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FORK PLAY May 12, 2009
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EAT Out Now. Twitter. Bar Artisanal. DBGB.
Dear Friends and Family,
Like many of you, I'm in recession mode but I still eat out six nights a week. I get sad sitting in near-deserted  spots. Monday can be especially lonely. Even so, at 8:30, some restaurants look like the bubble never burst. Are you watching your IRA and 401K creeping up again? Yes, I know any gain is only on paper so far and who knows what will happen next? Did you read in the Times that 37 unemployed people got new jobs last month? Sorry, I know you're still dangling. I urge you to eat out anyway.
12 Reasons to Eat Out beyond Your Means
1. Investing in New York is a good investment. You can't lose.
2. It won't cost that much more than a shopping binge at Dagostino's.
3. It's cheaper than a weekend in Paris.
4. Eating rich will make you feel rich.
5. It's a way of confirming the world is not falling apart.
6. It's the patriotic thing to do: Save a dishwasher's job. Buy the waiter's kid a new pair of sneakers.
7. I know Madoff made off with everything. Isn't that why you were forced to sell the Picasso last week?
8. If you don't get out of down-and-out depressed sneakers and jeans, you'll forget how great you clean up.
9. You owe it to your kids suddenly in public school that all is not lost. They can use the Le Bernardin menu you bring home for show and tell.
10. Given all the pinch-penny pizzas, pastas and burgers you've been eating, you've already stored enough plaque to block the Holland Tunnel.
11. It's romantic and good for your sex life.
12. You don't want to be too tight. A crane could fall on you tomorrow.
Email me your good reasons to splurge.
***
Addicted to Twitter
I've been ridiculously distracted by Twitter.com. Hopefully, you don't know what Twitter is and you can sleep late in the morning. Actually, I used to get up just for the Times. Now I sit there waiting for my espresso to drip through, half reading the paper and trying to remember what I ate last night, hoping my life and thoughts will be amusing enough to report on Twitter, the site for narcissists.
Some of my friends just don't get Twitter. When they ask, why Twitter, I quote Anais Nin: "We write to taste life twice." If you're following my tweets you'll know I had my usual Chinese chicken salad at the Brooklyn Diner last week after "The Soloist." Monday we met Ava in front of Butcher Bay, a lobster shack way east on 5th Street. My brain was watering for some clam bellies. Alas, the joint is closed on Monday and so was our fall back, Tonda (a pizza parlor that replaced EU on East 4th).
"It's Monday, maybe we can get into The Smith," I said,  keeping the cab. Seems the newly poor and the feeling-poor have been staying home Mondays. Last time we went to The Smith, the huge space was jammed. Tonight, our choice of tables and miracle of miracles: the $8 macaroni and cheese in its black iron skillet is as good as remembered. Ava and I take turns scraping at the precious baked-on-parts. So like Mom's. We love the fried calamari doused with tomato sauce, the spicy cauliflower and are pleased to find a better-than-decent burger with excellent fries. I'm not trekking down here from the Upper West Side but if I lived nearby, it would be my faithful.
As you might guess from my raves, Salumeria Rosi, a  block from our domain, has become our once-a-week go-to. We stopped in with first timers, friends from Pietrasanta, Friday night. As I predicted, they loved the place, especially loved zuppe di ferro, the caponata and Cesare Casella's luscious new crostini - leek and wild greens under a poached egg. The Road Food Warrior and I shared a bowl of our inevitable rigatoni al'Amatriciani and then ordered a second. Out on the street I found myself longing for a Pinkberry, but resisted.
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What's Terrance Brennan up to?
We went back to Bar Artisanal with fans, like us, of Terrance Brennan and found the great-looking station  bursting with downtown scenesters on Saturday night. Brennan had rushed the opening to honor party commitments from the Tribeca Film Festival. Chef Brad Thompson became suddenly available from just-shuttered Lever House, giving Brennan real strength in the kitchen, but the sommelier had just two days to stock the cellar. It's a long, pricey taxi commute for us but the subway is close enough so I'll be back to taste more. Read what we liked in BITE, my journal by clicking here.
And before you rush off to eat at Armani on Fifth Avenue - after all, it's cheaper than a handbag - check out my review. Click here and scroll down the page.
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Stalking Daniel Wherever He Goes
The Bowery is only going to get hotter when Daniel Boulud opens Good Beer Kitchen and Bar a celebration of beer and the rustic sausages and stews that go with. He refers to it as DBGB, homage to the once hallowed halls of CBGB. I'm planning to be at the sneak preview Tuesday, May 26, hosted by Daniel and Scott Kasen, to benefit Citymeals. Hope you'll join me. For more information go to Citymeals.org.
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Food in Film
Zarela is fond of the scene where Gigi learns to eat an ortalan and talk at the same time, lectured by her aunt, "Bad table manners, my dear Gigi, have broken up more households than infidelity." No surprise, Rodney Clark of Rodney Clark's Oyster House in Toronto, loves the oyster eating scene in Dick Tracy.
"'Big Night,' where Stanley Tucci is making the omelet for the three of them. It's perfect," writes Amy. "And I LOVE all the food scenes in 'Ratatouille!' I'm not sure what I like best - watching him make the food or watching the critic eat it the first time."
Dana loves "Like Water for Chocolate," singling out the scene where Tita cooks quail with rose petals from a bouquet given to her by Pedro, the love of her life, her sister's husband. As dinner progresses, Pedro, Tita and her sister are filled with passion. "Indeed," Dana writes, "the sister's body heat sets fire to the outdoor shower building and she leaves the ranch naked with a passing soldier." And you thought "Tom Jones" was hot. Dozens of you agree.
Vancouver film critic John Lekich recommends the scene in "Sleeper" where Woody Allen is being chased by giant vegetables ("and where the future proves that every kind of food we thought was bad for us is actually good").
Eileen recalls "Seven Beauties," where "Shirley Stoller feeds a starved Giancarlo Gianni a plate of pasta because he can't get it up to make love to her. Giancarlo. I adore him. He eats that pasta and olive oil like it is the most sumptuous dish a man has ever tasted."
Arthur Schwartz, the Food Maven, collects movie food scenes. He recalls a restaurant scene in "Easter Parade" where Jules Munchin pantomimes making a salad "very like a Caesar" for Judy Garland and Peter Lawford. And "Sabrina," where the father of Humphrey Bogart and William Holden is making a martini but can't get the last olive out of the thin, old fashioned jar so he pours the gin into the jar.
I keep thinking of the breathtaking diner table in Martin Scorcese's "The Age of Innocence." And a jail cell onion-slicing moment in his "Goodfellas."
***
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Photographs of Le Bernardin, Bar Artisanal chicken, Cesare Casella at Salumeria Rosi and The Smith's macaroni and cheese may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.
Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2009. |
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