I got up early this morning and headed to Shopsin's tiny restaurant in the Essex Street Market to try their mac n' cheese pancakes. I was there at the stroke of nine and got one of the two seats at the counter, which was nice (as opposed to the 45-minute wait that others have reported).
Kenny Shopsin himself was holding court with his staff and other customers as they arrived. At one point, the staff was talking about a girl they all knew. "She's like a time release beauty," Shopsin observed. "At first you don't notice her, but then after a couple weeks you see her and … bam!"
"You should do at least one or two stupid things in your life. Otherwise you get to 80 and you don't have any good stories to tell. But only one or two." Later he was expounding on the right size of local government to provide basic services to people.
Sorry, for those of you on diets. But damn these were good. Yes, that's maple syrup on the left. And the bacon was no joke too. Be sure and check this video on the New York Times site of Kenny making these beautiful babies.
That’s awesome, Rik. In all my years in NYC, I never visited Shopsin’s. Guess that chalks up one stupid thing (if it were the only!). Here’s to another serving…