FRESS:

[yiddish] To eat like an animal, i.e., quickly, noisily, and in great quantity.

Saturday, February 7, 2009

6 Ave Tobacco & Magazine & Coffee Shop

1st time:
You walk into the news stand: to your left- a normal counter selling magazines, lotto tickets and gum, in the back- spanish food, towards your right- indian food and chaat, and in the middle: soda, tea, and beer. This place covers everything.
I went for lunch with my coworkers, many vegetarian, and we were all impressed with the quality and quantity of the indian food here. You get a soup, semi-salad (lettuce and a tomato), indian bread (kinda like roti, not as thin and delicious), rice (all of us chose the yellow version, kinda like biryani and it included raisins which I love), two type of vegetarian mush, and a dessert (a munchkin soaked in sweet syrup that really cools your mouth down after the meal). The mush options are things like lentils, cabbage, potatoes, and cauliflower. It all costs $7 and you will be stuffed. The food is surprisingly tasty; everything having different flavors.
You can also get chaat, which looks like some kind of grain with tons of toppings to pile on it. And they have fried pakoras and other fried things, but they didn't look that fresh.
We were all really pleased with our lunch, except for the guy who got the spanish food in the back. Its a fun place to take people who aren't scared of a crazy kinda sketchy food experience.


2nd visit:
They have re organized and now all food tables are on the right including a new falafel table.
Went back to try the chaat and I have to say it is a tough decision between the hot indian veggie mush or the cold chaat. There are way too many chaat options but they are all very similar variations. Fresh ingredients like cilantro and tomato mix with things like potato, chickpeas, and crunchy rice crisps and lots of spices. Its all 5 dollars. Its probably the best choice for lunch out of all the newstand options for when its warmer out. The people working the chaat counter are a little hard to communicate with, but its all part of the experience.