_______Updated 2/24/12 from previous post_______
Two weeks ago, a friend brought it to my attention that a new sandwich shop opened up in the Financial District of Manhattan and the pictures from their website made it appetizing enough to give it a try. The place is called My Belly's Playlist and there was a press release annoucing it's opening with the address of 3 Hanover Square. It was one of those gourmet sandwich places that I usually don't frequent, but the promise mentioned in the press release is if a customer creates a sandwich and other people like the concept, the sandwich is named after you. My friend came up with the clever name, the 'Zeisswich', if I would be able to create a winning combo other people would also like.
I took the subway down to the city and got off at the Bowling Green station to meet up with my friend. I actually found out for the first time what the heck Bowling Green was and it turns out to be this tiny little park, hardly worth naming a subway station over. As we walked down the narrow streets of the Financial District, one of them cleverly named Stone Street for obvious reasons, there was the usual amount of police and security making their presence known. We eventually reached the Hanover Square area, but were having difficulty locating any place named My Belly's Playlist. In fact we couldn't even find a store or building with the address number of 3. It wasn't until we walked around the entire block that we finally found 3 Hanover Square, but it wasn't a store, it was an entrance to a regular building. Perhaps it was an office building and the sandwich place was inside for workers to get something for lunch. We entered the building and there's nothing there but a security guard at a desk and a pair of elevators beyond his desk. With nothing to lose at that point we asked the security guard if My Belly's Playlist is inside the building. Not only did he tell us he has no idea what we're talking about, but he informed us it was a residential building, and we had been the third group of people this week that came to his desk and asked for the same sandwich shop. It was semi-comforting to know that we weren't the only ones who couldn't find this place, but then where was it?
I called the phone number listed on the press release, after the third ring someone picked up and I asked where were they located. First he told me they were about to close as it was 4pm and then he said they were at the corner of Hanover and Beaver. We passed that way and didn't see anything that said My Belly's Playlist, all that was there was a typical deli called Cafe Bravo. It was one of those have-everything places with the hot food sold by the pound, sandwiches, smoothies, pizza, etc. This wasn't exactly the gourmet sandwich shop that had its own website with customer comments of how great it was. We walked by Cafe Bravo again to doublecheck, and yes it was just your typical corner store deli. It was a major letdown so we decided to find somewhere else to eat. One possibility was a Cuban chain with several locations in the city called Sophie's, but this place was closing at 4pm and were only doing take-out orders. The food looked good, but where were we going to eat it? So we actually ended up at the 3 Hanover Square residential building again, as to the left of it was a Northern Italian resturant called Joseph's. After entering, there's a flight of stairs that go down and lead into a bar area, but we ate in the dining room and were the only ones in there.
The waiter had a rather thick Italian accent and the opera music playing from the speakers gave it the full Italian resturant touch. For appetizer they brought out a plate of thiny-sliced prosciutto di parma over slices of canteloupe. For my main course I had the ravioli di aragosta, which is basically lobster-stuffed ravioli. One of the good and bad parts of the place is they give you alot of time in between the phases of the dining experience, as in they're not on top of you every five minutes. This was actually a set-back when they forgot to bring out my friend's soup and there was no one around to tell it to. We waited until it was time for the check before breaking that little bit of news. For dessert they brought out a large plate with four types of cake slices, and as the waiter described them my eyes immediately went to the red velvet slice and I tuned out what the waiter was saying. Naturally, I had made my selection, but I have to say it wasn't one of the better red velvet slice I've had lately. It was very plain in taste, perhaps it had been sitting around for an extra week than normal. Plus to make matters worse, the coffee was a little weak too. The prosciutto and ravioli were rather good, but unfortunately the dessert was a drop-off on the way out.
