One of our recent guilty pleasures involves watching The Best Thing I Ever Ate on Food Network on Tuesdays, and then Wednesday night going out to one of the places recommended on the show 
So far it’s been a hit and a great way to try new places!
Stand Burger was recommended by Iron Chef Michael Symon and his favorite “sugar rush” was the Toasted Marshmallow Shake. He actually finished off three of them during the show! Needless to say, we were drooooling. So the next day we went there, right below Union Square at 12th St and University Pl. We ordered burgers, fries and shakes but I must say that the burgers were small and expensive. The small (not really) fries for $3 was a good deal, which were served in a simple paper cone, hot and fresh. Our group ordered the Chocolate Malted, Apple Pie, and Toasted Marshmallow shakes and each of them were delicious. The Apple Pie was very cinnamon-y but I couldn’t get much of the crisp apple flavor – if there were real apples in there, it would’ve been better. EDIT: Robo and I went back with friends and tried the the Pumpkin and Chocolate Malted. The Pumpkin was a cute pastel orange color and tasted like a fresh pumpkin, so there really wasn’t much sugar in here. I was sort of expecting it to taste like a pumpkin pie, like the Clocktower Pumpkin Shake (which AndrewT graciously reminded me of!) at the Cornell Dairy Bar, which is dark and thick, super sweet, cinnamon-y, and absolutely delicious. Needless to say, the Pumpkin was a let-down. The Chocolate Malted was waaay too sweet, even sweeter than the Toasted Marshmallow. The malted flavor was definitely there, as the shake tasted almost exactly like Whopper balls. It was good but you will need a glass of water to go with it.
But hands down, the Toasted Marshmallow was the best out of all the items we ordered. It comes out in a tall retro milkshake glass topped with a giant serving of whipped cream and two jumbo toasted marshmallows. It just tastes like pure marshmallow: vanilla-y, very sweet, creamy, a little frothy near the end. My favorite were the two perfectly toasted marshmallows. So props to Chef Michael Symon – we’ll be eagerly awaiting his next NYC “best thing I ever ate” =)
Man, I wonder how many of those featured places get a “Wednesday bump” from people doing what you’re doing! Do they recommend at least one place in NYC each week?
Next time I visit I’d love to try the pumpkin shake – I love almost all pumpkin foods, and the one I had at the Dairy Bar was pretty sweet
Well the funny thing was that we went to this other BBQ place that we’ll write about later and the guy at the register was actually like “Yeah… we were on the Food Network and there’s always a rush of people after they show that episode.” Whatever works
Me too, pumpkin ftw! I had the Pumpkin on my second visit to Stand and I was surprised: it tasted like a fresh pumpkin, wasn’t very sweet, and was a pastel orange color. I’ll make a note to the above post with the new pics =)
However, I totally agree – that pumpkin pie shake at the Dairy Bar – now THAT was some good eats X) That tasted like pureed pumpkin pie – cinnamon-y, super sweet, rich and creamy.