Food

MUNCHIES: The Podcast: Adult Contemporary Karaoke Cuisine

Karaoke is your best friend. With a little liquid courage and your favorite tune, it’s there for you during the greatest nights of your life. And karaoke bars are critical ingredients for the wee hours in any big city.

So on the latest episode of MUNCHIES: The Podcast, we’re paying homage to the now-defunct legendary New York dive bar, Winnie’s, by singing with Gerardo Gonzalez, chef and owner of Lalito in Manhattan’s Chinatown.

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Winnie’s was the stomping ground for hardcore karaoke seekers and the Spice Girls. It opened in the 80s but felt as if it’d been there forever. Almost two years ago, the inevitable happened: the cutthroat New York real estate game forced the bar to close.

Thankfully, great news followed. Gerardo Gonzalez, formerly of El Rey Coffee Bar & Luncheonette, took over the space and began to offer Californian(ish) cuisine, or in karaoke terms—as Gonzalez calls it—”adult contemporary cuisine.”

Inside Lalito. Photo by Liz Barclay.

So in honor of Winnie’s and the magic of karaoke, we’re meeting up with Gonzalez and the Lalito crew to belt out a few songs, hear about the history of the space, and find out what happened that night when the Spice Girls showed up to belt out their jams.

Lalito vegan Caesar salad. Photo by Liz Barclay.

So tune in to the latest episode of MUNCHIES: The Podcast, and tell your friends to do the same. And if you haven’t done so already, subscribe on iTunes and Soundcloud. Check back in two weeks for a brand new episode, when we hang out with our favorite Canadian, Matty Matheson.