An O. K. Lunch on St. Marks

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I just returned home from 'brunch' (if you don't eat breakfast, that makes any lunch brunch) with Cynthia on St. Marks Place. She was craving a Crif Dog...

WE met at Crif Dogs around 1 o'clock and after surveying the menu options, placed our orders at the counter. I decided on a tsunami--bacon-wrapped house dog with teriyaki, pineapple and green onions--and a spicy red neck--bacon-wrapped house dog with chili, coleslaw and jalapeños. 

I tasted the tsunami Crif Dog first and its first noted quality was the familiar Nathan's-esque snap upon biting into it. I just barely tasted the bacon wrapped around it and while the other ingredients married well enough, only the pineapple seemed to stand out as a notable ingredient. Next, I tasted the spicy red neck. There was nothing memorable about this one except for the heaped upon, nothing special coleslaw. I'd picked the spicy red neck because I'd wanted something spicy, but only toward the end did I visually notice a few finite jalapeños...

Overall, I did like enjoy our cashier, who gave Cynthia and I two "eat me" magnets and I enjoyed my tsunami Crif Dog as well.

AFTER lingering over a long chat, Cynthia and I decided to walk for a bit... in search of something sweet. I'd said that I was in the mood for something gourmet, chocolate-covered and possibly pumpkin. We spotted Jane's Sweet Buns, on the opposite side of the street and decided to take a peek inside. They were serving pumpkin sticky buns.

sticky buns at Jane's Sweet Buns

In addition to the pumpkin buns, Cynthia and I both had an eye on the peanut butter and bacon sticky buns. We decided to order one of each, to share.

First, I tasted the pumpkin sticky bun... which tasted nothing like pumpkin. The bun itself was big, soft and chewy, but not at all sticky. (perhaps they don't glaze the frosted buns) The frosting was tasty enough, but I feel the not-all-that-special bun could have benefited from double frosting, if not more. However, freshness does seem to be their standard.

Next, I tasted the peanut butter and bacon sticky bun, which had much more peanut butter taste than the pumpkin bun had pumpkin. However, its bacon bits seemed to be more of a flashy gimmick rather than a culinary achievement. $8.50 later, I wasn't sure if my $8.50 had been well spent. Overall (culinarily speaking): an O. K. lunch.