Eat Cetera: Slippery Janes In Bushwick, Endless Summer's Hiatus, Rooftop Hops, Central Park Fatty Cue
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<strong>Slippery Janes: </strong>No, it's not the alternate name for the club in <em>Showgirls</em>, it's the new vegetarian alternative to the Sloppy Joe, which will be available to the meat-averse masses this Saturday at the Bushwick Block Party! Don't you just want to open wide and wrap your mouth around those big buns? <a href="http://beatvalley.wordpress.com/slippery-janes/">Slippery Janes</a>' creator Lars Russell <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/slipperyjanes">says on Twitter</a> that he's "pretty much" been spending all his free time "toasting millet" in preparation for his sandwich's big debut. He also tells us it's made "without any meat impressionists. The main ingredients are tomatoes, millet, hot peppers, bell peppers, squash, vinegar and garlic. What? You eat meat? Shhh , don't worry about it. It's still a delicious vitamin beanbag. It still reminds you of your summercamp cafeteria favorite. And still only $5."<br/><br/>Russell's Slippery Jane stand will be found Saturday in the garden of <a href="http://gothamist.com/2008/02/25/camera_in_the_k_97.php">Roberta's</a>, "right next to the beer." <a href="http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.131195230260784.14280.131195166927457#!/photo.php?fbid=212166545496985&set=a.131195230260784.14280.131195166927457&type=1&theater">It sounds like a fun day</a> (unless, of course, you're an Internet troll who'd rather spend your Saturday indoors writing misanthropic, subliterate comments about "hipsters"); there will be a lot of bands performing, Sixpoint craft beer on premises, a street devoid of cars, and a dunk tank! It all goes down on Moore Street between Bogart and White Streets.
<em>Flickr user <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultraclay/3297086048/sizes/z/in/photostream/">ultraclay</a>!</em><br/><br/><strong>Endless Summer:</strong> For well over a week now, it's been a little easier to walk down the block of Bedford Avenue between North Fourth Street and Metropolitan, because the unwashed masses clamoring for food from the <a href="http://www.endlesssummertacos.com/">Endless Summer taco and burrito truck</a> have been missing. They're not there because the truck, which has been a fixture (<a href="http://gothamist.com/2010/03/25/the_food_truck_backlash_has_arrived.php">some might say a nuisance</a>) on Bedford Avenue for years, is MIA. Which had us concernedâtrue it's not the<em> best </em>Mexican in town, but they keep late hours for the drunks staggering home, and their seitan tacos will definitely do in a pinch. So we called up the number on their website, which according to our caller I.D. connects to Riker's Island!<br/><br/>Even more disconcerting, an email to the Endless Summer got what seemed to be an auto-reply of "Transmission failure." But further sleuthing <a href="http://twitter.com/#!/EndlessSummerBK">turned up a Twitter account</a> connected to Endless Summer explaining that this wasn't an e-mail transmission failure but an actual, you know, vehicular transmission failure thingy. (We ride bikes everywhere and live self-satisfied low-carbon lifestyles, so what do we know?) A representative of Endless Summer tells us the bummer isn't endless, but guesstimates that it will "probably be another 10 days" before the truck returns. They're currently "taking the opportunity to pimp out some things and have a vacay."
<strong>Stag's Head Hops:</strong> Somewhere in the sea of underwhelming pubs in Midtown East, there's one with a rooftop beer garden called Stag's Head that is dedicated to being the slightly-cooler-than-you college kid we never were who tries to homebrew his own beer. We never really understood what hops exactly are, we just know they're essential ingredients to the beers we like. We also know that Stag's Head is home-growing their own Sunbeam hops to use as garnishes for IPAs, Pale Ales, and Pilsners atop its roof. The experimentation does not stop there: they will continue to grow more varieties, attempting to feature hops in some of the food from the summer beer menu, which includes chipotle glazed meatloaf, a fried clam strip dinner, jumbo lump crabcakes, and buttermilk fried chicken. <em>(Elyssa Goldman)</em><br/><br/><em>252 East 51st Street, (212) 888-2453</em>
<strong>Fatty Cue Hits Central Park:</strong> The growing family of <a href="http://gothamist.com/2010/09/30/video_how_your_pork_gets_smoked_at.php">Fatty Cue</a> outposts just expanded yet again with the debut of a Fatty Cue "Pullcart" in Central Park. Located at the Bethesda Terrace, the Pullcart pushes pork sandwiches, smoked chicken salad sandwiches, potato salad, black eyed pea salad, yogurt parfait, pastries, beverages, and more. There's seating for 48 customers at twelve tables clustered around the cart, which also sells beer and wine IN THE PARK (suck it, Puritans!). <br/><br/>Prices range from $7 to $9 for all of the above, and considering the prime location, we expect them to deal in high volume. Which they'll need to do, because the Fatty Crew's deal with the Parks Department requires them to pay the city $544,154âor 15 percent of the gross, whichever is greaterâduring its six-year lease, <a href="http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/the-fatty-crew-comes-to-central-park/">according to Diner's Journal</a>.<br/><br/><em>Bethesda Terrace in Central Park, open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. seasonally</em>