Last time on NYC 2016, Ben and I came up to my home city to eat and catch up with an old friend. And we had more eating and catching up to do!
After getting some much-needed rest, it was time for me to meet up with my brother! He’s been staying in the East Village for his summer internship, so we headed over to check out his place and take him out for dinner. (I actually bumped into one of my friends on the subway trip over there! Ben teases me relentlessly for how many people I know and run into unexpectedly. This chance meeting marked unplanned encounter #1 – keep track of these, there are more coming.)
My brother was sharing the apartment of an art director for Marc Jacobs with one of his college roommates, who was working crazy long hours but still had a smile on his face when we saw him. It was a pretty nice place, and within walking distance of The Bao, where we went for dinner. I really loved the xiaolongbao (soup dumplings, aka XLB) at Joe’s Shanghai last year and wanted to compare this spot on St. Mark’s. My brother and boyfriend were both very surprised when I thought we had been a little ambitious with 6 orders of XLB and a vegetable. As it turns out, they were right; we left with plenty of room for more food.
SO off for more food! Never let it be said that I allowed my favorite boys to go hungry. We stopped by Joe’s Pizza (a different location from last year) and I just inhaled my slice. I swear to you, having a slice of pie while staring at the photos of celebrities who share my feelings about Joe’s is blissful, despite the heat and the grease and the no-time-to-be-cleaned-off tables.
Here’s a photo of last year’s Joe’s slices… for the memories…
But one of the great things about New York slices are how thin they are, so we were ready to eat yet some more food. My brother was curious about Baohaus, since we’ve both watched Fresh Off the Boat and seen Eddie Huang’s food content online. As I learned when I visited 2 years ago, it’s really easy to walk right past Baohaus without realizing it, so we brought my bro over and each had a bao.
Honestly, I could’ve kept eating, but I figured it was time to let my brother go back to his life. (I think he had plans for later that evening. Can you even believe my cooler-than-me brother would have plans on a Friday night?) But as it turned out, even we managed to find plans for Friday evening! We met up with Ben’s college hallmates who are living in the area for a night out in Koreatown. It was kind of nuts. Things that happened included:
- A drunk guy “helping Ben out” by introducing him to a girl (it was me)
- That guy trying to pull away Ben’s roommate’s girlfriend
- When asked what he was doing, he said that he was just going to buy her a drink
- When told that she was Ben’s roommate’s girlfriend, he expressed confusion because wasn’t I his girlfriend?
- When told that I wasn’t, he asked if he could buy me a drink instead and was told no
- Me trying to prevent a fight between Ben’s roommate’s cousins and this drunk guy
I was very amused by the events and also confused. Didn’t that guy just pride himself on setting me up with my own boyfriend a handsome stranger? Why would he have done that if he thought I was someone else’s girlfriend?
In any case, it was a crazy night that ended with us being totally pooped and dragging our butts back to the hotel.
What is your favorite xiaolongbao place in Manhattan or anywhere else?
Favorite pizza joint?
Sip of Starrshine 