Category: Restaurants

Manhattan Meandering: Fashion & Food

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AT THE MET

A good friend came into the city for the day and she and I were engrossed for several hours viewing two exhibits at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was a rainy Friday and the corridors were packed with people. Fortunately, the first exhibit hall was less crowded so we could get a close up view of the paintings. Vigee le Brun was a French artist who lived from before the French Revolution into the 1840’s. Initially dismissed because she was female, she became popular in her day and was portrait artist of choice for many royals including Marie Antoinette. After her death, her work seems to have been overlooked or ignored for many years. Certainly, she was unknown to me until this exhibit. Some of the portraits were really stunning and I also enjoyed seeing the several self-portraits she painted over the years.

The Costume Institute exhibit, Manus ex Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, was dense with museumgoers which made seeing the gowns occasionally challenging.  It is a fascinating study of the hand crafts (embroidery, pleating, beading, feathers, etc.) involved in the creation of haute couture over the years along with the use of the latest 3D printing to create nylon mesh and other unusual fabrics. Gowns by the Houses of Chanel, Dior, and Lagerfeld shared space with very edgy ones by the likes of Alexander McQueen and John Galliano.  The alcove spaces and the ethereal background music gave the whole experience a church-like feel. This exhibit runs until August and is definitely worth seeing.  For more info see The New York Times’ review article which also includes photos.2016-05-06 15.35.11

Flying Saucer Dress
Flying Saucer Dress

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FASHION IN FILM

Following on the fashion exhibit, we went to see Andrew Rossi’s new film, First Monday in May.  Note that Rossi also directed the compelling documentary, Page One: Inside the New York Times, about the challenges of staying relevant in the age of the Internet.  First Monday is a sumptuous, gorgeous look behind the scenes at the creation of the Met’s 2014 costume exhibit on China and the extravaganza of a gala that precedes the opening.  Stars here are Anna Wintour (her dresses and suits are almost as much fun to see as all the historical and contemporary gowns) and curator Andrew Bolton.  Running through the film is the idea that fashion equals art, and that it is only in recent times that fashion has been recognized and accepted as such. Visual treats!

 

DINING

Three new places for cozy dinners.

Café Loup on West 13th St. We sampled the chicken with tarragon and the fish and chips and were happy with both at this white-walled French bistro.  Also good were the mesclun salad and the house green salad.  It was crowded the night we were there with what looked to be lots of academics.2016-05-08 19.25.04

Doma na rohu.  A rustic German restaurant on 7th Ave with wood tables and an inviting bar.  Happy hour specials include the usual beer and wine and also pretzels with sausage and mustard.  Skip the veal schnitzel (dry and unadorned), but do tuck into the great sides—German potato salad, reminiscent of my grandmother’s version; very tasty browned spaetzle; and the so-called bowl of greens—a salad with cubes of beets, cherry tomatoes and a few slices of cucumber.

Trattoria Pesce Pasta.  On Bleecker Street, this is comfort food incarnate and perfect when you’re tuckered out from a long day—for us, said long day included a bus trip to Bethlehem and back.  We skipped salads and just enjoyed the sole with artichokes and sundried tomatoes (very saucy and not fancy) which hit the spot.   Sides were a choice of sautéed broccoli or spaghetti with red sauce. One of us was healthy and the other couldn’t resist the pasta which was surprisingly good!

 

All photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)

Header photo:  Jackson Square

 

 

Manhattan Moments

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MOSTLY HEARTWARMING

We missed seeing this film at the Sarasota Film Festival and so were pleased to catch it here in Manhattan. The Man Who Knew Infinity is based on events in the life of genius mathematician, Srinivasa Ramanujan. Ramanujan was a poor man from Madras with no formal education who saw the world in numbers, patterns of numbers and equations. No one in India understood his work, but a colleague referred him to one of the professors at Cambridge University. The film portrays the prejudice, academic jealousy, and indifference he faced while at Cambridge, initially even from his sponsor, Professor Hardy. Dev Patel of “Marigold Hotel” fame is engaging as Ramanujan and Jeremy Irons plays the condescending, socially clueless Hardy. Interwoven with Ramanujan’s amazing story is an appreciation for the beauty and elegance of complex math. Ramanujan’s work is still being used today.

