On Monday night, I had a reading at an event called Wine and Pine (done in collaboration with Chardongay) that turned out to be a lot of fun.

Beforehand, Craig and I met up with our pal Chris for dinner at Superiority Burger in the East Village:

Superiority Burger is one of those places that normal people enjoy just as a fun vegetarian burger joint but that food people absolutely lose their minds over. That’s all the work of Brooks Hedley, the chef/owner, who’s had every opportunity to expand his empire (which The New York Times gave three glowing stars) and, instead, keeps it limited to its one East Village location so that he can oversee all the food himself.

And the food is full of surprises. Brooks himself came over with this special plate of eggplant that he brought back from a trip to California.

There was a lot of mystery to its preparation — clearly seared and cooked in some kind of sauce (I tasted soy sauce in there) — and topped with tons of orange zest. A typically brilliant creation.

Also brilliant: the zucchini carpaccio with fried haloumi.

The textural contrast of the crisp, marinated zucchini and then the crisp-in-a-different-way fried haloumi was glorious.

But the star of the show was definitely the titular Superiority Burger with fries:

The burger is full of delights and textural surprises and it’s wholesome, in a way, because it’s a veggie burger that’s not made in a factory.

But the fries. Those fries! Just look at them: they tell you everything you need to know in just the image alone. They have an extra layer of crackle and crunch that only a chef of Brooks Hedley’s caliber could achieve. They’re easily the best French Fries in New York City, and you can quote me on that.

But one doesn’t leave Superiority Burger without having a fancy dessert… especially one called “Fancy Dessert” from the author of Fancy Desserts.

What was this? It defies words, but something like a salty butterscotch cake with syrupy cherries and granola and a scoop of coconut ice cream? A dream.

And as a fun wink wink gift from the chef, strawberry salami which was a confection made with dehydrated strawberries but made to look like the real thing: