MitchW

I hear it was really nice there back in the '60s.

Wilf, I imagine you've already spent a few hours dissecting this fascinating piece... Every Below Deck Crew Member, Ranked

Moving on, if you are in the least bit interested in photography, then get yourself to MoMA and see the Robert Frank exhibition. I've been twice so far, and will make one more visit before it closes. Exhaustive and exhilarating. You have about two weeks left to see it. Life Dances On Robert Frank in Dialogue James Baldwin - 1960

We drove down to Greensboro, NC for Thanksgiving, stopping for a few nights in Richmond, VA, both on the way down and on the way back. Who knew the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts was going to turn out to be a really great way to spend a day? State run, free admission except to special exhibits. And a special photography exhibition was the main draw (with comp tickets from our bed and breakfast, owned by the museum and right across the street). A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 An exhaustive survey - photographers you know and photographers you don't: Photos of photos: Allie Mae Burroughs, Hale County, Alabama, 1936, Walker Evans (American, 1903–1975), gelatin silver print, 9 5/8 x 7 7/8 in. Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts, Gift of Norman Selby (PA 1970) and Melissa G. Vail, 2020.31 Just an amazing exhibition.

You definitely mentioned it previously.

It would be really nice if we knew exactly when this stuff was starting; and the UK actually has a variation on this coming into effect as well (the UK's will start immediately in the new year, I believe). https://travel-europe.europa.eu/etias_en https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-opens-pre-travel-requirement-to-non-europeans

I'm wondering if you (or anyone) has tried this product:

That menu looks pretty great, right?

Today, on his substack account "Out of the Oven," Jeremiah Tower was kind enough to share with us all a few of his classic New Year's Eve menus from the 80s and 90s. I'm not talking Chez Panisse; I'm talking Santa Fe Bar and Grill and Stars (perhaps my favorite restaurant in the US...like...ever). Just a great chef, who tapped into the food zeitgeist of the times better than anyone, in my opinion. But it wasn't just the food; it was the mood, the service, the sexiness of the places, that really proved his ability to look ahead and see what we'd really want from a fun night out at a cool restaurant. Keith McNally thanks Jeremiah for what he begat...literally. Enjoy the menus... Recipes and more on the substack (this post is a freebie)...https://jeremiahtower.substack.com/p/new-years-show-stoppers

Maybe the menu writer first stopped off at ConBud.

This was a "use everything you can in the fridge already" dinner. So that can turn into carbo laden stodge. Of the best kind: Soup. Ham, potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, celery, leeks, onions, shallots, tomatoes, green chili. Salad. Little gems, cucumbers, almost decent winter tiny tomatoes.. House-made blue cheese dressing. Jamón serrano (Formaggio Essex) on focaccia (Pain d'Avignon). Happy spouse.

Wow - maybe I can wait until mid-June. We ate at Torrisi recently; I was kind of surprised at the somewhat reasonableness of the check; the food mind you, not the drinks. And the food was very good.

Borgo is high on my list; I can wait until mid-January, however.

App: Braised big-ass artichokes. Sauce for dipping = mayo, yogurt, mustard, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, s&p. Chicken scarpariello, oven braised as opposed to finished on the stove top. Served over Anson Mills rustic polenta integrale.

Had I only known!

Show last night, at 503 Social Club, James Mastro's art/music collective in Hoboken. Partial Mekons, partial Waco Brothers, partial Men of Gwent, et al. Terrible pix all, but it's what I got... Jon Langford Sally Timms Jon Langford. Jean Cook.

I've managed to spend a decent amount at Fore Street, Scales, Twelve (where our meal this year was $306, before tip), but probably 25% cheaper than a similar meal might be here. Ubers are one thing; weed is amazingly cheap (but then again, it's pretty cheap in California now too).

True that - we recently spent some time in Richmond and Greensboro. While certainly less expansive for meals than we pay in NYC, it wasn't exactly cheap.

Saw the incomparable Steve Earle last night, at Jesse Malin's tiny Berlin, under 2A. He was the special "unannounced guest" at a show headlined by Florence Dore, who was also pretty great. A bit about Florence: Florence Dore with her band of Bona Fide gentlemen - Will Rigby and Gene Holder of the dBs and Mark Spencer of Son Volt. Florence is a Nashville-born, Chapel Hill, NC-based artist, who by day is a professor of English and Comparative Literature at UNC Chapel Hill. Her most recent record, Highways and Rocketships, recorded with REM producers Mitch Easter and Don Dixon, won Best Americana Album of 2022 at Lonesome Highway Magazine. Will Rigby, in addition to playing drums in the band, is also Florence's husband.

Friday night, went to Cervo's Feast of the Seven Fishes (there were more), held at Platform by James Beard Foundation, which is at Pier 57 (which is ginormous). One picture, too busy schmoozing. The fried shrimp heads with the peel and eat shrimp in the background. Everything was very nicely done - good choices on the wines. My favorites were the skate fritters, the stuffed crab, shrimp heads and bodies, and the bacalao with clams. Nice choices on the wines. Of course, they've opened the place on Broome St.: Eel Bar, and I find more to my liking at this point. Because I find it more comfortable, and the food leans slightly more Basque-ish.

I kinda miss Aquagrill; they always had a fine selection of oysters, and a good shucker or two.

Or, conversely, there's a Stones' song that has a riff that you would swear was the Kinks.

What, nothing for the Menendez brothers?

Ray can write some songs, can't he?

The great Lenny Kaye...https://www.instagram.com/reel/DDPbs2GRv7Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==