I thought this place was going to be an annoying invasion-of-the-hipsters joint. If it was - I totally loved it!
Fatty's is a little place on the corner of Crescent and Ditmars with funny artwork inside. On a Sunday evening it was packed. We waited at the bar and a customer was nice enough to slide over so four of us could sit together. This was a good sign. No taps, but an excellent beer selection. The best I've seen in Queens. We ordered Magic Hat and after some prodding from a friend the bartender made us guess who was on his shirt: Trey, from Phish. I'm from the same town as Jon Fishman (who my uncle actually kicked out of his grade school band) so I have a weak spot for Phish. I immediately liked this place. A familiar version of Pressure Drop played and when I asked the bartender who it was he told me all about Toot's most recent album. He was really friendly and happy to chat it up with us. Thank god for that. I'm so sick of hipper-than-thou bartenders.
Our table came up and smelled a bit like ammonia (the cleaning product, not the restaurant on Broadway), but it was comfy. The smell dissipated. We started with crab cakes (good for not being in Maryland) and cheese empanadas. The empanadas were fabulous. The burritos, grilled chicken sofrito and steak were all very good. Fatty's is known for its Yard Burger which we didn't try, but it's supposed to be out of this world. I noticed "Birthday Cake" on the dessert menu, but we were too full to even imagine dessert.
My favorite thing about Fatty's might be that they managed to obtain the mix tape I made for my best friend my senior year of high school, and played it that night. Enjoy!
- Joey
