Eating through the Big Apple: Day 4.. I think?

By my fourth day in NYC, I think it started becoming a gastronomical blur. Or maybe a gastro-intestinal nightmare? In any case, there were more tasty bites to be bitten. One thing I do enjoy about NYC is that it's a walking city. You have to be insane to own a car, well-off to take taxis everywhere, or part of the upper class 1% if you have your own driver.

So where did I go when I wasn't eating or working? One place we went to was Eataly. Aptly named, no? Eataly is an Italian food market located in the Flatiron district featuring quite a few restaurants, a gelateria, and two cafes inside. They have a ridiculously large selection of products, but we happened to come in the afternoon when the place was still bustling with hungry diners trying to secure a seat, so browsing the stalls was quite limited. Being an Italian marketplace, they had a variety of fresh pastas.

And several types of Italian sodas to choose from.

After escaping Eataly, we went to the mecca of interesting, inexpensive, yet durable glassware and dinnerware: Fishs Eddy. If I hadn't brought an already stuffed to the gills carry-on, I would have purchased nearly half the store. Instead, I settled for this rather humorously clever plate. At the entrance they had ceramic glove molds. They look like they're saluting someone... or reaching out to grab an unsuspecting victim.

In the evening, I introduced my friend to yakitori. If you don't know what yakitori is, google it now. I said NOW! And go find your closest yakitori restaurant. Yakitori is a type of Japanese cuisine, closely associated with izakayas. Izakayas are, according to wikipedia, Japanese drinking establishments (bars?) that also serve  food. The name "izakaya" is a compound word consisting of "i" (to stay) and "sakaya" (sake shop). In any case, it's yum. Need I say more? And what's some yummy yakitori, without Japanese beer.

Japanese kimchi and the kitchen. I imagine even with their head scarfs on, those guys probably go home reeking of grilled meats.

I ordered some takoyaki, which was served with Japanese kewpie mayo and bonito flakes. Takoyaki is an octopus filled dumpling or pancake that is really close to the Danish Aebleskiver or South Indian kuzhi paniyaram. Don't know what those are? Give wikipedia another run for its money. All three even use a similar looking cast iron pan/griddle.

My friend ordered what appeared to be french fries on crack. I think they were cheesy mayo fries, also known as cardiac arrest fries.

 Bring on the skewers! We had grilled scallions, beef tongue, bacon wrapped quail eggs, chicken heart, some other beef, and I think mushrooms too.. though I didn't snap a picture of them.

And last but definitely not least, I can't forget one of my favorites, yaki onigiri. Crispy grilled rice balls. I vow to one day make a hybrid between spam musubi and yaki onigiri. Yaki spam-igiri? Sounds like tasty goodness if you ask me. And if you don't know what a spam musubi is, I guess you can google that too.