Category: Restaurants

Art & Eating in Manhattan

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CURRENT MUSEUM EXHIBITS

Surrealism Beyond Borders

One of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current exhibitions brings together Surrealism works of art from around the globe from Egypt to Mexico to Europe.  Most of the artists I did not know.  I also don’t know that I liked these paintings and objects but they are different, often provocative, and sometimes chilling.  

Body Snatcher in Switzerland by Enrico Baj

At least one, Salvador Dali’s black telephone, has some whimsy.

Lobster on Telephone by Salvador Dali, 1938

Jasper Johns: Mind/Mirror

The Whitney Museum of American Art and the Philadelphia Museum of Art are jointly presenting the largest retrospective ever of Jasper Johns’ work.  Prolific since the 1950’s, he is 91 and still producing.  There are many rooms of paintings on display at the Whitney.  I agree with the critic who stated that the Whitney might have showed two-thirds of what is here.  

Flag above White with Collage

Lots of American flags in different color combinations; several maps of the U.S., some multi-colored, some black or gray; and various paintings including real objects (tableware, used paint cans) or string and pieces of wood.  I especially liked the colorful version of the United States, the placement of tableware along a frame, and the fifteen monotypes of a Savarin coffee can filled with paint brushes.

Map, 1961
Frame detail, Dancers on a Plane, 1979
Savarin, 1982, one in a series

Seeing gallery after gallery, one appreciates Johns’ recurring themes and recognizes the repetition of certain elements. I wish we’d been in Philadelphia long enough to see the other half of this massive exhibit!

EATING AROUND

Marwin Thai

A nice addition to the Upper East Side, Marwin has about five tables and offers on site or takeout dining for lunch and dinner.  We enjoyed a satisfying and modestly priced meal from the special lunch menu.  Between us, we had Thai dumplings and spring rolls to start.  The Chief Penguin tried pad Thai while I sampled the green curry with chicken.  His pad Thai was good and my curry very satisfying.  It’s a brothier curry with less coconut milk and lots of green peppers, bamboo shoots and basil.  And since Happy Hour runs from 11:30 to 7:00 pm, we decided on beer—Singha and Stella d’Artois—$5.00 apiece.  

Canyon Road

Occasionally, I have a yen for some good Mexican food and prefer to patronize a restaurant that isn’t part of a chain.  Canyon Road on the Upper East Side fit the bill for a recent casual dinner.  It’s decorated with colorful square flags and strings of little white lights and has a comfortable feel.  

We ordered the requisite original margaritas and the house guacamole.  Both were very good, and the guacamole had a lively kick.  I tried the chicken tacos (three small corn tortillas on a board and plenty of food).  The Chief Penguin, who’s a fan of quesadillas, had the shrimp and jalapeno one which came with salsa, sour cream, and a bit of guacamole.  We went early so there were only a few other diners.  Service was excellent.  It’s now on our yes, return list.

Note: All photos by JWFarrington. Header images is Squash with Pan de Muerto by Maria Izyquierdo, 1947.

Just Food: Philadelphia & New York

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TRAIN TRAVEL

Earlier this week, we took Amtrak from the new Moynihan Train Hall to 30th Street Station in Philadelphia.  Constructed within the classic old Farley Post Office building, the Moynihan Train Hall is stunning and beautiful!  So new, it’s pristine and spacious with elegant arching struts and the occasional wash of magenta light.  

The train schedule boards are both numerous and easy to read.  The ticketed waiting room has both counter height seating with outlets for those who want to work and rounded soft benches.  It’s a long space with restrooms at either end.  My only quibble with the whole experience of departing and arriving is that the basement connections to the subway lines and Times Square need better wayfinding signage.  We made it work and got to Line 1, but not without some to-ing and fro-ing.  

LUNCH ON RITTENHOUSE SQUARE

Street near Rittenhouse Square

After Manhattan, the sidewalks of Philadelphia, as we walked from 30th Street Station (a grand station in its own right), seemed quiet and mostly empty of pedestrians.  The Rittenhouse Square area, on the other hand, was lively, and Parc, where we had lunch, a beehive of activity.  This French bistro has an attractive outdoor structure.  We had a lovely table and made our choices from a very appealing menu.  Our friend had mussels and tarte tatin while the Chief Penguin ordered tuna carpaccio followed by chicken paillard and then the baba au rhum.  I began with a sinfully rich celeriac soup topped with truffle duxelles followed by a warm shrimp salad.  The butterflied shrimp were perfectly cooked and set on a puddle of lemon beurre blanc alongside mixed greens with avocado.  It was delectable! And fun for us to be back in this familiar city.

