Luke's Lobster
November 23rd, 2009 by Planet Chocko
I had a tasty triple threat snack-wich from ‘Lukes Lobster’ @ the New Amsterdam Market which is located outside
of the old fulton fish market by South Street seaport. The triple threat bite sized snacks – 1 each of a lobster,crab,& shrimp roll of pure ocean delightness were all neatly tucked onto a crisply toasted-slightly buttered bun! These naked shellfish goodies were delicately dressed with a slight slather of butter. My faves were the lobster & shrimp rolls. The lobster & shrimp meats melted in my mouth & were not disguised with gooey dressings or mayo. The lobster roll meat I had on my mini-wich were from the lobster claw. It was pure ocean porn with a perfectly crisped toasted brown bun! Who’s your daddy? If you urbanites can’t make it to Maine for a lobster roll experience – Luke’s Lobster on the lower east side of Manahatty will be the 2nd in command! The sticker price might shock you(look below), but the new demographics & gentrification of LES is of a different beast nowadays $$ Cha ching!!
Luke’s Lobster
93 E 7th St
(between 1st Ave & Avenue A)
New York, NY 10009
Tags: crab roll, lobster roll, lower east side, lukes lobster, new york city, shrimp roll
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Panya Bakery
November 23rd, 2009 by Planet Chocko
I’m stoked that one of my fave Japanese bakeries,Panya has re-opened again! Panya has an even larger space now & in addition, they serve hot Japanese style breakfasts & lunch as well as cold foods from Sunrise Market! Their pastries,bread,& crustless style Japanese sandwiches are off the chain! I really thought that Panya closed up shop for good & were down for the eternal count especially when their next door neighbor, the great late night diner style haunt, “Around the Clock” shuttered it’s door. This is great, now I can really enjoy my cold & hot drinks from St. Alps & walk across the street to Panya for dessert or a bento box! Now, if they can bring back Around the Clock, The Continental, Chick Pea, Underground Kim’s, & Coney Island High, the East village might resemble a shadow of what they once were! In the meantime, enjoy your Strawberry shortcakes & other Shinjuku delicacies in the east village!
Panya @ 8 Stuyvesant St
(between 11th St & 12th St)
New York, NY 10003
(212) 777-1930
Tags: bento box, east village, japanese breakfast, panya, panya bakery, strawberry shortcake
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Orthodox Stance Documentary
November 22nd, 2009 by Planet Chocko
This is my 2nd time watching “Orthodox Stance” , a boxing documentary following the trials & tribulations of an orthodox jew named Dmitriy Salita. Salita is a throwback boxer-jew from the crown heights section of Brooklyn-NYC originally from the Ukraine. Amongst the city & hip hop elements of Crown Heights – Brooklyn, Salita practices Judaism & does not fight on the Sabbath or Jewish Holidays. He is a very soft spoken young man with religious beliefs of the orthodox way of Chabad. Despite, the quiet ways & calm waves of this young man, Salita has a roaring fire burning inside of him when he steps into the ring. Salita is not a devastating knockout specimen, but a definite throwback boxer with relentless proportions armed with speed & great timing. Salita often enters the ring being serenated with the energy & sounds of reggae performer of judaism proportions, ‘Matisyahu’. Salita is also a New York Golden Gloves champion to boot. He trained in the legendary Starrett City boxing club @ the age of 13 under the tutelage of the great Jimmy O, amongst Salita’s training mates includes Zab Judah & Luis Collazo. Due to an aging Jimmy O, Oscar Suarez took the reigns in training Salita. In the documentary, check out a brief cameo of a young Miguel Cotto & an already boisterous Floyd Mayweather. Dmitriy is currently 30-0-1 with a scheduled bout against Amir Khan on Dec.5th,2009. Represent NYC boxing & get a copy of “Orthodox Stance”, its a knockout or at least a TKO, anyway!
Tags: brooklyn, dmitriy salita, golden gloves, jewish, judaism, new york city, russia, starrett city, ukrain, zab judah
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Harlem Hellfighters documentary
November 22nd, 2009 by Planet Chocko
I finally had a chance to catch up on some movies on my hit list & watched a really entertaining sport documentary. “Harlem Hellfighters” was about a High School football team based in Harlem, NYC which is run under a program hosted by the NFL. Head coach Duke Fergerson stepped up to the plate to take the challenge of teaching & being a mentor to these young kids in NYC. Coach Duke played in the NFL as a wide receiver for 4 or 5 seasons with the Seahawks & the Bills. He was very passionate about being the “foster parent/coach” for the Harlem Hellfighters who’s main purpose in his mind was to prepare these city kids for the next step up in adulthood, to make the right decisions, & to use football as a catalyst to go to college. The Harlem Hellfighters is a NYC based high school football team which ANYBODY that is going to High School in New York that does NOT have a football team in their own high school can try out for. Of course, the documentary shows a lot of bumps, flaws, & downfalls of the protaganists in the film, mostly pointing to the head coach. Coach Duke should be commended in his efforts in being a role model to these kids on his team, but there were a few instances in the film that made you scratch your head. One was for the ‘no mercy’ attitude of blowing out a team from the South Bronx. His excuse was that he lets his players call all the plays on the field despite them already blowing out the other team. This excuse was appalling! Players might call their own plays, but the coach should set the mood & has the final say with any doings on the field. Bad bad sportsmanship! The 2nd downfall seemed to be a lack of organization & planning of his own team. The NFL brasses who ran the high school program had to consul the coach a few times. The third & most critical seemed to point to the lack of communications between his players and himself. The coach seemed ‘out of touch’ with his players & did not seem to make himself available in terms of being human. The movie also portrayed the coach doing a horrendous job in judging talent on his team, almost giving his players false hope for some of the seniors playing in Division 1 colleges when in reality their football skills were marginal at best. All in all, Coach Duke had good intentions to uplift these kids to another level with the catalyst being football. If anything, this football program gives the kids another vehicle to ride out to better pastures. If you get a chance, watch the ‘Harlem Hellfighters’ documentary!
