The Mustang Sally's Edition....

Okay, here's what we 're gonna do. Just kinda play along with me and pretend that it hasn't been a million months since I last updated this here blog. I know the hits have been few and far between, but the extra-ordinary melts are difficult to find. I mean, there just aren't that many places looking to innovate on our beloved diner classic. That's not always a bad thing, however, especially after a hiatus from tuna-melts. Now the last place I had a melt at was just another in a series of open-faced sandwiches, so much to the point that I was starting to wonder if joints were trying to conserve bread or something. But not to worry, because I was running errands recently around 28th street and bumped into a spot named Mustang Sally's.



Nice looking place on the inside, clean, low light, pre-season baseball on three screens behind the bar, overall, my kinda place. So I slip into a booth and look over the menu given to me. Not that I really NEED to, but I wanted to check out the selection of brews they had available on tap since I wasn't dining @ the bar. I decided on the Shocktop over Sam Adams' Noble Pilsner, going with spicy over hoppy. I ordered and what Mustang Sally's delivered to me was a perfectly classic tuna melt on rye. They even serve it with the top on which was definitely a sight for sore eyes and the pannini grill marks were a perfect touch. Now, anyone who knows me will tell you that french fries are a BIG DEAL for me and if U read this thing regularly then you know that only ONE place can get away with serving up a melt without 'em. Mustang Sally's delivers not only on the sandwich itself, but their fries were also straight on the money. And the spicy orange tinted flavor of that Shocktop brew was the perfect compliment. So, s/o to Mustang Sally's for keeping it classic, fresh and tasty. I give their tuna melt 4 tomatoes outta five...

Til the next melt, See Ya!

Tuna, no melt... Bouchon Bakery

Okay, so last week I got a text from my good buddy JSL, and he shot me a text that he was gonna be in the city for an interview. So we connected on facebook and decided to get together for lunch after his interview. After discussing this very blog, we decided to find a diner that would serve me the finest tuna melt (he's a vegetarian; I know, please refrain from booing). We settled on Eisenberg's (I think that's the place) in the Flatiron district, but we ran into all sorts of snags and ended up @ Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner building @ Columbus Circle. Bouchon Bakery is a boulangerié style joint specializing in artisan breads and other manner of baked goodness, but since we really couldn't find a diner, we settled in here because they had a pretty nice sounding tuna salad sandwich which, due to time constraints I decided to investigate...



What you see above is Bouchon Bakery's Tuna Niçoise on Palladin, featuring a very nice (celery free) tuna salad, Niçoise olives, sliced hard-boiled egg, sliced radishes, bibb lettuce, and garlic aioli. Swap out sliced pickles and insert some nice, crunchy gherkins (sweet touch).

Now, I KNOW it's not a melt, but it was delightful surprise. Very pleasant, great flavor and the garlic aioli was perfect with the bibb lettuce. The olives really upped the ante for the tuna salad and seriously, who could be mad @ a boiled egg? Hell, I didn't even mind the sliced radish! However, into every life a little rain must fall, and this beautiful little sandwich was no exception. Tho the bread overall was great, the crust was simply too thick to cut with a butter knife (yeah, I got all siddidy and attacked this thing knife and fork style; just couldn't figure out any other attack plan). Also, with the bread infirm and not toasted, with that mound of tuna salad goodness on top, it's a bit awkward for simply bare-handing it. The crust of the bread was the only issue I had however, and that could have been over come with a sharper knife.

The brew accompanying the sandwich in question is Blue Point Brewery's Toasted Lager. Excellent Brew. I'm sure I mentioned it in the past somewhere on this blog. Reach back for it.

Bouchon Bakery's Tuna Niçoise gets four tomatoes. Gherkins... nice touch...

Return of the Mack!

Well, not exactly. It's been just short of a year since my last post on this little blog sandwich and I gotta tell ya, it's not a minute too late. We know what the primary focus of this blog is, and for those out of the loop, this blog may or may NOT be all about a sandwich. That sandwich is my diner favorite, the Tuna Melt. One of the reasons I fell out of updating this blog like I shoulda was that I kinda became disillusioned with the state of the sandwich. In diner after diner it was the same old song: open faced, on wheat with american cheese as yellow as the sun... with a slice of tomato on top. Now, I don't HATE that, but there needs to be SOME variation from one diner to the next, y'know? The only place I've been that completely OWNED the damn thing was Cafe Intermezzo on Peachtree Road in Atlanta, Jawja (see my June 08 entry) but I've not encountered anything that's come even remotely close since then. So yeah, I have been in a major Tuna Meltdown for a while. But I said to myself, 'Dude, you gotta get out and hit a diner, ANY diner and have a melt.' Well, I went out to run some errands in the Lincoln Center area yesterday and in between I stopped into a nice looking spot by the name of Lansky's...


