4th of July Dinner At Sam Wong's

I don’t go to Long Island much because...well...because it’s Long Island. In fact the only time I go out is when my friend Sam Wong invites me out for one of his legendary cookouts or dinners. Those of you who have followed me since the 365 bars blog (and God bless each and every one of you!) may remember a spectacular dinner I had at Sam's that year. Well, get ready for another one, because last week, Sam (and his wife, Hilda and daughter, Fiona) invited myself and my friends John and Luna out for a 4th of July dinner. So break out the cherry bombs and let’s take a trip to Long Island.

We’ll be taking the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station. Not a lot of people out here today, maybe because of the holiday there won’t be a big crowd.

Looks like I was wrong about it not being crowded, but at least there’s no pesky escalator walkers here today!

Holy shitballs, look at the line to get a ticket. Luckily, I’m an hour early, as always. Time for a Kinks moment as I get back in the line.

As I’m hanging around waiting for the train, I spy a whole crew of escalator walkers, but I can’t blame them because the escalator’s broke. Which reminds me of a Mitch Hedberg insight: "I like an escalator, because an escalator can never break. It can only become stairs. You'll never see an 'Escalator Out of Order' sign, only 'Escalator Temporarily Stairs. Sorry for the convenience.'"

And here’s my friends John and Luna on the train. As you can see, John’s not too thrilled to have his picture taken. At least he didn’t pull an Alec Baldwin on me!

Okay, through the magic of the internet you’re spared a 49 minute train ride to Long Island. And look over there, I think it’s the Wongmobile!

Yes, it is, and there’s our smiling host and chef for the evening, Sam Wong.

Here we are at Sam’s house, deep in the heart of suburbia.

I took a photo of Sam’s address marker on his house, I fuzzed out the number so nobody can stalk him, but I did want to point out that this is a Wong number! (Rimshot.)

And here’s Sam’s wife, Hilda. As you can see, she’s a little camera-shy.

But, as you can see, this camera shyness doesn’t run in the family. Sam and Hilda’s daughter, Fiona is more than happy to pose for the TWM camera.

Seeing this gave me a Christopher Moltisanti flashback.

Sam didn’t tell me he invited Lindsay Lohan to the dinner.

And speaking of Sam, it’s time for the chef to start cooking. Are you out there Food Network? Sam beats that goofy-ass Guy Fieri any old day of the week!

The prep work begins, I volunteered to be a sous chef, but Sam doesn’t trust me with sharp objects.

Can you say Veg-O-Matic? I knew that you could!

While Sam is getting everything ready for dinner, Fiona has challenged John to a chess match. Fiona’s five-years-old and knows how to play chess. At her age I was still struggling to figure out the dynamics of Tic-Tac-Toe.

Check this out, a plate of live lobsters!

Little do they know, they’re not long for this world. Sam’s put on his chef outfit, which means only one thing...

Time to start murdering lobsters for dinner!

And as Sam slays and prepares the lobsters, the chess match is up to a feverish pitch, it’s neck and neck.

It went right down to the finish, but Fiona won the match!

To the victor goes the popcorn.

Sam’s putting the final touches on the lobster salad, the lobster tails are in the oven, so it’s time to take this show outside.

And here’s the backyard, a little too bright out here, but very nice.

They have a shed off to the side. I’m going to be living here soon if I don’t find a job. 365 Days In A Shed...hmmm, that's got a nice ring to it!

The grill is lit and Sam is putting on giant filet mignon’s. I’m starvin’ like Marvin over here!

And just in the nick of time, the first course is served. Fresh lobster salad and steamed clams, a great way to start a meal!

Here’s the main course, stuffed lobster head, grilled lobster tail with parmesan cheese, a filet topped with Sam’s homemade steak sauce and fresh corn on the cob. A true feast and one of the best meals I’ve ever had! Great work by Sam!

And here everyone is digging in. If you look at my spot, you’ll see two cans of Budweiser. I don’t fuck around on the 4th of July!

