Shake Shack, Artichoke, Pommes Frittes & Momofuku Milk Bar [ADVENTURE]

One of by best friends is getting married in New York this week, which means not only do I get to witness history (congrats Peter and Rachel), but I also got a great excuse to visit one of the mecca’s of food. We have a pretty decent sized readership in New York, so I’ve been trying to do the city justice by simply eating whatever and wherever I can in the city!

Yelp, recommendations from NY friends and family and plain ol’ walking around have been the catalysts to great eats. One of the first recommendations I received was Shake Shack from my friend Andy Cool of IM King Clothing (they just opened their flagship storefront!). Shake Shack did not disappoint!

Shake Shack accidentally gave me another burger in addition to my Shack Stack (1st burger pictured above) – which is an all beef patty plus a crisp fried portobello mushroom, lettuce, tomato, onion, bun and shack sauce. When A Hamburger Today  asked a Shake Shack employee about the sauce they responded with, “It’s mayo-based, sweet, sour and hot.” Definitely different from what I’m used to as a Californian addicted to In-N-Out – but definitely seemed to lack the hot. Might have to go back just to verify:

The crisp fried Portobello mushroom was the size of a hockey puck, and added such a new dimension for my personal burger eating habits. Sure we’ve all added potato chips or french fries to a burger, but adding a whole fried layer makes me want to try more. Fried eggplant burger anyone? Mozzarella stick burger? The possibilities are endless.

Next on the list, I headed to Artichoke Basille’s Pizza. I ordered the Spinach and Artichoke slice, while my friend ordered the traditional Margherita. Both slices were amazingly awesome! The Spinach and Artichoke had a cream-based sauce, similar tasting to a pot-pie, and really collaborated nicely with the fresh spinach, artichoke and cheese. Quite simply some of the best pizza I’ve ever had – and definitely never had anything like this out West.

 After Artichoke, we decided to walk around 2nd Avenue since we only had 1 slice each to make sure to save room for more eats. And while walking around we stumbled upon Pommes Frites, a suggestion from my friend, the groom-to-be. And with a list of over 25 custom made sauces, it can be a hard choice which to pair with your fries. We ended up going with a mayo-based pomegranate teriyaki sauce. BA-NANAS.

The last stop for the evening was off 16th St. entitled Momofuku Milk Bar where we ordered the Compost Cookie and the Cereal Shake (pictured above). While the flavor premise of the milkshake, cornflake cereal milk, seemed underwhelming the actual end-product was quite delicious. I laughed when the nostalgia immediately took over with the first sip, there’s a real reason they call it the cereal shake. I haven’t had a chance to bite into the compost cookie (because I’m only trying to gain 10 pounds on this trip), but the ingredients include: chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, graham cracker crumbs, pretzels, potato chips and coffee grounds. We’ll see how that turns out.

Tomorrow looks like China Town, Joe’s Shanghai and anything else we stumble upon.