Very nice spot, nice atmosphere with a couple of older ladies at the table next to me discussing their investments, family issues and other fun stuff. They discussed their business so openly I almost wished I was a scam artist. But anyway, the wait staff was very attentive and all was good. So even tho it wasn't on the menu, I sat and ordered that ol' diner staple, the King of Diner sandwiches. The waiter asked me what bread I'd like which is a great sign, so imagine my disappointment when the selection was limited to white, wheat or rye. Then he asked what cheese I would like. Also a great sign, also a limited selection, but with a new contestant: GOAT CHEESE! Let's go with the goat cheese on rye! Ordered a Goose Island Summertime and doodled in my sketchbook until my sandwich came.



Look at that. I was somewhat mortified when the thing arrived. It appeared that it was merely smeared with CREAM CHEESE! And let me tell U, that picture doesn't tell the whole story because there was a LOT of it. To quote a young lady I know it looked like it was covered in icing... "So much icing!" I had to try to remove as much of it as I could, but the problem was that the goat cheese simply over-powered the experience of the sandwich itself. The texture was all wrong, not melty at all, and the bread wasn't toasted enough. The cole slaw looked great and if I gave a damn about cole slaw I would have been all over it, but I can't stand the slaw. Their made from scratch pickles on the side were great tho and I needed them in order to get thru this failure of a tuna melt. But I must qualify this review with the recognition that the deal breaker was likely the goat cheese with simply bummed out the whole sandwich. That being said, y0u simply cannot serve a tuna melt WITHOUT fries or chips if U aren't doing amazing things with the sandwich itself. Intermezzo can get away with that, but Lansky's of NYC? You guys need to rethink that...

So while the sandwich itself gets two tomatoes, I will say that the Goose Island Summertime was very pleasant and definitely rocks with fish. Check it out before the leaves turn! See ya @ the next diner. I'm thinking Lower East Side next time around...

Games, Games, Games!

Hello girls and boys guess who's back with his semi-annual blog post! LOL! I know, I know, I really do suke at updating regularly, but hey, it could be worse, I could be a right-wing conservative shit-head political blogger! ThankYEW! I'm here all week, try the Baked Ziti. Now, were was I? What's the title again? Right GAMES! As in video games. I'm currently playing Grand Slam Tennis and Madden NFL 10 for the Nintendo Wii and I'm planning on copping the Wii Sports Resort (more golf holes!) . Madden for the Wii is a completely different animal than it is for the other consoles (XBox 360 & PS3) due to the unique Wii controlling setup. In order to throw the ball in the passing game U actually have to flick your wrist as if U're throwing the ball. U also have to wave the controller in specific situations to juke or swim left or right. It takes a bit of getting used to but it's pretty cool. Here's a picture of the box, buy it!




In other console news, my brother is currently hogging screen time with what is one of the greatest and most cleverly constructed and designed superhero videogames of all time. What game is that, you ask? Why, it's Batman: Arkham Asylum. If you have either of the two BIG polygon pushing consoles (360 or PS3 for all U knuckleheads) do yourself a favor and COP THAT! Dude, I don't even play it, I just like to watch and I'm co-signing this puppy. Fork over that loot and blow some alone-time on that instead of ya sittin with ya mitts in ya pants! Peep the cover...

Sandwich review coming soon, I promise. That, AND... OKTOBERFEST BEERS! I know I said the same thing last year, but one of these days I won't be fibbin!

Hell in a thirty dollar handbasket on a Friday night

So for a couple weeks or so I knew that my buddy was coming back up to NY from Virginia this weekend, so of course, he wanted to hang out. I knew the fellas would all be gettin together to take over some place here in the city. The place that my pal decided on? The Hudson River Café. Wanna see it? Look...


