Check The Good Senator for additional coverage of this week's spree, including a soul-searching, boundary-breaking evening on Second Avenue.
Trailer Park
Manhattan, 23rd St. at 8th

G: Oh, this is where I wanna be.
J: This is a good place to be.
G: This is exactly where I want to be.
J: This is just like Bimbo's. Did I take you there when we were in Seattle? No, I think we were too fry-focused. It's got the exact same kitsch.
G: There's more than one picture of Tammy Faye Bakker here. (beat) The pregnant woman with the cigarette and the beer and the flamingo slippers is a little over the top.
J: (looks around and sees the mannequin G is referring to) Oh, I thought you meant a real woman.
(there is a pole-and-base paper towel dispenser on the table)
G: Nice touch.
J: Just like my house.

* * *
The waitress appears. We negotiate cheese fries.
Waitress: We only have sweet-potato fries.
J: Fascinating.
G: We'll try that.
W: Do you want the cheese sauce? They make it here, it's really good.
J: (quickly) No.
G: It's a matter of scientific accuracy.
J: Is that what it is.
Waitress leaves with order, returns with drinks.
G: The iced tea is like dishwater.
A waiter with precious Williamsburg-boy floppy hair arrives with the cheese fries and gives them to the two men at the next table down. We don't stop him until our neighbors see the basket and recoil in horror.
J: These are good for you! Yes, they are quite satisfactory.
G: I don't know what I think. Some of them are underdone.
J: (with a string of cheese dangling from her mouth) They're fall-off-the-bone tender!
G: They're no good with ketchup.
J: Ketchup is a fine idea! (adds more)
G: They are blister-my-mouth hot.
J: They are full of grease and charm. They could use some bacon.
G: YEAH. The liquid consistency of the cheese and the fries is about the same, which is great.
J: There appears to have been a layering oversight.
Roy Orbison sings in the background
* * *
J: (casting an eye over the nearby gumball dispenser) Are those chiclets only five cents? Do you only get one?
G: The question is are they all fused together.
J: It's worth finding out.
She returns with a fistful of scabrous white chiclet tabs plus a red and an orange one
J: I really like the white ones, but... Do you want the red or the orange one?
G: (hesitating) Orange. (chews) This is very off. Not crisp.
* * *
Fries, iced tea and a Sprite came to $12.80!!!
G: Most expensive fries ever.
J: (quoting the receipt) "Book your private shindig with us -- birthdays, wedding receptions, bail jumping, parole violation party, etc.!"
G: That doesn't make up for the high price.