Lindsay's List: March 2025

The Long Island coffee shop I rented a car for, a dive bar that reminds me of better days and my new favorite flavor of Icebreakers

Apr 01, 2025

∙ Paid

It feels like I spent most of March attempting, and failing, to catch up with everything going on in my life. When I look back on what went on this month — my domestic partnership party, Claire’s birthday, my best friend from high school’s engagement, the trivia championships — it’s no surprise that my body is desperately begging me to slow down after being constantly on the go for 31 days straight. It turns out, more drinking and less sleep is a lethal combination that will leave your body and mind feeling drained on every level. Who would’ve thought!? Turns out even the world’s biggest extrovert (me) still needs ample time to rot alone with her cat in a room with no overhead lights on.

But my bender of a month also means a lot of core memories, new friends and a borderline ridiculous amount of exploration, which made compiling and writing this recap both extra fun and extra hard (so many things to choose from!). And in case you missed it, I also kicked off a new series in March where I’m eating my way through NYC, from A to Z.

NYC, from A to Z: A is for Afghanistan

Lindsay Paulen

Mar 28

Read full story

After this month, I’ll be attempting to reset in April not only for the sake of my body, but also for the sake of my credit card bill… Wish me luck. I’ll need it. And with that, here are my favorites and flops for March:

The Favorites:

Pancake Soufflé at Pitt’s
Location: 347 Van Brunt St in Red Hook
Transportation: B61 Bus
Cost: $22
Pancake perfection and the cutest restaurant interior I've ever seen
I know everyone and their mother has been eating at Pitt’s and getting this soufflé, but I must confirm that it’s worth the hype. It is $22 and needs to be ordered at the start of your meal — we even got an update as our entrée plates were being cleared that there were 8 minutes left in the oven — but it tastes identical to a stack of the best pancakes you could dream of. Our server recommended, while drizzling maple syrup onto the soufflé, that we top it off with a dollop (or more) of butter, which is served on the side. Every bite was pretty much perfect — sweet, salty and fluffy. Even pancake soufflé aside, I really enjoyed my meal at Pitt’s and
Madeline Marcella
and I lost our minds over every little design and detail, like hand-painted vegetables on the tiles, duck-shaped lamps and a gumball machine on the bar.
The Noguchi Museum
Location: 9-01 33rd Rd in Astoria
Transportation: Broadway N/W or Q69/100/103/104 Buses
Cost: $16 (or free on the first Friday of every month)
Everything about this museum is beautiful
Claire and I headed over to the Noguchi Museum after going to Little Flower Cafe and absolutely loved it. Since it’s located in a former industrial building, the interior is stripped down and offers a unique visual contrast against Noguchi’s geometric art and delicate rice paper lamps. There’s also an outdoor area and gorgeous garden that would make for an ideal spot to read a book on a sunny day. The museum wasn’t overwhelming in size and we were able to cover the whole place without spending the entire day there. Also, if you have a couple hundred dollars to spare and are feeling generous, I’m in the market for an Akari light sculpture — or even just some of the incense they carry in the gift shop that’s imported from Japan…
Shrimp Katsu Burger at Chef Katsu
Location: 143 Greene Ave in Clinton Hill
Transportation: Clinton-Washington Avs G; Lafayette Av C or B38/B52 Buses
Cost: $12
Look at her glow...
At first, I just thought I was lucky to find a $12 sandwich in Clinton Hill. But this might be the best sandwich $12 can get you not just in Clinton Hill, but perhaps in all of Brooklyn. Served on a lightly-toasted bun, this sandwich is bursting with umami flavor since it predominantly consists of a generous fried cutlet of soy-marinated shrimp. From looks alone, it looks like it might be dense — however, it’s anything but. Plus, any heaviness from the katsu is immediately cut by the loads of shredded cabbage and briny tartar sauce. With actually delicious food at a very fair price point (for Brooklyn!), Chef Katsu will definitely be entering my rotation.
Tip-Top Bar and Grill
Location: 432 Franklin Ave in Bed-Stuy
Transportation: Classon Av G; Franklin Av C or B26/4452 Buses
Cost: Varies depending on what you order (cash only)
$10 rum punch and pictures of Obama everywhere... what else could a girl want!?
Tip-Top is kind of a time capsule into a better time. A time where Obama was president, inflation wasn’t collectively ruining our lives and going out for a night of drinks didn’t cost a small fraction of rent. In fact, at $5 a pop, my four Miller High Lifes cost less than one shitty cocktail I had this month (more on that below). It’s run by a family and feels like everyone is just hanging out, probably because of the seemingly many regulars. Photos of their family, Obama memorabilia and birthday decorations are plastered all over the walls. And even on a Friday night, there were no issues with grabbing a seat at the bar. There’s also a spacious backyard with a poster of Magic Johnson that might just be from 1980. Anyway, I loved this place and will be back soon to try some food, which both looked and smelled amazing.
Double Stuf Oreo Iced Latte at Coffee Booths
Location: 226 Middle Country Rd in Selden, NY
Transportation: You’re going to need a car for this one!
Cost: $6.50 (cash only)
Our gorgeous latte and new friend!
If you follow me on Instagram, you already know that two of my best friends and I drove out to Long Island a few weekends ago to go to this coffee shop that Alex and I’ve been wanting to go to for at least five years. I’m pleased to report it was glorious, specifically this iced latte, which was made with Double Stuf Oreo cookie butter and topped off with whipped cream and more Oreo crumbs. Believe it or not, it somehow wasn’t too sweet, and each sip was still creamy despite us opting for almond milk (notoriously not creamy) thanks to the Oreo cookie butter melted into the espresso. The staff and owners were also so thrilled that we’d trekked from Brooklyn to visit and even sent us off with more drinks for the road 🥹. We ended up having so much fun on this quick getaway from the city and I’m planning to recap it all in a post soon.
Icebreakers Sparkling Pineapple Mango Seltzer (lol)
Location: Hopefully, your nearest bodega or convenience store
Cost: $2.69 (from my overpriced grocery store in Bed-Stuy)
I got icebreakers in my bag, swag
This might be my most unhinged recommendation yet, but I’d be lying if I said these weren’t one of my favorite finds this month. I have no idea why these are so good and while they seem sorta freaky, every person I’ve offered one to has also loved it. They are tangy, fizz in your mouth and the citric acidity of it all has helped majorly with my near-constant sour candy cravings. Yes, it’s laughable that I’m buying pineapple mango seltzer-flavored Icebreakers, but when I saw the last two packs of these at my grocery store a few days ago, I bought them both. That’s really all you need to know.
The Flops:
Conned by cocktails: After months of having this cocktail bar saved, Claire and I went to Mayflower last week and frankly, I’m not sure what people like about this place. I can imagine it might be kind of sexy at night, but all I could notice in the daylight was the ripped upholstery of the seating and how clear my supposedly extra dirty martini was. After paying almost $50 for that and a cosmo made with Simply cranberry juice, it was hard to not feel like we’d been scammed.
Something’s fishy: While we had a great meal at Mariscos el Submarino last month, I was disappointed by the tostadas la consentida ($14) with fresh tuna, avocado and salsa macha. Between a visually unappealing cut of tuna and lack of salsa macha (one of my favorite condiments), I found the flavors and textures of this to be slightly off and would recommend sticking to some tacos and an aguachile.
March Madness: I created two purely vibes-based brackets for my work group and am flopping miserably. One bracket is doing slightly better than the other, but the other may or may not have had Kansas winning… woof. Luckily, I’m only out $10.