Food, glorious food!

I am driven by my stomach, what can I say. There are few things in life which can exceed the satisfaction and delight of a good meal. To that end I am always on the lookout for new places with which to test my dining chops and to expand my repertoire of dining locales. Perhaps the only advantage I really take out of living around such a large city is exploring and discovering new dining treasures.

To that end a few things caught my eye this week which I thought I would share.

First off, I can’t say why, maybe I saw something on the Food Network or the History Channel about automats but it got me to thinking about them and doing a bit of idle surfing on the topic. I remember the old Automat which was on 42nd and 3rd (now a GAP I think) but, I can’t really say it was a place I frequented with any regularity. I do remember a Horn and Hardart restaurant that was located in the Cross County Shopping Center in Yonkers. I remember it in that I can definitely recall eating there as a kid but, again it left little impact on me as far as the actual food itself went.

Well, it appears there’s a new automat which opened a few months back and I want to check out (of course if anyone has checked it out I’d be curious as to their thoughts on the place)

Conceived by Robert Kwak, David Leong, and a designer known as “Nobu,” Bamn will serve finger foods, like grilled cheese and pizza dumplings, with an occasional Asian kick. It’s the first restaurant venture by Mr. Kwak, an entrepreneur who launched the first Asian basketball league in Manhattan. Items will cost between $1.50 and $2.50, and diners should either bring quarters or silver dollars or use the store's change machine to get them.

Second, for the next two weeks New Yorkers are fortunate to experience Restaurant Week (why it’s called Week when it is two weeks escapes me but, there you have it). What’s great about restaurant week is that you have the opportunity to try a lot of great restaurants that would otherwise be out of the range of the pocketbook. Granted, you have to stick to a predesignated menu but, you do get the chance to really appreciate some of the fine restaurants in the city.

I’ve taken advantage of Restaurant Week over the summer and all I can say was that it wound up being a half good (Lupa)/half bad (Mesa Grill) experience. If you haven’t heard of or checked out a restaurant during Restaurant Week, well it is well worth it and you are sure to find something to your taste!