Best Thing I Ever Ate ... on Labor Day Weekend.

Hey there! Hope you had a great Labor Day weekend! The top question I'm getting today from friends and the like is: "What did you do for the holiday?" and "How was your cookout?". Well, my answer is I actually worked this weekend and Labor Day I played video games and made chorizo and bean tacos instead of cooking out.

I can't tell you all the details as usual about work, because the show doesn't air until I think early next year, but it was an episode of Best Thing I Ever Ate. They asked me to participate again, so I sent them a list of places I enjoy eating at and the best things on the menu. One of my places is right here in NYC, so 2 weeks ago I taped the portion of the show where you see the people talking about the dish or menu item they consider the "best" and then they called to ask if I didn't mind visiting the place in NYC to film there as well. I said yes and even though it was on a Sunday, I didn't mind ... I knew it meant lot's of yummy food! Eating and talking about it isn't really work if you ask me. Plus, I don't go to this place often because it's addictive, so I was excited to revisit just a couple of weeks after talking about it to the camera for hours. So, Sunday I got up and put on some TV-worthy clothes and not my usual weekend sweats and t-shirt, then headed into the city to eat at A Salt and Battery. Here I am with Mat Arnfield, the chef.

I'd love to tell you what I ate, but I can't. I can say everything is great on the menu and I found the place back in 2001 when I first moved to NYC. I'd walk the neighborhood after work, window shop, get lost and just explore. This is one of the first places I ate at when I moved here, the staff was really nice and sold me my first bottle of HP Sauce. It's good stuff and I have great memories of my earlier days walking here after work for a bite. I actually thought I was showcasing a business that had not received any kind of love from a restaurant show on Food Network and when I mentioned that to the crew they all told me Bobby Flay actually taped an episode of Throwdown with the restaurant. If you caught that show, don't worry ... we tackled two completely different areas of the menu, but I am happy that Bobby and I have similar tastes ... he's a cool New Yorker that surely knows some good food. Makes me wonder about how I feel sometimes when I think the same places keep getting press or coverage, maybe it isn't an inside thing ... maybe it's just that they have great food! Yes, there are tourist traps, but this isn't one. A must try if you visit NYC and many people that are from the UK actually flock to this spot for authentic food. That whole area actually has some pretty good eating. I envy people that live there, simply for the eating options. I moved out of the area and seldom get back. Many New Yorkers share the same story, moving from a neighborhood is like moving to a different country and don't even start on moving to a new borough. Things are so close, but each area is pretty self sufficient, so people tend to never go back to old neighborhood haunts if living somewhere new. I try to break that, by visiting my old neighborhoods in Brooklyn, but I'm a rolling stone ... plenty of places to revisit. Anyway, outside of A Salt and Battery are some benches and between taping I met some viewers sitting there from New Jersey eating the same thing I was there for and we chatted a bit while I was taping and some people got on camera. What a brunch! My kind of people. I Can't wait to see it all on the show and hope you catch it too. I'll let you know when it airs.