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FORK PLAY 55 June 29, 2009
Disco Nights. Farrah's Farewell. The Un-Standard Grill. Marea. Chefs and their Groupies. Memories of "21."
Dear Friends and Family,
Remembering wild, sensuous disco nights dancing to Michael... feeling young and unstoppable and irresistible  even if it was mostly fantasy. How quickly we were distracted from Tehran last week. And poor doomed Farrah Fawcett, gorgeous in memory, quirky and talented, so brave at the end. Fate was doubly mean to her. Bad enough to die so horribly and so young, but such bad timing. All those Peeping Tom magazine covers anticipating her death being ripped apart for Michael.
As I wrote in my last newsletter, I'm mesmerized watching my twitter followers' numbers mount, determined to catch up with Martha. I was only 817,614 behind last week, but she seems to have picked up 100,000 new fans since then. I need another obsession. Maybe I'll weigh myself tomorrow morning and stop eating desserts and everything white (except fish) till I lose 5 pounds. (I'll allow myself one bite of anything white  from now on, just for - ahem - research.) I have scheduled a meeting with a news source this afternoon at Jacques Torres. I could say chocolate won't count on my new regimen unless it's white, which I loathe anyway.
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The UN-Standard Standard
Already heat-seeking nomads are three-deep at the bar and from my heavy leather chair I am looking right at Anna Wintour. I know for sure The Standard Grill is the place to be tonight. How often do I hear that the Meatpacking district is over - abandoned turf for riffraff and tourists?  Well, I suspect the High Line Park and this appealing canteen in André Balazs' hotel tower on stilts will be the Botox that makes it look young and hot all over again. If you're curious why I was so hot to return that I was back two nights later, please click here.
Marea fans think I was too tough on three-star chef Michael White's hugely ambitious and expensive new seafood restaurant in the handsomely redrawn San Domenico space. Of course I was known there, but that didn't seem to protect me from some service gaffes. On my second visit I urged my friends to try White's lush house-made pastas, so  exquisitely al dente. White says he hates when clients order his pasta as an entrée rather than the fish. In my case, pasta versus $45 per pound turbot becomes a budgetary issue. For more on Marea at four weeks click here.
And to see how litigation, harassment laws, internet tattlers and monogamy may or may not have dampened the games of chefs' and their groupies, see my report on Daily Beast.
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A Backward Glance at '21'
In my 40 years at New York, I had a lot of fun at the expense of '21'. Early readers who suffered abuse at the door felt vindicated by my first look, "The Graying of '21'" in 1971. Yes, it was not just snooty but notoriously expensive. "Groucho Marx once ordered a lima bean, then sent it back to be peeled," I wrote.
Yesterday I posted on Insatiable Critic in the Vintage department my 1987 take on the intrigue between Ken Aretsky, Anne Rosenzweig and Alain Sailhac in Marshall  Cogan's big makeover of '21' in 1987. What odd bedfellows they made: Ken Aretsky getting up early every morning so he can "get ready to be aggravated sooner." Anne Rosenzweig: "I wanted to be like André Soltner and just be in the kitchen every day." And Alain Sailhac, brought back from retirement to run the kitchen: "What am I doing here? '21' is an institution. It's so American. The people are so powerful, so demonstrative [he means outspoken]. But we'll do it," he says, cheering himself up. "When you're about to drown and you pull yourself above, it feels wonderful." Click here to read more.
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We'll Always Have Paris. I Hope.
One beatific day in May, 1972, the welfare department of New York magazine gave me a small cash advance on my liver. And off I flew to foie gras country. It was spring. Paris was gray and rain-logged. A silver Rolls and some discreet, dark Mercedes were parked in a grubby working class neighborhood outside Paris by pilgrims come to worship the astonishments of Michel Guérard at Le Pot au Feu. Winged creatures napped with a butter-enriched wine vinegar sauce were all the rage, notably duck with sherry vinegar at L'Archestrate. There was a pleasant buttery perfume at Lameloise in Chagny, where the house has two stars reaching for three. The mustard-crumb crusted duck at La Pyramide is still a miracle even as Chez Point shows signs of wear. If you're feeling nostalgia for more innocent times, click here to read more.
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Just a foodie crowd at Chefs for Scher, the gathering of star whisks doing a walk-around dinner Monday July 13 to benefit the Steven Scher Scholarship for aspiring restaurateurs. Scher, co-founder of the Main Street Restaurant Group (Calle Ocho, BarBao, BLT Prime, etc.), died in December on his 50th birthday. The silent auction of travel packages and dining sprees, includes a dinner at Corton with me and the Road Food Warrior.
Joining chef Laurent Tourondel of BLT Restaurants at the Bowery Terrace in the Bowery Hotel will be Franklin Becker (Abe & Arthur's), Ed Brown (EightyOne), Scott Conant (Scarpetta), John DeLucie (Waverly Inn), Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill, Bar Americain, Bobby's Burger Palace), John Fraser (Dovetail), Alex Garcia (Calle Ocho), Michael Huynh (BarBao), Stephen Kalt (Epicurean Concepts), Elizabeth Katz (BR Guest Restaurants), Paul Liebrandt (Corton), Marc Murphy (Landmarc), Nancy Olson (Gramercy Tavern), and Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Jean Georges, Spice Market, etc). Rocco de Spirito has said he's coming too Will he be cooking or dancing? I'm not promising.
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Photographs of The Standard Grill's burger, the house's chicken for two, and Marea's crudo may not be used without permission from Steven Richter.
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Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2009.
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