After that spectacular dinner, Sam drove us back to the train station as the sun was setting on Long Island. Hey, I just thought of a name for Sam’s cooking show: “Wong Island.” Are you seeing this Food Network? I’m out of work and you could use a decent show, have your people call mine. Okay, I don’t have people, just send me an email, or Tweet me. At the very least, send me some leftovers from Paula Deen’s kitchen, I hear she’s on a diet now.

And once again, through the magic of the internet, you’re spared another Long Island train ride and here we are back in Manhattan.

On the way home the sky was lit up with 4th of July fireworks above the buildings.

Thanks to Sam, Hilda and Fiona for inviting us out and serving up a fabulous 4th of July Feast. If you need catering service for a small party or holiday gathering of up to 20 people, contact Sam. He’s willing to work within anyone’s budget to deliver a great meal or buffet so you can sit back and enjoy your party and your guests. Sam also does BBQ service on site and I can testify it’s the best BBQ I’ve ever had. If you’d like to contact Sam, simply email him here: Sam Wong Catering Services. Note: Please put, “Catering Service Needed” in the subject line.

Further Reading: 365 Bars, Wikitravel and ABC News.

Mexican kids are shootin,’
fireworks below,
Hey baby, it's the Fourth of July.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you! (Illustration by “Boris.”)

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Bonus Photos by Shawn Chittle!
Last week, my friend and frequent TWM guest star, Shawn Chittle accompanied me out to Coney Island and took some fantastic photos. He sent them to me last week and here they are. Thanks Shawn, great work as always!

The front of my building, Chez Wombacher.

We had a couple beers before we took off on our journey, cheers!

I love this photo, looks like this kid can't handle the noise in the subway.

Here I am doing my blogging duties.

Almost there!

And here we are, Coney Island, baby!

Elmo and I share a moment, between you and I, Elmo needs to deodorize a bit.

Once again, not a big fan of the new Ruby's sign, but at least it's pretty much still the same inside.

There's board from the original boardwalk all over inside Ruby's, here's some of it over the bar.

And here's a cool shot of the wood that's been made into a table.

This go-kart raceway is new.

I get dizzy just looking at this shot.

This little fellow doesn't appear to be too thrilled to be held up by a policeman. Too funny!

Like Ruby's, Paul's Daughter escaped eviction and is still doing business on the boardwalk.

Great shot of the hamburger man at Paul's Daughter.

And here's the hamburger woman on the other side.

Care for a spot of tea?

And it's full circle and back to Ruby's for a nightcap.

Hi-Fi Bar Featuring EL-DJ Jukebox

There’s some great jukeboxes in bars around town and I thought I’d start featuring some of them here on TWM. I had to start at what some say is the ultimate jukebox in New York City and maybe in the entire country at The Hi-Fi Bar. They have a jukebox there that was custom made for the bar called, EL-DJ. The jukebox is the brainchild of Mike Stuto who is the owner of The Hi-Fi Bar. This monster box of tunes has nearly 50,000 songs to choose from and they were all handpicked by Stuto himself. And this gentleman knows plenty about music. Before it was The Hi-Fi Bar, Stuto owned and managed the legendary Brownies live music club in this space. Stuto booked such legendary acts as My Morning Jacket, Death Cab For Cutie, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Supergrass, Elliott Smith and Son Volt among others. In 2002, he tired of the grind of running a live music club and re-christened the space, The Hi-Fi Bar, home of EL-DJ. Let’s go take a look and put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

And we're off, it's about a fifteen minute walk to The HI-Fi Bar from my place.

And, ba-boom! Here we are. You know one thing I love about The Hi-Fi Bar?

It's about ten seconds away from Tompkins Square Bagels! I haven't had dinner yet, so let's go and get a sandwich to soak up some of the suds I'll be drinking later.

I ordered the specialty sandwich, The Chittle. What's amazing about ordering this sandwich in here is...

Sometimes the man who the sandwich is named after shows up while you're eating it! Ladies and gentlemen, Shawn! Check out Shawn's jacket, it's a genuine A-2 bomber jacket from World War II, given to Shawn from a veteran he had met.

The back is painted with illustrations from an anti-Nazi Donald Duck film produced by the Disney Studios. I had never heard of this and Shawn sent in a link to it, check it out: Der Furher's Face. Donald Duck meets Hitler...hmmm, wasn't that the pitch line they used for Hogan's Heroes?

