This exchange between Mr. Kuban (serving as acting food photographer) and me graphically illustrates how far this serious eater has come in 67 weeks. We were sitting at the bar at Kefi eating our final meal before I had to write the review. Our server brought over a beautiful bubbling casserole dish filled with tangy, creamy, wonderful macaroni and cheese (above). I ate a couple of forkfuls. Damn, it was good. I turned to Señor Kuban and said without a touch of irony or self-awareness, "How could anyone eat all that?" Kuban smiled that devilish half-grin of his and replied, "That's not what the old Ed Levine would have said. The old Ed Levine would have finished that sucker...
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"I had gone on my own South Beach Diet, for one evening at least, and came out smelling like a rose, or at the very least like a cheeseburger. " Me with Ollie Kottke Even with me sharing an entire loaf of onion confit bread with young Ollie Kottke (son of Meg Hourihan and Jason Kottke) Tuesday lunch I was down two pounds for the week, to 228, on Thursday morning, when I boarded a plane to Miami for the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. My plane arrived on time at 6:30 p.m., and after looking at and rejecting four hotel rooms, I was finally able to settle in, take a shower, and head to the famed Burger Bash....
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As most serious eaters know, holidays are full of temptation for those of us trying to lose weight. I went to two Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) dinners this week, and they could have been my undoing. But in both cases, I had a plan going in that just might have worked. I tried to fill myself up with freshly picked farmers' market apples and bananas (from farms far away from New York) before I arrived at the dinners, and I think I might have succeeded. In a week that could have been disastrous weight-wise, the apples and bananas could have saved me. Something else might have helped as well, namely, since it was forgotten. Let me explain....
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Every year since the summer of 2004, a certain segment of burger-loving New Yorkers has engaged in ritualistic madness—waiting in an hour-plus line on opening day of the Shake Shack. Today was the unofficial opening, which might have explained the short line at 1:05 p.m., when the Serious Eats crew went to check things out. (Officially, the Shack opens on the first day of spring—March 21 this year). Also each year, a certain segment of grousing New Yorkers, weary of the hype, has engaged in "Shacklash." The burgers are good there, folks like us say, but are they worth the long, long wait? I tend to avoid the joint at peak hours, but Serious Eats overlord Ed Levine checked...
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