My original blog about that afternoon and not being able to find the sandwich shop was posted on 2/10/12, titled "New Sandwich Shop That Doesn't Exist". Two days ago, a representative from My Belly's Playlist, Chef Jim, contacted me with the news that they're a delivery-based business right now and are using a basement kitchen of another establishment to prepare the food, which is why I couldn't find an actual store location two weeks ago(actual conversion with Chef Jim featured below in Comments section). He invited me down today and told me to give him a call when I was in front of the Yorganic store, as their operation is in the basement of that place. The night before I checked their menu online again and decided I wanted to go with the Outcast which was a trio of short-rib sliders of praire breeze cheddar cheese, bright apple and carrot slaw, and horseradish cream, served on mini brioche buns. Once I was inside Yorganic, Chef Jim came upstairs to meet me and took my Outcast order, and while he was making that I had a chance to speak with their other founder, Chef Shawn. He's been in the resturant business for a while and he told me that they opened up last month to focus on deliveries for now, but would like to get their own place in the future. Although they're only using a basement right now, one can still go there to get a sandwich and simply eat it in Yorganic, which has a seating section.
In about ten-minutes my sandwich was ready and it cost a reasonable ten-dollars. This sandwich experience was two weeks in the making, so I couldn't wait to get started. I stayed inside Yorganic and took my box, they package the sandwich in, over to the seating area. Inside the neatly packed box was the trio-sandwich, two dipping sides, and the showstoper in the form of a soft chocolate chip cookie. The sliders looked just as good as the pictures on their website and the taste was amazing. Although the meat was short-rib, it wasn't greasy at all, unlike alot of other 'pulled' sandwiches. I was certainly happy Chef Jim got in touch with me so I was able to discover this wonderful sandwich experience. Unfortunately, Chef Jim went back downstairs so I wasn't able to say goodbye, but I did have another quick word with Chef Shawn on the way out. With a good meal in my stomach, I needed something extra to top it off. Back at the well traveled 3 Hanover Square I went into Lanidas, which specializes in Belgian chocolate, to get a fancy hot chocolate and small piece of white chocolate that came with it. At six dollars for a medium size it has to be the most expensive cup of hot coco I ever bought, but the taste of the true rich chocolate was worth every penny.
If I ever go onto Jeopardy and one of the categories is 3 Hanover Square, I'm winning that round hands-down...
Two weeks ago, a friend brought it to my attention that a new sandwich shop opened up in the Financial District of Manhattan and the pictures from their website made it appetizing enough to give it a try. The place is called My Belly's Playlist and there was a press release annoucing it's opening with the address of 3 Hanover Square. It was one of those gourmet sandwich places that I usually don't frequent, but the promise mentioned in the press release is if a customer creates a sandwich and other people like the concept, the sandwich is named after you. My friend came up with the clever name, the 'Zeisswich', if I would be able to create a winning combo other people would also like.
I took the subway down to the city and got off at the Bowling Green station to meet up with my friend. I actually found out for the first time what the heck Bowling Green was and it turns out to be this tiny little park, hardly worth naming a subway station over. As we walked down the narrow streets of the Financial District, one of them cleverly named Stone Street for obvious reasons, there was the usual amount of police and security making their presence known. We eventually reached the Hanover Square area, but were having difficulty locating any place named My Belly's Playlist. In fact we couldn't even find a store or building with the address number of 3. It wasn't until we walked around the entire block that we finally found 3 Hanover Square, but it wasn't a store, it was an entrance to a regular building. Perhaps it was an office building and the sandwich place was inside for workers to get something for lunch. We entered the building and there's nothing there but a security guard at a desk and a pair of elevators beyond his desk. With nothing to lose at that point we asked the security guard if My Belly's Playlist is inside the building. Not only did he tell us he has no idea what we're talking about, but he informed us it was a residential building, and we had been the third group of people this week that came to his desk and asked for the same sandwich shop. It was semi-comforting to know that we weren't the only ones who couldn't find this place, but then where was it?
I called the phone number listed on the press release, after the third ring someone picked up and I asked where were they located. First he told me they were about to close as it was 4pm and then he said they were at the corner of Hanover and Beaver. We passed that way and didn't see anything that said My Belly's Playlist, all that was there was a typical deli called Cafe Bravo. It was one of those have-everything places with the hot food sold by the pound, sandwiches, smoothies, pizza, etc. This wasn't exactly the gourmet sandwich shop that had its own website with customer comments of how great it was. We walked by Cafe Bravo again to doublecheck, and yes it was just your typical corner store deli. It was a major letdown so we decided to find somewhere else to eat. One possibility was a Cuban chain with several locations in the city called Sophie's, but this place was closing at 4pm and were only doing take-out orders. The food looked good, but where were we going to eat it? So we actually ended up at the 3 Hanover Square residential building again, as to the left of it was a Northern Italian resturant called Joseph's. After entering, there's a flight of stairs that go down and lead into a bar area, but we ate in the dining room and were the only ones in there.
