nosh nook #66 - monday, june 15, 2009

restaurateur fed his whimsy, and diners, with huge menu (link)
06.14.09 - the washington post - by joe holley

here in new york, there's this place, shopsins, that's somewhat of a new york legend. at one point, someone even made a film about it--i like killing flies. run by one kenny shopsin, it's known for both its insanely long menu & quirky, insanely-tempered owner. it existed for years as a diner in greenwich village until they were priced out of the neighborhood & eventually landed in their current space, a stall in the essex market. it's the sort of joint where you'd be as likely to be shamed & kicked out for using your cell phone as you would be to get a buddhaboy (a sandwich with brussel sprouts, haricot vert, puff rice & gruyere).

in gaithersburg, md, there's a similar place called roy's place, a restaurant which was run by owner roy passin for 54 years until he passed on a month ago today. as joe holley reports, roy's place has a "20-page menu featuring 206 sandwich combinations, almost all of them created and whimsically named by roy passin himself." the list includes such items as the "the forever ambler, or the importance of being ernest," "the joel t. siegel" & "the pretty kitty in love with claude dog." although there's no way he could be as crazy as kenny shopsin, roy was also known as someone who was "random and creative" while also being "loud and profane."

patton oswalt has this one bit about crazy chefs called "great food is prepared by psychos." in it, he talks about how he used to worship insane musicians, but now worships insane four-star chefs, folks who imbue the experience of their restaurants with nutty, OCD characteristics like "every day our kobe-rubbed beef is read the book are you my mother? by a guatemalan child."  the crazy long menus of roy passin & kenny shopsin fall into this same category of quirks...& people want that quirkiness in a restaurant.  if they didn't, we could just slap up mcdonald's after mcdonald's & just call it a day.