Misc. Memorial Day Weekend Eating

Not as much BBQ action as I would've liked, but still, a lot of good food was consumed.

Sunday Evening BBQ at Martin's (Nice C-Town, NYC)

I brought Robo, Sudmann, Sus and Newell with me. R,S and S all ate a lot, but Newell stopped by after getting an hour and twenty minute C-Town massage, so he was too spaced out to eat all of the barbecued deliciousness. He ended up having to get Chinese food after we left! Oh Newell. I, on the other hand, ate WAY too much. Around 8:30, I started asking myself, 'why is this happening to me?'. But then, only moments later, I would forget all about being too stuffed to go on living and scarf some more, nearly lethal doses of deliciousness. I'm pretty sure this is everything I ate, in order:

3 garlic shrimpies (prepared Portuguese style by Erica)
1 turkey dog (in a bun with Inglehoffer wasabi mustard)
2 sweet Italian sausages (sans bun)
1 cheeseburger (with more yummy wasabi mustard)
1 turkey dog (sans bun, but with that tasty, crack-like wasabi mustard)
ANOTHER turkey dog (same set-up as last time)
1/2 gigantic chicken breast (Prepared by Martin, grilled by Connecticut Eric. Martin used Steven Raichlen's All-Purpose Barbecue Rub, which was comprised of sea salt, brown sugar (interesting), sweet paprika, black pepper, garlic, onion and celery seed (more interesting still))
1 very large genetically engineered strawberry (brought by me, of course)

To drink I had two tumblers of sangria (red, plus I threw some juicy blackberries into my glass), 2 Coronas and a Harp.

Yet another amazing BBQ hosted by Martin. He is a true Grill Master. And his mom is funny and adorable to boot. Afterward, Robo and I headed over to Cram's for some late night poker with the aforementioned host, Michelle and Sean Murphy. I lost ten bucks!

Monday's Lunch and Dinner (with some drinks in between)

Met up with Papper, Sus, Commissioner Phil and Steph (sp?) at Max (B between 3rd and 4th, East Ville, NYC) for some outdoor lunch action. This is my favorite low-key Italian place in the City. And if you're with the right person, the garden can be very romantical as well. Also, no one at Max tries to push you out the door, so you can linger and drink lots of vino without being pestered, which is nice.

To start, we all shared the following:

Portobello Mushrooms - Grilled. Served with a nice balsamic reduction over a bed of arugula.
Bruschetta - I find bruschetta to be overrated in general. The bread usually ends up getting soggy. Also, the tomatoes are no good for my acid reflux. I was popping Zantac like CRAZY yesterday.

For my main, I ordered the rigatoni, Max's father's style, which included yummy meatballs and sausage. The pastas here are an AMAZING value. Delicious and filling too. Maybe too filling though. To drink we shared three or four pitchers of sangria (red). A great, lazy Sunday afternoon lunch that happened to occur on a Monday.

So we left Max and then stopped into a couple of East Village bars for some Memorial Day cocktails. Eventually, Sus and I got hungry again, so she, Newell (he met up with us after lunch) and I got take out from Mama's (East 3rd and B, East Ville, NYC) and headed over to Cram's house to eat and hang out. Per usual, I had the fried chicken and roasted potatoes (the roasted potatoes and mashies are both on heavy rotation). I'm still experiencing some buyer's remorse though. I had three bites of Sus' mashies and they absolutely made me lose my mind.

Much later, Cram, Sean Murphy and I went to karaoke at Pianos (Ludlow and Stanton, LES, NYC) and now I need a serious nap.