My obssession with Fatty Crab's short ribs was threatening to take over my life. Tasting the tender ribs braised with lime, coconut and chili at the
Choice Eats food event whetted my appetite for more, thus I was desperate for an excuse - any excuse - to drag friends over to the Meatpacking District and re-enact savoring the spiciness of the dish tempered by the coconut flakes - this time with an entire order, not just a morsel. As luck would have it, J.'s birthday was just around the corner, and when C. and I got around to discussing possibilities for a celebratory dinner, there was but one name that floated out of my lips - Fatty Crab! I hasten to add that I knew J. would look forward to trying another one of their specialties, Dungeoness crab with chili sauce, so it wasn't totally self-serving. Haha.
Fatty Crab turned out to be really small. And packed to the gills. Decor was...what decor?! We waited near the bar area, artfully dodging the other patrons' elbows and wait staff scurrying about the restaurant, and tried to carry on a conversation over the blaring hip-hop music. After a few minutes, our casually-attired, mildly-attractive server led us to a basic wooden table near the kitchen and explained Fatty Crab's philosphy ("dishes are family-style, meant for sharing, and come in no particular order"), and steered us to their specialties. J. and C. busied themselves craning their necks in the servers' direction and talking about them. "Well, they look like members of a boy band, actually", said J. "Is that so?! More like backpacker types found in the beaches of Thailand or small towns in Guatemala", I countered.
The timely arrival of the Fatty Duck ended this spirited debate, and we concentrated on this variety of flavorful chunks of meat instead. The duck was a tad too salty for my taste, though the sugar coating balanced it a bit. Both J. and C. enjoyed the Dungeoness crab, especially dunking the pieces of toast into the yummy chili sauce, and before we knew it we were ordering more bread (for an extra $4). That was great news for me, not being much of a crustacean fan, as it was left to me to devour most of the short ribs and coconut rice (not part of a grand scheme. really). We were quite full after finishing these three dishes, so decided to just cancel the oyster omelet that never showed up - a small misstep by our friendly band member or backpacker server, whichever you prefer.
My obssession with Fatty Crab's short ribs was threatening to take over my life. Tasting the tender ribs braised with lime, coconut and chili at the Choice Eats food event whetted my appetite for more, thus I was desperate for an excuse - any excuse - to drag friends over to the Meatpacking District and re-enact savoring the spiciness of the dish tempered by the coconut flakes - this time with an entire order, not just a morsel. As luck would have it, J.'s birthday was just around the corner, and when C. and I got around to discussing possibilities for a celebratory dinner, there was but one name that floated out of my lips - Fatty Crab! I hasten to add that I knew J. would look forward to trying another one of their specialties, Dungeoness crab with chili sauce, so it wasn't totally self-serving. Haha.
Fatty Crab turned out to be really small. And packed to the gills. Decor was...what decor?! We waited near the bar area, artfully dodging the other patrons' elbows and wait staff scurrying about the restaurant, and tried to carry on a conversation over the blaring hip-hop music. After a few minutes, our casually-attired, mildly-attractive server led us to a basic wooden table near the kitchen and explained Fatty Crab's philosphy ("dishes are family-style, meant for sharing, and come in no particular order"), and steered us to their specialties. J. and C. busied themselves craning their necks in the servers' direction and talking about them. "Well, they look like members of a boy band, actually", said J. "Is that so?! More like backpacker types found in the beaches of Thailand or small towns in Guatemala", I countered. 
The timely arrival of the Fatty Duck ended this spirited debate, and we concentrated on this variety of flavorful chunks of meat instead. The duck was a tad too salty for my taste, though the sugar coating balanced it a bit. Both J. and C. enjoyed the Dungeoness crab, especially dunking the pieces of toast into the yummy chili sauce, and before we knew it we were ordering more bread (for an extra $4). That was great news for me, not being much of a crustacean fan, as it was left to me to devour most of the short ribs and coconut rice (not part of a grand scheme. really). We were quite full after finishing these three dishes, so decided to just cancel the oyster omelet that never showed up - a small misstep by our friendly band member or backpacker server, whichever you prefer.
5 comments:
Waiters look more like college rock band members.
Would love to check out this place soon, but I may have to be very careful with what they add for flavoring. I'm allergic to seafood.
waiters: I think they remind you of Hootie & the blowfish.
I do agree with the blog, the short ribs are excellent! i would love to try their snackers - they seem to have lots of pork belly.
that second plate looks tasty...
Hi Eric. adam @ urbanspoon here. We're putting together an email to some of our best bloggers, including stats for your blog on Urbanspoon and an overview of some new features we added just for bloggers. Do you want to get the email? Can you send me your address? We won't spam you, I promise.
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