Serious Eats: New York
Manhattan Mashup: Gray's Papaya + Grandaisy Bakery
Editor's note: From time to time, we will run a feature called "[Insert borough here] Mashup." The goal is to wed two New York food establishments because one offers a really great thing, but an inferior other thing (that the soulmate does better). The two must be in proximity—no more than a five-minute walk away.
Borough: Manhattan
Mashup: $1.50 hot dog [Gray's Papaya] + $9 pizza bianca [Grandaisy Bakery]
Locations: Gray's Papaya at 2090 Broadway, New York NY 10023 (at 72nd Street; map) + Grandaisy at 176 West 72nd Street, New York NY 10023 (b/n Broadway and Columbus; map)
Why? It all started when Ed was walking past Grandaisy with cash in hand. "I decided to get a whole pizza bianca, because it's always a good idea to buy a whole pizza bianca." Armed with his dream bread, he grabbed four dogs with mustard and kraut next-door, and upon his return to the office, constructed the mashup. "One bite and a Serious Eats tradition was born."
Since pizza bianca makes everything better, we figured the light, fluffy bread would be a gajillion times better than a normal bun. Such a replacement would yield a hot dog on crack! And it was. But as it turns out, it's also great with the bun included. It was just so hard undressing that hot dog—it looked so cozy and would inevitably be messy—so we threw the whole thing inside. And the theory remains: pizza bianca makes tube meat better, and tube meat with a bun better still.
More mashup money shots, after the jump.
If you have ideas for any other Mashups in any of the five boroughs, please email nyeditor@seriouseats.com