Last Night's Dinner and Snacky

Loreley (Rivington between Bowery and Christie, NYC) with Ted, Barb, Papper, Nate, Melanie and Alec. First things first - mazel tov to Alec and Melanie on their wonderful news! I don't know much, but I do know this: babies are cute. Usually.

After a sketchy dim sum experience, I was really looking forward to doing some serious eating at Loreley. I usually snack on their delicious fries (served with both ketchup and mayo) while I figure out what I want to eat for real. Figuring out what I want to eat for real usually means that I end up ordering the Jaeger Schnitzel, which is your standard Wiener Schnitzel, but served with a nice mushroom sauce. The Schnitzel is served with french fries, but I usually get Spaetzle as a substitution, as I have already eaten an ample portion of fries while sipping on one of Loreley's many enticing beer options. Last evening I was drinking half liters of Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse - one of my favorite things to drink in the Summer. You can also opt for having your beer served to you in a gigantic liter sized stein, but it's not less expensive to do so and you end up drinking warm beer. Unless of course you're super manly, in which case you probably drink your beer TWICE as fast as everyone else.

To eat I ordered the Schlachtplatte mit Kassler, Rippenspeck und Rauchwurst, which was basically just a huge plate of delicious meat. The meats included were a smoked pork chop, super fatty and delectable rib bacon and a smoked sausage. The aforementioned triumvirate of deliciousness was served on a bed of sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. I asked for french fries instead of mashed potatoes, but ended up with mashies anyway. They were ok, but I REALLY wanted french fries as I did not order them to snack on while mulling over my entree selection. Next time. I didn't eat any of my sauerkraut because it agitates my acid reflux, but Ted, Alec and Papper all reported that it was rich and tasty. Ted, that old salty dog, ate all of my bacon fat too.

After dinner, we all piled into Alec and Melanie's new Jeep Liberty (It's funny, they traded in their sensible car for an SUV to accommodate the arrival of their new baby, but why would you want to bring a baby into a world full of SUV's? We asked Alec about what kind of gas mileage he got and he said about 4 miles to the gallon. Ha!) to drive to Hank's (Atlantic and 3rd, Brooklyn). Nate plays there every Sunday with Sean Kershaw and the New Jack Ramblers. They also have free barbecue there on Sunday nights. Despite the rather large plate of meat I consumed at Loreley, I still managed to scarf down a Mardi Gras sausage (andouille infused with cheddar cheese), courtesy of Soul! Sausage. It was nice and spicy and really hit the spot. Though, it was a little precarious to eat as the hot cheese would occasionally spurt out and burn us on our arms and faces. Ouch.