HellaFrank

Sorry for not writing for a while — a lot going on a lot of fun being had, but I didn’t forget about you loyal HellaFrank readers!

Since I got to New York, I’ve been eating like a ravenous beast. Everything I’ve had is pretty damn good (anyone heard of Manchurian food? It’s a Chinese/Indian mix, fantastic). Anyways, the most gluttonous eating I’ve done hasn’t been at dinner or brunch or any regular meal. It has generally taken place between the hours of 2am and 4am and represents some of the most amazing eating experiences since I got here.

When people stumble out of bars here and want a late-night snack, the question isn’t “what’s open?” Instead, you will more commonly hear “what do you want to eat?” What I mean, is that the choices here at that time of the night/morning are amazing. I have seen sandwiches, tacos, pizza, halal food (see below), Jewish delis, hot dogs, giant pretzels and even knishes… yeah, 24 hour knishes. I’m sure there are a ton more I haven’t seen.

Personally, I have hit up the pizza, tacos and halal food and it’s all pretty amazing that time of day. For those who do not know what halal food is (as I didn’t when I got here), it’s generally a cart on the corner that cooks chicken and lamb and puts it over rice or in a pita with white and/or red sauce. Yes, they call it white and red sauce… What’s in it? Who cares, it’s incredible. I ate some at about 4am on Friday night and was not hungry until about 2pm the next day. The best part is that in a city of $12 drinks and $20 hamburgers, it’s refreshing to get painfully full for only four bucks.

The number of stores and restaurants that are open 24 hours is remarkable, but there is one that takes the cake. A block down from me is a hardware store, open 24 hours. I mean, I guess I can understand needing a plunger or something at a weird hour of the night, but this is a full-on hardware store, four floors. Are there people that just get the urge to pick up a table saw at 3 in the morning? I guess so. Personally, I’ll just wait till tomorrow morning to pick one of those up.

For those of you who have spent a lot of time in New York, let me know in the comments what your favorite late night places are. I welcome all suggestions!