Shopsins

About a month ago, Leah and I went to Shopsin's, a delicious tiny restaurant in the Essex Street Market. Although there are only about 10 seats in the whole place, the menu is enormous, and everything on it looks fantastic.

When you walk in, you are welcomed by the dirty (and sometimes unwelcoming) mouth of Kenny Shopsin (restaurant owner and author of Eat Me). While we were there, he used several sexual slurs, a ton of curses, and explained that he recently cut seating in Shopsin's in half so that he didn't "have to go home and snort a half of coke every night." He also seemed to know most of the patrons by name, and had no problem telling some others there was no room for them. Though he was definitely entertaining, he was really rude and Leah and I basically couldn't hold a conversation because he was so loud and we just had to keep listening (he sat directly behind Leah). The atmosphere, then, was an experience in and of itself.

But then there was the food. I paid $14 for my sandwich, and it was worth every penny. I had a Luke's Lunch I (pulled pork and chili-cheese fries on a ciabatta), and it was huge and greasy and those fries made me feel like I was going to heaven. If I went back, I would probably order just the chili-cheese fries on their own ($12). Leah had the Indian Girl (fried potato, cabbage, onion curry, and lentil slaw on naan, $14), and that was also really good. Although the prices are steep, I'd say that the food was worth it, and the staff was entertaining in a certain kind of way, so I'd recommend at least trying it, if you like sandwiches. Just be warned: it can be really hard to get a table. We went on a Friday at 2pm, and it seemed to be pretty calm, but Leah had gone once for brunch (before they got rid of half the seating), and it was still very crowded.