Danku

I've been hankering to go to Danku, this Dutch fast food joint that opened up near work. One of my coworkers is Dutch, and after getting the dirtiest, horrified look upon thinking that Amsterdam (where he once lived) was the capital of Denmark instead of the Netherlands , I wanted to pay homage. (Hey, Denmark starts with D, Dutch starts with a D; I figured maybe there was a connection. I don't do geography.)

People in California would flip for this spot. It's got cute little eco-friendly sauce containers, McDonald apple pie-like cardboard containers for their krokets, which turns something gauche into something Northwestern European-chic. And trying to toss out your trash is a complicated enterprise complete with instruction. This bin for recyclables, that means your can of soda (which has no aspartame). This bin for compostables, which means your food scraps, your tray liner. This bin for trash, such as your plastic straw.

The food itself? Fine. I went with the Dutch-side of the menu and picked up two krokets (beef and chicken curry) and was none too impressed with either. A friend let me try his Indonesian beef curry, which was loads better and those babies come with shrimp chips. I love shrimp chips! So next time I go back I'm going to keep the Dutch style, ditch the Dutch eats and cosy on up to some Indonesian fare.

Danku, 47 West 57th Street (b/n 5th and 6th Ave.).