The Inn Between

.....This is sort of where I am right now with all things piscine.

The sad, horrible, miserable, unfortunate, life-shattering truth is that I am allergic to shellfish (although I've recently tried a little bit of shellfish here and there, and nothing happened....here's to hoping). As a way to remedy the situation, one would assume I befriend the next best thing; the next of kin: regular fish. Unfortunately, I do not LIKE fish. For some curious reason, I love the fishiness of shellfish but I sk-hate the fishiness of regular fish. Regardless, a few months ago, for the sake of the benefits of Omega-3 fatty acids everywhere, I decided to take the plunge and try fish every few meals I went out.

One such meal was my sister's birthday dinner at The Mermaid Inn.

Located in the E Vill, on 2nd Avenue at 5th St., The Mermaid Inn is sort of like an upscale fish shack, save for the outdoor, street-side dining (although they do have a lovely outdoor back patio that really gets you in the Maine-mood during those hot summer days). A long rectangular room, white painted wooden walls, rickety wooden chairs around wooden tables, and a long bar on one side.

They really try to drive the whole mermaid theme, as is evident by the mermaid "stamp" atop the butter that's the accompaniment to the crackers....

I ordered the michelada, a classic Mexican drink (very appropriate??), composed of beer, hot sauce, and rimmed with salt and pepper.

I'm forgetting what this beer-based drink was, but check it out! -- it's got a skewer of shrimp on it! It's makin me thirsty AND hungry!

To begin our aqua adventure, we collectively ordered the jonah crabcake ($12), shrimp cocktail (a must - $11), and the crispy rhode island calamari ($10). Everything was great (well, the calamari was -- that's the only one I tried; I was just told the same about the other two). Nothing that made them stand out, just high quality and delish.

This here is the roasted Chatham cod everybody! Complete with fingerling potatoes, creamed leeks, and a black truffle vinaigrette.

I ordered the pan-sauteed skate wing with a cauliflower puree, braised swiss chard, and caper brown butter.

Here is where fish-o-philes everywhere have me stumped: white fish does not TASTE like anything. It is my belief that white, flakey fish takes on the taste of whatever sauce it is accompanied with. And I do not think I'll ever be one of those people that will ever enjoy a simple white fish with fresh dill and lemon juice -- ever. Keeping that in mind, I thought the skate was actually quite delicious. It was light and flaky, a perfect compliment to the creamy cauliflower puree. Normally I don't like swiss chard to be that soft and mushy, but it worked with the puree.

Onto the MAIN EVENT...the lobster sandwich with old bay fries ($26).....

...on a toasted bun, not too much mayo, and large chunks of lobster all make for how a classic lobster roll SHOULD taste.

I see you hiding, mr. lobster roll.

Lobster roll remnants....

The other entree ordered was the gulf shrimp and avocado sandwich with chiptole aioli (LOVE chiptole and LOVE aioli) and old bay fries ($17).

The french fries were delicious, crunchy, and with a little bit of seasoning. Just your standard high quality fries.

After we all finished our meals, the waiter gave each of us a mini packet with a red piece of plastic in the shape of a fish. You're supposed to hold the fish in the palm of your hand and see what shape the fish becomes....on the back of the packet are images of the fish in different positions and what those position say about your personality. I think mine was twisted at both ends, which apparently meant that I was jealous, and if anybody reading this knows me then they'll know that this was obviously a sham ;)

Survey says? All in all I was surprisingly delighted by the experience; really great service, good food, and a laid back, relaxed ambience. Now, I don't think I will ever crave fish, but it's good to know that there are potential alternatives to red meat, red meat, and red meat. I have The Little Mermaid to thank for that!

My only gripe? The HUGE cockroach in the restroom. EW.

Be happy and Carpe Diem!

Buy Me Some Peanuts and Crackerjacks..and Bulgogi

Let me tell you, my friends: we've come a long, long way since the days of peanuts, crackerjacks, and hot dogs at the baseball stadium. We've moved on up, and moved on east. Behold the love child of corporate sponsors and the New York demographic:

BULGOGI! Yes that's right: korean food at the new Mets Citi Field Stadium (highly anticipated for Mets fans and foodies alike, the latter because of Danny Meyer's Shake Shack and Blue Smoke outposts taking center sta...err, infield at the new stadium.....) which debuted its bells and whistles this year. The dining options are so many, they have enough room for korean food, not standard baseball fare, but one that I am very excited about.

Check out the goods that made me bibimbap bap bap all over the place....

I was there this past Friday for their last series of the season: Mets vs. Houston Astros. Apparently (yes, apparently--I was there for Shake Shack, people), the Mets haven't been hitting too many dingers this year, so attendance was quite scant. Bad news for the Mets, good news for us! Open seats! We bought cheap nosebleeds, but fear not - no blood was bled..more ahead....

As you can see, Citibank isn't attempting humility or coyness about its purchasing the rights to the name of the new stadium. Citi, Citi everywhere!

The stadium is quite impressive. I had sensory overload. The lights. The people. The sounds. Woohoo! It's so nice, and new, and shiny. It's like the Chanel of baseball stadiums. And there are so many other things to do there, you cold literally spend the whole time at Citi Field and not watch the game. There are games, shops, a dunk-the-baseball-player stand, mini baseball fields for kids, and dozens of restaurants -- we actually went on a tour of the stadium before we settled on settling our rumbling stomachs.

