only in ny #12: chip shop.

  

snack: fried twinkie
drink: r. white's lemonade

my wicked smart doctor sister is totally obsessed with groupon. she gets it from my mother, who was always careful with money & on the hunt for deals. on sis's phone, at all times, she has access to handfuls of groupon deals. if you're in our immediate family, she already has a good idea of what she's getting you for christmas, as she's already found an applicable groupon for your interests. this past sunday, we met up on atlantic ave to take advantage of a chip shop groupon she had that was set to expire in a few weeks.

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only in ny #11: oaxaca.

  

snack: potato y poblano taco
drink: jarritos toronja

when it comes to food, i often go through phases. over the past year or so, i've gone through a dumpling phase, a sushi phase, a stir-fry phase & a burger phase. basically, during these phases, whenever i eat out i try to get that type of food & whenever i'm at home cooking, i'm trying to replicate my favorite dishes from when i eat out. these days i'm knee-deep in a taco phase, or what a trained pyschologist may describe as a taco "fixation." i always have a bag of corn tortillas in the fridge & a few limes at the ready. when i stayed in astoria this past weekend watching the pooches, i made a point to go to el rey del taco truck. for the last three weeks, i haven't gone more than two days without eating a taco.

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only in ny #10: dumplings & things.

snack: spicy beef & kimchi dumplings
drink: thai iced tea

last year, i was pretty much the king of dumplings. after moving within walking distance of a chinese supermarket in february, i began eating them at every opportunity. it didn't take long before i learned how to make my own fresh dumplings at home & by year's end, given the number of times i'd snacked on them during the year, i had no choice but to declare dumplings my #7 snack of 2010. since then, i've sort of burnt out on them, but i still occasionally pay my old snacking buddy a visit.

this past weekend, i was out & about in park slope looking for something to munch on & decided to grab something at dumplings & things, a smallish restaurant with minimal seating that opened up in the space next to bar reis back in mid-may.

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only in ny #9: sweet afton.

  

snack: beer battered fried mcclure's brooklyn pickles
drink: southern tier hop sun

you know where i hardly ever go? queens. as far as nyc goes, it's WAY THE FUCK up there. i've lived in brooklyn the entire decade that i've been in nyc & these days i live in south brooklyn, so for me queens is a galaxy far, far away. most of my experience with queens has been trying to get to the airport. back round the end of march, my brother & amy (his lady friend) moved to queens & more specifically, astoria & since then i've found myself up there at least a handful of times. at the beginning of june, the bro was traveling to vegas for the weekend to participate in a kaiju big battel performance & amy was off gallivanting around switzerland, so they needed someone to stay with their two pooches--harriet (staring at the camera in the below photo) & olive (lying down). that "someone" was me. vacation in astoria!

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only in ny #8: bark.

  

snack: bark dog
drink: foxon park iron brew

today, on the 56th anniversary of the date when the one-and-only oscar mayer met his maker, i'd like to take a moment to meditate with you on the topic of the gourmet hot dog. it's no secret that here in nyc, if you want to grab a hot dog topped with all sorts of crazy shizz, you have a plethora of choices. PLETHORA! there's crif dogs down in the village. there are f&b gudtfood locales on 23rd & 52nd. there's the traveling hot dog circus known as asiadog. the UWS fatty crab has a pork hot dog called the "fatty dog" on their snack menu. it's topped with pickled chili, pickled radish, cucumber & aioli and will set you back $12. yes. you read that correctly...$12 for a hot dog. therein lies my issue with gourmet hot dogs...they're so damn expensive. sure they're usually tasty & i'll sporadically buy a few, but i'd prefer that my hot dog doesn't cost more than a gallon of gas.

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