Category: Restaurants

Big Screen in the Big Apple

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Bingeing. When we are not happily engaged entertaining our granddaughters, we go to the movies. Some might say we binge. Yes, good films come to the Sarasota/Bradenton area, but not as quickly and not all of them. We are now well acquainted with several cinemas in the West Village and are not averse to settling for a hot dog as lunch before the first showing of the day. Here are several of the films we’ve seen so far. More to come.

La La Land. Going in, I knew that this film was being touted as a contender for Best Picture and that it was a musical. In the first 20 minutes or so, I thought, oh no, we’re in for two hours of fluff and the Chief Penguin will soon be snoozing. Not so! Yes, this movie is sort of a musical (the leads do burst into song at emotion-laden moments) and boy meets girl and gets girl (at least for awhile), but it is much more. Scenes of true-to-life conversation and conflict are interspersed along with creative visions of an alternate reality. That the setting is Los Angeles, Hollywood to be precise, only adds to the magic.
Ryan Gosling as Sebastian and Emma Stone as Mia are likable and believable 20-something adults, each aspiring to realize a dream; he to own his own jazz club and she to make it as an actress. I left last week’s performance of Guys and Dolls feeling happy and uplifted. While La La Land is a more nuanced work, I was both entertained and satisfied as it played out. Perhaps it’s a tad too long, but it’s fun on several levels.

Fences. If you know ahead of time that this was first a stage play, then you’ll be prepared for the static nature of this film. It’s probably the one weakness or drawback to it. The year is 1957, the setting is Pittsburgh, and it’s the depiction of one stressed and poor black family.
The acting is powerful, especially the lead performances. Denzel Washington is Troy Maxson, the illiterate, storytelling garbage collector who craves recognition for who and what he is, a husband and father who has a strong sense of responsibility. He also feels responsible for and possibly guilty over his brother Gabe, brain damaged in WWII. Viola Davis is his wife Rose, his staunch advocate and compass who seems to work as hard as he does, but with little appreciation from him of her unexpressed wishes and desires.
Troy’s sons, Lyons, 34, and Corey, 17, are sources of tension and conflict when Troy won’t accept that their needs and wants don’t dovetail with his. And when Troy doesn’t heed his best friend Bono’s wise advice and is promoted at work, he no longer sees Bono every day and the friendship languishes. (Note that Bono is played here by a black albino which confused me since I initially thought he might be white.)
Fences is the best known play in August Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle. The world is slowly changing for the better for blacks, but not enough that Troy can or will see it. Moving and messy as only human relationships can be, this is a film worth seeing.

Arrival. This is a strange movie. Science fiction which we don’t often go see, but more cerebral than one might expect. When twelve space ships containing aliens from somewhere else land around the world, one in Montana, linguistics professor and language expert Louise Banks, played by Amy Adams, is recruited to communicate with them. Their language is a graphic one, and Banks and Ian, a physicist played by Jeremy Renner, struggle together to make sense of who they are and why they have come to earth.

The scenes of Louise and Ian suiting up and making the journey into the black space egg and then communicating with the looming, long-armed heptapods in front of a glass wall are appropriately unnerving and even somewhat harrowing. Tension rises when several countries with similar craft threaten to use force against them. How the day is saved is an interesting twist.
Throughout the movie plays with time and how time is perceived. Louise is plagued by visions and memories of past events, or are they really past? The movie takes a short story by Ted Chiang, “Story of Your Life,” and expands its scope to create the international crisis. I didn’t fully understand what filmmaker Denis Villeneuve was doing until I read several articles including one in Verge. Telling would spoil the film for you, so I won’t. If your curiosity is piqued, see it.

DINING FIND
It’s easy and tempting to return again and again to just our favorite restaurants, but it’s better to not get into a rut and to try new restaurants. After yesterday’s film at the IFC on 6th Avenue, we glanced at the menu at Tertulia and then wandered in. We had enjoyed very much the food in Spain and thought this tapas plus place looked inviting. And it was.

Warmly lit with brick walls, a long bar and tables in front and an arched dining area farther back, it was just right for lunch on a cold day. We indulged in a glass of sherry (lots of choices here) and then tucked into ham croquettes, a plate of blistered shishito peppers, and some Iberico ham along side tomato bread. We were aiming for a light lunch and this turned out to be the right amount of food. We look forward to a return visit!

Sarasota Scene: Holiday Happenings

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Fabulous Fun.  Asolo Repertory Theater’s production of Guys and Dolls is the perfect antidote for any lingering post-election blues.  Energetic, boisterous, lively, romantic, it’s hard to find enough adjectives to describe the sheer fun of it all.  I had never seen this musical before and was caught up in the music and the fast-paced dancing.   And pleased to discover that I even knew a couple of the songs, ”Luck Be a Lady,” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.”  The subtitle of the work is “A Musical Fable of Broadway,” and reflecting that, the action is set on Broadway and in a Salvation Army-like mission and features gamblers and show girls and the most unlikely of romantic pairings.  It runs until January 1, so if you’re local, treat yourself!

