m. wells diner.

Last weekend, we celebrated Mike’s birthday with a suckling pig feast at Back Forty.  (More on that in a post to come.)  To celebrate the fact that we survived the suckling pig feast, Mike, Fred, Ziki and I met up the following morning at M. Wells Diner in Long Island City for a brunch that rivaled the pig feast in sheer gluttonous awesomeness.   Fred got the seafood cobbler, described by our waiter as “shepherd’s pie meets Montauk,” a completely apt description for a haddock (we think, anyway) and bechamel-filled ramekin topped with biscuits and gruyere.  Sweet lord.  Ziki opted for the diner’s signature egg sausage sandwich, a homemade version of McDonald’s Sausage-Egg McMuffin (and a hundred times better).  Mike and I split half a meat pie, which, well, you can check out the photo above and the one below.  Oh my god oh my god.  It came with a cranberry ketchup that gave the proceedings a slightly Thanksgiving-ish air (not a bad thing at all).  And we collectively decided that the meal wouldn’t be right without a side of fries.  And some banana cream pie for dessert.  Of course. 

I can’t decide if I love or hate the fact that M. Wells is all the way in Long Island City — it’s a trek to get there, and so I rarely go.  But visits end up being such special occasions, with such gastronomic debauchery, and I think that that would be lost if it were more conveniently located (read: down my street).   Bah, who am I kidding — I would kill to have this place nearby.  I don’t think I could ever get enough of it. 

Oh, and for the photographically inclined: this is what Portra 800 looks like when you push it one stop and take pictures in daytime at mostly f/2.8.  I was sure they’d come out much grainier and overexposed.  Go figure.