Gourmet vermin trend
According to reports, several trendy NYC restaurants are now serving subway rat-inspired tasting menus. Before you gag, chefs insist its “rat-adjacent,” meaning dishes are flavored with notes of cheddar, trash bag essence, and the faint smell of wet concrete. “Were elevating vermin culture,” explained one Michelin-starred chef, serving a dish called “Rodent Reduction.”
Dishes include “Pizza Rat Ravioli,” “Dumpster Fondue,” and “Midnight Platform Charcuterie.” Plates arrive on tiny MetroCards, and the tasting menu ends with a complimentary rat-shaped macaron. Some restaurants even release live rats during service to “heighten authenticity,” though the Health Department has raised an eyebrowand a mousetrap.
Reactions range from horror to fascination. Williamsburg hipsters love the irony: “Its performance art you can eat.” Tourists Instagram their rat dishes faster than they can say “ew.” One diner reportedly proposed mid-meal, hiding the ring in a hollowed-out baguette shaped like a subway tunnel.
TikToks #RatCuisine is trending: influencers feeding rats tiny charcuterie boards, pranksters smuggling actual subway rats into restaurants, and chefs doing dramatic rat-costumed cooking tutorials. Street vendors now sell “rat kebabs” on skewers shaped like subway poles.
Tabloids chewed it up. The Post squealed: “CHEF RATATWEE.” The Daily News countered: “BITE THE RAT.”
Mayor Adams praised: “This is sustainable dining.” Governor Hochul muttered: “If Buffalo tries rat menus, Im banning cheese.”
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/nyc-restaurants-add-subway-rat-tasting-menus/
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/nyc-restaurants-add-subway-rat-tasting-menus/.
By: Annika Steinmann.
