Gone Fishing to Fishs Eddy

Continuing reports of “The Single Guy and The City” as I blog about my vacation in New York.

NEW YORK
One of my all-time favorite food-related shops to visit in New York is Fishs Eddy. OK, I have no cute story about the name. I don't know who is Fish Eddy and why he (or she) forgot the apostrophe in Fish's Eddy. But whatev, I love their dishes.

The first store was open in Manhattan's Flatiron District, which is just north of Union Square. (There's another store in the Upper West Side.) It's a funky dishware store with fun designs and more importantly IMHO some really heavy-duty dishes. Yeah, dishes break and these can break if you drop them as well, but they're so heavy and sturdy that you'll have to purposely throw them on the floor (like at Greek weddings) to break them.

Like I said, they have some unusual items. When I visited recently during my recent vacation, I was greet at the entrance of the store with this whole wall of arms waving at me. These are actually made from molds used to make rubber gloves. At Fishs Eddy, you can use them to hang your kitchen towels on.

They were having a Labor Day sale when I visited and I was so tempted to buy everything. They do ship, but it was something like $36 for the first 20 pounds. I would have but I ended up just buying a couple of Brooklyn-themed bowls that I stuffed into my carry-on.

It's also such a fun store to explore because of the interesting paintings and nostalgic Americana decor. Along with dishware, there are also a lot of glassware, flatware and dining accessories.

I have to say, Fishs Eddy is a little to the left, and that's why I love them. Here in one basket were these coffee mugs of same-sex couples saying "We do."

So if you're ever in Manhattan, check out Fishs Eddy. It'll be like a stroll through an American History Museum with a very big gift shop.

Fishs Eddy, 889 Broadway (at 19th Street), New York. PH: 212.420.9020. www.fishseddy.com