Sugar Café; Moonstruck Diner.

On the late evening of Thursday, March 12th, 2009, a group of my friends and I ventured down to the grimy streets of the Lower East Side, that have places where you can find a cheap piece of food to get your groove on with and satisfy your wildest desires and tastes. We wandered these streets, shot for dessert first at Sugar Cafe, and had a happy ending at Moonstruck Diner.

At Sugar Cafe, the four of us split two different desserts. Mic and I got two different flavors of gelato, pictured on the left. We got Ferrero Rocher and something that tasted like vanilla chip. Both were nice a creamy for gelato, but in the end, were nothing special. Roomie and Squishy got the Red Velvet Cake with a scoop of Chocolate Gelato. The cake tasted normal, and gelato was similar to ours.

The sexy chocolate-dipped macaroon caught Roomie's eyes and he couldn't resist a taste, so he bought one.

Here's the mid-eating money shot. The coconut taste was nice, but the macaroon itself was a little dense and dry. It was alright.

From our post-dessert porn lust, we scampered on up to find Moonstruck Diner on 2nd Ave. around 1 A.M. (now Friday, March 13th in the morning) in the East Village and had ourselves some good old reliable diner grub. Above are the fixings for Roomie's burger. They were your standard dill pickle and cole slaw. The slaw was actually nice. It wasn't too heavy on the mayo and was light and refreshing.

I think Roomie got a turkey burger. I am not entirely sure, but do know it is some kind of burger. It came with some nice onion rings, fresh greenery, and crisp french fries. It seemed like he enjoyed it, judging from the speed at which he scarfed it down.

I was craving hash, so I got the corned beef hash with sunny side eggs and home fries. The hash was salty, but that was expected. The home fries were actually pretty good. They were neither greasy nor salty and they gave me a huge portion of it. They also added some fresh green bell peppers which gave it some great flavor.

Squishy got scrambled eggs with sausage and home fries. She said that it was good and that she would get it again. I must admit, though, that those sausages looked very dark and strange, and I was skeptical that it would taste good, but after she took a bite and we saw the inside, we realized that it was just an outside char.

Mic got got the corned beef hash with scrambled eggs and home fries. She was equally as satisfied with her hash as I was with mine.

Overall, it was a great night out. The desserts were fine and the diner hit the right spot. The diner was also very cozy and clean. I just love it when diners do that at 1 A.M. in the morning.

Sugar Cafe

Price: <3<3<3<

Taste: <3<3<3<

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<

Opinion: OK to try

Moonstruck on Second

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3<

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<3<3

Opinion: Highly Recommended

Moonstruck on Second

in East Village

88 2nd Ave. (b/t 1st Ave. and 5th St.)

(212) 420-8050