Masaru & New Venus

Score! Double menu night, which doesn't happen too often. Initially, I wanted to have drinks and eat at D Bar, which is a few buildings down on my block, but it was closed for a private party from 5-7:30 PM. Phooey! Our intention was to go to another restaurant and we chose Masaru to have a drink and wait for the private party to end then go back to D Bar, but we ended up eating at Masaru. I mean, we kept on ordering food and eating at Masaru.

The space where Masaru is has changed so many times. Before Masaru, it was Alpha Fusion and before Alpha Fusion it was Ate Ave. At one point it was a fun gay bar lounge, which we used to go all the time. I don't expect Masaru to be around for very long and judging from our not-so-great dining experience, it will probably be a new restaurant by the end of this year.

There were some items on the menu that were not available. The service was slow and the dishes were average. A few interesting events were going on in the back room that is usually a large dining area, but we couldn't quite see what was going on. One of the events turned out to be a gallery viewing of some sort with local artists. A group of attendees were at the bar and one of the artists dropped his card, so I told my friend to go pick it up so we can figure out who they were. The gallery sponsoring the event was Ethan Cohen and the business card belonged to George A. Schwab.

It was happy hour so drinks were 2 for 1, and the spare ribs, which we initially ordered 5, were $1 each, and they were quite tasty. We also ordered fried calamari and chicken skewers. And then if that wasn't enough, we ordered more: Philadelphia roll, 2 more spare ribs, chicken dumplings and phad thai. But, wait! We had room for more. We ordered the signature Masaru roll (named after the restaurant) and it was the best dish of the evening. Crunchy spicy salmon topped with tuna salmon yellowtail and avocado with spicy mayo-what is not to love? The crunchiness of the sushi was outstanding and I ate it without soy sauce. It was good to eat just the way it was.

Masaru roll

Because we were ordering so much, I kept the menu with me. However, after the Masaru roll order, the waiter quickly grabbed the menus and it felt like he did so to stop us from ordering any more food. I think he just wanted us out! I waited a while then I asked him if I could see the menu again, and this time I put it directly into my bag. My brother-in-law, Bill, thought maybe the waiter would notice so Bill took a menu from the bar to replace the one I put in my bag so it looked like we left it on the table-smart move, Bill!

Before heading to The Monster, we made a few pit stops, one of them to House of Cupcakes, which has delicious cookies and cupcakes, and they heat the cookies up for you before serving them. When we got to the front door we noticed everything was taken apart and it looked like it was closing. This was sad news. We were looking forward to it, but instead we decided to finally try Big Gay Ice Cream since it was across the street. So we made it in before 10 minutes of closing and all we could order was the most popular treat on the menu, salty pimp: vanilla, dulce de leche, and sea salt all dipped in chocolate. OMG it was delicious!

After watching the spectacle at The Monster, and believe me, it's always a spectacle here, we decided to get some very late night eats at a diner near my apartment. I have an allegiance to my favorite diner, Chelsea Square Diner, but I didn't feel like walking an extra block, so we went to New Venus Diner instead on the corner of 23rd and 8th Ave.

I hate eating so late at night, but I was starving even after eating all that food at Masaru earlier. I ordered the challah french toast with a side of bacon and I even managed to order a slice of chocolate cake. The challah french toast was average. The pieces of bread were pretty thin and the bacon was a bit overdone and too crispy, but I didn't care because again, I was starving. I didn't finish all of the chocolate cake because it was a bit dry.

The menu at New Venus is pretty extensive for a diner. I was pleased to find braised short ribs, paninis,  and many healthy options on the menu. I was impressed with 'The Twelve Burgers of New Venus' section and I really liked the handwritten specials.

Masaru: 169 8th Ave. between 18th & 19th St.
New York, NY
Website

Masaru

New Venus: 252 8th Ave. corner of 23rd St.
Chelsea, NYC
Website

New Venus

Opal

As far as bar food goes this place was surprisingly tasty. I mean, I wouldn't come here every week, but it was a nice change of scenery from Chelsea, and with this week being Gay Pride Week, it was nice to get away from all the craziness. In fact, on the way to Opal, Maria (a friend in town I went to Columbia School of Social Work with) and I witnessed this diva barely wearing anything at all dancing on the median in the middle of the street on the corner of 23rd & 8th. People were filming him and taking pictures. In case you missed it, here he is performing:

We entered the restaurant and noticed a younger crowd. We were right smack in midtown, so there were a lot of after work folks coming in for happy hour. All the tables were reserved and we noticed there was a back section so we proceeded to walk in there. I'm glad that we did because it was much more spacious and somewhat private. There happened to be another small group and they were much older.