This place is so high end, even the trash can is customized:

This is before Daniel Murphy hit a "homer". Sa-WING, batterrrrr.

Here's what $6.11 tickets will getchya at Citi Field....

We stayed up there for approximately ten minutes; our stomachs were grumbling, so our goal was Shake Shack, and then we wanted to see if we could score better seats close(r) to the green. So we headed off in search for a Shack Burger....

Alas, as I should have expected, the line was unREAL. Just as long as the line in Madison Square Park, perhaps even longer.

I wasn't about to wait an hour for Shake Shack when the original it's just a few blocks away from my apartment, so we my two comrades and I went in search of the next best thing....

Alex, the true Mets fan, got a shrimp po'boy ($12). It looked tasty, hearty, and like a great combination of textures, as any quality sandwich should have.

Perhaps she was having nostalgia for Martha's Vineyard, having only been back for less than a week, but the sister got the lobster roll ($17):

Num num....

I opted for some fare south of the border, not south of my feet (aka the ocean..ok, bad joke....)

This is a Danny Meyer tacqueria. Not a restaurant outpost, but, rather, a Citi Field original!

I decided to try the chile-marinated skirt steak tacos ($7.25).

When I opened the box, I was a little surprised because the tacos looked slightly meager (especially because I much prefer hard tacos over soft).

Nevertheless, I topped both with the accompanying salsa picante and gave it my all (albeit my blurry all):

They were delicious! A lot better than I thought at first look. The steak was surprisingly really seasoned - not from the salsa, but from the marinade.

They had a great tenderness to them from the steak, an added crunch from the chopped onions, and a refreshing blast from the fresh cilantro. I still prefer hard tacos, but I think I'm softening up to soft tacos because they allow the flavor of the taco filling to come through.

With our teeming tummies, we headed off for better seats....

Last looks before the Mets trampled the Astros 7-1

Until next season, Mr. Met!

Be happy and Carpe Diem!

Al Dente: Mahhtha's Vineyahhd Edition

I was lucky enough to spend the last week of summer in Martha's Vineyard with my family. We rented a house in Edgartown. Best week spent with the fam. It was wonderful, it was beautiful, it was tasty. Martha's Vineyard is the picturesque type of place that is the epitome of postcard-perfect. One of the streets was actually named Chowder Kettle Lane. Chowder. Kettle. Lane. No joke! They don't even have any TRAFFIC LIGHTS on the island. There was some construction along one of the main roads, and there was a sign that WARNED drivers of a traffic light (gasp!) that was up ahead. The horror!

Moving on, most of the food was great. Some of it was not the best, but that opinion could stem from the fact that I, sadly, am allergic to shellfish. Tragic, I know. It's been about ten years now and it's something that I struggle with every day. I really think the gods are punishing me because I used to be quite a hefty lobstah and crab eater in my single digit/teenage years.

BUT I did allow myself to try a couple lobstah rolls (the big deal in MV), spread out over the week I was there. I am happy to report that, despite the small sample sizes, I had no gastrointestinal issues. Perhaps I'm allergic no more? People grow out of shellfish allergies. Can it be?

Here's one of said lobstah rolls that I tried.

Now, lobster rolls are serious business. There's constant hubbub over what makes a perfect lobster roll. Even Corton's Paul Liebrandt has weighed in. Celery or no celery? A lot of mayonaise or just a little? Additional seasonings and bread crumbs or just plain 'ole lobster? Hot dog bun or roll-esque bread? After lots of poll-taking from friends and family, and consulting with a couple of Martha's Vineyard locals, the preferred crustacean creation is on a hot dog bun, lots of lobstah in chunks (not minced, tuna fish style), and very little mayo (excessive mayo just masks poor quality lobster. If the lobster is fresh, there should be enough mayo to only act as a binder).

It was delicious. One (small!) bite of it, and a wave of nostalgia washed (or, crawled) over me, along with the feeling that I should've been wearing some Vineyard Vines pants with whales or lobsters on them and eating along a marina like this:

Oh wait, I was! About the lobstah roll: it was very fresh, meaty, and the good kind of fishy that you want from fresh lobster. Not enough mayo, as preferred, just enough to keep it all together. Bread wasn't the best, so it wasn't overall the best, but it was substantial and a taste that will live on in my mind forever!

I also had the pleasure of enjoying Mad Martha's ice cream five times while I was there!! And let me tell you, it was worth every spoonful, every lick. It's the local ice cream "chain" in MV (I put that in quotes because the island is so small and charming, it's hard to associate the connotations that come with "chain" with anything Martha's Vineyard.) Alex told me about, that it was a local fave, and boy was he right. My flavor of choice was the mint oreo and cream. But it wasn't vanilla with pieces of oreos; it was actually a light brown color, I guess oreos were mixed in from the beginning. Super rich, buttery creamy, and DELICIOUS!

A profiterole from Alchemy. I don't like profiteroles, but this one was just so pretty pretty.

The one on the left was with dulce de leche; the one on the right is a traditional one with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce drip dripping down

Just some more proof of how beautiful Martha's Vineyard is....

It's so picture-perfect, even the LAMP POSTS are perfect:

Look at this house: all the houses look like old presidential houses that have been refurbished and turned into museums!

Blue, blue everywhere.

Oh, it was all just so good. Take me back.

Be happy and Carpe Diem!