Colorful plate at Santina
Colorful plate at Santina

EATS

We have some favorite restaurants in the West Village, but are attempting to broaden our scope and intersperse some new ones midst the familiars.  So far there are two new places which we’d definitely recommend.   Rosemary’s serves breakfast, lunch and dinner, and we were there for dinner. It’s a bare wood floor, bare wood tables room with lots of glass and a lively (somewhat noisy) vibe. The food is what I’d call rustic Italian and there were some different (read not ordinary) dishes on the menu. Especially lovely was the linguine with preserved lemon, Parmesan, and a bit of chili; the lemon really provided some zing.  Also good was the shrimp starter with jalapeno, mint and breadcrumbs. Our waiter was a very pleasant young man from Minnesota.

We also sampled the Brazilian cuisine at Berimbau, a tiny, very casual restaurant that makes up in friendliness what it lacks in space.  The Chief Penguin is a fan of caipirinhas, the de facto national drink of Brazil, and immediately ordered one which he pronounced most satisfactory!  We had the fried calamari (not exactly Brazilian) and the chicken stroganoff (apparently stroganoff with poultry is more popular than the traditional beef) and the tropical salmon served with rice with diced vegetables.  Both were very good.

We also went back to Omar’s, Santina, and Frankie’s, all restaurants we’d enjoyed previously. Omar’s was quiet and lovely, Santina a very happening loud, but delicious, venue in the Meatpacking District, and Frankie’s, also very popular, where I had some of the lightest and best gnocchi I’ve ever had anywhere!  Given the demographics of this neighborhood, we are becoming accustomed to being the oldest folks in the dining room.

G NOTES

One of the joys of this stage of life is spending time with grandchildren. We are now blessed with two girls, one almost 4 and the other a mere 6 weeks old. There is nothing quite so soothing as sitting with a small baby snug against your chest, her heart beating against yours as she snoozes, occasionally emitting little squeaks. F. spent two hours asleep like this as I sank deeper into the couch.

E. can be a motion machine, but lately she has been content to sit close to me or her grandfather, always in physical contact, for a story or conversation.  She is also drawn to Grandpa’s shirt pocket from which she can pluck a few Cheerios. This week I got to see her and about seven other girls and one little boy in action at their ballet class. The girls all in leotards or tutus, still one moment, twirling or jumping the next. There is a mirror so the parents can watch the proceedings without being seen.  Fun.

 

Photos by JWFarrington (some rights reserved)

Tidy Tidbits: Bits & Bites

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THOUGHT-PROVOKING THEATER

We were at the first preview performance of Asolo Rep’s production of Disgraced and it was excellent!  Ayad Akhtar’s Pulitzer Prize winning play is simultaneously hard-hitting and nuanced about issues of race and religion.  Amir, a young lawyer on the track to partner, has hidden and, to a great extent, set aside his Pakistani and Muslim roots.  His wife, Emily, is a white artist; one of his law colleagues a black woman; and her husband, Isaac, the art curator promoting Emily’s work, is Jewish.  Add to this mix Amir’s Muslim nephew who arrives with first one request for legal help and then later a second one.  How this initial request impacts Amir and Emily’s marriage and then leads to an explosive dinner with Isaac and his wife is the stuff of uncomfortable theater, but uncomfortable in a good way because it makes you squirm and ponder your own reactions and behavior. If you have the chance to see this play, do!

ON THE SMALL SCREEN

I’m currently in love with a very finely drawn Australian drama series set in a small town near Sydney in 1953.  Entitled, A Place to Call Home, the lead, Sarah Adams, is a widowed nurse new to town whose interactions with the townspeople and the ruling Bligh family are cause for consternation.  Sarah is Jewish and has not shared her past nor her activities during WWII.  Elizabeth Bligh, the matriarch, is determined to run Sarah out of town despite her son George’s involvement with her.  Add in matters of social class (as in who is a suitable mate for Elizabeth’s granddaughter, Anna), homosexuality (best kept secret and viewed by most as a condition that can be corrected), and lingering resentments from the war, and you have all the elements of a family saga in a time of change.  As a bonus, the accompanying score features popular songs of the period.

The series is available from Acorn which means it isn’t free, but definitely worth either purchasing a season at a time or subscribing to all of Acorn’s appealing offerings.  And, no, I’m not on Acorn’s payroll!

SHORT FICTION

I am not a big fan of short stories (probably should be), but do occasionally nudge myself to read them.  Most recently, I’ve been dipping into Elizabeth Tallent’s latest collection, Mendocino Fire.  Tallent is a professor of creative writing at Stanford and this is her first collection in 20 years, which is perhaps why her name was not familiar to me.

