#60 – CRISPY ROCK SHRIMP at NIGHTS AND WEEKENDS

For the third year in a row, I’m going to attempt to eat every single item on Time Out New York’s annual 100 Best Dishes list. In no particular order, here’s my take on their Top 100. Let the gluttony continue…

You’d think the best time to visit a place called Nights and Weekends would be at night or on a weekend. Well, I stopped by on both – a night and a weekend – and the loud pumping music and buzzy scene left me wanting to fast forward to Tuesday afternoon.

I should have known better than to try to stop into this hot Latin American-themed bar on the border of ultra-hip Williamsburg and ultra-hip Greenpoint on a Friday night. But I was nearby and I was hungry.

The space is very interesting, as it is practically a bar inside a wall in the middle of two busy intersections. There’s no one true entrance, but rather many openings so that Nights and Weekends feels like it’s truly part of the street. The music was loud, the vibe was hot, but I just wanted a quiet meal.

The good news, surprisingly, is that the two dishes I tried were rather delicious. The appetizer of fried shishito peppers only suffered from being coated with butter (there are worse things). I would have liked them slightly less slippery, but just as crisp and flavorful as they were.

Crispy rock shrimp were a play on the usual overly breaded popcorn shrimp junk. This dish, which Time Out included on their Top 100, was anything but. In fact, it almost looked like these meaty shrimp balls were not fried at all. The flesh glistened under the slivers of scallions and  serrano peppers. These little buggers were tossed with a creamy sauce of orange peel and chili flakes, in addition to be lightly battered and fried.

I was amazed at how the breading really only enhanced the textures and held on to the spicy and bright aioli. They were frustratingly addicting and while the bold richness were enough to share, I was also upset that there weren’t more of these to pop into my mouth.

And I’d be happy to do it all over again on a much calmer and chill weekday afternoon. One more bit of proof that I’m an old fart.

Would Nights and Weekends’ Crispy Rock Shrimp make my Top 100 of the year? I was shocked that these grown up and inventive versions of popcorn shrimp earned an 8 out of 10, but I can’t deny their deliciousness.