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| - So my journey began two years ago when I was in Greenwich Village during a street fair and saw a trailer selling funnel cakes and deep- fried Oreos. Oh no, I couldn't. But oh yes, I did, and all of a sudden, there was a tray full of those tempura-looking Oreos ready to pop into my mouth in record time. Then a few months ago, I saw Anthony Bourdain on his Vegas episode of "No Reservations". There he was in Mermaid's devouring a deep-fried Oreo and loving it.
A few weeks after that, I saw Kathy Griffin on her D-List show taking Bette Midler to the same place where they had the same thing and actually looked like they enjoyed it. Finally, this past weekend, Jamie W. and I found ourselves at the Fremont Street Experience and made a beeline to Mermaid's where we had to squeeze ourselves around the multitude of slot machines. In the back next to the restroom is not an upscale Michael Mina restaurant. Oh no, it is a sea of deep frying oil with a queue of people waiting to see what will come out of it.
Jamie and I ordered a couple of deep-fried Twinkies for 99 cents each and a trio of deep-fried Oreos for another 99 cents (see photos). They were buried in powdered sugar and chocolate sprinkles. Every time I lifted one up, an avalanche of sugar landed on my jacket. Was it all worth the journey? Hell yeah. There must be something about all those encrusted chemicals melted by the heat because they were delicious in a God-knows-this-is-bad-for your-body kind of way.
FOOD - 4 stars...deep fry anything, and you have me at hello
AMBIANCE - 2 stars....oh my dear, it's an absolute pit with no apologies
SERVICE - 3.5 stars...they serve them up fast
TOTAL - 4 stars...so what the hell else are you gonna do for the hour between the video shows up on the canopy?
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