Tag Archives: hot dogs

Gratuitous Meat

What a hot, hot time to be in NY. With a record breaking heat wave over this 4th of July weekend, it was a good time to seek out some quality BBQ. Below are photos from the northern tip of Manhattan to the southern coast of Brooklyn.

Big Bob Gibson's Pulled Pork

This first shot is actually from the Big Apple BBQ, but it’s so delicious that I had to post it. Big Bob Gibson came all the way from Decatur, Alabama to make their signature pulled pork. After waiting in line, this was definitely worth it.

Nathan's Hotdogs

Next up is Nathan’s of Coney Island which needs no introduction. Pictured here is one Chili Dog & one Chili Cheese Dog with Onions. Both were messy and what you would expect from loaded up hot dogs. If I had gotten it with cheese & bacon, I’m sure the deliciousness would have been off the charts.

Bacon Cheese Fries

While hot dogs are supposed to be the main draw, I found the Bacon Cheese Fries to be the undeniably best tasting thing there. Perhaps if I had put bacon on the hot dogs, the match up between the hot dogs and fries would have been fair. Is it possible to have too much bacon? To give the fries some more credit, they were a thick, hearty cut that remained crispy even after being soaked in cheese for a while.

Dinosaur BBQ Swag Sampler

The very amazing Swag Sampler plate from Dinosaur BBQ is up next. The sample consisted of deviled eggs, spicy shrimp, wings, and fried green tomatoes. How amazing was this? After eating the simply decadent deviled eggs, fried green tomatoes, and wings, I tried the shrimp – and I never eat seafood (due to mild food allergies). I was so impressed by the first three that I had to see how well they could prepare the shrimp, but the shrimp let me down as there wasn’t much flavor to it.

Dinosaur BBQ Sauces

Does every BBQ joint get into selling sauce nowadays?

Ribs with sides

Pictured here are the fall-off-the-bone ribs with their Mac & Cheese and BBQ Fried Rice. Their ribs were simply amazing, and they didn’t need any sauce as they were already wonderfully flavored. After consuming the appetizers and nearly 3/4 rack of ribs, I wasn’t very impressed with their sides. I had ordered the BBQ Fried Rice, Mac & Cheese, Cole Slaw, and Pork & Beans. The sides were all as to be expected, but only the Mac & Cheese stood out to me. Perhaps I didn’t enjoy the sides since I was stuffed from the ribs? I ordered the BBQ Fried Rice since I admit, I was curious as to what it actually was.

2AM Cuisine

Some more low-res iPhone photos. I find myself carrying around my DSLR less and less to food places the longer I’ve been here. I hope to reverse that trend by shooting more photos in general.

First up is Crif Dogs, recommended by Lag.

Crif Dogs Counter

This place has an interesting menu. See the next photo below. Crif dogs is a great late night food binge place. Overpriced hotdogs are common throughout the city, I mean you can get a dozen hotdogs at the supermarket for the price of one hotdog at an establishment.

I won’t deny that hotdogs are delicious, but they are also nutritionally void. Without editorializing much more here, Crif Dogs were delicious and come with exotic toppings.

Crif Dogs Menu

I tried The Crif Dog and the Philly Tubesteak. Not a surprise, but adding cheese and onions to a hotdog made it VERY delicious.

Not shown in detail on the menu are The Crif Paks. It was explained to me that at each price point $10 and up, you get served whatever the kitchen wants to give you. And it will be a lot of food. This sounds like it would be good for the stoner demographic which I assume wants to eat a lot during odd hours. Note that The Crif Paks previously were called Stoner Paks.

The Crif Dog & Philly Tubesteak

Very delicious. There is a lemonade on the top left of the photo. The damage for this was $11 with tip.

Cheep's Falafel Pita

Continuing to walk around the St Marks Place, I found Cheep’s. Cheep’s has a $2 falafel pita which is worth it. Period.

It’s 4 freshly fried falafels with lettuce and white sauce. The pita is a good, large sized, and you can continue to add all sorts of veggies from their free salad bar into your pita. According to Yelp reviews, this place opened within the past week. In NY, being able to find something edible for $2 is amazing, let alone something this fresh, delicious, and large.