The Big Burger Trek

They say if you went to a different restaurant for every meal of the day, you could never exhaust the list of possible eateries in New York City. My question is, if you tried six restaurants each day, and peaked in a couple more for good measure, could you then say you've been to every eating establishment in the Metro area? I'm thinking you'd get close if not all the way there.

Yesterday, I spent the day eating my way through the meatiest parts of Manhattan with five chefs who support the menu pipeline for my company.

Gabby. Our tour guide and Filipino burger fanatic.
Jess. The model of the culinary world.
Eric. The Green Bay cheese man, but Minnesota Vikings fan.
Michael. The flavor expert.
And Chris. The tattooed meat grinder.

Together, we trekked through the city to identify trends in the burger industry and explore what consumers are looking for in an indulgent dining experience. Over the course of six hours, we visited five burger establishments that could easily boast best burger in town and several other concept restaurants that further proved just how many options consumers have.

I ate my way from Umami Burger, to Shake Shack, to Ramen Co., to Jeepney's and finally to Whitman's, from midtown, to downtown, to the East Village, and along with a very full belly, I came across some consistent themes.

First, New Yorkers are willing to pay a hefty price for a good burger.

Second, although my company invented branding, these new fast casual competitors have reinvented it in unique, artistic ways. 

Apparently, there are a whole lot of unemployed Millennials in New York City - or at least quite a few who have enough time to wait for a made to order burger at Shake Shack at 3:30 in the afternoon.

Service with a smile goes a long way. 

Deliciously messy burgers are not so much stacked up with ingredients, as melting together with fresh flavors. The delineation between cheese, sauce, and glaze is absorbed into the enhanced juices of proprietary beef blends, ground and molded in-house. And when you bite into something that looks a lot like a shard of bone, you are willing to forgive it because the rest of the bites thereafter were so scrumptious. 

Burgers with noodle buns are weird and not craveable / one bite was enough. 

Filipino gastronomy is delicious. And according to New Yorkers enables the best burger in the city. Ingredients like banana ketchup, kamote fries, kewpie mayonnaise, sugarcane vinegar, and longaniza sausage were heavenly discoveries. 

Service by stoners is a less desirable. But we decided to give the folks at Whitmans a break because of their proximity to a rather odd herbal shop who was shuttering its doors for a 'class' right around the time we peaked in. 

Noodle shops can be the perfect palette cleanser for someone who has red meat pulsing through their veins. And Momofuko was packed with clean eaters. 

 
I also learned that dining with chefs is awesome; their knowledge of the ingredients, preparation, and history that contribute to a good dish enlightens the whole meal.  I quickly came to the conclusion that tattoo removal is really painful; that burger patties made up of sirloin and longaniza sausage are incredible; that New Yorkers are spoiled rotten when it comes to food; that I will be fasting for the rest of the week; that baby Bobby is going to love red meat; and that I could always use more time in Manhattan.

Lo.

A Better Story

Albert Einstein said, 'I fear the day that technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a greater generation of idiots.'

On Friday afternoon, on a plane sitting on a stretch of tarmac where far too many planes have waited before, I witnessed absolute validation to Einstein's theory. As the stewardess asked everyone to turn off and stow their phones a conversation, typically reserved for the network, became audible when two chronic texters found seats next to each other.

My theory was that this generation of iAddicts couldn't communicate without their 'smart' devices. Turns out, they can. And let me tell you, what passed as conversation was bad. Real bad. For a little over two hours, Peter and I, and another vocally annoyed woman expressed outrage as the loud, inane conversation in row 24 roared on. It went something like this.

OMG.
LOL.
Love it.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Shut up.
Snapchat.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
No way.
LMAO.
BTW U R my new BFF.

LOL.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
SHUT UP!
Snapcat.
JK.
WTF.
TMI.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha.
Oh, we can use our phones now!
XOXO.
TTYL.
Snapchat me!

Einstein, if we haven't actually gotten dumber, our capacity to communicate and more specifically tell a good story has certainly diminished.

When I stepped off the plane and into a taxi cab bound for Manhattan on Friday evening, I vowed to come home to Mary with a good story to tell. So here it is; as told by me to Mary on Sunday night.

On Friday evening, Daddy and I landed on a Big Apple. Bigger than the green one you sunk your little teeth into the other day. It was a loud, crazy place. We were like little fish in a really massive pond. But the mermaids helped us get acquainted. 