Since I knew that we'd be drinking all night, I ordered the hummus to keep the food calories to a minimum. I love hummus and I've been spoiled by Mark, who makes the best homemade hummus, so beating his tasty recipe is very hard to find. I found the presentation to be quite artistic. It was shaped like it was packed in a can of tuna and served in the middle of the plate with pita bread on both sides along with a small mediterranean salad. The taste was bland as hummus can tend to be if you don't put enough oil and spices. I ended up eating more of the pita bread and I should've eaten the salad because it was so colorful and healthy, but I did not. Bummer.

A few people in our party ordered the sliders, which looked really good. The sliders came in 3: pork, chicken cordon bleu and beef & chicken. Just watching people eat it made my mouth water. If I come here again, I'm definitely getting it.

I wasn't expected to grab the menu here, but as we were leaving, I noticed a menu sitting on our table. As I headed toward the exit door I grabbed it and stuck it in my bag and walked out the door. Before calling it a night, we also stopped at Cornerstone Tavern for post Opal drinks and Uncle Charlie's for gay bingo.

Opal: 251 E. 52nd St. between 3rd & 2nd Ave.
Midtown East, NYC
Website

Opal

Whispering Angel

Caves d'Esclans Côtes de Provence Rosé 2012 Whispering Angel

This is by far the best French rosé I have ever had. Not because I got so drunk drinking it at the world renowned Carlton Hotel on the La Croisette, but because it's light, pale pink, not acidic, fruity hints, versatile and goes with any dish. I learned that in choosing a good rosé you don't want to pick one that is bright pink. The paler, the better.

More info about Caves d'Esclans Côtes de Provence Rosé 2012 Whispering Angel.

According to wine searcher, there are a few places in NYC that sell this deliciousness:

Sherry-Lehmann
Morrell

Café de Paris Monte-Carlo

During my first ever European vacation, my goal was to snag at least one menu from the three countries we visited: France, Italy and Monaco. Sadly, this did not happen. All I could bring back was one, yes... just one, but one that I am very proud of and it took some time to collect.

So here we are sitting in the middle of Café de Paris Monte-Carlo at 11:30 PM on a very busy Tuesday evening, people watching, commenting and gawking at all that is happening around us. Unbeknownst to me, there were high class prostitutes soliciting their services to almost any man that looked like he might bite. They even approached us!

Our waiter came over without any menus and had to scramble to find them. We ordered four drinks: a mojito, two beers and a Maldives, a speciality drink. Oh, and we also ordered water for the table. When our waiter returned, he supplied us with two mojitos, two beers, water and missed the Maldives. Whatever! We were a little annoyed, but we didn't want to go through the trouble, and I was happy enough to drink two glasses of mojito instead of one, of course.

After ordering, I naturally put the menu beside me thinking I got this, but half an hour later, the waiter comes back looking for the menu because, again, he was scrambling to find menus to give out to his tables. He gave the menu to a pair of prostitutes sitting right behind us. I eyed the menu the whole time waiting for the opportune time to get it back.

Lucky for me, one of the prostitutes called someone from our table over to theirs, and he went. I was watching the reaction from other tables and I can see them making faces and gawking at my friend for talking with the prostitutes, but I didn't care. I found it funny, actually. The ladies invited my friend and all of us back to their magical palace, but seriously? Of course we didn't accept, can you imagine? My friend also mentioned to them that two people in our party don't like girls and he asked them to guess which two, but he never told me the answer, so I'll never know.

So as my friend was chatty with the ladies, I decided to ask him if I can see the menu and the ladies agreed, so I decided to order a chocolate sundae. I had seen other tables ordering it and it looked magnificent.

Served in a tall glass, with scoops of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream, drizzled with dark chocolate and served with a chocolate (what looked like a) mini frying pan that contained chocolate syrup that you can pick up and pour extra syrup on to this delicious dessert. In addition, there were 3 thin chocolate sticks and a triangular almond biscuit that completed this divine treat. Three words: TO DIE FOR!

As the evening passed, and with the menu still at our table, our friend decided to come back so the prostitutes can make some real investments as they realized they weren't getting any action or money from us. Earlier, our party purchased cigars, which they had smoked while we were sitting, and I took the shopping bag and placed it over the menu. We paid our bill, and left. I was really pleased and excited about having my first menu from Europe that I collected myself.

