Passing The Virtual Hat

Today’s trip happens right here at the blog.

This blog is free of all corporate advertising and I’d like to keep it that way, so I need help from you in sponsoring it and help me cover expenses on my daily trips that I present for you here.

If you come here every day or a couple times a week and enjoy the escapades here at TWM, I’m going to ask if you could please help sponsor this blog by donating just five bucks a month. I’ve put up a PayPal button over there at the top right of the page, all you have to do is click on it and even if you’ve never used PayPal, it’ll just take a few minutes and it’s secure and painless. If, for some reason, you prefer the old fashioned way, feel free to email me and I’ll send you my address to send cash, check, money order or your first born (there’s a great black market baby operation here in NYC!) And remember, all I’m asking for is five bucks a month. I’ll just be doing this the first Tuesday of every month, so don’t expect to be hearing me ask this any other time.

Beneath the PayPal button, I’ve also added a TWM Sponsor Page, which I’ll list the names of the people who have become a sponsor this month by leaving a PayPal donation. If you wish to be anonymous, just say so on the PayPal purpose/comment. And if you have a blog or website or a facebook or Twitter page you’d like to promote, put the URL in the Paypal purpose/comment and I’ll put up a clickable link on the page underneath your name.

Back At 4 PM

Okay, I’ll be back later this afternoon around 4 PM with an update. As the donations come in, I’ll be posting them on the Monthly TWM Supporters Page below the PayPal button. So check back, hopefully it won’t be a blank page for long!

In fact, speaking of starting to fill that blank page, the first two people who sign up as sponsors over at PayPal will get a copy of my, “The Boy Who Would Be A Firetruck” book, some TWM business cards and a little plastic monkey from Otto’s Shrunken Head. The PayPal button is right over there in the sidebar column...you know what to do! And if you can tell two or three friends or people about this, or post a link up on facebook and/or Twitter to get a little grassroots word of mouth movement going, I’d appreciate it more than you know!

I’ll be back around 4 PM with an update as to how this teleblog is going. Thanks for reading and thanks in advance if you can send five bucks in for this month’s sponsorship drive!
P.S. Some people I’ve told about this asked about sending in 60 bucks at once to cover the whole year. While that’s a nice sentiment, to be truthful, I don’t know if this is going to work or not. If after a couple months, I don’t get enough monthly sponsors, I’ll either have to change the blog or stop it completely and if you’ve paid for a whole year, it wouldn’t be fair. So for now, let’s just keep it at five bucks a month, if you can. Thanks!

Peking Duck House

I have an early morning appointment tomorrow, so I’m going to go out early for a Sunday dinner and then come home and guzzle beer till I pass out go to bed early. I rarely eat duck, but I’ve been craving it lately and there’s a place in Chinatown I’ve always wanted to try called, The Peking Duck House. As you can see from their name, Peking Duck is their speciality, so let’s go check it out.

And here we are at the Canal Street station. Up above is Chinatown, let's go get Sunday Night dinner!

And here we are, now we just need to find Mott Street, I think it's straight down Canal.

Okay, we're almost there!

And baboom, here we are at the Peking Duck House!

Let's go in, I hope there's not a long line.

Holy freakin' moley, it's packed in here!

Here's the front half of the restaurant, no seats here.

And the back half is full too, I gave my name to the host about five minutes ago. Hopefully this won't turn into a Seinfled episode!

We're in luck, the guy just told me there's a table downstairs. I didn't even know there was a downstairs, but here we go!

And here's my table, very nice!

And here's Lin with a bottle of Tsingtao beer. Now the evening has officially started!

Right now the table is an empty pallete, but I've placed my order and it won't be long.

And here's my neighbors from the table next to me, the Bass family. They were wondering if I was a food critic, so I told them about my blog. Maybe they're looking at themselves right now!

I ordered the hot and sour soup to start with. Look at how big the portion is! This could be my whole meal!

It was great, but I can't eat all of it, or I'll never have room for the duck.

And here's the main course, the chef slices it up for you at the carving table.

He's quick with the knife, in a couple of minutes...

It's plated and ready to eat! It looks great!

It's served with a caldron of fresh, hot, pancakes.

Here's some of the duck on the pancake topped with scallions and brown hoisin sauce.

Delicious! I came to the right place to get my Peking Duck fix!

All done, I couldn't eat all of it, but I made a pretty good dent in it.

And my fortune reads: "May you have great luck." Sounds good to me!

Well, the fortune cookie lied. The train has been stalled here near Prince Street for close to twenty minutes now.

But it does give me time to admire the shine on my shoes. Well worth the five bucks! See you all tomorrow!

My Meal
The signature dish at Peking Duck House is of course, Peking Duck and it’s what most people come here for. The dinner is served with the duck sliced on a platter and the meat is tender and juicy with crackling, crisp skin. It’s served with hot, soft pancakes, scallions and brown hoisin sauce. The presentation is elegant and delicious. You can get a single order or there’s group dining deals for Peking Duck dinners for between two to eight people.