Tags: coach duke fergerson, documentary, harlem hellfighters, high school football, new york city
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Yankee Stadium to host fight of the century! *DREAM*
November 20th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
While still in a boxing state of mind from last weekend & still in dreamweave mode from the bliss of the NY Yankee world series win, why don’t we interlace my two favorite stories of 2009 together somehow? Rumblings from the sports world would indicate that if the fight between Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather would ever materialize, the fight of the century might take place as a ‘Bronx Tale’ in the beautiful backdrop of the new Yankee Stadium. Yankee Stadium is already set to host one of the College Bowl games in 2010 & already hosted a press conference for Cotto & Pacquiao in Sept. 09. (Check out the embedded Youtube Video below that PlanetChocko took @ the press conference at Yankee Stadium). [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pt2rFakj_Jk]Getting the nod to host this fight @ Yankee stadium would redefine the new stadium as a multifaceted facility which in turn would bring in more revenue to add to the reinvestment strategy of the Steinbrenner family. I can hear Boston fans rolling their eye’s & mumbling….Fuck the evil empire! The old Yankee Stadium had been a host to many a boxing legend like Max Schmeling, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, & Ken Norton. Even the Pope graced Yankee stadium in the mid 60’s. Awe hell, Jay Z & Alicia Keys even performed in centerfield in the World Series! Bringing back boxing to Yankee Stadium would be epic & serve to reignite a piece of americana that we haven’t tasted in a while. We fight fans can only dream of the forecasted fight of the century between Manny Pacquiao & Floyd Mayweather be told in a setting of a ‘Bronx Tale’! Now, if we can only convince Big Mouth Floyd to suck up his EGO & take a 50/50 earning to live up to the hype of this fight. Truth be told, this epic fight HAS to happen with no excuses or crying over money & venues. Why? Because the legacy of these 2 great fighters can only be complete with the outcome of this rumble!
-Mr. C
Tags: fight century, floyd mayweather, freddie roach, manny pacquiao, miguel cotto, philippines, wildcard gym, yankee stadium
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Manny Pacquiao vs Miguel Cotto
November 17th, 2009 by Planet Chocko
Wow…Manny Pacquiao casted a victory over Miguel Cotto in Las Vegas on 11/14/09! The referee puts a halt to the fight in the 12th round due to the beating that Cotto had taken throughout. The corner from the puerto rican native wanted to make the 11th round his last, but Cotto decided to come out for the 12th despite his battered & bruised self with blood gushing out from his nose. Cotto came out fast & fierce in the first two rounds of boxing, setting the pace with some jabs that went through the guard of Pacman & showing some speed, but Manny staggered Cotto in the late 2nd round with a right which proved to Manny and the puerto rican that he had some thunder in his gloves. After Manny was able to adjust to Cotto’s inline speed & jabs by doing what pacman does best – move laterally, step in, step out, step to the side, and then throw punches from angles that Cotto could not see. It also appeared that Pacman was playing rope a dope a few times trying to sucker Cotto in after Manny had proved to himself that he could take some of Cotto’s lightning! Miguel really took a beating from Pacman as his corner looked bewildered and helpless. We heard from Larry Merchant and Jim Lampley from HBO that Miguel’s father wanted the fight to be stopped by the 10th or 11th round. Cotto’s wife and child could not bare to see the battered image and left the arena a few rounds earlier. Miguel Cotto really tried to hang on till the end but he was definitely outclassed tonight by a great smaller fighter. Miguel proved to be a standup guy by sticking around after the fight to talk to Larry Merchant and to congratulate Manny on the win despite the puffiness on his face. Miguel Cotto told Larry Merchant that he had fought some really good fighters like Zab Judah, Clottey, Mosley, and Margarito , but Manny is one of the all time greats! We are really lucky to witness one of the legends of pugilism – pound for pound one of the greatest fighters in boxing history with Manny Pacman Pacquiao! That’s 7 titles from 7 different weight classes folks! The most refreshing part of this story is that this man is of humble stature!
The next proposed fight with Floyd Mayweather Jr will be epic and money! This fight against Floyd will determine Pacquiao’s status of being an elite pugilist or one of immortal status! Sugar Shane Mosley is also waiting in the wings if he can get pass a tough young stud in Andre Berto!
–Mr. C
Tags: 7 weight divisions, boxing, filipino, freddie roach, las vegas, manny pacquiao, miguel cotto, puerto rico, sports, welterweight
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