Shopsin's has been the subject of many fine articles and reviews. It's the home, and brainchild, and seeming embodiment of the worldview of, a madcap cook, host, philosopher, and truly one-of-a-kind human being named Kenny Shopsin (pictured at left). There's no way I can describe him better than the others who have already devoted considerable ink to the task, so let me just recommend: (1) the excellent documentary I Like Killing Flies, which started us on our recent fascination with Kenny and his restaurant, (2) Eat Me, his new cookbook which gives you a pretty good idea of who and what Shopsin's is, and (3) perusing the menu, which is amazingly just a small fraction of what the menu used to be in the restaurant's previous locations.
No write-up of Shopsin's is completely without the obligatory letting you know that there are lots of rules: no groups larger than 4, even if you pretend you're two different groups and don't know each other. No 2 people at the same table can order the same thing. Don't order too much food. Everyone has to order a meal. You may get yelled at or cursed at. You may get thrown out. You may get cursed at, thrown out, and told not to come back.
We were certainly anxious going in, and had studied the menu to make sure we didn't make any mistakes. It made us feel a little better when the friends we made at the table next to us, a mother and her son who had been going to Shopsin's every week for the past several years, didn't order a sandwich they wanted because they didn't know if it was served hot or cold, and were afraid to ask. Which is to say: you may go every day, you may never have gone before, but the rules are the rules, and there's a certain degree of unpredictable irrationality to keep you on your toes.
To the food, though: awfully good stuff. Sliders, just about the best I've ever had (maybe the best?) (pictured below, not taken by me). Excellent little burgers on potato rolls, with crispy onions, done absolutely perfectly. A Mexican breakfast skillet with egg enchiladas, brisket-green chile hash, and s'mores pancakes. No, I don't know why those go together, how that ended up as a combination but the egg nachoes come with banana french toast and chipotle grits, and the egg quesadilla comes with a pork tamale and ricotta cilantro guacamole.
A couple final notes about the place: it's open Monday through Saturday, until 3, in the Essex Street Market. It was in its original West Village location for decades, and then in the space now occupied by Market Table for a few years. Watching the documentary, filmed during the transition from the first to second Shopsin's location, makes you marvel that such a place could be transported.
And, most importantly, I was happy to see that Kenny appears to be a Mets fan, yet another reason I will surely return.
So, in short: see the movie, get the book, play by the rules, go eat some good food.
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