Phoning it in: Sunday Sandwich at Cheeky Sandwiches

It has been a minute. I apologize (primarily to myself) for the neglect of this blog lol since I may be the onliest person reading it :). However I do have some lovely eye candy posts coming up soon, which hopefully would more than make up for the dry spell...what, noo darlings not that eye candy, c'mon, this is foodie, family friendly programming...sorry! Hahah!

Today I am introducing "Phoning It In" which really is a new series of posts where I just refuse to hoist the big old DSLR and instead, use the good ol' smartphone for the capture of scenes and eats. That's right. My phone. Not that there is anything extra ordinary about that. Hello we live in a world where people interact more with their phones than with fellow human beings, and just the other day I read a rant by one of those 'serious professional photogs' who was looking down on the industry and art of photography being reduced to iPhone photography that any caveman can aspire to. Sir, this is 2014... lol anywhoo so why this series? It's just that being a self proclaimed foodie who happens to own a piece of DSLR gear, you take the big guns with you so you can get that wonderful photograph of your food before you consume it. Just a few clicks and back in the bag it goes, out of everyone's hair and we can all act like that moment you climbed on a chair just so you could get the 'vantage position over your table' shot, didn't just happen. Well, cue the scary, terrifying moment in a movie soundtrack; sometimes I just really don't want to deal with that. Yes, sometimes I don't feel like looking like a freakazoid for the sake of the shot.

LOL don't get me wrong, I still have the utmost respect for my foodie photography gurus, heck I would get on my chair for that split second if I had to. I have and I'd do it again too but on this day at Cheeky Sandwiches in the Lower East Side, I had ordered their scrumptious Chicken Cheeky Sandwich and as I waited for it to arrive I observed this couple who had been waiting ever so patiently for their order. Their sandwiches arrived and next thing the guy breaks out his big Canon 60D or something and proceeds to start taking photos at various angles and *gasp* I caught myself rolling my eyes! Talk about being all judgy heheh. You'd think I should be one to talk eh ha! Let's just say it left me feeling some type of way lol. I felt like, 'no, there should only be one person with obnoxious big clunky camera photo taking at a time in a restaurant lest they think the foodie photog aliens have taken over' ha! So when my lovely delicious sandwich (you can tell I love this place) arrived, I broke out not my 5D, but my humble smart phone. Enjoy the photos and please bear the commentary. :)

Cheeky Sandwiches are...err cheeky.  What?! I should try harder but I don't know what else to say about this place - it's a little unassuming hole in the wall type spot in the LES with a nice shack like ambiance which attempts to take you to a little cafe in, I don't know, say,  New Orleans. I mean they serve Beignets ("Ben-yays") for pete's sake! Oh by the way the ben-yays come in those cute little bags like the one in the first photo. I have been to Cafe Du Monde in the Big Easy and having had the beignets there (for which they are world famous), I must give the guys at Cheeky's due props but they must have used the batter sold by the famous Cafe (I mean how difficult is it to screw that up lol).

Cafe Du Monde atmostphere and empty batter tin

Them things was delish! Like the real thing with just the right amount of excess powdered sugar hahah. Personally I could have done with a little less sugar and actually I remember at the Cafe in Nawlins I was searching for the beignets in the mountain of white stuff placed in front of me lol. I loved the Cafe Du Monde, majorly because I was impressed to see that it was nice and large and spacious enough for patrons. I know if it were my lovely NYC, such a storied place would be a pretentious little shack that could only comfortably seat 10 people, with people lining up around the block for beignets only enough for 100 people all before 7 am in the morning with no plans to make any more til' tomorrow (I'm looking at you, Cronut).  Never mind that you're the conveyer of arguably world famous cafe au lait and world renowned beignets. No that won't matter. SMH. Anyway I digress. Anyways I had the beignets and it was with all the restraint I could muster that I ordered up only one serving of 3 pieces of delightfulness for $1 guys! $1. Okay. Speaking of which this place was so nice and reasonably priced. The damage was $7.50 today. I call that cheap eats and you know aint nothing better than cheap eats....

The absolutely delectable chicken sandwich with coleslaw at the bottom and gravy on top. Yum. My.

A closer look. The purple is the coleslaw. The chicken was the right amount of crisp and tenderness.

Next it was time to attack the "ben-yays"

Scrumptious morsel enjoyed with a drink of passion fruit ginger tea...

 

Close up

Gratuitous ambiance shot. Like I said I was more in the mood to enjoy my food else there would have been a sweeping shot in there somewhere. LOL I promise next time I will be less lazy. But don't take my words or commentary for it. Off the beaten track, but isn't that where the good stuff is at sometimes? I would say if you are in the area, it's a go, at least I can guarantee you on the Chicken Sandwich plus you can get a feel of those lovely, lovely Cafe Du Monde beignets without flying to Nawlins...