Ottomanelli Bros.; Beard Papa's.

March 26th, 2009 was day of epic eating for us.  To start it off, Roomie, M, L, J, and I went to Ottomanelli Bros. for lunch after class.  Roomie really wanted to go there because he fell in love with their Hulk Burger Challenge and wanted to ask the burger out for a challenge.  The food journey that thus ensued was sick, yet memorable.

M got the 1/2 lb. Steak Burger, I believe, with American cheese, cooked medium rare.  It came with waffle fries and a pickle.  He ate it extremely slowly, as he normally does, but stated that it was cooked just the way he liked it: bleeding.

J wasn't that hungry, so he got the Popcorn Shrimp appetizer.  He said that it was alright.  I tasted it with a little bit of the "spicy" dipping sauce.  The dipping sauce was disappointing and the popcorn shrimp was only mediocre.  It was nothing out of the ordinary.

Unfortunately, the Hulk Burger Challenge ended at 2:30 and we arrived at Ottomanelli's around 2:40, so Roomie and I both settled for the burger pictured above.  We both got it cooked medium well and it came with waffle fries and a pickle spear.  The burger itself was alright, but I did especially like the nicely cooked peppers on the top.  The roll that the burger was placed on was a potato roll and was nice and soft.  The fries were also nice a crisp and only need a tiny dash of salt.

Being stood up by the Hulk Burger Challenge, Roomie was dying to swallow something and preposterously proposed going down to Chinatown, buying a whole cake, and eating it all.  We, however, opted for something slightly less extreme and picked Beard Papa's.  I had heard about this sexy old guy after seeing some of Mellow's pictures, and wanted to check him out, so we headed on down to his joint in the village.

I got two cream puffs.  The first one, pictured above, was a Green Tea Cream Puff.  Unknownlingly, I bit into the puff and was splurged on by the precious cream filling.  I was unable to salvage a lot of the cream, sadly, but did enjoy whatever was left.  It had a very subtle, yet nice green tea bitterness to it.

As shown in the picture, I made sure to splunk right into the hole of this cream puff and did not waste any of the precious vanilla cream inside.  The filling was nice a light, not overly sweet.  The puff was very airy and light also, with a very flaky feel to it.  It was very delicious and satisfying.

Overall, Ottomanelli's was a decent place and I'd like to go back and try their steak one day.  They had good food for reasonable prices.  Beard Papa's was pretty good, but I must complain that they need more seats inside of there.  Maybe Papa should consider investing in a bigger place, no?

Ottomanelli Bros.

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<

Atmosphere: <3<3<3<

Opinion: OK to try

Beard Papa's

Price: <3<3<3<3

Taste: <3<3<3<3

Atmosphere: <3<3<

Opinion: Recommended

Ottomanelli Bros.

in Upper East Side

1325 5th Ave. (On the corner of 111th St. and 5th Ave.)

(212) 828-8900