needs for lunch. It's a great value for a lunch outing. I'm just glad to have an alternative to lamb gyros after a recent dinner experience rendered my intestines useless for days.  Just last week I told the cart server that yes, I did in fact want all three kinds of hot sauce. He must have taken that as some kind of challenge.

Conclusion: Korilla BBQ stands up to its hype. Fresh, unique options, conveniently located around the corner of my work two days a week, and a filling lunch for under $10.