Christmas Concert

Tucked just in from Sarasota Bay, the Church of the Redeemer in Sarasota’s sanctuary is both elegant and cozy.   This week we attended “This Day, a concert of Christmas-related music by the Musica Sacra Cantorum, part of the church’s Great Music Concert Series which runs from December through next May.  This concert mixed the familiar, “The Holly and the Ivy”, “In the Bleak Midwinter,” and “Joy to the World” (all verses) with the new and the unexpected.  British composer John Rutter is one of my favorites (“All Things Bright and Beautiful”) and we heard his three-movement, “Gloria,” along with works by John Tavener and the hauntingly beautiful, “Shine on This Shining Night,” by Morton Lauridsen.  Much honored and lauded, Lauridsen’s name and work were previously unknown to me.

Bob Parrish, the choir director, is a warm and engaging presence at the podium.  The program was an ambitious one and at some points challenging for the singers.  But overall, an enjoyable paean to the season.

Fresh Fish

For fresh and tasty fish in downtown Sarasota, I highly recommend Duval’s on Main Street.  We’ve had lunch there a number of times, but dinner perhaps only once before.  This week we took our visiting friend Barb and were delighted.  It’s a place where when you walk in, the décor leads you to expect an acceptable casual meal.  In our experience, the food consistently trumps the ambience.

Two of us enjoyed the grilled red snapper with a choice of sides.  I opted for the lightly sautéed spinach (one of my favorite vegetables) and requested the fried green tomatoes.  They were not technically one of the sides, but were being offered in a modified caprese salad.  Also tasty were the corn and lobster mac and cheese and a Caesar salad (large enough to share).  Our waitress was charming and knowledgeable—the next day we spotted her at the Asolo Theater.  Small world.

 

Header photo:  http://www.bradenton.com/entertainment/article115230988.html; Brass:  Christmas-brass.jpg

 

Gastronomic Valencia: Part 3

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MEALS

After time in Valencia, we traveled down the coast to the town of Denia where we enjoyed several Michelin-starred meals, a tasting and lunch at the home of vintner Gutierrez de la Vega, noted for his sweet Moscatel wine, and short visits to the Borja ducal palace in Gandia, and the 11th century Moorish castle in Denia (under restoration).  dsc01481 Shown here is the palace.  Other high points included lunches at Casa Manolo in Daimus (I loved their take on caprese salad) img_1516 and L’escaleta in Cocentaina (a really tasty sweetbread ficelle sandwich ) and the five hour extravaganza at Restaurante Quique Dacosta where we were served twenty-six different tastes or bites.

The theme at Quique Dacosta was Fronteras, translated as “borders,”  but I might better call it “frontiers.”  This was cuisine at its most refined and most creative, in some ways more of an intellectual experience.  Precise attention to presentation and form in this meal.  Everything from little puffs of cod, tuna belly with seaweed, a slice of dried octopus, to a beautiful crushed and dried tomato (the maître d’ came around with his hammer to do the crushing, one of my favorite courses), a langoustine with green curry, avocado and corn, to mushrooms served on the forest floor, a piece of completely black charred bread with romesco sauce for dipping, to a slender vase of roses with a tangle of apple in the center.  Shown here the battered tomato, seaweed, part of one dish, and the wrapped langoustine.  img_1663  img_1659 img_1669     All quite amazing!

Coming back down to earth on our last day, we had a brisk walk in the lovely riverbed park in Valencia pausing only to gaze on Calatrava’s jarring and beautiful architectural forms:  opera house, music hall and science museum.  The final lunch was at a popular bar in working class neighborhood called Casa Montana.  Here the food was comfortingly familiar looking.  We began with sweetish vermouth over ice with tiny arbequina olives in the front of the bar.  Then ducking under the counter to get to the back room (it’s a tradition to duck), we sat on high stools at longish tables for an array of tapas courses. img_1749 img_1756 From Iberian ham to braised broad beans, tuna marinated in seven spices, cod brandade, little roasted red peppers stuffed with tuna (my kind of tapa!), tiny slices of grilled beef with garlic (yum!) to several kinds of sheep cheese including a grilled cheese toast and, lastly, homemade chocolate truffles.  All washed down with three different wines, a white and two reds.  What could be better!

INGREDIENTS

I was both surprised and disappointed when the guide book to Spain I purchased in advance of our trip had no discussion whatsoever of Valencia and the surrounding region.  This city and its environs are one of Spain’s autonomous communities and with such a richness of culture and cuisine deserve to be discovered.  Like the farm to table movement, there is great emphasis on local produce and local fish and meats.  Below are some of the foodstuffs that were repeated in the meals we enjoyed. And, if I had taken copious notes, I could have reported on all the many and marvelous wines we sampled!