After we settled in, Daddy and I went out on a long overdue date to a cozy Tavern in Gramercy Park. I wore a ruffly red dress. Daddy buttoned up a blue shirt. I clicked the heels of my gold shoes together and just like that, the bartender found a place for us to sit and cocktails that fit.   

The next day, Daddy and I ran around the biggest park, with the biggest pool, loudest playgrounds, and most panting dogs ever. We thought of you the whole time. And I actually caught myself barking, 'woof, woof' here and there.   

Later that day, after we went on too many underground train rides, smelled too many odd smelling odors and Mommy almost lost her s***, we found ourselves in Italy. And then China. And then Harlem as we shook down with some of the neighborhood's most energetic dancers. 

Around bedtime, while Aunt Erin was reading a fairy tale to you, Daddy and I saw one come off the pages and into a Dim Sum Banquet Hall in New York City. Your second cousin once removed said, 'I do' in his own special Cousin Bill way. A dumpling and Peking Duck, break dancing, hula dancing, and kick line kicking, pants splitting, photo bombing, and all around good time way. 

 

 

And Mommy and Daddy helped him and his beautiful bride, Tiere, celebrate. 

On the way back to our hotel that night, we took a detour to Mumbai in a cab that zigged, zagged, zoomed and swerved around town. This time, Mommy almost lost her dinner.

The very next morning, we climbed over the Brooklyn Bridge before all the ice cream vendors arrived, and into a different borough of the Big Apple. Just hours later, we were on the next flight home to see you again. 

As you and Aunt Erin ended your adventures together, Daddy and I came through the door with two missing days of hugs and kisses to give you.

Like so many of life's experiences, it was the kind of memorable weekend that doesn't translate to text. And never should.

Lo.

*Wedding photos generously donated by Kristen Greenwood Reily (Thanks!)

Bright Lights, Big Thanks

When you measure a couple feet tall and weigh a mere 17 pounds, life and all it has to offer must seem immense. I tell myself this as Mary wakes me up to play at 4:30 in the morning; and when she declares thirty minutes long enough for a nap. I'm presuming the new sites and sounds, tastes and touches, songs and dances that await her are far too exciting to sleep through. When you couple that inertia with a first time experience in the city that never sleeps; when you layer that enthusiasm with the speed, noise, and decadence of New York City; and when on top of that you execute the standard non-stop, whirlwind agenda that my parents are famous for; you might have an inkling of how exhausted I am this evening.

But despite my body's desire to curl up in bed right now, the bright lights of the big city are still shining, not only keeping me awake, but spotlighting just how precious my life and all the people in it are. And since I missed documenting most of November and with it, 30 chances to give thanks, I decided to use my long weekend in Manhattan as the backdrop for a little litany, outlining my seemingly countless blessings.

Here are 30 things, in no particular order, that I'm thankful for:

1. The black Lululemon hat with a special hole for my ponytail that Peter got me for Christmas a couple years ago.

2. Art museums. 

3. Restaurants with impeccable service.

4. Olay Night Repair Cream and the energy God gives me to get through another sleepless night. 

5. Christmas lights. 

6. Mary's laugh. 

7. The ability to put one foot in front of the other and run, run, RUN through Central Park. 

8. Reclamation projects. 

9. French bistros, French bread, and French 75s. 

10. Hugs that warm you from the inside, out. 

11. Parades, marching bands and Peter's commentary on them.  

12. A job that I love and people I love working with.  

13. My health. 

14. Elevators and handicap accessible ramps. 

15. Back rubs. 

16. San Pellegrino sparkling water.

17. Park views and the people that have them. 

18. Babysitters and day care teachers. 

19. Thoughtfulness wrapped up in a really amazing piece of gourmet chocolate. 

20. Chubby cheeks. 

21. God, my faith, and multiple Mass times. 

22. The 21 Club's corn bread. 

23. Sisters. 

24. And friends that seem like sisters. 

25. Nap time. 

26. Immediate family, extended family, family jokes and my brother's ability to deliver them.                     

27.Markets and all the fresh food they have to offer. 

28. Friendships that will get passed on to future generations.

29. All the people who came before me - who built our cities, laid our foundations, paved our paths, and gave us ...

30. Life, liberty, and happiness. 

Lo.