The Taste of 7th Street
This past weekend Scoop St. organized a two-day event called The Taste of 7th Street featuring some eateries on 7th St between 1st ave and Avenue A: a small sandwich from Porchetta, a lobster roll from Luke’s Lobster, an arepa from Caracas, two cupcakes from Butter Lane, and a smoothie from Xoom - all for $18 dollars. So, it only occurred to me, after looking at Scoop St’s twitter page mentioning that this deal had reached “1000 scoops” that this was going to be a bit of a crazy event. 1000 people got in on this deal? For 5 tiny spots? In only two days? Anyway – let’s hop to it.
On arriving on 7th St, Gao Di and I saw that Caracas had the largest line so we headed over to Porchetta for our first meal. Props to Porchetta for managing to not have a line – they are already the type of place that would be easily prepared for this sort of promotion. We walked in and showed our Scoop St. coupons and were handed our small porchetta sandwiches wrapped in tin foil. Now, I expected the sandwich to be pretty small, considering they would obviously not give you a full sandwich (which I reviewed just the other week), but I sort of assumed we might get a half a sandwich.
What we have here is more like a little Porchetta ball in a tiny bit of bread, but I must admit, this place never disappoints and that ball of pork goodness was still my favorite chomp on 7th st, although the others are quite good too. As usual, succulent delicious pork is mastered at Porchetta.
Next up, we went to Luke’s Lobster to get in on their lobster roll. As per the promotion, the lobster roll was a “snack-sized” portion. This thing was awesome, although small, there was a generous portion of deliciously seasoned and mayo’d lobster on a wonderfully grilled bun. A good combo of hot and cold. I salute you, Luke!
After Luke’s, we thought we’d head over to Caracas right next door. Caracas was swamped. After waiting on line you actually had to give them your name and pick up your order an hour later. We put our name in and headed over to Xoom and Butter Lane to see the situation there. Xoom’s smoothies are amazing and also super filling, we decided to skip that line and grab our smoothies on Sunday. We queued up instead at Butter Lane to get in on these cupcakes. By the time we got our cupcakes it was time to go grab our arepas.
De Pabellón from Caracas is an arepa featuring shredded beef with black beans, ‘white salty cheese,’ and sweet plantains. This was the most substantial of the offerings (and also the most messy!). This thing was really tasty and Caracas’ own yellow/whatever the hell is in there sauce. I was too busy eating this on the side of the street getting my hands dirty to take a better photo. All you need to know is that it’s some saucy goodness and it was yummy.
After stuffing our face full of the arepas we went around the corner to Wechsler’s (having nothing to do with the taste of 7th st) to enjoy a cold Kostritzer, a currywurst and then crack open our cupcakes. I’ll leave Wechsler’s to a separate review. But… the cupcakes.
I have been curious about Butter Lane Cupcakes… this place has cupcakes for three bucks a pop and the price was a bit of a deterrent, so finding that two were included in Scoop St’s deal was an awesome chance to check them out. Honestly, these cupcakes are unreal. These cupcakes are made with some true love and great ingredients. If my memory serves me correctly we got: Vanilla cake with cream cheese icing, chocolate cake with maple pecan icing, banana cake with cinnamon-honey icing, and a chocolate/chocolate cupcake. These are maybe the best cupcakes I’ve had in the city and the icings are sooo good. I think my favorites were the cinammon honey and maple pecan cupcakes. You need to check this place out.
Well that about wraps up The Taste of 7th St. The lines were a bit hectic, but when all is said and done, I left quite satisfied, belly filled with some great foods. What I like about similar deals that I’ve found at Groupon, is that you can use your coupon at any time within a pretty long window. This was organized as a two-day food festival, so I “get it” that you get small helpings and there is a bit of chaos, but while you’re waiting in line your brain starts to dissolve a little bit in anticipation. Anyway – I was pleased and would most definitely do it again. I loved the occasional passersby that had no idea this thing was going on. I heard things like, “All for cupcakes?” and “Oh my god, Caracas’ line is ridiculous let’s get currywurst.”
Below is a photo taken by Cenzo Jester of the line outside Caracas. Peep Gao Di and myself hanging out in the left corner. At the back of the line.