And here's Shawn with the sandwich that's named after him.

Here's Shawn enjoying the sandwich!

Okay, back to the Hi-Fi Bar, let's head in and find the EL-DJ monster jukebox!

It's a nice dark bar in here. Here's the bar up front.

We got some beers and settled in to this marble topped table in the middle of the bar.

Owner Mike Stuto joined us for a beer at the table. He and Shawn immediately got into a discussion of music and DJing and I snuck off to check out EL-DJ.

And here it is, hovering in the darknes, the one and only, legendary EL-DJ!

After I spent about five minutes punching the screen, Mike came over and told me you have to use the trackball to navigate the machine. He told me everyone makes the same mistake on their virgin visit to EL-DJ.

The trackball is located on the lower right of the jukebox, it's kind of like operating a mouse on a computer.

Once you get a feel for the trackball, you choose an artist from the left-hand side of EL-DJ.

Then the artist pos up on the upper left of the screen. Unlike most jukeboxes, EL-DJ has full length albums of songs in its inventory. They're all from Mike's personal collection and he told me there's nearly 4,000 albums to choose from and they're constantly adding new ones. There's four Electric Prunes albums to choose from. I didn't even know they recorded four albums!

Once you choose the song, this pops up to make sure you haven't chosen the wrong one. I hit, "yes," and chose some more.

Another cool feature of the jukebox is it tells you the next four songs coming up. As you can see from this short list, there's quite a diverse selection of music to choose from on EL-DJ. I don't think I've ever seen a jukebox like this and don't ever expect to again. Okay, let's go check out the bar.

It's gotten busier and Mike's back behind the bar, pouring beer for thirsty patrons.

There's lit up bottles beneath a row of Bob Dylan album covers.

There's also album covers on the walls at Hi-Fi. Here's one by the Mekons, I got a kick out of this, because Sally Timms, who's a member of the Mekons was one of the first people I met when I moved here. There's a documentary of the band that's being worked on that I'm anxious to see!

Here's a Lucinda Williams album that I've never seen.

And here's one of my favorite albums of all time, the first release of The Flying Burrito Brothers. A great album!

There's a large back room in the bar.

Red vinyl booths line the brick wall on the left.

There's a Spiderman pinball machine for those of you who play the silver ball.

And a red pool table is the centerpiece of the back room.

And a glance out the front windows at Avenue A, and it's time to call it a night. Thanks to Shawn and Mike for joining me on this trip and we'll see you all tomorrow!

The Hi-Fi Bar
169 Avenue A (@11th St.)
212-420-8392

Further Reading: EV Grieve, Village Voice and Hostels.com.

I love rock and roll,
put another dime in the jukebox, baby.

Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Bonus Cardboard Box Man Sighting From Goggla!

Goggla spotted this Cardboard Box Man lurking on Avenue B! Aaaahhh! Be careful out there everybody!

Tompkins Square Bagels

I’ve been meaning to go to Tompkins Square Bagels ever since they opened. My friend Shawn Chittle made a documentary on the shop and the owner, check it out here:

The owner, Christopher Pugliese hired local artist, Jim “Mosaic Man” Power to do the sign out front and the the bagel and sandwich restaurant was first reported on EV Grieve, who continued with follow ups right up to the opening. Well, in honor of these three gentlemen who support TSB, Christopher named sandwiches after each one of them. And so today, I’m meeting frequent guest star on TWM, The Duncester to try all three sandwiches and check out Tompkins Square Bagels. I feel a bit Hannibal Lectorish as I head out to eat, Shawn, EV Grieve and Mosaic Man. I’m hoping there’s fava beans and a nice chianti on the menu!

It's not far from where I live, so we'll hoof it over to the East Village.

And here we are. I like the way the front is open, it makes the place look inviting to the neighborhood.

The Mosaic Man's unique one-of-a-kind mosaic sign hangs over the store. Really nice to see local artist's employed to do signage to a store as opposed to something generic. It's touches like this that keep the flavor alive in the East Village.

It's a lot bigger in here than I thought it was going to be. The front has a large counter and cooking area.

