Ok, so we followed the headlines to Bamn!, a bright, new Automat on St. Marks in the East Village (btw. 2nd & 3rd). We, my co-worker and I, immediately liked the concept when we heard about it through the various NYC culture alerts (NY Mag, Daily candy, Time Out). We also liked the name once we thought about it a little...a combo of bam, as in instant, and damn, as in awesome!...at least that is our theory. We just hoped the experience lived up to the hype.


It did. We love it! It is the kind of place that puts a smile on your face. Kind of a retro gimmick, but also quite relevant- providing cheap, quick, do-it-yourself food that seems a step up from your typical fast food because it offers American classics with a more sophisticated twist and a multitude of fancy sauces (which cost 75 cents extra). Bamn! is like a squeaky clean, bright take on an American A&W drive through meets Spanish tapas bar meets quirky Asian pop shop.


We were first drawn in by the hot dogs, which were excellent and made especially so because of the generous Challah bread-like "bun" wrapped around them. So good. Just like those dogs you see in Chinese bakeries. And for $1, it is the best deal in the city.


From there we moved on to splitting a Macaroni & Cheese croquet. This was delicious. Imagine taking the crunchy baked topic you generally find on home-style mac & cheese and wrapping the roni in it and frying it to resemble a mozzerella stick. So good.


At that point my partner has reached her food intake limit. Not me, I had one more stop and that was ordering a vanilla ice-cream cone. This one didn't come from the Automat, you had actually had to interact with a server. But, worth the "hassle" as a vanilla cone was also only $1 and therefore a great deal in my eyes. Sorry- no pics. The portion size oc the cone was smallish and that was a good thing; after semi-gorging on fried fast food, it was small enough for you to convince yourself that you weren't overdoing it. The flavor was deliciously vanilla, but the texture wasn't exactly completely smooth. I figured Bamn! had either reached the bottom of their mix or, in a positive light, they made their ice-cream in a more natural, "hand-churned" manner. While improbable, the latter option is what I feel better sticking to. If not, it was still a small blip on an otherwise stellar experience. Next time I'll try the green tea cone ($2; exotic comes at a cost).


But first I'll start with a sample of the "Spam Musubi", which literally looked like a piece of sushi topped with Spam, prepared in the typical "unagi", or grilled eel, fashion. Quirky!

The one thing that didn't seem right at Bamn! was that you could order fries at the counter, along with drinks, and the fancy sauces and ice-cream, and they cost about $4. How can that be when all of the Automat food was under $3? Them must be some extra saucy spuds. Another one for next time.

For more info....
http://bamnfood.com/