Blue Fin: An Ocean in a Food Desert

I love going to the theatre, but I hate picking pre-theatre restaurants. There are such slim pickings around Times Square that I often say that I feel like it's a food dessert. Which is exactly what I was saying to my friend as we sat on the red steps of the TKTS booth, but then I looked past her and spotted Blue Fin. As if reading my mind she said "You know, there's actually a pretty good sushi place around here..."

Hooked on Luke's Lobster

Luke's Lobster: Half Lobster Roll, Pickle, Chips, & Maine Root Sodas

We were lucky to discover Luke's Lobster pretty early on in our NYC adventures and we immediately declared them to be our favorite lobster rolls (see our original post on Luke's). Since then we've repeatedly traveled throughout New England and have yet to taste a lobster roll that even comes close to comparing. Yes, even in Maine itself. This is one of our absolute favorite places to grab a quick bite, especially when friends visit from out of town. Time after time you take your first bite (either ever or just of the night) and have to pause to breathlessly say "Woooow." Yes, it's that good. If you've never tried it and are wondering if it lives up to the hype/price tag, stop wondering and just go do it.

A perfect night: Apotheke, The Boil, & Pouring Ribbons

Apotheke: Interior

Tonight we headed down to the Lower East Side to have a crawfish boil at one of our favorite spots, The Boil. Since it's obviously a lot of other people's favorite places too we were looking at a bit of a wait. It seemed the perfect opportunity to meander on in to an unassuming pharmacy in Chinatown.

A Rolling Good Time at The Boil

The Boil

Tis the season for crawfish boils if you live in the South. I've been salivating over all of our friends in Texas' photos on Facebook and recently asked The Mr. if he's ever attended such an event. He had, but just remembered them being more work than worth it.

So imagine my surprise when he asked if I wanted crawfish for dinner tonight! I guess our conversation had sparked some hidden craving and he used the magic of The Internets to find The Boil. We tried to get there on the early side (before 7pm) to avoid a wait, but no such luck. We were quoted an hour wait for a party of 2.

Flex is So Strong

Thai Mussel Pot

We've been enjoying the heck outta Mussels this summer at our local favorite spot Mrkt. Today we happened to be walking around Meatpacking when the Mussels craving hit, so we decided to head to Flex Mussels which I'd heard good things about and was much closer. I wanted to eat outside since it was such a perfect day, but one glance inside and I changed my mind.

FINally Blue Fin!

Lobster Roll

I remember the first time I went to Blue Fin- it was years ago when I was still in high school. My girlfriend and I were visiting New York City and my grandmother took us here for a pre-theatre dinner. I remember the awe of being in a fancy, modern restaurant in The Big City. So when I was going to see a show with my grandmother, The Mr, and my parents, I decided this would be a great place to revisit. Smack dab in the heart of Times Square, the location is perfect for a lot of theaters.

John Dory Aces It

We were in the mood for oysters tonight so decided it was time to check out John Dory's Oyster Bar. Since it was impromptu, we didn't have reservations and put our name on the list. Then we jetted over to The Breslin to grab a drink and a snack while we waited. By the way, this is absolutely the way to do it. The timing of this was perfect.

Mermaid Oyster Bar with my MerMAN

Mermaid Oyster Bar

This year I surprised The Mr. with tickets to see Demetri Martin for Valentine's Day. Before the show we headed over to Mermaid Oyster Bar for our romantic date.

Mussls at Markt

6th Avenue & 21st Street

After a long day, we wanted a light meal and happened to be walking down 6th Avenue (or Avenue of the Americas if you will) so I suggested we stop in to Markt. Since we've moved to the city over a year and a half ago, I've been envisioning a romantic dinner over a pot of mussels and they have a great reputation.

Get your tail to Lobster Place

Thai Squid Salad

Ok, so everyone knows that The Lobster Place has a killa lobster roll, but not everyone knows that they kill it at other sandwiches, soups, salads, and sushi. If it's a food group that involves seafood and starts with the letter 'S', Lobster Place is all over it. (Do me a favor and don't think about this too long, as I'm sure you can find a contradiction.)

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish from Acme

White Fish, Smoked Salmon, Pastrami Salmon, & Blue Fish

A coworker who lives in Brooklyn brought in some goodies from Acme Smoked Fish to go with our Friday Bagels at work. My favorite was definitely the pastrami cured salmon although they were all good! Really made coming in to the office on a half day worth the trip!

Long Island Edition: Nick's Pizza & Clam Bar

Lobster Pager

Crab Cakes, Calamari, Fish & Chips

Although we were technically out of New England, we continued our fried seafood extravaganza with a visit to Nick's Pizza & Clam Bar. It was a beautiful day, so we hung out on their patio with our lobster pager waiting for our food. Since it was so lovely out and kids were treating their dads to a special Father's Day dinner, we finally had to give up on getting a table on the deck. We picked up our food inside and kicked back with some crab cakes, calamari, fish & chips, and some cold ones. Although I find the 'Pizza & Clam Bar' concept to be kind of an odd mismatch, the pizza looked and smelled really good! We were so full from the seafood that we didn't sample it, but if it's as good as the offerings that we sampled, then they are really on to something here!

New England Edition: Lobster Hut

Lobster Hut Feast

After The Mr finished a triathlon in Massachusetts, we were ready for another fried seafood feast. The girls in our hotel lobby didn't hesitate when we asked for a recommendation: if we were willing to drive over to Plymouth, then Lobster Hut was the place to go. Off we went, just in time to order a jumbo lobster roll, crab cakes, clam chowder and fries from the counter and scarf it all down on the deck down by the water. Fantastic!