And the back half is large as well, with a counter overlooking the bagel making area and tables and chairs. There's a garden area in the back that they're getting ready to fix up for the summertime.

There's a large wooden communal table in the back to enjoy your food and drink. Nice to see magazines on a table instead of iPads and iPhones!

Here's a shot from the back of the shop.

This glassed in case houses the fresh and local food for the sandwiches and salads available.

There's a familiar face at the cash register...

It's owner Christopher Pugliese, holding a piece of art from neighborhood artist, VH McKenzie. I love this piece of art, which says, "Just Say No" to Starbucks, 7-Eleven and Subway. Three businesses that have been bulldozing in on the East Village and hurting local businesses. You can read about the making of this art and the thoughts behind it here: "The Chains Are Coming..."

All the art on the walls is works from local artists. This month's featured artist is PJ Cobbs.

Christopher points to one the pieces on display, the artwork is colorful, 3-D scenes from different neighborhoods in New York.

It's a friendly atmosphere in here, here's Chris with a regular and a bagel maker himself, Kim.

And speaking of bagels, Chris was nice enough to allow me to see the entire process of how a bagel is born here. It starts down in the basement, after the dough has been hand-rolled and refrigerated.

As you can see, these aren't your everyday run of the mill bagels, these are works of art. Beautiful!

Chris opens up the specially made bagel vat...

And the bagels go in.

After about a minute or so, they float to the top and swim around in the vat for a bit.

Then they're taken out and place on wooden boards.

And here, Jonas puts the bagels into the oven. And not just any oven, this is a special bagel oven that Chris bought and brought from Florida. It's a one of a kind oven that rotates on the inside and cooks the bagels perfectly.

Here's Jonas with a tray of the finished product. They take their bagel-making seriously here and it shows!

After seeing the bagel-making process, I met Chris' partner in the restaurant, James Peterson. James owns his business, Green Army Interiors and literally built Tompkins Square Bagels from the ground up.

And at this point The Duncester shows up and it's time to sample the three specialty sandwiches of the house.

The Grieve, The Chittle and The Mosaic Man, three sandwiches named after three men that have definitely made a mark in the East Village and deserve to be on this board. Now, let's check them out.

The first up is The Grieve which is chicken cutlet, mozzarella cheese with peppers and onions. Very tasty and zingy as the blog and the man it's named after.

Here's the Chittle, smoked turkey, bacon, swiss cheesewith lettuce and onions. Chris told us that out of the three, this is the best seller.

And last but certainly not least, The Mosaic Man, Virginia ham, smoked turkey, provolone cheese with lettuce, tomatoes and spicy mustard. Delicious and the taste is as colorful as Mosaic Man's artwork. One thing Chris told me he really wants to do with Tompkins Square Bagels is create an atmosphere where everyone is welcome and feels at home in here. From the veterans of the neighborhood to those that have just got here. I have to say, that he's certainly done that. It's refreshing to sit in a local shop with artwork by artists from the neighborhood and eat sandwiches named after three men who have made a difference in the East Village. The Impov Comedy Troupe from Chicago, The Second City has always taught that when you're onstage, you should try your best to make everyone around you look great and not worry about yourself. Then when everyone else is shining, so are you. Christopher and Tompkins Square Bagels have embraced the neighborhood in the short three months they've been open and by featuting local talent and saluting others, they're shining like a pair of shoes done up by Don Ward! Stop in and have a bagel when you're in the neighborhood, you'll be happy you did. And you'll also be having the best bagel in town!

Tompkins Square Bagels
165 Ave. A ( @10th St.)
646-351-6520

Further Reading: EV Grieve, chomp chow chew and The Local East Village.

It's not the DMV cause it˛ˇ doesn't make you wait.
It couldn't be a taco cause it isn't very crunchy.
It couldn't be an Olson cause it isn't Marry Kate.

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

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Bonus Wndows on the World Art From Danny The Freelancer!

Yesterday in the comments section, the restarurant, "Windows on the World," came up. Sadly, as we know, the restuarant went down with the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001. TWM commenter, danny the freelancer, sent in this art from a pass from a series of Go-Go parties that were happening back in the day. Very cool, thanks, Danny!