Hell I Still Love You New York

These must have existed in California or Indiana but I remember the first time I saw a breakfast sandwich wrapped so tightly with its neat little collar in white paper and put in a brown bag with an absurd allotment of napkins, I think I may have whimpered a little.  Eggs, bacon, cheese on a soft warm, slightly greasy bun.  Oh the smells!  I was finally in New York standing at a cart in the dead of winter, and some grown man that cared about how I wanted my coffee was handing me a styrofoam cup of joy, and said bag.  That's a piece of this city that I thank the Lord I was here for because today, so many of those carts are gone.  So many bodegas no longer make breakfast, there are less and less real bodegas and besides I'm no longer at an age where this is an appropriate meal to start my day.  

But zoom ahead 25 years and here I am, making sweet potato hash browns, chicken sausage to serve alongside my open-faced homage to that incredible Manhattan wonder while remembering how I fell so deeply and passionately in love with this darn town and all it's food-ities.   
 

I Found Love On a Two-Way Street

What we call the $10 deli, where you only have to spend $10 to use your debit card as opposed to the $15 dollar store, well they have added some great new ready made sandwiches. Its sort of a sad lonely walk down the aisle to the back of the store though. It either needs more light or to be moved to the front. Its a bit lonely. Makes you feel like they've been there awhile. But they were super fresh and good. Black Pepper turkey and apple with Swiss. The ham had Russian dressing which was interesting. They're smart to not make a bunch, just a few. But I like this store. They try new things. An Asian market with Mexican produce guys so you get a good mix of fresh vegetables. They just moved a freezer of healthy, some vegetarian frozen food entrees to the front. Nice no brainer choices for the just off work lethargic crowd.
Small markets, bodegas, deli's, corner stores, Git n' Go's, whatever you call these shops, they come to be very important in your life. You run in there needing to find either one item or dinner quickly and it can feel kinda desperate sometimes. The easier they make it for you, the more I like them. I had no food ideas in me this day. I just needed to get something in my stomach with little fanfare. Gourmet Food Market on Lafayette made that possible.
Plus they carry Pop Chips!