FORK PLAY May 17, 2011 Never Too Old. Eating Around: Stuzzicheria. Lincoln. Coppelia. Ed's Soft Shell Crab. KLM Aspiration. Dear Friends and Family, Bel Kaufman still a teacher at 100. Arthur Laurents at 93, months before he died, discussing yet another "Gypsy" with Barbara Streisand. "My memories are moth-eaten," Louis Bourgeois wrote, in a crabby hand, next to a beautiful, abstract drawing, according to Adrian Searle, Guardian art critic. Still working two weeks before she died at 99.
Reading of such energy, creativity and pluck from the well-enough elderly is encouraging. "I feel no different than I felt at 99, 98 or 97," Bel Kaufman told the Times reporter, insisting she must change and put on make-up before being photographed. What is it that keeps them vital? Good genes, sane nutrition? A sense of purpose? Of course I can't help thinking of those less f ortunate, the young elderly already confined to their homes by various ailments - arthritis, blindness, emphysema - no longer able to shop or cook as well as those into their 100's. The people Citymeals-on-Wheels has committed to help feed - a meal and a friendly visit has been our mission. At Thanksgiving we will mark the 30th year since James Beard, Barbara Kafka and I started a round robin of phone calls that ultimately raised $35,000 and brought a Christmas meal to 6000 New Yorkers who would not have had one. Since then more than forty-four thousand meals have been delivered.
Much delicious excess has been consumed in the cause of fund-raising. And there will be more June 13 in the garden at Rockefeller Center when - for the 26th year - great chefs gather. This year we've invited restaurant and winery families in tribute to Jim and to celebrate "A Taste of Home." I just got my invitation in the mail: a homey red, white and blue package designed by the Rockwell Group. Irresistible, I hope. Everyone says this is the best food event of the year, and helping to keep meals coming to the city's frail and vulnerable elderly is a righteous deed. I'll be there, of course, trying to visit each of the forty chefs cooking that night, to taste and say thank you. Join me. Get tickets now at 212 687 1290.  ***
Our colors today are inspired by the proud peacock above, captured by Steven near La Concepció Castle in Cartagena, Spain. The bird seemed to think he could scare away a flock of humans if he spread his feathers and scuttled toward us.
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Eating Around: Stuzzicheria.
This past week I sprinted to catch up with restaurants that opened while we were away. Steven and I enticed fervent fans of Sfoglia to drive downtown and check out what Ron Suhanosky was doing at Stuzzicheria Tribeca after selling out to his partners at Sfoglia. Last I knew Ron had joined Colleen and their children in Florence to become more Italian. But it seems a domestic split has complicated finances and he needed a solid paycheck. So now he was in the tiny kitchen -"I'm really working," he confides. "There are just two of us." It's Ron and a helper out back, with partner Gerard Renny (who's split from the original Stuzzicheria team). The small window-wrapped storefront is transformed with Ron's vintage collectibles and splashes of flowers, plus a rotation of lush gnocchi and savory small tasting plates. Want to know what to order? Click here.
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An Elegant Lunch
I rarely have time for lunch. But Ariane Daguin doesn't either. Nor does Andy Arons, CEO of Gourmet Garage. That doesn't mean we couldn't book a table for lunch at Lincoln to focus on news and gossip along with Eric Korsh, whose cooking at his neighborhood hangout, Waverly Inn Arons was touting.
Lincoln looks great by day, the room overlook ing the reflecting pool fully occupied. I'd been pretty harsh in my early reports so I was excited to see really good bread, especially a sticky tomato-swathed foccacia. The exquisitely measured out portions I originally found meager have mushroomed into spirited plenty: a starter chicken salad was positively bursting with assertive ingredients: arugula, orange, red onion, parmigiana and mayo.
A mid-size soft sh ell crab had been meticulously fried in a billowing crunch of batter and arrives with lush lemon mayonnaise and vinegary giardinera, lightly pickled onion, radish, cauliflower, beets and sweet peppers to cut the richness. White asparagus comes wrapped with lardo and a duck egg in a nest of red mustard cress with a tattoo of horseradish, the most expensive antipas to at $26. Half a dozen plump little agnolotti of lamb with spinach in a lamb sauce work as a starter too.