MANHATTAN MEALS

Salt Mediterranean

Salt, a new Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant on the Upper East Side, opened several months ago.  We believe it inhabits the space left by one of our old favorites, El Porron, a tapas place.  Thinking that might be a good omen, we chatted outside with the owner one evening and decided to return for a meal.

Mostly, we were delighted with all the dishes we ordered.  The Turkish salad of tomatoes, cucumbers, feta, and walnuts was done chopped style and was simply delicious!  The lamb kebab with rice and greens was also excellent as were the baklava squares and the delicate almond pudding.  The only slight disappointment was the manti, meat-filled tiny pasta bites in a yogurt sauce.  We first had this dish in San Francisco at Troya, a neighborhood favorite, and then at A La Turku here in Manhattan. This version was a bit too doughy so the meat inside got lost.

Tri Dim Shanghai

We’re grateful to our co-grandparents for introducing us to Tri Dim Shanghai several months ago.  This spacious Chinese restaurant is a welcoming venue for lunch, dinner, or takeout.  We returned for lunch and were delighted with the Peking duck spring roll, the hot and sour soup, and the barbecued spareribs.  Leaning toward the tried and true, we ordered kung pao chicken which, while labeled spicy on the menu, seemed to have been dumbed down for Americans.  With the addition of some chili oil, it was tasty!  A Tsingtao beer completed the menu.  Next time we’ll explore other dishes. 

SWEET TREATS

William Greenburg Desserts

To top off a meal or just a long afternoon walk, the black and white cookies at William Greenberg are a must! Fancy cakes and sticky cinnamon rolls also fill their cases.

TABLE TALK

How often do you talk with strangers?  Recently, we had two engaging conversations with nearby diners.  The first was at the very popular, family friendly Tony’s di Napoli.  A lined slightly rumpled dark-haired woman at the next table smiled at us and asked us where we were from.  Later, she commented that we looked tanned and that the young woman with her was her granddaughter.  They had spent the day shopping, gone to lunch, and now were having dinner.  We heard about the achievements of her successful grandchildren and the arrival of her first great grandchild.  Slowly, the granddaughter warmed up a bit.  She is a student at Baruch College, and the Chief Penguin was able to tell her we know her president, a former dean at Lehigh.  A connection.

Last evening at Sel et Poivre, our comfort food French restaurant, two women had the table next to us.  The more voluble one announced, all in the same breath, that she had had her Covid booster that day and had just turned 80!  From that followed a lively conversation about her late husband, a literary agent for Steven King, and her accomplished extended family. Then, could I recommend a book to read.  Having just finished Great Circle, which I loved, I told her about it. 

Somehow, I mentioned having lived in Bethlehem. The second woman said her grandson was a freshman at Lehigh!  That led to more conversation about our past life in Bethlehem, the Lehigh campus, the upcoming inauguration of Lehigh’s new president, and where we stayed in Manhattan and why.  The first woman spends six months of the year in Venice, Florida, and the other woman knows a staff member at our granddaughters’ school.  More connections.  The whole experience made our evening memorable. And, since I gave her my card with the book title on it, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear from woman #1 in Florida!

Note: Photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine Days: Reading & Viewing

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RECENT READING

The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

Author Benedict has created a niche for herself writing novels about women, notable women whose contributions to society have often been overlooked.  Previous novels focus on Albert Einstein’s wife, Andrew Carnegie’s personal maid, and Clementine Churchill.  These novels are well researched and engaging reading; I’ve read the one about Andrew Carnegie.

Hedy Lamarr (the guardian.com)

This latest novel is about Hedy Kiesler, known to most Americans of a certain age as actress Hedy Lamarr.  Austrian by birth and an aspiring stage actress in 1930’s Vienna, Hedy is romanced by entrepreneur and munitions dealer, Fritz Mandl.  She is beautiful, and his attentions are pronounced, his determination evident.  Hedy appreciates the finer things he offers.  As Austria battles to stay out of Nazi German’s arena, marriage to him is a politically wise step for herself and her Jewish parents.  What this marriage entails, how Fritz controls her activities, and what Hedy learns hosting high level business dinners becomes both valuable and dangerous.  This is a multi-faceted Hedy Lamarr who takes risks to help in the war effort.

I enjoyed this novel but found myself wishing that the author had included an epilogue about her life after World War II.

