Last night was a bit of a stroll down memory lane for me, food wise. I spent many years working in the Flatiron district – my first three jobs out of college and the internship I had my senior year all happened within the confines of that immediate neighborhood.

During that time, I had more lunches at Chat & Chew than I – or my waistline – care to recall. It may have been ages since I’d been there but happily Uncle Red’s Addiction (honey dipped fried chicken) has lost none of its sticky, messy appeal. My dining companion had the ‘Thanksgiving on a Roll’ and spoke highly of it in between mouthfuls. Reveling in the “bad for us but too delicious to be resisted” mode of the evening. We both had dessert. I wish I had the words to describe Vesuvius, the chocolate cheesecake concoction I had. But I can’t. Calling it multi-layered sin on a fork only scratches the surface.

Then we headed over to Old Town Bar for a chat and a drink – again as I used to do so often during my Flatiron days. There’s something really comforting to sit down a 55 feet of bar and have a drink at a place that has been in the same place, doing the same thing and not changed in any significant way in almost 120 years. You can get a decent drink, hear yourself think as well as hear the person next to you.

The crowd, quite bustling as you would expect on a Saturday night, isn’t the obstacle it might be in other bars because there is space to move. Space is something sorely lacking in more modern watering holes where they’ve crammed in as much – or more – than fire regulations will allow so they can pay the rent and keep the bartenders awash in hair product. I wonder if the luxury of space (and grownup bartenders) is something only bars that own their space can manage? It makes me want to do a “classic bar tour of NYC” post. Obviously a great deal of um – research will need to be done.

But before I do that, a quick link found up since I’ve got food and the city on the brain.

October is a month with an R in it so you know what that means! Oysters!

• Oct 3 – Grand Central Oyster Bar & Restaurant annual
  Oyster Frenzy
• Oct. 17 and 18 – Long Island’s 26th Annual Oyster festival

The 2009 Vendy Award Winners were named yesterday and NewYorkology has the whole story. If you’d rather cut straight to the eats:

• Country Boys aka the Martinez Taco Truck won best food vendor
• Wafels & Dinges was named the winner in the dessert category.
• Biryani Cart won the Grey Poupon People’s Taste Award

Speaking of street food, NYC’s food cart mania in the media isn’t the only frenzy on the Gotham street food scene. The clashes between vendors, in light of the vendrification of the scene, are getting pretty heated as well. Vendrification. Great word. I shall adopt it right now. All credit to BlackBook Mag.

More on the topic of street food is coming. Oh yes. Much more.