Tofu Bagel

Pies & Thighs, Zitos and Sigmund’s Pretzels! 

Pies & Thighs in Williamsburg 

I went to Pies & Thighs near the Marcy JMZ this afternoon, and feasted on the pecan crunch donut and the banjo (biscuit with egg and cheese). Everything looks amazing there, but I was let down by the lack of flavor and waitstaff attentiveness. The donut was tasted more like a babka cake with pecans and sugar on the outside. The biscuit was made with a runny sunny-side up egg which let loose on the first bite. On the plus side, they take credit cards now. Woohoo! 

Zito’s in Park Slope

Zitos has been a block away from me for the past 6 or 7 months. I always wanted to go, but I made excuses like I should try other places, it’s too expensive, and there’s no way a sandwich will fill me up. 

I was wrong. The potato and egg sandwich was amazing, and it fills you up for the entire day. Yes! The whole day! I even walked 2 1/2 miles and I was still full! The sandwich is about 10 inches. They carve out of the bread in the middle to make room for the potato and egg filling. 

 I love this place, and I can’t wait to go back and try more. The decor, menu, and ambiance are perfect. 

Sigmunds in the East Village

I wish this place was in Brooklyn. They have amazing pretzel flavors like cinnamon raisin, feta olive, uber pretzel (big ole pretzel), seeded…etc. They also serve pretezel sandwiches, pretzel dogs and pretzel cookies. 

I had the mozz, tomato and pesto sandwich on a pretzel roll. Amazing. It was refreshing and reasonably priced. I saw that they have a truck near the Metropolitan Museum of Art. They charge more at the cart, so it’s best to get the real thing on Avenue B. 

Shake Shack and Forcella

Shake Shack recently opened in downtown Brooklyn. I went on opening night and got a portobello burger, fries and a half-size fudge-etaboutit  concrete. The next night, I followed that up with christmas cookie custard. 

Also, checked out Forcella’s second location on the Bowery. Pictured above is their fried dough Montanara pizza. Pretty amazing food all around. 

Shake Shack

409 Fulton Street
Brooklyn, New York
(718) 307-759

Forcella 

Austin Eats. 

I know this is about 3 weeks late, but here are a few of my eats from Austin, Texas. 

Torchy’s Tacos was incredible. It’s a taco chain with amazing varieties of vegetarian and meaty tacos alike. I feasted on breakfast tacos consisting of eggs, cheese and potatoes. I also went for a fried avocado taco and a dirty sanchez taco made with fried peppers. The food has tons of flavor, the queso is wicked zesty and I love breakfast tacos. They’re so damn good. 

Next up is Hopdoddy Burger in Downtown Austin on Congress Ave. This place makes a mean veggie burger. I topped my Janis Joplin burger off with a fried egg, avocado and mushrooms. I also washed this burger down with a hefty milkshake of some variety I do not recall. Hopdoddy reminds me of a greener, more earth conscious Shake Shack.

I love omelettes. This was the best one I had on my trip. It was from a big fancy hotel Downtown. I think the presentation was pretty. Just look at that avocado. 

Hopdoddy Burger

1400 S Congress Ave
Ste A190
Austin, TX 78704

Torchy’s Tacos

1207 South 1st Street, Austin, TX

Growing up in Chicago you’d think I grew up on deep dish pizza, Superdawg and beef sandwiches, but we dined at Pizza Hut and boiled kosher dogs. 

After a grueling 15 hour car ride from New York City, packed with rainstorms, mis-communication and sleep deprived amateur foodies in their mid-20s, we made it to the food mecca of the midwest. 

I feasted on my first deep dish pizza courtesy of Pizzeria Due in the Chicago Loop. Not the most impressive pie, but it was deep dish. I’m a fan of cornmeal crust, but it harkens me back to my vegan pizza days where we would buy a cornmeal crust from Whole Foods and smother it in sauce and Follow Your Heart Vegan cheese (it never melted). 

I ordered the spinach and cheese individual pie and my companions ordered a sausage and I think a super sausagey meat pie. They seemed to enjoy it more than I did. Next time I go back, I need a doughy crust and way more cheese, salt and flavor. 

Next up was Ian’s Pizza. Oh man, this place was incredible. Where else can I get mac & cheese on pizza? Incredible. I wish I had also tried the tortellini slice. My bad, but I had to get my Dairy Queen fix.

The famous Chicago dog. We went early to Hot Doug’s. Not the ideal place for a vegetarian. They have world famous gourmet hot dogs that people sometimes wait hours for.

For a meat-eater this place is amazing, tantalizing and always a solid ‘A’. For a veggie it’s just so-so. The dog was easily some Yves or blando branded dog boiled or flashed into a micro. The toppings of mustard, pickle, relish, onion helped to make it a bit more authentic, but it would be cool if a place like this used a veggie sausage to give it more flavor. The fries were crispy, well-cooked and seasoned. 

An honorable mention goes to Dairy Queen. That place is amazing. I miss blizzards so much. It’s sort of a good thing we don’t have them here in New York City or i’d be chub right about now. The best one this trip was a nutter butter blizzard. Peanut butter and soft serve is a real treat.