After dinner, we took a stroll by the Mayflower reproduction and then, of course, to Plymouth Rock. On our way back, we stopped by Ziggy's for some soft serve. They had a few soft serve options which I've never seen before. They had these 'flavor bursts' which you could add to your soft serve to launch you way above and beyond your basic chocolate, vanilla, and swirl options. The Mr. got a vanilla with pistachio flavor burst. I was a little worried that maybe the flavoring would be too artificial or just on the surface, but the flavor blended well throughout the cone. The second cool option was pretzel cones! If you're a sucker for salty & sweet combos like me this is totally the way to go.

New England Edition: Captain Scott's Lobster Dock

Ordering Counter

The Dock

Our Fried Seafood Feast!

On our way through New England, we stopped in New London, CT for our first bite of New England's legendary seafood. Through the magic of the interwebs, I was able to find a little place called Captain Scott's Lobster Dock. We would have never found this place without talking to a local because it was tucked away and we honestly weren't sure we were at the right place until we finally pulled into the parking lot. 

At this point in our trip we were pretty hungry, so we decided to go for what seems like a 'one-of-everything' approach: the hot lobster roll with butter, steamers, clam fritters, french fries, onion rings, and lobster bisque. The lobster roll was definitely yummy, but I think on the whole we prefer the normal cold with mayo variety (they have this, we just didn't try it). The bisque was incredibly rich with big chunks of lobster. Our favorite item of the meal was the clam fritters. These were like some kind of seafood-y donut hybrid which was delicious in the I-can-feel-my-arteries-clogging way. 

This meal was the perfect kick start to our New England adventure!

Pretty fresh for City Crab

Wanted to cap off our weekend with a dinner out so busted out the old Diner's Deck. City Crab is nearby and we were in the mood for seafood so City Crab was an easy decision. We were seated upstairs across from this dude:

Attack of the Giant City Crab

Oyster Sampler

Steak & Crab

Angry Dungeness Crab

We started with the Oyster sampler- 4 of each Fisher's Island, Fanny Bay, and the James River. Fresh & delicious. The Mr ordered the Steak & Crab and was very satisfied. As for me? My eye spied a crab dish starred as "very, very spicy" including jalapeno, serrano, and habanero peppers, so you better believe that's what I ordered. It was spicy and delicious, but incredibly, incredibly messy. I mean, think how messy eating crab is by itself- now add in tomato sauce. Yep. There you go. Thank goodness for the bib and that they sat us upstairs because I was a hot, crabby mess. In the end it was just far too much work & embarrassment to be worth it, would love to see this sauce used for something slightly less hands on.

Overall the food was good, but pretty pricey. Next time we are looking to spend this much money on a meal I see us choosing a fancier outing.

 

Hooked by Mary's Fish Camp

Lobster Roll

Hi there you little softie

Our quest is to find our favorite lobster rolls in the city and the main competitor to Luke's is Mary's Fish House. Unlike Luke's it is a sit down, full service restaurant, however, it doesn't actually seat that many more people. In an attempt to avoid the long wait we got there 15 minutes before it opened and guess what? There was already a line. People love this Fish Camp.

We were still in the first round of seating so got a little table and ordered a bottle of wine, the oysters, and of course, a round of lobster rolls! I also tried the soft shell crab with jalapeno and some kind of delicious green chile sauce. Personally, I didn't care as much for Mary's lobster rolls as Luke's since it definitely has more mayo/sauce. The Mr's verdict was that he liked them both and could see himself being in the mood for a saucy version or a less saucy version. The oysters were amazing (some of the best we've ever had) and we also really enjoyed the shoe string fries.

Blue Water Grill leaves us blue

We've been wanting to do a 'jazz brunch' for a while now, so when the ever elusive free Sunday afternoon hit I knew just what to do. We decided on Blue Water Grill since I've been wanting to try all the places in my backyard in Union Square. Things started out well with some delicious rye raisin bread and strawberry butter that was placed on the table. Since I went nuts on the delicious bread, I just ordered the fresh fruit which was sweet, fresh and very much in season. The Mr. got the Maine Lobster and Shrimp Sandwich, which for 21 bucks we expected to be chock full of quality lobster. Instead it was swimming in mayo and unimpressive. He had also requested some extra bacon, which we were charged $4.50 for. Ok, so perhaps we were paying for outstanding service? Not so my friend, The Mr.'s coffee cup was empty the entire meal. Ok, ok, so perhaps we are paying for the jazz duo guitar and bass? Only problem with that is that they played for about 5 minutes the entire time we were there and that was pretty uninspired elevator music. Hmmm. All in all a very disappointing experience. Determined for the day not to be a complete loss I dragged the Mr. over to The City Bakery to get a Baker's Muffin & Pretzel Croissant to enjoy this afternoon.

Best Lobster Roll: Luke's Lobster

I'd heard Luke's Lobster referenced as the best lobster roll in NYC several times, so when the Mr. and I found ourselves hungry and in The Village one evening after going to a coworker's gig, I knew just where to go. What better way to sample all they have to offer than the "Noah's Ark" feast for two. Two lobster rolls, two shrimp rolls, two crab rolls, two crab claws, two bags of chips, and you guessed it, two drinks. The drinks were from Maine Root soda company which I found to be a nice authentic touch, I enjoyed the blueberry soda immensely. Of the food, the lobster rolls were hands down better than everything else, and next time we visit this establishment we will just go straight for that. While I haven't had many other lobster rolls in this fair city, these seemed like they would be pretty hard to beat. In fact, later in the week the Mr. had another lobster roll craving and so got one from The City Crab across the street- didn't even come close.