@mantisbog That is my ultimate pet peeve. A pot pie must be pie otherwise its just soup or stew with some crust on top.

Otto is always a good bet but I always tell the folks I send there never to order the pizza. Its not that good.

Unfortunately if we're being truthful these days the quintessential NYC sandwich shop is Subways, Quizno's, or your corner bodega selling Boar's Head. Those that you've listed above are some of the exceptional.

"hypocrisy of being one of its biggest contributors." This is me. I love to try all the ramp dishes at all the trendy restaurants as they rush to jump on the bandwagon but I also sort of want to punch myself in the face afterwards.

That Minetta Black label sure is a good burger but for the money Shake Shack blows it away. If I couldn't ever have the black label again I'd be fine. If you told me that about Shake Shack I'd cry.

I can see a use for all of these except the grinder. If I go camping with someone and they feel they need freshly ground coffee that badly I probably wouldn't go camping with that person again.

I've had a similar salad with shaved broccoli stalks. Very good.

@monopod I have no issue with covering junk food. I like that Serious Eats covers everything. This is the second article about these same chips in two days. It's advertising.

The chicken and waffle ones that we tried were awful. All they tasted liked was potato chips that someone had ground up a bullion cube on. Cheesy bread were also terrible. We threw both bags out after sampling a few.

I love Dough. Better than doughnut plant in my opinion.

Like New Year's we never go out. Don't want to deal with all of the over-priced mediocre Prix-fixe menus.

This place is pretty bad these days. It was an ok spot years ago. Not so much anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZHTyl9PTUE