CRIME IN DENMARK

The Sommerdahl Murders (Season 2 on Acorn)

Flemming, Marianne & Dan (rotten tomatoes.com)

Dan Sommerdahl, his partner Flemming, and his wife Marianne return for a second season of crime, Danish style.  Set in the waterfront town of Elsinore, there are eight episodes, and each case is solved over the course of two episodes.  What makes this series appealing is as much the dynamics between the three principals as it is the intricacies of solving the case.  Dan and Marianne have been married for 25 years, but the marriage is on the skids, Flemming has feelings for Marianne, and Marianne feels she’s taken an unfulfilling detour in her choice of career.  Plus, she’s attracted to an old suitor. Each of them is attempting to define a satisfying personal life.

The culture of a particular country is reflected in a crime series.  The behaviors and attitudes in this one seem especially Scandinavian.  Good entertainment!

LOCAL CUISINE

The Thistle Inn

One of our favorite Boothbay Harbor restaurants of long standing, the Thistle offers comfortable dining indoors and out.  Its dark wooden booths and bar inside are especially welcoming on a cold wet night.  During the summer, dining on their porch is airy and made magical by little lights strung in the trees.

We’ve already dined outside twice this year and were pleased with old favorites and new choices on their menu.  Their crab cakes are always delicious as was the baked haddock with cherry tomatoes and sautéed greens and their New England clam chowder.  I especially enjoyed the seared diver scallops over a lemony risotto with spinach and bacon bits.

I liked their concept of shrimp scampi over pappardelle but wished that the pasta had been a little less sticky.  For dessert the other evening, we shared the special pistachio crème brulee, a different twist. A very popular place making reservations essential!

Note: Header photo is a view of Little Christmas Cove ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Maine Moments: First Days

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MAINE IN 2021

On Saturday, we traded hot Florida sun and humidity for cool gray Maine.  Due to airline schedules and a cancelled flight to Portland on Friday, we flew into Boston’s Logan Airport.  Waiting for our bags and then dealing with the scrum of people all pressed together waiting for the bus to the rental car center was one task. Getting ourselves and all our many bags onto the crowded bus was another!  Thanks to a mother with a young child on her hip, we and our bags made it on board.

Masks were required in the airport and on the airport buses.  Once in the rental car garage, few masks were in evidence; those that were, were mostly on young kids.  Social distancing is still encouraged and urged, and you are advised to wear a mask entering any business or store if you have not been vaccinated.  This means we’ll be able to freely socialize with our friends, inside each other’s homes and without masks.  

The bigger issue is the hit that restaurants and other businesses have taken due to the Covid epidemic.  Many restaurants are unable to find and hire enough staff to cover all the hours they wish to be open.  Add to this missing, delayed, or shortchanged food deliveries given staffing shortages at the large distribution warehouses, and you have another reason for their shorter hours.  Several local restaurants are closed a weekday or two, and some didn’t open at all this season.  But there are more tourists here than last year and so the demand for tables makes reservations essential!  Even the general store on this island is now closed all day Sunday and only open until 4 pm the rest of the week.  

Our first full day here, it teemed rain on and off all day, and the high only reached 64.  Despite that, it’s good to be back!

MONDAY FORAY TO PORTLAND

It’s a complicated story, but we had to drive down to Portland to deal with paperwork related to our rental car.  That errand was blessedly quick and gave us the excuse to go to downtown Portland and spend a bit of time in the Old Port area.  I was able to replenish my supply of note and greeting cards at Sherman’s.  We then made our annual visit to Le Roux Kitchen, a longtime favorite, where we picked up several thematic Maine mugs (simple white with blue and gray whales), paring knives and a grater, and several styles of cocktail napkins.  

Alfresco dining at Duckfat

The high point of this expedition, however, was an indulgent lunch at Duckfat, a casual eatery on Middle Street specializing in Belgian fries and local charcuterie.  We ate a wonderful lunch here two years ago and the return visit was also special.  All seating this year is outdoors under a robust wooden structure outfitted with picnic tables.  We ordered the fries, of course, a glass each of Albarino, the blistered shishito peppers, and the charcuterie board of ham, duck, and smoked salmon with appropriate garnishes.  

Very tasty!  When asked if we’d like doughnut holes for dessert, we couldn’t resist!  A small metal cone of six holes arrived along with a caramel dipping sauce with overtones of maple.  The holes had been rolled in cinnamon sugar and the interior was accented with citrus.  Yum!  Even better than churros and chocolate!

Doughnut holes!

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).