New York breakfast #1: Shopsin’s
Sunday, November 5th, 2006What we ate:
Plantain Granola Burrito French Toast
Blisters on my Sisters
I first heard about Shopsin’s while I was reading a story in ‘Feeding a yen’, the most recent book by one of my favorite authors - Calvin Trillin - who, lucky for fans of home-cooked foods and local specialties, loves to eat. ‘Feeding a yen’ is a series of short pieces in which the author discusses his love of food, or more specifically, eating. Most of the stories are reprinted from back-issues of the New Yorker, where he is a regular contributor. ‘American Fried’ was the first Calvin Trilling book I read, and it is still one of my favorites. I was going to attempt to summarize it here until I realized its’ content has been blurred by my mind’s eye and mixed together with all of his writing - which means I will begin re-reading it today.
Back to breakfast.
It turns out that one of Calvin Trillin’s favorite restaurants in his hometown of Manhattan, or more specifically the West village, is a place called Shopsin’s. He also seems to be friends with the owner - Kenny Shopsin - as are almost all of the restaurants regular customers. That’s the kind of place Shopsin’s is. Kenny dislikes publicity, and had for years asked Calvin Trillin not to write about the place, and so until recently this magical place had been mostly unheard of.
Then Kenny’s landlord announced that the rent was going to go up. Way up. Kenny realized that to keep his restaurant going the way he liked it, he would have to either shut down or find a new location, the latter of which is exactly what he did. Another fan of Shopsin’s, Matt Mahurin, a filmmaker, was given permission to film a documentary about the restaurant and the move to a new location, which incidentally was right around the corner. I haven’t seen this film, but I will, just as soon as I find it playing near me or is released on DVD.
The film is called “I like killing flies”. I didn’t really like the poster at first, but it is starting to grow on me.
You can see a few clips of it here. (link opens in new window)
I cannot wait to see this movie!
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Once again, back to breakfast:
My very special ladyfriend’s birthday was coming up, and she loves New York. With this in mind, as well as the fact that Shopsin’s is in New York, we decided to spend her birthday weekend, extended to four days, in New York. The part about Shopsin’s was probably only in my mind, not hers. My very special ladyfriend loves me so much that she went so far as to suggest, even insist, that we eat breakfast on her actual birthday at Shopsin’s. That is why she has been recently annointed with the title ‘very special’. It’s like when the Queen of England makes a you a knight and you become a ‘Sir’. So, on her birthday, one very sunny October 27th Manhattan morning, my very special ladyfriend and I rode the New York subway from our hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria (blentry coming soon) to Shopsin’s.
We sat down, opened the menus, are that’s when the fear hit. The Shopsin’s menu has hundreds of items on it, and each item is available in several different permutations. Some of these items are available in combination with other items. To call the Shopsin’s menu ‘overwhelming’ would be a gross understatement.
You can see their menu on their website: (link opens in new window)
http://www.shopsins.com/media/redshops/shopsiemenu.pdf
As we browsed, Kenny himself strolled out and sat down to chat with a regular. His daughter, our waitress, came over to our table and greeted us. I ordered the ‘Burrito French Toast’, which is available in several different ways. I noticed today that ‘Burrito French Toast’ is not even listed on their online menu. I was tempted by the ‘chevre lime’ option, but ultimately my instincts drew me to the ‘plantain-granola’. When I tried to order it, Kenny’s daughter told us she hadn’t ever seen this item on the menu and called her father over to discuss it. Kenny walked over to our table (where I was sheepishly hiding my camera under my legs - he hates cameras, cell phones, etc ) and shrugged, mumbling something about it either being recently added to the menu or maybe no one had ever ordered it before, and then he walked away. Kenny’s daughter suggested that we could take our chances with the Burrito French Toast Plantain Granola combination, or I could pick something else from the menu. Confused and feeling slightly pressured, I started to browse the labyrinthian menu once again when the lady at the table next to us, who was most clearly a regular, started talking to us about how I was now lost in the vortex of the Shopsin’s menu and may never escape. If over 3 decades of eating has taught me anything, it is to go with my instincts. I stuck to my guns.
Plantain-Granola-Burrito-French-Toast it would be.
Close up:
From what I could tell, it was a giant tortilla filled with plantains, rolled up and dipped in eggs and granola, and then fried to create a “French Toast” effect. It was served with real maple syrup. Yum.
My Very Special Ladyfriend ordered something called “Blisters on my Sisters”.
“Blisters on my Sisters” is basically corn tortillas, beans, and a rice/vegetable mixture, topped with two fried eggs, and then covered with cheese and put under the broiler until it bubbles and browns. This is a direct quote from the menu. Nothing sounds ‘basic’ about this.
As if this were not complicated enough, there were a few different ways to order “Blisters on my Sisters”. My Very Special Ladyfriend opted for vegan sausage and black beans.
Both were unbelievably delicious, as the money shots easily prove.
The restaurant is sort of set up as a general store, which is what Shopsin’s was before it became a restaurant. There were tchatchkes and other things all over the place, and some interesting art on the walls, including a portrait of Kenny in his trademark black tee shirt and wide red suspenders:
Even the bathroom was an eccentric affair, with a nifty clock-radio toilet paper holder which clearly displays my Very Special Ladyfriend’s birthday:
The entrance to Shopsin’s has shelves full of candy, which you are welcome to help yourselves to. I grabbed a Tootise Pop and a mini Almond Joy.
I think I will be eating at Shopsin’s every time I am in New York City.
I highly suggest reading Calvin Trillin’s story about it and also seeing the movie if you can.
Stay tuned for more breakfasts from my trip to the Big Apple!