There’s lots of other entrees, specialties and house specials on the menu, but hey, you’re at the Peking Duck House, get the duck already! In some online reviews it says this place is a BYOB restaurant, but they now serve beer and wine.

Peking Duck House
28 Mott St. (Near Mosco St.)
212-227-1810

Further Reading: Eater NY, New York Magazine and Honest Cooking.

Soon she's going to fly away,
Sadness is her own.
Reverse of a bath of tears,
And go home, and go home.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!

Dumont Burger

Live, from New York, it’s Cheeseburger Saturday Night! Starring Dumont Burger and featuring the Ready For Prime Time Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. And now, all the way from Brooklyn, your host, Dumont Burger!

Okay, today we're off to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. There's a place there called Dumont Burger which I've heard has both amazing cheeseburgers and mac and cheese! I've heard it's really popular, so I thought we'd head out around 4 PM and maybe miss both the brunch and dinner crowd, so it's off we go.

Down into the subway...

And through the magic of the internet you're spared a twenty minute wait for a train. I was just about ready to give up when I heard the train come rumbling in.

And four stops later, here we are in Brooklyn.

And my handy dandy old school GPS guide is all programmed to get us there, which is good because I'm starvin' like you know who over here!

Abandoned hipster glasses alert!

And here we are at Dumont Burger, for once I didn't get lost! Let's go inside.

Wow, it's a small bar inside and it's packed for this time of day!

I managed to wiggle in to the one empty stool and here's bartender Tom, serving up a bottle of Duvel. Cheeseburger Saturday Night has begun! Huzzah!

Here's the back of the bar. There's a well-stocked supply of bottles with a chalk board of specials overhead.

I stood up on the rungs of the bar stool to get an overhead shot of the bar. I don't think this guy was too happy about it, but hey, that's life in the fast lane!

A long shot of the beers lined up on the bar.

These two women squeezed into the two recently vacated spots next to me at the bar and it turned out to be bartender Tom's mom Julia and his sister Caroline. They're in town from Boston visiting Tom and we had a nice chat through the evening. That's one of the perks of doing this blog, meeting cool people like this. Julia has her own business which is a doggie daycare and overnight facility called, Pet Recess. They told me in addition to bartending, Tom plays in a band called Tryplex and they were going to see him play in Manhattan later in the evening.

And the table is all set, dinner is about to be served! Drumroll please!

And here's the burger and salad, looks great and I can't wait to dig in!

The burger is delicious and this is the mini burger! It doesn't look too mini to me!

And here's the mac and cheese. I got the small order, I'm glad I didn't get the full-size portions in here, or I never would've made it out the door!

Wow, I've eaten a ton of mac and cheese in my lifetime and I think I can safely say that this is the best I've ever had! Really creamy and cheesy and there's bacon in it, which takes it over the top!

A great meal and worth the trip to Brooklyn, for sure!

The crowd has cleared out for a moment, so let's take a look around in here. Here's the wooden bar up front.

The half dozen beers on tap.

There's a communal table in the middle of the room.

And there's a candle-lit wooden railing with stools to sit at that runs the length of the back brick wall.

And here's Caroline with Diana who's serving up dessert.

I got one of Dumont's signature boozy milkshakes, The Nutty Irishman.

It was so good...

I got a second one, served up by super-cute and friendly Erica, who took over bartending duties from Tom.

Okay, I'm stuffed. One last look out the window...

And it's off to walk off the meal and find the subway station as night falls on Brooklyn. See you tomorrow!

My Meal
I got the DuMont Mini Burger and a small order of the DuMac & Cheese. I chose the mini burger because I wanted to try their mac and cheese, which I’ve seen rave reviews of and I didn’t want to get too stuffed. The mini burger was great, it’s served on a soft, grilled roll and I got it with carmelized onions and cheddar cheese. A great burger and just the right size as the mac and cheese was very filling and very delicious! The use three types of cheese: parmesan, gruyere, cheddar and they also throw in some bacon which is the icing on the cake.Speaking of cake, for dessert I had one of their cocktail milkshakes, The Nutty Irishman which is a  vanilla shake spiced up with shots of Frangelico, Bailey's and topped with Dulce de Leche. It was so good I had a second one. I’ve heard great things about this place and they lived up to the chatter.

In addition to beef burgers, Dumont also had a Chickpea Burger and a Turkey Burger on the menu. There’s sandwiches too including, chicken, fish and a Reuben. All entrees include your choice of fries, onion rings, mixed greens or soup. Some of the appetizers offered up at Dumont are: split pea soup, DB chili, fried pickles and ricotta fritters. There’s a good selection of bottled and draft beer and four styles of “Boozy Shakes.” There’s a DT joke somewhere in that last sentence, but I’m too full to tackle it!

Cheeseburger Rating
Three Wimpy’s, an outstanding burger!

Mac and Cheese Rating
Four boxes of Kraft, one of the best mac and cheeses I’ve ever had!

DuMont Burger
314 Bedford Ave. (Near S. 1st St.)
Brooklyn, NY
718-384-6127

Further Reading: We Love Burgers, Village Voice and epicurious.

Fly on little wing,
Yeah, yeah, yeah, little wing.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!