Her stories are peopled with individuals who are vulnerable and occasionally broken involved in relationships that sag and sometimes unravel.  Here’s 48-year old David  in “Tabriz” reflecting while in conversation with his third wife:  “In his work, he’s a good listener.  More than that he solicits the truth, asks the unasked, waits out the heartsick or intimidated silences every significant lawsuit must transcend.  Someone has to ask what has gone wrong, and if the thing that’s gone wrong has destroyed the marrow of a five-year-old’s bones, someone has to need that truth or it will never emerge from the haze of obfuscation.  Of lying.  But this isn’t work.  This is his wife.”  These are good stories.

MANHATTAN INTERLUDE

We were in Manhattan over the weekend meeting our new granddaughter and chanced upon what turned out to be a great addition to our restaurant repertoire.  Located on W. 9th Street, Omar’s combines a busy bar scene (we might have been put off by the crowd and the noise on this late Thursday night) with a pleasant, and mostly empty when we arrived, dining room.  We sampled some light bites and found the hamachi tostados with avocado to be excellent, also the marinated Parmesan chunks with Marcona almonds and truffle oil, mounds of burrata with lightly dressed strands of jicama, and the octopus.  Definitely a must for a return visit!

Header image:  Spring in Manhattan (copyright JWFarrington)

Sarasota Scene: Songs & Salt

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AMERICAN MUSIC

This was the last week of our Sarasota Institute of Lifelong Learning programs for the year so no more Monday and Wednesday morning commitments.  Music Mondays, in particular, ended on a high note, or perhaps I should say, on a dissonant note, with American composer of contemporary music, Libby Larsen.  Larsen’s work ranges from songs and instrumental pieces to operas.  We saw a video clip of an instrumental piece for piano and bassoon with the piano representing urban energy and the bassoon making all sorts of strange sounds.  And then a young soprano from Korea and Long Island, a guest that day, sang a couple songs.   Larsen is keenly interested in American language and traditions; this is reflected in the research she did timing the speech patterns of auctioneers as a prelude to composing Bid Call, a piece for alto sax and cello.  We heard one movement of it.  Very different.

Larsen does her composing all in her head, which I found fascinating, and only then transcribes the piece into notes on paper, and after that checks it against the piano.  Throughout the interview, she was a bundle of energy, never sitting still, and animatedly chatting with her hands always in motion.  This seemed at odds with her daughter’s description of growing up in a house quiet as a library.  Larsen doesn’t like the radio or produced sounds and prefers to listen to the wind and other natural sounds.

DINING OUTDOORS

For our finale sixsome lunch, we had an outside umbrella table at Roast.  We’ve had dinner here in the past and at least one lunch.  Their special lunch menu is an appetizing selection of salads, sandwiches and soup or you can select from the regular menu.  We opted for lighter fare and enjoyed the salmon three ways on mini potato pancakes and the shrimp and crab salad with avocado dressed with marie rose sauce.  The house green salad was also excellent, and, as always, the price was right.

Keeping with the outdoor theme, we enjoyed lunch outside at Louie’s Modern on Friday.  My family from upstate NY was determined to bask in the warm air every minute of their visit, even when the sun wasn’t shining.  Louie’s menu is sophisticated and creative, and they loved the burrata and fresh tomato salad served on a watermelon pink Himalayan salt block—so much so that my sister-in-law immediately ordered one!  We also tucked into smoked trout deviled eggs, chicken potstickers, black & blue pizzetta, curry roasted cauliflower, brisket taco, and the kale Caesar and paleo Cobb salads.  Lots of different tastes to tickle the palate!

CONGRATULATIONS

This week was Artisan Cheese Company’s 4th anniversary. This is our wonderful downtown Sarasota cheese shop stocking a wide array of cheeses from across the U.S. and Europe.  Louise and her staff are warm and welcoming, making it a point to get to know their regulars, and are always happy to offer you a sample of any cheese in the case.  You can even stop in for a lunchtime sandwich or a cheese plate and a glass of wine.  Three cheers to them!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Earlier this week, we welcomed, from a distance, our second granddaughter, Frances Elizabeth.  Her big sister is delighted, as are we, and we look forward to meeting Frances and seeing her with her eyes open!

 

Header image:  Salt block from www.mnn.com