So being a raging beeatch and really hormonal this week, I got a horrible, horrible craving for very unhealthy food. This rarely happens. I normally eat a diet of pretty healthy stuff. Egg white omelets with veggies, low fat yogurt with fruit, salads, etc. It's not as boring as it sounds. I'm a pretty good cook, I use some interesting seasonings and herbs and I know how to make healthy stuff taste delicious. That said, there are just times when nothing will do but real butter and sour cream and a serving that I just know is made for two but I feel compelled to eat it all anyway. That time came today.
So I already told you I'm kinda bitchy this week, when I get like this I crave to be nurtured. I live alone, I work for everything I have myself and sometimes it gets very tiring doing it all myself and not being in it with another person to turn to when I'm tired of it all. I think being bitchy for me is related to feeling lonely for someone to take care of me when I need it. Like my Mommy. Who is long gone. No matter how old you get to be there is just something about going home and having your Mommy make you something to eat. You sit at the table and put everything else out of your mind and for that breif time you are someones' baby. I spend my days nurturing people and I rarely get the favor returned, which is perfectly fine but there are occasional times when I realize that I really need this even just for an hour or so. My ex used to get this part of my personality and he knew how to nurture me but he is my ex. So at this point I feel sort of lost for that. This is where the Stage Restaurant comes in.
So I already told you I'm kinda bitchy this week, when I get like this I crave to be nurtured. I live alone, I work for everything I have myself and sometimes it gets very tiring doing it all myself and not being in it with another person to turn to when I'm tired of it all. I think being bitchy for me is related to feeling lonely for someone to take care of me when I need it. Like my Mommy. Who is long gone. No matter how old you get to be there is just something about going home and having your Mommy make you something to eat. You sit at the table and put everything else out of your mind and for that breif time you are someones' baby. I spend my days nurturing people and I rarely get the favor returned, which is perfectly fine but there are occasional times when I realize that I really need this even just for an hour or so. My ex used to get this part of my personality and he knew how to nurture me but he is my ex. So at this point I feel sort of lost for that. This is where the Stage Restaurant comes in.
Way back when I first moved to NYC in the 80's, a good friend took me there. It is barely noticeable if you didn't already know it was there. It is tucked into a tiny space next to a theater. It has 8 counter seats with hooks behind those seats and that is it. I always manage to walk in just when someone is getting up and leaving. People are pretty considerate too and usually leave shortly after finishing due to the limited space. The food is Ukrainian/Polish. It is like something out of old New York. Places like this do not exist anymore due to high rents and changing neighborhoods, but The Stage, it just keeps ticking along. Everyone speaks Polish, there are countermen who take your order, ask you if you want challah bread with your order (which I highly recommend saying yes to) and make conversation with you if you seem to be up for it. They also have a keen sense of when to leave you alone if you are not in a talkative mood as well.
When I used to live a few blocks from this place, the staff knew me. I was buddies with a waitress named Monica. I always marveled at how she stayed so slim working in a place like this. She always had a smile and remembered what we talked about the last time I was there. She is long gone now, but the place has the same family style atmosphere where you feel like the person cooking the food in the back actually cares about you. Speaking of the back, there is a small pick-up window where you can see who is making your food and that is the beauty part.
Unlike other small places, there is not a disgruntled guy making $6 an hour cranking out your food. At the Stage there are a few Polish grandmas wearing house dresses and hairnets chatting away and making each order from scratch. Tonight, within 5 minutes of ordering my fave comfort dinner of a chicken cutlet, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and steamed broccoli, I heard a pounding noise and some sizzling. I knew that my cutlet was a victim of the meat mallet and was on it's way to me within minutes. For $10 I got a cutlet that covered 3/4 of my plate, had a light as air breading, was tender and juicy and easily devoured in minutes. The mashed potatoes and gravy were everything you'd imagine they should be, light and fluffy, with just the right amount of seasoning. Because I rarely go to this place now, I ordered some pierogies and a piece of stuffed cabbage to go. Imagine the perfect version of these dishes and that's what these are. They also make the most delicious blintzes and potato pancakes on earth but my stomach was begging for mercy so I was not able to indulge this time but I am definitely going back in the next couple of months for those goodies. If you're a breakfast person the challah bread french toast and the apple or blueberry pancakes are worth a look. The prices are ridiculously cheap, a full breakfast of eggs, potatoes, hash, bacon, toast, juice and coffee is $4.50. And yes, everything is homemade.
I cannot praise this place enough, I will seriously cry if it ever goes out of business. It's one of the last of it's kind. When I finished my huge plate the sweet man behind the counter smiled at me and said "you did good!" Now that, is something my own Mother would have said.
That's all for now :)
When I used to live a few blocks from this place, the staff knew me. I was buddies with a waitress named Monica. I always marveled at how she stayed so slim working in a place like this. She always had a smile and remembered what we talked about the last time I was there. She is long gone now, but the place has the same family style atmosphere where you feel like the person cooking the food in the back actually cares about you. Speaking of the back, there is a small pick-up window where you can see who is making your food and that is the beauty part.
Unlike other small places, there is not a disgruntled guy making $6 an hour cranking out your food. At the Stage there are a few Polish grandmas wearing house dresses and hairnets chatting away and making each order from scratch. Tonight, within 5 minutes of ordering my fave comfort dinner of a chicken cutlet, mashed potatoes with mushroom gravy and steamed broccoli, I heard a pounding noise and some sizzling. I knew that my cutlet was a victim of the meat mallet and was on it's way to me within minutes. For $10 I got a cutlet that covered 3/4 of my plate, had a light as air breading, was tender and juicy and easily devoured in minutes. The mashed potatoes and gravy were everything you'd imagine they should be, light and fluffy, with just the right amount of seasoning. Because I rarely go to this place now, I ordered some pierogies and a piece of stuffed cabbage to go. Imagine the perfect version of these dishes and that's what these are. They also make the most delicious blintzes and potato pancakes on earth but my stomach was begging for mercy so I was not able to indulge this time but I am definitely going back in the next couple of months for those goodies. If you're a breakfast person the challah bread french toast and the apple or blueberry pancakes are worth a look. The prices are ridiculously cheap, a full breakfast of eggs, potatoes, hash, bacon, toast, juice and coffee is $4.50. And yes, everything is homemade.
I cannot praise this place enough, I will seriously cry if it ever goes out of business. It's one of the last of it's kind. When I finished my huge plate the sweet man behind the counter smiled at me and said "you did good!" Now that, is something my own Mother would have said.
That's all for now :)
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