Eel.  I am not a big fan of eel, but we had it simmered with potatoes, garlic and paprika, smoked on endive, and flamed and dried.

Rice.  Every chef has his or her rice dish (arroz) and in addition to two kinds of paella, we had two dry rice preparations, one with mushrooms, a soupy wet rice with chicken (delicious!), and creamy rice with pumpkin and mussels and one with pork flank and mushrooms.  img_1601 img_1605

Tuna.  Tuna was served in several ways:  tuna belly with tuna rillettes, tuna cured in paprika, and tuna stuffed red peppers.

Pork.  The Iberian ham was delectable, but we also saw pork in a creamy rice dish and shoulder of pork crusty with onion ash and charred quince.  img_1588 img_1479

Seafood.  Prawns, langoustines, squid, and the occasional clam or snail appeared on some menus.  I like the shrimp family, but not always the squid.

Local fish.  Besides cod in several forms and we also ate red mullet which I found very fishy and strong.  img_1668

Fruits and vegetables.  No green salads the entire week unless you count the lettuce and sliced tomatoes on the breakfast buffet in Denia.  Lots of citrus—oranges, lemons, quince—and also apples and tomato added as a flavor component of several dishes.  Asparagus, beans, endive, and vegetable tempura.

Oreos.  We were told that it was de rigeur that each chef create an Oreo hors d’oeuvre. These are mini size (think an American quarter) and we had one with parmesan and bacon (think the cookie was made from squid) and another from white and black garlic with salted nougat filling.

Now we’re home and after all that food and wine, it’s time to diet!  And get back to our regular exercise.

All photos ©JWFarrington

Header photo–Calatrava building in Valencia

Coastal Cuisine: Eating Around

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Seafood, especially lobster rolls and fried haddock, is served everywhere in Maine, but there is a lot of other good food to be had too. For my friends and those who might be traveling to this coast, here are some of the places we’ve most enjoyed in the greater Boothbay region.

Harborside Tavern (Boothbay Harbor)

A familiar location with new owners and chef, this second floor space with its maple tables and chairs has outside seating on the screened porch overlooking the water and inside tables and a large square bar.  The quesadilla was one of the best I’ve ever had and their ribs and cole slaw also from the tavern menu were also very good.  From the entree listing, the halibut with steamed spinach on a bed of tomato risotto was both pretty and tasty.

Ports of Italy (Boothbay Harbor)

For something other than pizza, this longtime Italian favorite delivers consistently delicious fare.  Many of the pastas are homemade and their veal piccata served with julienned vegetables is an excellent rendition.  Located on the second floor, there are tables both inside and on their screened porch.  No view so either seating is acceptable.

Thistle Inn (Boothbay Harbor)

Up the hill from the waterfront, the Thistle Inn (dating from 1861) might at first seem more appropriate for winter than summer with its dim interior and cozy bar area.  But, they have lovely tables on their side porch and, in good weather, this is the place to be!  My favorites here include their butter poached lobster in pastry appetizer and the salmon entree. In my experience, you won’t go wrong whatever you choose.  And you can even arrange to stay overnight!

Newagen Seaside Inn (Southport Island)

This longtime resort is the scene of many weekend weddings, but also has a most attractive dining room–bar area, semi-circular porch and outside deck, all overlooking a broad lawn sloping down to the water.  The menu is nicely varied and includes everything from beef sliders to stuffed halibut to lobster and lobster rolls, chicken, and flatbreads.  I’m partial to their firecracker shrimp appetizer and recently, an herb crusted swordfish with mushroom risotto.  It’s open for lunch and dinner and can accommodate families with kids.

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Squire Tarbox Inn (Wiscasset)

This historic inn (originally built in 1763 with an 1820 addition) is in the country on Westport Island outside Wiscasset. It would be a cozy place in the cold weather with its fireplaces and dark wood.  In the summer, their screened porch is the place to be with a view out to the garden. The chef and co-owner is Swiss and his veal in a mushroom cream sauce served over rosti potatoes is tasty comfort food, no matter what the season. The house salad is fresh greens and includes a tangle of julienned celariac in a mustardy mayonnaise. Other entrees include lamb, duck breast, halibut and a seductive vichyssoise.  This is relaxed fine dining!

Francine (Camden)

This small mainly French restaurant just off the main drag is cozy and comfortable with very good food.  The halibut I had was perfectly cooked and attractively served with spinach and a few walnuts.  Others in our group raved about the corn soup and the lamb.

Hot Suppa (Portland)

Beyond the art museum and in an area less frequented by tourists, this little place is a haven for breakfast and lunch, although they also serve dinner.  We went for lunch and were surprised that it was packed so we had a 20 minute wait for a booth.  Definitely worth the wait!  Everything was delicious from the French egg scramble with cheese (and other additions you choose) to the corned beef hash to the eggs Benedict and the cole slaw.  Both the breakfast and lunch menus are available at lunchtime, hence cole slaw with my eggs!

 

Header photo by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)