Knowing I'll be at The Dutch for dinner - with no inclination to hold back on whatever Andrew Carmellini is offering at his frenzied new Tribeca spot - inspires me to a rare act of discipline. The bright green asparagus side I ordered makes a perfect entrée. But since calories do count when you're sitting down, the wild mushrooms I ate from another side and the potato gnocchi lavished with butter the chef sent cancelled out my virtuous intentions. Did we really order a trio of cakes? Guess who rushes to taste? I could be happy with any one of them, but I'll be longing for the almond cake with brown butter crumbs next day at the All-Bran hour.
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Havana in a Mist
In my first New York City life I was a reporter at the Post. That's when I needed a 24 hour diner. And disco dancing till 2 or 3 in the morning in the late 70s might have led to scrambled eggs on the way home. (Though as readers of my memoir "Insatiable" know, dancing every night usually led to a shower and wild love-making. Let me not digress.) I was leading up to Coppelia, Toloache chef-owner Julian Medina's appealing Cuban-Latin mash-up of a diner on West 14th Street. It won't go all night till the liquor license arrives. But meanwhile, I've been twice and plan to take friends there for the Road Food Warrior's birthday. Sweets Master Pichet Ong, who does Coppelia's irresistible desserts - retro and avant garde -- is making a small pineapple cheesecake to celebrate Steven. Want to know what we're ordering? Click here please.
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Moulting Is Never Revolting Chef Ed Brown had soft shell crabs on his mind. Would I like to stop by Ed's Chowder House and taste? Ed's is not just an advertiser (check out their lobster deal in the adjacent column). It's also on our movie night flight path. The house's corn chowder with a spicy biscuit is my favorite late supper here. And when there is no corn, the kitchen does a spicy squash version. But today the market has brought parsnip with a tangle of fried parsnip afloat. Steven had Manhattan crab and we traded bowls in the middle.
Then came delicious lightly battered fried crab -- a half crab for each -- with an odd and intrigu ing toss of fruits and vegetables. We both found the fried crab on risotto studded with fiddlehead ferns and laced with ramp purée, over-accessorized, especially compared to our favorite - sautéed in oil and butter with lobster, favas, asparagus ribbons and morels. The elusive trail of sweet was ginger, Ed confided, emerging from the kitchen on a cane, sitting down to discuss knee transplant pain remedies with Steven.
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KLM Haute Ambitions We were booked home from Bordeaux through Amsterdam on KLM. Steven and I both have Amsterdam on our list of must destinations, but five hours in the airport was not what I had in mind. That was just a tease. These days almost anything can be a flight comfort bag, even a cheap zippered canvas roll up. But KLM is promoting Dutch Design in Business class. The fashion duo Victor & Rolf did the bowed black evening bag look for women and a neat tailored version for guys, with the usual amenities. Now I'm home and desperately need to peel away some of my clutter, but I just can't bring myself to toss them out. The bow bag almost looks Bergdorf.
Marcel Wanders of Moooi and Droog Design fame has done smart looking boxe s for snacks, and a vast range of tableware. Handsome bowls, porcelain plates, dishes fitting inside other dishes, flatware with the KLM logo in an intricate lacework. Real knives of course. They may seize your tweezers in security but real knives are back, wrapped in that napkin. "If you think skin is surface and surface is superficial, your brain has proven that your eyes don't work," is the Wanders quote in the giveaway booklet.
The smoked lamb ham was actually pretty good. But I couldn't understand the small black egg-shaped ceramic gizmo with something congealed inside t hat was rolling around in a serving of egg salad, fabulous egg salad by the way. I'm such a fool for mayonnaise. Was it a misplaced butter dish? Or a sauce? Should I lick the mayo off the outside of the "egg" and scoop out the contents? Put it where? A kindly flight attendant was not sure herself. I wasn't craving "hash of beef with sweet-and-sour beetroot," but I wanted breast of chicken even less. Surprise. The beef on parsnip hash was not bad at all, though it didn't need olives or raisins.
I decided to skip the lemon mousse with sweet and sour cucumber filling, tossed back an Ambien and fell asleep for the next several hours with my feet hanging over the footrest. I sure missed American Airlines' business class flatbed.
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Photographs of Citymeals-on-Wheels clients, Peacock in Cartagena, Stuzzicheria Chef Ron Suhanosky, Huevos Rancheros at Coppelia and Softshell Crab at Ed's Chowder House may not be used without permission from
Steven Richter.
Photographs of Chicken Salad, Lamb Agnolotti and Softshell Crab at Lincoln may not be used without permission from Gael Greene.
Fork Play copyright Gael Greene 2011. |
