New York City is One Big Food Court

Viv, you're not going to like this.

No breakfast.

Michael was busy with work during the day on Friday, but Anna was free to go with me to Lunch. We needed to drop something off at Michael's office, so we headed up to Bay Ridge.

Our first stop was a Vietnamese Restaurant, Pho Hoai. We ordered three things off of their extensive menu. the first of which were the Spring Rolls.

The Spring Rolls back home all seem to use cold Shrimp for their meat filling; this place gave you a lot of choices. Our two selections were Grilled Shrimp and Roast Pork. We split these right down the middle.

Michael had recommended the Sweet and Sour Seafood Soup. Neither of us remembered about the Sweet and Sour part, so we got the Seafood Soup.

This has some noodles, but not a lot. There were a bunch of different Vegetables, Shrimp, Calamar, and some seafood-like items that I couldn't really identify. It was good (and, as Anna said, 'healthy'), but not all that exciting. We should have paid more attention to Michael.

We got his other recommendation right when we ordered the Curry Shrimp over Vermicelli.

This is exactly what it sounds like, and was very good. I would return for the Spring Rolls and other stuff, but I would get the Soup order right next time.

Right next his office is a pizza place that they both like, Nino's Pizza. We ordered one of the types that they're famous for, the Gran Mama, and I also had a White Slice.

The Gran Mama had a thin crust, which was good, but otherwise, it tasted like... Pizza. To my unsophisticated pizza taste buds, it didn't seem very different from the 76547649 places we walked by to get there. I really find White Pizza a treat. No sauce, just Ricotta and Mozzarella Cheeses. I like it a lot, and Anna said that it tasted 'pretty much like she thought it would." I ate all but one bit of the White Slice, and we split the two Gran Mamas. Here's Anna making her blog debut:

Later, on the way to the baseball game, Michael and I stopped at (another) Vietnamese place near his house, Hancos, to get sandwiches for the subway ride.

This was Vietnamese Pork Sandwich, extra spicy. We ate them on the subway and people were jealous. Or maybe they didn't want us spilling food on them. Either way, we ate them and enjoyed them immensely.

There is now a minor-league baseball team playing in Coney Island, on the site that used to be Steeplechase Park back in the day. We went and we root, root, rooted for the home team. We had great seats (sixth row behind home plate), and they won. And I took a photo with some cheerleaders.

After the game, on to Nathans. The original. The place the Phil took me to as a kid. The place down the street from my High School, where we used to blow off class and go for lunch. It blew down during Hurricane Sandy last year, but they rebuilt and re-opened on Memorial Day.

I took this before the Baseball game, when it was light out.

Here's the problem: I may NEVER get back to Nathan's. How can I not get all the things I want? It's not like I can pace myself and go again next week.

Well, it really wasn't a problem. I got it all.

Michael and I had hot dogs first.

Then, the Seafood section. Apparently, the Raw Bar was BACk... they never told me it was gone, so I didn't know to worry.

I had the Soft-Shell Crab Sandwich:

From it's looks, I was prepared to be disappointed. I'm glad that I tasted it. It was freshly-fried and wonderful. And just six bucks. Also costing six dollars was the Lobster Roll:

I have never had Nathan's Lobster Roll. I like Lobster Rolls. This one was different. I was expecting Lobster Salad on a Hot Dog bun, but it turns out that they call that the Lobster Salad Sandwich. This was on a toasted bun, and the Lobster Salad was also grilled a little. After I got over the culture shock, I liked it, and told Michael that I would recommend it.

As if that wasn't enough, we went to the Raw Bar and ordered Clam Chowder. Michael got the Coney Island Chowder (red), and I got the extra-fattening, and extra-delicious, white version.

That was enough. After finishing our Soups, we walked around Coney Island a little, walked past the Cyclone (still running - $9 a ride), and waddled onto the subway to go home.

I am officially Too Old to ride the Cyclone any longer, but it is the absolute BEST roller coaster. Here's a Youtube link to a video from the front seat of the ride. It is 1,000 times more terrifying and 2,000 times more fun to do it yourself.