Mini Thai Cafe on Ave. A, near 7th Street (Photos: Jenna Marotta)
A mournful-sounding fish dish at Mini Thai Cafe in the East Village is the ultimate buzzkill.
Check out C13, one of the chef’s specials:
Super Sad True Menu Item–C.13 Ocean Cry
Despite how delicious it may be, the name “Ocean Cry” is downright devastating. The entree contains four kinds of seafood, but Mini Thai’s guilt-trip made me less-than-inclined to dine on what we humans yanked from Mother Nature. (Incidentally, Popular Science recently reported that the total population of marine life is actually 10 times greater than previous estimates).
Seinfeld’s George Costanza would probably have better luck making light of “Ocean Cry”–he devotes “The Comeback” to crafting the perfect retort when, over hors d’oeuvres, a co-worker chides, “Hey George, the ocean called; they’re running out of shrimp.”
But I can’t help thinking of the gloomy tale of “The Walrus and the Carpenter” from Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass (the twosome befriend a colony of oysters, who prove too tasty to resist).
105 Ave. A at 7th St., 212-533-2928, Sun. to Thurs. 12 p.m. to 12 a.m., Fri. to Sat. 12 p.m. to 1 a.m.