Café de Paris Monte-Carlo: Place du Casino, Monte-Carlo 98000
Monte-Carlo, Monaco
Website

Voila! Café de Paris Monte-Carlo

Virginia Mericle

Taken directly from Smithsonian National Museum of American History blog dated May 12, 2011:

The museum recently received an exciting addition to its archival collections: 4,500 menus from restaurants across the United States and abroad. The menus were collected by Virginia Mericle throughout the 1960s-1990s. Virginia passed away in 2009, and her daughter, Vanessa Henderson, donated the collection last year.

Virginia was a life-long collector. As a star-struck sixteen year old, she would write to movie studios and request photographs of actors. Bing Crosby, John Wayne, and Dean Martin were a few of her favorite stars. She received many replies; some of the pictures were even signed by the stars themselves.

Virginia Mericle (left) collected 4,500 menus

I was thinking of trying her approach by writing letters or simply asking permission from  the restaurant, but these days you can go online and download the menu. How is that an adventure? No! I'll continue with my usual shenanigans.

You can read the rest of the very fascinating article by clicking here: Smithsonian National Museum of American History Blog: 

Here's another great article about collecting restaurant menus from the Examiner.com dated January, 14, 2012: Collecting menus brings great memories, new dining ideas. 

So you see, I'm not the only klepto!

The Queen B: Miss Buttolph

One of the earliest pioneers of restaurant menu collecting is Miss Frank E. Buttolph. Not much is known about this woman, but apparently for over 23 years, she had collected roughly 25,000 menus, all of which have been cataloged and donated to the New York Public Library. Amazing! However, she wasn't the easiest person to work with according to the article below.

You can read more about her and her work here: The Queen B: Miss Buttolph and Her Menus.

In the Beginning

I believe it began when I was drunk in a restaurant living in Seattle, and in a drunken stupor, I took the menu home. The next day, I found the menu in my apartment, perused it, fascinated by it, and thought... 'hey, this is cool!' And thus began my adventures in menu collecting.

Thinking back, I wish I had been more methodical about writing down my adventures from the very beginning and tracked every single menu I collected. I now I have friends that collect menus for me from their travels, while having their own adventures in trying to do so.

Stealing. I try not to think about it too much, but restaurants change their menus seasonally anyway, so I just took one that would've been thrown out or discontinued. That's how I justify it, but lucky for me because now it's a collector's item.

My routine is simple. I give my order then put the menu down next to me. If I'm with a large group, it's easier to do because servers don't usually count all the menus being returned to them, especially when he/she is trying to remember everyone's orders. With only 2-3 people, it's a bit of a challenge. However,   I find that it's not so much the process that is challenging, but it's the people that I'm dining with that beg me not to do it for fear of the unknown or for ethical reasons. I'm like-whatever!

So when the waiter and restaurant staff aren't looking, I simply put the menu in my lap or if I have a large bag, I'll quickly slip it inside. The end. If I don't have something to put it in or hide it in, then this is where I start to get creative. In the past, I've cautiously slid it up from under the front of my shirt and switch it over to my back where I can sit straight up and tuck part of it in my pants so it won't be noticeable. In the winter time- it's great - because I can throw on my jacket and hide it entirely. Sometimes, I'll find newspapers and slide it in between the pages and walk right out with it. Another strategy is to just sit on it  until the very end and upon leaving, put on my jacket, slip it in the front of my jacket and zip it up. One hand is usually holding the bottom of my jacket so it doesn't fall out.

If I had the choice, I would collect the wine, entree and dessert menu, but this is especially hard to do because, well, I don't want to be walking out with a 5 lb. book that will obviously be bulky and awkward, so I do it when the opportunity presents itself.

Restaurant menus are fascinating to me. The design, shape, weight, language, presentation, prices, food and drink listings, all give me a glimpse of what the restaurant is like, but that's only a small part of it. Have you ever looked at a menu from outside the restaurant and thought... eh, I don't want to eat here! Menus can be a very powerful influence that way. Sometimes menus can read very well, but then the food, when you eat it, is very bad. I am definitely a fan of the opposite, when the menu seems "interesting", but the food was amazing. Just remember, while the menu does play a huge influence on the experience, evaluate the entire experience from the service, ambience, meal preparation to noise level, check presentation and the bathrooms.

Perhaps you'll get to witness me in action or maybe you'll be one of those "don't do it, please" dining guest, but whatever the case may be, I hope you enjoy reading all about my adventures in menu collecting.