Fork Play 28 April 1, 2008
Getting a Table at Rao's, Bear Stearns Musings, Eating Around.
Dear Friends and Family,
I was convinced you had to marry or inherit to get a table at Rao's, the feisty 100 year-old family joint of folkloric fame  on East 114th Street. Then Frankie Pellegrino -- the dapper "Frankie No" -- revealed the crack in the wall. Yes, you can join the lottery for a table by showing up in person the week of Thanksgiving. Check out Rao's All in the Family on my website and jot that date down in your Blueberry.
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No Credit Crunch at Bocca di Bacco
I would eat at Bocca di Bacco once a week, it is so reasonable, so delicious. But the Road Food Warrior wants more variety on the menu. Back last week post theater ("What You Did," definitely worth seeing), after too long an absence fraught with periodic longing, I shared the rich-as-Croesus penne gorgonzola with our friend Dasha and tasted Steven's garganelli with osso buco. Possibly a little too rich even for me. The octopus was flavor and texture perfect. Best news of all: The place takes credit cards now, Amex only.
*It's not easy being greene, but I'm celebrating spring this week.
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Great Tastes of the Week
Now that we're regulars at Fiore in Williamsburg, the chef greets us with a lardo-topped pizza. "Please, no lardo," I beg last Saturday and out comes an ambrosial mussel and white bean soup - wondrously garlicky with fresh rosemary and sage. It's on special this week till the Spring menu comes back from the printer, then its a regular spring offering. "Top Bravo" contender Spike Mendelssohn's new Duck Duck and Daikon at Mai House is worth doubling the Lipitor: a big fat runny duck egg to smash over luscious fingers of duck. We had tried to start the evening with bar food at the Rusty Knot - a sliver of a watering spot by The Spotted Pig's Ken Friedman and a passel of partners. A convergence of hotties leaned, lounged, and a  few even sat triumphantly at two tiny tables yodeling across the room to each other. Definitely not a warm-up station for us, we decide, and the snotty guy at the door agrees with a snarl or maybe that was a British laugh as we flee. I love sensuous oysters sitting on scallops in a cloud of truffle essence and spicy Lobster Kung Pao with Chinese sausage in a potato bird's nest from Chef Chris Cheung's new menu at Monkey Bar. Two can share mini burgers on bao buns with a tumble of taro chips if you're pinching pennies.
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A Teddy Bear for the Chairman
Some people don't have a gram of sympathy for Bear Stearns chairman James E. Cayne, who sold his cache of stock, worth over $1 billion a year ago, and brought home just $61 million. "Well, look what they did," they say, "I could try to make do with $61 million." Who knows what he really knew about what the firm activists were up to? Me? I would like a $61 million cushion myself - and his $26 million apartment at The Plaza that he's supposedly moving into when he sells his Park Avenue pad. Even so I can empathize. I imagine I feel Cayne's pain. The man is 74 years old, after all, he started as a broker there in 1968 - the year I ate my first chocolate mousse as restaurant critic of New York Magazine. It was his nest egg from four decades of I-can-only-guess-what stress in the Byzantine halls of finance. I suppose everyone at BS must be numb with the shock of the loss. Yes, of course the stock holders are fuming and the public is bruised. I just want to focus on James Cayne right now and what he might be thinking.
I can only try to project his despair as someone who has tied her loyalties to one company for 40 years. Media 401K's are infinitely less well endowed. So when I lose in the market, I lose smaller although it hurts big time. I have a perspective on living well on a budget. I could suggest Cayne read my roundup of "Where I Go When I'm Pinching Pennies." And if they have to let the chauffeur go, I could give them extra "$3 off" coupons I've cached for Carmel car service. Bed, Bath and Beyond has shower liners for less than $10. And you can save  at the movies if you're willing to admit you're a senior.
I've never met Cayne. If I knew him beyond a few quotes in the Times I might advise him to go for broke. Spend it all. Your heirs can take care of themselves. They might be grumpy at first but they'll admire you for it. At 74, you're not going to live forever, especially if you don't look both ways crossing the street. I would say take your Lipitor and have all the foie gras and pork belly you ever dreamed of and don't leave any good bottles in your cellar. Go see what Masa can do with hamachi. Flirt with your wife. Sushi at the counter is seductive. If you can't get two seats at Momofuko, take over the place and invite all the little people who made life easier for you and maybe a few of your pals at BS who are hurting. Hire a car and do a truffle tour of France.
You can easily drop several thousand euros over a night or two at Michel Guérard's magical Les Prés d'Eugénie in Eugénie Les Bains. Book a suite at the Bauer il Palazzo and take time to explore every little street in Venice. A month should do it. I prefer January when no one is there. But you might like March when you can sit outdoors in the Pizza San Marco for lunch. By all means have the 100 euro asparagus at l'Ami Louis in Paris with your baby lamb for two. You must see Istanbul from the Asian side and Hanoi and Rajasthan by car. Email me if you need more hot addresses or can't get a reservation. And before your savings are down to single digits I hope you'll think of the frail homebound elderly we feed at Citymeals-on-Wheels. We expect to lose most of the $500,000 plus all our friends at Bear Stearns gave us last year and we need all the help we can get.
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A Baby Bear that Delivers
By the way, I have a most adorable dark brown plush teddy bear wearing a white collar and a brown necktie with Bear Stearns in gold letters. I'll sell it in two weeks to the highest bidder over $1000. You can make your check out to Citymeals-on-Wheels.Email me.
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Shouldn't We Try to Help Fatties?
I'm still collecting restaurant peeves from readers who need to vent. To my surprise, a request last week to know how you keep trim brought only one answer. Zarela Martinez sent a recipe for an improvised chipotle paste "when I want something light yet very flavorful. Brush a piece of salmon with it and grill or bake, or put it on chicken breasts. It's divine." She neglected to mention that she has diner at 6 o'clock every day and doesn't eat lunch two inconvenient but sure ways to stay trim. Here is her recipe for pasta de chipotle that yields one cup.
1 eight-ounce can chipotles en adobo
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon Mexican oregano
2 tablespoons vegetable oil or olive oil
Place chipotle chiles and their sauce in blender or food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process until pureed, about 1 minute. Add garlic, oregano, and oil and process on pulse until combined but still slightly chunky. Can be stored tightly covered in refrigerator up to 3 weeks.
Surely you have tricks and gambits that help you keep you trim. Email me. Or do we really know them all and is the subject just too boring? Or painful?
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Tomatoes Like Us Are Always in Season
I have joined my pal Arthur Schwartz as a New York icon of sensuous and delicious information on ThreeTomatoes.com, a web site "for women who aren't kids," an insider's guide to "the best of everything in New York City." Tomatoes spotlights health, beauty, fashion, restaurants, night life, and the richness of the city. Babes like us must stick together.
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Roxie Talks the Talk
When she isn't selling ads for Insatiable, Vicki Polon has a real life as a screenwriter and director. Check out the mischievous fun she and her writer pal Susan Rice dreamed up during the writers strike -- with production by our own resident filmster, Steven's son Nico. Meet that charmer Roxie Wollinsky,
http://www.roxiew.com
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Photos of Frankie No at Rao's. Fiore bean soup, Mai House duck duck and Monkey Bar Duck may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.
Fork Play by Gael Greene, copyright pending 2008.
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