August 11, 2026

Celery soda

Maine

I discovered this new punk band recently called Cel Ray, and they’re pretty fun and interesting, landing well into the egg end of the egg punk > chain punk continuum. They’re egg punks at heart, that play with the energy and abandon of chain punks. They’re a hoot, big energy, they’re probably a fun group of friends to have.

But then I was wondering, “What kind of name is Cel Ray?” Weird name right? A quick search led me to learn that they took their name from Cel-Ray, a celery-based soda pop from the Dr. Brown’s root beer brand! I love those Dr. Brown sodas, but I don’t remember ever seeing Cel-Ray! Apparently there was a bit about it in Seinfeld once. Fun and weird; I don’t love celery, but I thought I’d try Cel-Ray next time I stumble on it.

Then like I dunno two days later, I’m at Day Boat Cafe in Waldoboro, and there it is in their fridge! Cel-Ray! The timing was truly remarkable!

So I sat down with my hoagie and my Cel-Ray. I like it! To be honest I could barely taste any celery in it; it really tasted more like a Sprite with just a slightly different edge, maybe a bit less carbonated. But that’s fine by me, because as I said, I don’t love celery to begin with. I wish I had headphones with me so I could listen to Cel Ray while drinking it, but nobody’s perfect, y’know?

Anyway, this might have to be the final Music & Food post. I finally did it.

August 8, 2026

Roast beef sandwich

Syosset, NY

Last weekend I took a 100 mile bike ride from Bay Ridge Brooklyn out to Riverhead, Long Island, where Lizzie’s mom lives. That’s too many miles. I stopped in Syosset for lunch, with no plan, and mostly because I needed to eat asap. The options were bleak.

I ended up choosing this place call Smartwich, which immediately set off alarm bells in my head as being some sort of healthy-alternative, juice-bar protein-shake-bar kind of place that just happened to also make sandwiches. Smartwich. Yeep. I wasn’t thrilled about it, but it was available and open and I didn’t want to waste time and energy finding anything better.

It turns out, after placing my order for their roast beef sandwich, this place is operated by a guy who was born in Napoli, worked and trained as a chef in Lisbon Portugal, and ran a few restaurants in NYC over the last couple decades. He seems to be something of a YouTube influencer-wannabe type, like he’s trying really hard to be a famous TV chef—his sizzle reel was playing on a loop on one of the TVs. As if calling your place Smartwich isn’t enough, this is the kind of thing that would usually just fully disqualify a place.

But hear this: this sandwich was fucking excellent.

Everything about it was great. Good quality roast beef, homemade pickled peppers, an herbed horseradish, that wasn’t a sauce, more of a tapenade, good quality tomatoes. And all on a house-baked Portuguese style roll, nice and crispy on the outside but fluffy on the inside.

Yes I was tired from biking so far in the heat, so anything would’ve been good. But I couldn’t believe how this place called fucking SMARTWICH had such a perfect, beautiful sandwich. An absolute failure in marketing!

So if you’re ever in Syosset LI, seriously give this place a try. But don’t go to Syosset for any other reason.

Oh they also have house-made bay leaf iced tea, unsweetened but genuinely delicious.

August 8, 2026

Rice roll

Brooklyn

Without a doubt the most delicious $2.75 breakfast you can find in Brooklyn no NYC no New York state no the tri-state are no the east coast.

August 8, 2026

Drinks

Manhattan

August 8, 2026

Hummus, labneh, kebabs, chicken wings, bad broccoli

Manhattan

Shukette is the younger louder TikTokier sister restaurant of Shuka. I have a whole story about how Lizzie wanted to go to Shukette, but I thought she said Shuka, so I got a reservation for Shuka only to find out that she meant Shukette, and had already been to Shuka and didn’t like it enough to go to again, so we changed plans and got lucky and snuck into Shukette anyway, even though it’s seemingly packed to the seams every night with 27 year olds.

