YouTube Star Daym Drops Meets CTbites As He Flies from CT to LI for #Fly2Eat

Forget Chopped…forget Top Chef…forget Hell’s Kitchen…as a matter of fact…forget The Food Network all together, because today’s millennials are learning about food and being entertained on You Tube…and the biggest You Tube food star is Connecticut’s own, Daymon Patterson, known to his many fans as Daym Drops. 

Daym, who lives in New Britain, started his You Tube channel in 2008 and has over 66 million views and over 500, 000 subscribers who tune in to see Daym’s latest video food review.    They are a mixture of honest reporting and entertainment, as Daym verbally dissects the food and dines basically from the front seat of his car.  His big personality matches his size, but his love of what he does shines through and he appreciates his loyal and vocal fan base.   Many of his visits are the direct result of fans that comment on his videos of where he should go next. 

His big break came in 2012, when he did a review for Five Guys Burgers and Fries that just hit 7.0 million views. His video review is even immortalized in a song by the Gregory Brothers entitled, “ Oh My Daym ”, which is at 27 million views on You Tube.

I was invited to visit with Daym, the self-proclaimed Food Titan, at Robertson Airport, a small private airfield tucked into the hills of Plainville, CT just outside of Hartford.   He was heading on the first of many planned food excursions, not by car (he calls his shiny bright red Chrysler, Cherry Blazer) but by private airplane as the result of a partnership with air limo service, Hopscotch Air.  Hopscotch Air was started about 8 years ago by Andrew Schmertz who is CEO and now boasts a fleet of over 8 planes located on LI, in Westchester, the Boston area, Stowe, VT and recently added in San Diego, CA.  They fly short legs to the Hamptons, Nantucket, Cape Cod, Atlantic City and just about anywhere a tank of gas will take them. 

All of Hopscotch’s pilots are professionally trained at SUNY Farmingville Flight School , are FAA certified pilots and many have military experience.  Today’s captain, Keith Ross has been a fan of Daym’s for years and was the one that initially suggested the Fly2Eat idea.

Daym was headed from Robertson Airfield to Farmingville, Long Island to go to the “All American Burger Drive-In ” in Massapequa and film his next You Tube video from the Hopscotch cockpit.

I caught up with him just as he arrived at Robertson to be briefed on the plane and the important air safety regulations.   No “card in the seat back in front on you” on the Cirrus SR20.  The instructions were delivered by the pilot himself as they walked around the plane as he pointed out certain features and shared info about the plane.

I asked Daym about his rise to fame on You Tube and he shared that initially he was getting 10-20 views on just some random videos he was making. And then one day, during his lunch break at Wal-Mart, he filmed his lunch and within 12 hours the views hit 5, 000, and within 24 hours they were close to 300, 000.  The rest is history as he has now made over 500 videos reviewing everything from Five Guys, to Little Caesars, Wendy’s, Taco Bell and more.  He reviews mostly chains and fast food but topped with his own “special sauce” of personality, which is how he has won so many fans and supporters.  He is the Real Deal.

When I asked him what was the most unusual thing he had ever eaten, he responded that on a recent trip to LA, he was introduced to grilled octopus.  Not his favorite he said… “too fishy…too chewy…but I tried it! “, he said with a big smile. 

I couldn’t resist asking him about Connecticut and his favorite spots.  He had no problem citing Philly’s in Norwich.

 for their “Phive All Day” Philly cheese steak; 5 oz. of rib-eye steak, 5 slices of bacon, 5 slices of cheese, grilled onions, and cheese whiz.  Daym calls it “Foodie Seduction”.   

He also likes Plan B Burgers in Milford, West Hartford and Fairfield for their “ Double Down Burger”, two beef patties with melted cheese and now aptly called the “ Double Daym Burger “. 

For the quick 30-minute flight to Long Island ( no Bridgeport Ferry, no LIE, no construction , no traffic ), I presented Daym with a dozen donuts from favorite coffee and donut shop, Coffee An in Westport.  An assortment that included their fresh and sinful glazed, chocolate topped, jelly, and French cruellers, they were enthusiastically embraced by Daym, Andrew and Keith and safely buckled into the remaining empty back seat.  

So as the plane taxied out to the runaway, I couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Fly2Eat may just be a concept for the future…maybe Hopscotch will be the next Uber of the air!

Daym Drops-  Follow him on You Tube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Periscope 

Check it out! Daym Drops just released his video of his trip to Long Island. Check out his video of All American Hot Knish