Okay, so where was I? Yeah, Hangin out. So I get there with one of my boys and our buddy from Va is already inside. There's a pretty decent line of chicks and some dudes out front dressed ready to party and to make matters worse, yeah, I've got on sneakers. But dudes are wearing jeans and skechers and all kindsa shit so I figure I'm cool. Then my boy says, 'We should probably check to see what the cover is...' and sure enough, the shit is twenty bucks. Now, I wouldn't be complaining about a twenty dollar cover, but I really was planning to just show up and sit at a bar and have some drinks and hang out, not bump into a full fledged NY Hotspot party night. So my buddy goes in ahead of me and when it's MY turn, after I get frisked and all that fun shit, I get to the cash girl and sure enough, this chick tells me the cover is now THIRTY FUCKIN BUCKS! B-bu-bu-but wait, it gets worse! Since all of my friends are already inside, there's goes thirty bucks. I've NEVER paid thirty bucks to get into ANYplace and I've lived in New York ALL my life! So now I get in there and the music is shit... No, don't blame the music, my bad... The DJ is shit! They're selling mixed drinks in fucking five ounce hard plastic cups... Like so...


Now imagine that shit filled with ice. Then imagine a bartender telling you that you owe her twelve bucks for it. The good news is that they had Guinness on tap in twelve ounce cups for five bucks. So yeah, it was THAT kinda night. Then I start thinking about all kindsa shit that pisses me off even more like the fact that I paid thirty dollars to get INto a party that was OUTside.

BUT, on Sunday I did discover a new brew from Blue Point Brewing Company. If U get a chance, make it a point to check out their Blueberry Ale. It's a wickedly perfect brew. Check it out...




I know, I know, the damned sandwich, man! Imma get to a diner soon, so stay tuned!

Consie's Back, Babay!

Okay. So anyone who knows me knows that I could give a flying tattooed rat's ass about Leno or Letterman. Tho I'll admit, I'm more apt to tune in to Letterman than Jay, my choice of late night flavor has always been Conan O'Brien. I mean, the dude has just got the chops for late night TV and he's been funnier than Leno for years. Jay's had the name recognition and, of course, was handed the reigns by Mr. Late Night himself, Johnny Carson, but everybody knows that Conan's been better than Leno for years now. So when NBC announced that Jay was packing up the show and Conan was moving to both L.A. AND 11:35, well, joy abounded. I won't mention how NBC practically sandbagged Consie and gave Leno a PRIMETIME 10pm slot (not sure if it'll be nightly, but I doubt it) which means Leno will continue to siphon A-list guests from the scarlet pompadour of late night, but suffice it to say, it's good to see Conan back on the air... Even if he did forget to move to Los Angeles until three hours before he was supposed to go on air and had to run across the country. Hey, he made it and my homie is doin his thing at 11:35!

It's Spring Agaaaaiiiiiinnnnnn!

Yeah, it's definitely been a while and yours truly has been quite derelict in his tuna melting duties. This is true and I am shamed beyond recognition. But I'm back and I promise to get back to the business of checking out the tuna melts @ every diner I get the chance to visit. In fact, I will guarantee a review in APRIL! I also intend to get back to the business of checking out the seasonal ales, pilsners and lagers and all that good shit. So now, pledges to do what I will certainly enjoy regardless aside, let's move on.


I had the pleasure of catching HBO's new pilot, The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency, a program based on a series of books by the same title. The show stars Jill Scott (her last name is Scott but she can be Mrs. Tuna Melt ANY day) and Anika Noni Rose as the number one ladies in question and the show is a beautifully shot and gleefully acted little slice of life in Botswana. It's so refreshing to see stories taking place in Africa that are not focused on misery and despair. The characters and their lives are displayed plainly, not as something foreign and unusual, but as lives just like your own, simply in a different setting and spoken in an english a lil different than yours. The thing is, you recognize the people, you can identify with them and get involved in their story and that's what makes a show worth watching. By the way, Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose are the only non-native cast members on this show, but their south African accents are spot-on authentic and Mrs. Tuna Melt, aka Jill Scott is identifying herself as quite a talented actress in her first starring vehicle. Good show, full of humor, liveliness and color, I will certainly be watching more of The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency. I suggest U do the same and catch this show.

Spring brews and sandwiches coming soon!