Come for the beer, stay for the...beer at Manny's on Second

Last Saturday night, I found myself at Manny's on Second (formerly the UES location of wings powerhouse Blondies) for the big UFC fight taking place that evening. AV's a fan, and we convened with DP, friend and guest star for the evening, for a night of ass kicking, beer drinking, and appetizer eating.

The ass kicking (on-screen, at least) certainly did take place. A few beers were consumed successfully as well. But the appetizer eating? Ahh, that's where things hit a rough spot.

AV and DP started with an order of mozzarella sticks. Pretty much every bar in NYC serves the same mozzarella sticks-- they come frozen, you pop 'em in the deep fryer until they're hot, you serve 'em with some marinara, everybody wins. Except us, at Manny's. Instead of frying them until they're hot, Manny's chose to take the unusual tactic of serving their sticks at none other than room temperature. There wasn't a wisp of steam in the vicinity. The six sad, sorry sticks sat on the plate wallowing in their tepidness; one bite from AV confirmed that the cheese inside wasn't even close to melted. Everybody knows there's no point to mozzarella sticks unless the cheese has melted to that perfect molten point where every bite produces a classic Caramello moment (yeah, you know what I'm talkin' about). So basically, epic fail, and while we're at at, if you're going to serve awful mozzarella sticks, at least serve a lot of them. Six to an order? Really?

Cold.

Slightly more successful were the wings. An order of ten wings, medium-spicy, came bathed in sauce and accompanied by some clearly fresh carrot and celery sticks. The tiny, tiny little cup of blue cheese sauce wasn't even close to cutting it, but repeated requests for more brought out some more tiny cups. As the wings dwindled, the pile of balled-up napkins on the table grew. DP ruled that Manny's puts out a "solid wing," and AV confirmed that Manny's wings aren't quite as good as Blondies' were, but they're still not bad.

Better

Rest assured a fine time was had by all, regardless of certain food failures. The fights blared on the many flat screens, and during the downtime we were entertained by a group of post-grads who had clearly been playing beirut since around noon that day and were thus, at 10PM, in rare form, as well as a thirty-something couple and their infant in a large stroller (really). So we'll probably be back to Manny's at some point, but it'll be for the drinks and the company, not for the food.

Manny's on Second
1770 Second Avenue, between 92nd and 93rd Streets
212-410-3300

Gettin' saucy at Dalton's

It was Friday night, and AV wanted wings. The only wings place we've been to near me was Lansdowne Road, which provided a particular kind of wings experience-- more on the dry-rubbed side, less on the saucy and sloppy side. Well, that wouldn't do for this particular moment in time, and since I'm not particularly helpful in terms of recommending wings joints based on personal experience, we took a gamble and rolled up to Dalton's, a sports bar on Ninth Avenue.

Dalton's is a cool place; there's lots of room to spread out, an extensive food menu to order from, and a long, long list of draught beers. Music blasted over the speakers as we ordered our drinks-- a draught Yuengling for AV, a bottle of Magners cider for me. Our almost preternaturally friendly waitress took AV's wings order, and we were on our way.

The verdicts on drinks? Delish. The verdict on the wings? Also excellent. The wings were notably large, swimming in sauce, and there were quite a few of them in each order. AV noted that the veggies were crisp and fresh and not soggy at all. The only downside to the order was, paradoxically, the bleu cheese-- it had almost a grainy texture, which was disappointing. But overall, an enjoyable wings experience.

I didn't know buffalo had wings! Ba-zinnnnnng

Done and done. We'll probably be back to Dalton's-- it's actually a nice friendly place to grab a drink. A nice Friday night indeed.

Dalton's
611 Ninth Avenue, between 43rd and 44th Streets
212-245-5511

A bizarre marriage in Hell's Kitchen

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed that the Pluck U on 10th between 47th and 48th had closed. Not surprising-- I'm not sure I had ever seen anybody buying food in the pretty depressing shop. But the story doesn't end there. Walking to work on 46th street the other day, I noticed that the newish and seemingly sketchy Best Burgers and Shakes had somehow adopted (absorbed? acquired) Pluck U. At least, there was a sign on their little porch pronouncing a "Grand Opening" of Pluck U at that location. Whaaa? Your guess is as good as mine.

Burgers and shakes... and wings?

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