Earlier this month (Laura’s thoughts in italics) we told you about The Dealist’s Taste of the West Village eating event - essentially a food walking tour taken at your own pace. For only $17 guests were able to sample selected foods at six eateries in the West Village over the weekend (Oct. 16 and 17), and you absolutely got more than got your money’s worth! Hopefully some of you purchased tickets and enjoyed the event; we certainly did (full disclosure: Caryn and I were invited to attend)!
Here’s a recap of the food we sampled and our thoughts in case you stumble upon one of these restaurants in the near future.
Laura and I redeemed all of our food vouchers on Saturday with her friend Dory. All three of us ordered the Duroc pulled pork sandwich and we were all pleased. For me, it was easily the highlight of the day. The sandwich was the perfect mix of savory, spicy and sweet, and although there were other filling options on the menu, I’m not sure I would stray away from this one. I definitely plan on returning, but warning, it’s really just a counter/take-out place. If you want seating, there was a small spiral staircase leading upstairs, but I think I’d just take mine to go. Agree completely with Caryn - this sandwich was a highlight and perfectly paired sweet and savory. We saw what the full-size sandwiches looked like and they were certainly huge.
Mmm, this pizza is good. As Laura pointed out, Spunto is owned by the same people who run Vezzo, a favorite of ours, so we figured we’d be in good hands…and we were. My second favorite of the day, this thin crust pizza is among the very few that I like, and I loved both the plain and pepperoni slices. I really appreciated that they generously gave everyone 2 slices with our ticket, which was more than I expected. I wish we weren’t in a rush that afternoon because it was definitely a cute spot to grab a beer or glass of wine and split a pizza with friends or a date. A must return. It definitely was a must return - so much so that I returned 48 hours later. I got the pizza to go for lunch, and honestly, I found the pizza to be much better if you a) ate it at the restaurant or b) brought it home and then toasted it. It needs to be fairly warm in order to it to be extra delicious.
Again, all three of us opted for the pork (the pineapple habanera was too much for us to resist). I admit that I only had a nibble of this taco, but my boyfriend who ate the rest later that day wasn’t a fan of it. Dory and Laura seemed to like it, but said it was extremely spicy, living up to its name. I pretty much will enjoy any taco (wow, sounds awkward), but I probably should have gotten the skirt steak. The pork was so spicy that my mouth was on fire for several minutes and I had to have a bit of pizza for the fire to go away.
Oh Satay Junction…to put it mildly, this place was not prepared for the inevitable rush that comes with participating in such an eating event. We waited for nearly an hour…almost 60 minutes…for two skewers each with a peanut dipping sauce. Also, keep in mind there were maybe 6 people ahead of us in line, and for some reason or another, people who arrived after us got out of there before us.I was okay waiting 20 minutes or so, the place was tiny, but I felt over 45 minutes was excessive and admittedly it put a bad taste in my mouth before I even tried their food. The skewers were good, I had chicken and shrimp, as was the sauce, but it certainly was not worth the wait. I found the beef skewer to have an aftertaste like lamb does, so I couldn’t even eat mine. I know the group in front of us ordered lamb, so I’m curious if mine got mixed up. Either way, the beef skewer found its way to the trash, but the shrimp was good, just not worth an hour’s wait.
I’m not a huge fan of cream-based things, so I gave this one to my boyfriend who readily ate it up and liked it quite a lot. I thought it was a standard cannoli. I liked it, but I’ll be honest, by the time I ate it, the shell had gone soggy so can’t really comment on that portion of the pastry.
I was running on a tight schedule this afternoon and our wait at Satay Junction didn’t help matters. Thus, I didn’t make it to The Donut Pub and I had Laura and Dory pick up my donuts on my behalf using my voucher. We did a sketchy exchange of donuts for rum in a Ziplock plastic bag at a party later night, so that said, I didn’t try my mini-donuts (cinnamon sugar and honey glazed) until the next morning. They were so-so, but I can’t blame the place since I waited over 12 hours to eat them. Like Caryn, I waited awhile to eat my donuts but I think I was a bit more disgusting and waited 36 hours. Mine were honey-glazed and thought it was just an average donut.
I very much look forward to similar events like this from TheDealist. It’s a really fun way to spend an afternoon - walking around and exploring a neighborhood with friends while sampling different foods. Next time I hope to not be on a schedule so we can slow down and break up the afternoon by walking into little shops or sitting down for a beer or coffee, etc. But without a doubt, it’s a fantastic value and you are exposed to new restaurants (at least a few may be new to you), which is always a plus in my book!
that pizza looks good.