Meatball

Oversized ugly sweaters, small dogs, thick bottle glasses, and meatballs.

You may think this was a list of homey items that remind you of grandma and grandpa.  Nope.  They're a list of things that are trendy in New York.  

Okay, Shaina.  We know about how hipsters dress and how people like to carry little dogs in purses, but meatballs?

Yes.  Meatballs.  

I finally was able to make it to The Meatball Shop in the lower east side.  The only reason we actually got in (on a Wednesday night) was because Jess and Mikel got there 2 hours early to wait for a table and I was 30 min late.

I've heard the hype about this place through friends, co-workers, commercials, and taxi cabs.  Meatball seems to be the new bacon.

Sitting down at a small table, we were given 4 glasses with water, one glass with dry erase markers, and laminated menus.  The "customizable" menu has check boxes so guests can mark how they'd like their meatballs or, in Mike's case, to mark and order every single option on the menu.

I decided to try a variety of sliders:

- Spicy pork with spicy meat sauce

- Greek lamb with mushroom sauce

- Veggie with pesto sauce

- Beef with tomato sauce

The sliders looked small and common.  But, biting into the spicy pork meatball, I realized how soft and delicious the buns were.  The flavorful meatballs and sauce pleased me with each bite.  At $3 a piece, the sliders initially seemed like a good deal until I was still starving after eating 4.

Fortunately, I was able to control my hunger with dessert....design your own ice cream sandwich!  The sandwich was in the form of a slider but about 3 times the size.  Mine had one peanut butter cookie, one snickerdoodle, and white chocolate caramel ice cream.