Big menu, cool menu, I wanted one of everything. But we only got like 7 or 8 things instead.

The broccoli was bad. The labneh wasn’t for me but Lizzie liked it. The lamb was okay but I’ve had better at random kabob joints. The hummus and salad and chicken wings were shucking excellent.

I’d go back solely for the wings honestly. An intense dry rub, baked not fried, harissa dipping sauce—catch them on the right night, if they can get them cooked just right, I’d put them up on a Best Wings In NYC list.

Real talk though, not many great wings in NYC.

August 8, 2026

Roast beef sandwich

Maine

I’ve been excited about the prospect of this place. A Portland sandwich joint that makes Boston style roast beef sandwiches (yes that is a thing) has starting opening a couple-days-a-week pop up (ugh) next to another cafe in my nearby town of Rockland. Yes, judging by the logo (a horny cartoon wolf) and the color scheme (just red) and the Portland-ness of it all, this is a cool roast beef place. Not your mama’s, as they say.

So I got the North Shore style, which is basically just doused in a zingy barbecue sauce and occasionally blessed with onions. The beef was maybe good, but I couldn’t tell because the sauce was salty as hell. Just way too salty. I barely wanted to eat it after a couple bites.

They also offer “Chicago beef” style, and “Philly cheesesteak” style, and French dips. I might try to get a dip before they stop popping up for the year. But otherwise mark me down as disappointed with Roasty’s.

Also like: who is Roasty?

August 8, 2026

Pretzel shortbread

Maine

I don’t really know the back story behind these; Lizzie bought them kinda randomly at a farmers market (?) or some other farmers market-like shop(pe). What I do know is that they’re fascinating. 

That’s usually where I’d type “they’re delicious,” which yes they are. But these pretzel shortbreads really are fascinating. Every time I ate one, I had to pause and reflect. What is this? Is this a pretzel? Or a shortbread? Is it sweet? Or is it salty? Absolute basic concepts, sure, but these things straddled those lines like nothing else I’ve ever really eaten.

A tasty treat that also invigorates the mind!

July 9, 2026

Miso black cod

Maine

Perfectly lovely all around. No complaints.

Well no, the bok choy has some grit in it. Coulda taken another spin through the rinse cycle.

But otherwise perfectly lovely.

July 9, 2026

Spirulina gelato

Brooklyn

Spirulina is an algae. Or more specifically, a micro-algae.

But it also makes gelato look a nice green color like mint or pistachio. And if the fancy gelato people are willing to put algae in their gelato, who am I to not eat it?

It’s nice. Actually kinda tastes like mint. A more herby, subtle, earthy mint. I’m sure you can buy some in powder form at a co-op somewhere.

Sorry about the gross image.

July 9, 2026

Hambagu

Brooklyn

One thing I really wanted to eat when I was in Japan last year was a hambagu. There was a place by our first hotel that looked great, but it just didn’t work out.

What we’re talking about is, yes, basically a hamburger. But it’s served on rice, no bun, with a demiglace sauce and an assortment of pickled things. Sometimes an omelette too. But I didn’t need the omelette.

So it didn’t happen, but fast forward (not even that far), to Greenpoint Brooklyn, where an extremely cool-but-in-a-good-way little Tokyotown is slowly growing on one block. Actually, it’s more of a Kyototown, given the upscale and extremely chill brutalist-vegan vibes.

So one of the shops in this complex is Cafe O’Te, a little counter cafe which mostly focuses on tea and coffee, but also has a tiny little menu with a couple amazing looking things on it. One of those things I noticed, was the hambagu.

Unfortunately the fist time I clocked O’Te, I wasn’t in a position be eating a whole meal. But weeks later, here we are!

I almost don’t even need to get into detail. This hamburger and rice and demiglace and pickles was, of course, good as hell. I loved it. I’d eat another one right now. And next time I’m in Tokyo (or Kyoto), I’m absolutely going to eat another one.