Love My Gays! Your Summer Treat To Beat The Heat!
Attention New Yorkers!!
Are you feeling a little confused by this heat wave? Dizzy? Dehydrated? Looking for the nearest pool in a sea of pavement?!!!
Your fix may be momentarily calmed by the ambitious creations at Big Gay Ice Cream in the East Village.
Now I’m a traditionalist when it comes to sweets. Give me a great vanilla cone and I’m happy. But at Big Gay Ice Cream you will get way more than the norm. With inventions like CoCoCone, Salty Pimp, Bea Arthur, shakes, cookies and little weekly surprises, I just wanna be a giant sprinkle inside this Wonka ice cream sensation.
To Rainbow Colored Sprinkles and Childhood Memories!
XO,
Lauren
We’ve Been Robbed: A Special Brooklyn Pie To Cure The Phillip Phillips Hate Crime
If you’ve been emotionally eating since Ryan Seacrest announced the most ridiculous hate crime America has witnessed since the Jersey Shore regurgitated onto U.S. soil, then you may be in the mood for the luscious Fornino’s Pizza.
This decadent and paper thin crusted Funghi Misti pizza with mixed wild mushrooms, white truffle oil, mozzarella, and caciocavello cheese is sure to dry those eye gushing tears and help you start recovering from the shock and awe that was Idol last night.
And for those who don’t watch or care about American Idol, I promise that Fornino’s has about 20 different pies to sooth whatever ales you.
And to my sweet 16 year old Jessica Sanchez; You may be a secret alien singing robot genius from another planet, but do not fret young vocal prodigy, your world domination tour is right around the corner my dear. Scared/Kinda Excited.
To Your Pizza Wallowing Belly & Mine,
Lauren
My Oxycodoned Brush with Bourdain and the Great Googa Mooga!
Prospect Park; The beautiful home of this year’s Great Googa Mooga Festival. An “amusement” park for foodies and professional eaters like myself, let’s recap on this past weekends Best of Mooga.
I recently injured my back at work and ultimately quit my job because of it. In a bittersweet effort to save my sanity and food blogging credibility, I take a leap of faith and hop on the Q train to Prospect Park for a festival I’ve been anticipating for months. Hopped up on oxycodone to numb my lower back pain, I approach the VIP entrance with stealthiness hoping to get into the Extra Mooga area so I can track down my hero and eat and drink for free.
(testing…1…2…)
Luckily, as heaven would have it, we pay a guard $20 bucks a head on the down low and get into the festival. Tickets were $250 for Extra Mooga which includes free tastings, beer, wine and cocktails, decent bathrooms and special demos with start chefs like Masaharu Morimoto, Bourdain, and Tom Colicchio….SCORE!!!!
With my foodie partners in crime, Amanda and Melissa, we make our way to the not-so-long lines for fairly sizable samplings of NYC’s Best restaurants.
SIDE NOTE: In the main Googa area where tickets were free with online registration beforehand, there was way more food to choose from and ultimately I will explore that next year.
Crif Dogs deliver again with a sampling of their signature bacon wrapped hot dog and this time topped with fresh avocado and sour cream. WHOA!
Tia Pol Pulled pork BBQ! So good….Southern good!
ON MY NYC EATS LIST: Frankies 457….who doesn’t love polenta?! Grits for my Southerners;)
Pastrami from Kutsher’s Tribeca. I can’t wait to eat at this spot….(mouth waters).
They done BBQ’d a whole cow! Thanks Pat La Frieda…you sure know how to cook some meat!
Quite possibly the best burger I have ever DEVOURED! Brilliance!
Amanda look!!!! Anthony is coming!!
This was the moment I’d been waiting for. One full hour of Q&A from the man, the legend, the guy I wanna be like when I grow up, Mr. Anthony Bourdain!!!! I’m sure you are wondering what I asked him, right?!
So I’m gleefully sitting in the 2nd row buzzed on some fabulous gin drink made with Hendricks’s Gin, fresh strawberries, cucumbers and a spritz of absinthe and pain killers while questions are being dished out from the audience to Tony left and right…zoom zoom zoom! How am I gonna get the mic away from these people…I feel like jello.
Insert Amanda with her loud mouth ” This bitch has a question!!!” pointing and shouting at the man with the mic, Bourdain’s long time No Reservations travel partner from Russia, Zamir.
My heart pounding as Anthony glances over with a kind smile waiting for my question…my mouth just starts going off as if I was confessing to a crime. From what I remember it went kinda like this:
“Hi Anthony. So I’m very happy to say that I made it here today since I hurt my back last week, quit my job, and now I’m talking to you all jacked up on Oxycodone and Gin.”
Audience laughs and Anthony chuckling says something like…”Don’t blame me for quitting! Security! This girl is fucked up!
I ask Tony, ” You’ve been to so many places around the world and you’ve devoured loads of amazing food. What do you eat or cook when your home for you and your family?”
Believe it or not he actually said take-out and loads of other things that have escaped my memory. It was a brilliant discussion with a man I admire most in the food world. He’s a no excuse, no bullshit, food renegade and I loved every minute of his depth and uncompromising honesty in that glorious hour.
Saint Tony looking down on us with approval…ahhhh…what a moment.
HALL & OATES!!!! Yes, they played ALL the classics and areas brilliant as ever! HA!
My new friends….love their energy here!
Oh yea…Coolio has a cookbook out…wow.
That’s me on the left and my food partner Amanda on the right
Num Pang eater enjoying some serious bites! Gotta try that next time!
Googa Arcade!
A Taste of Los Angeles from BIG GAY ICE CREAM!
One of my happiest moments, other than meeting and briefly asking Mr. Anthony Bourdain what he likes to cook at home when he’s not traveling (Answer: Take out!!!), this past Sunday, was my run in with a fierce looking drag queen handing out some popsicle perfection.
This mango chili pop that our Queen below is sexifying for you, reminds me of all the little fruit stands in L.A. that I used to go to. You can buy any kind of fruit on their cart and they chop it up and sprinkle some chili powder and lemon juice then bag it up in less than 5 minutes! It’s also half the price of what you would pay for cut fruit at your local grocery store.
The flavors in this pop are so perfectly matched. The intense spice of the chili pepper is cooled by the perfectly ripe and sweet mango.
These bitches definately make some tasty treats and with ice cream and pop flavors like Salty Pimp, Bea Arthur, and Mexican Affo’Gay’To, I’m sure you will find what best suits your eager buds.
The Googa Mooga Festival turned me on to some great restaurants for my NYC Eats List, helped me meet my idol, and ultimately put a big fat smile on my face after a much needed break from bed rest.
This will now be an annual tradition. Thanks to the beautiful Prospect Park and our new security friend for hooking us up in V.I.P.!!
Here is a list of this Summer’s Prospect Park events.
To Your Festival Going Belly & Mine,
Lauren
