Red Hook Redux
Last night I had such a good time in Red Hook that I woke up wanting another visit. I started the evening with Ellen (hi E!) at Leyenda where I had a watermelon, aperol, tequila, japaleno cocktail (it was spicy as all hell and a+) called the "say anything" (appropriate since I kicked off the evening to Ellen with a text that said 'i want to rip my clothes off and jump in a kiddie pool of sangria'). After that, we migrated to Red Hook to Sunny's - which is a new favorite of mine. It just feels like summer in that place - the reddish lighting, the weirdly delightful clarinet/double bass happening in the back room, the couples in white tees, the sea breezes lifting off the river. We had some beers and shots, daydreamed about New Orleans, and had a good devilish laugh as we like to do.
I woke up this morning on my couch (hi summer) and decided to take myself on a little adventure back to RH to see it in the daylight. (I've also had Red Hook Lobster Pound on my bucket list so like...yolo). I walked along the shipping containers and bike paths on Van Brunt, kinda digging how unpredictable the scenery was. I walked past Pok Pok, eager tourists disembarking from the ferry, a really charismatic looking homeless dude with four hats on, cities of pigeons, Vespa specialists, community gardens with sun flowers twisting up through stainless steel twine and some gorgeous brick homes.
After about 20 minutes I was at my destination: Red Hook Lobster Pound. I had scoped out the menu on my couch with one eye open and was looking forward to lobster fries (sacrificing waist line for my art, people) but their takeaway menu was shorter than anticipated..leaving me one option: the lobster BLT. I ordered the combo and a coke, standing back to watch the line cooks douse buns in a butter bath and kinda squealed when the head chef pulled 6 lobsters out of the lil pool next to the kitchen. (Tried to get an action shot of her pulling them out but failed, sadly). When my order was called, I grabbed my to go box and walked down the street to a quiet stoop to gram and savor my eats. I grammed so hard, in fact, that I turned in shock when I heard four dudes chuckling and pointing at me across the street. "Sup!" I said. "We're filming a music video" they said "how's the sandwich?". At which point I needed to take a bite to confirm.
Now, a lobster BLT is a thing of beauty. Think absurdly buttery bread, fat lobster chunks, bacon, mayo and coleslaw all waiting to be consumed in one bodacious bite. Having said that, I wasn't totally in love with the combo. The lobster was chewy and delish but I wasn't loving the marriage with the bacon (bit soggy) and the bread (bit soggy). It also started raining as I took my first bite so I packed it up and half ran home, thinking about how I might repackage the ingredients.
When I got home, I kicked off my shoes and got rolling on an eggy experiment. I decided to whip up some eggs and toast and put the lobster, bacon, and mayo on top for an open-faced lil snack. I did just that, pouring my can of coke over a phat cube, and settled in with the Sopranos. #YYF forever.