The waiter had a rather thick Italian accent and the opera music playing from the speakers gave it the full Italian resturant touch. For appetizer they brought out a plate of thiny-sliced prosciutto di parma over slices of canteloupe. For my main course I had the ravioli di aragosta, which is basically lobster-stuffed ravioli. One of the good and bad parts of the place is they give you alot of time in between the phases of the dining experience, as in they're not on top of you every five minutes. This was actually a set-back when they forgot to bring out my friend's soup and there was no one around to tell it to. We waited until it was time for the check before breaking that little bit of news. For dessert they brought out a large plate with four types of cake slices, and as the waiter described them my eyes immediately went to the red velvet slice and I tuned out what the waiter was saying. Naturally, I had made my selection, but I have to say it wasn't one of the better red velvet slice I've had lately. It was very plain in taste, perhaps it had been sitting around for an extra week than normal. Plus to make matters worse, the coffee was a little weak too. The prosciutto and ravioli were rather good, but unfortunately the dessert was a drop-off on the way out.
My original blog about that afternoon and not being able to find the sandwich shop was posted on 2/10/12, titled "New Sandwich Shop That Doesn't Exist". Two days ago, a representative from My Belly's Playlist, Chef Jim, contacted me with the news that they're a delivery-based business right now and are using a basement kitchen of another establishment to prepare the food, which is why I couldn't find an actual store location two weeks ago(actual conversion with Chef Jim featured below in Comments section). He invited me down today and told me to give him a call when I was in front of the Yorganic store, as their operation is in the basement of that place. The night before I checked their menu online again and decided I wanted to go with the Outcast which was a trio of short-rib sliders of praire breeze cheddar cheese, bright apple and carrot slaw, and horseradish cream, served on mini brioche buns. Once I was inside Yorganic, Chef Jim came upstairs to meet me and took my Outcast order, and while he was making that I had a chance to speak with their other founder, Chef Shawn. He's been in the resturant business for a while and he told me that they opened up last month to focus on deliveries for now, but would like to get their own place in the future. Although they're only using a basement right now, one can still go there to get a sandwich and simply eat it in Yorganic, which has a seating section.
In about ten-minutes my sandwich was ready and it cost a reasonable ten-dollars. This sandwich experience was two weeks in the making, so I couldn't wait to get started. I stayed inside Yorganic and took my box, they package the sandwich in, over to the seating area. Inside the neatly packed box was the trio-sandwich, two dipping sides, and the showstoper in the form of a soft chocolate chip cookie. The sliders looked just as good as the pictures on their website and the taste was amazing. Although the meat was short-rib, it wasn't greasy at all, unlike alot of other 'pulled' sandwiches. I was certainly happy Chef Jim got in touch with me so I was able to discover this wonderful sandwich experience. Unfortunately, Chef Jim went back downstairs so I wasn't able to say goodbye, but I did have another quick word with Chef Shawn on the way out. With a good meal in my stomach, I needed something extra to top it off. Back at the well traveled 3 Hanover Square I went into Lanidas, which specializes in Belgian chocolate, to get a fancy hot chocolate and small piece of white chocolate that came with it. At six dollars for a medium size it has to be the most expensive cup of hot coco I ever bought, but the taste of the true rich chocolate was worth every penny.
If I ever go onto Jeopardy and one of the categories is 3 Hanover Square, I'm winning that round hands-down...
Hi James, we're an underground sandwich shop doing delivery only. WE're lodged between the cafe you mentioned, Yorganic and the Undergound Pizza Shop. Our business is entirely online as we're occupying an underused kitchen below the Financial District. If you call in tomorrow or Friday and remind me of this post, you can feel free to come in and pick it up. Hope this finds you well,
ReplyDeleteChef Jim
www.mybellysplaylist.com
917 338 6846
Hi Chef Jim,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the heads-up. I'll try to get down there on Friday and amend my post based on this revelation. I'll probably go with the Outcast.
Thx,
James