Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

the drama queen in me wants to pronounce, "i shall never eat again", but i know that's not true. but will i ever eat again with such gumption?

shopsin's was a true new york original. this was obvious to everyone, even if you hated the place. but i loved it, for so many reasons, not the least of which was the food.

i would take kenny shopsin over any of new york's top chef's - the mario batali's and bobby flay's of the world. but to paraphrase a famous quote, talking about shopsin's food is like dancing about architecture. you really just have to experience it.

much has been made of shopsin's surliness, but when you felt like home there, as i did, it was no different than hanging with your family at thanksgiving, stuffing your face with delicious food and a side of kvetching.

when my ex doug and i would eat there, kenny's late wife eve, an angel who left this world and this city tragically early in 2003, seemed to take joy in our consistent ordering from the "big plates" section of the menu. i always had a ton of questions about dishes on the menu, which eve gladly entertained. she would often warn me not to get a certain dish, always remembering that i don't eat meat. it took my own family, who i dine with often, years to remember i stopped eating meat but eve always remembered and she only saw me once every few months.

doug often ordered the krakatoa, one of the aforementioned big plates. like a bailiff calling a court to order, eve would cheerfully pronounce as she approached our table with the heaping platter, "krakatoa, east of java". when i actually went to indonesia several years later, i realized that krakatoa is west of java, but i think eve knew that. the point was that food at shopsins was serious, but also a lot of fun.

after doug and i polished off our big plates and an order of kenny's famous ebelskivers ("chocolate skivies" as eve would order them), eve would compliment us on our healthy appetites and remind us to take some free candy on the way out.

somehow, eve's reminder to take some candy really mattered to me, and we would leave wondering when we would next be able to return for another heaping dose of kenny's healthy cooking and eve's approval.