MitchW

Anyone who is even a minor Picasso fan should run, not walk, to this stunning show. Mostly drawn from the artist's estate, some pieces are being seen for the very first time in public, others (privately held) not having been seen for years. And it's a good stop on the way to The Met.

Just seeing this, and we had a really great meal at Kalaya - 4 of us, and I don't think there was a clunker with anything we ordered. Also enjoyed the seafood restaurant via Vernick quite a bit.

AFter the Trombone Shorty gig the other night, it looks as if EC talked a bit to a reporter from the post (either not realizing, or caring, who it was)... https://nypost.com/2025/05/21/entertainment/elvis-costello-may-be-done-with-new-music-let-somebody-else-make-records/ This is classic Elvis, when he's getting interviewed: I think this might be the 150th time he's said this.

Seared ahi tuna from Great Alaska, ikura, avo, cherry tomato, gari over trfny rice (koshihikari).

Last night, Trombone Shorty did a gig in Soho, with any number of special guests, including EC, Larry Campbell, Bernie Williams, and others... Alerted to this earlier in the day, I did my due diligence and walked over to Centre Street, rode the elevator up to the performance space, heard some soundcheck going on, asked about possibly getting in, and was told, very politely, no way. Soho Sessions are private gigs, with corporate sponsorship, often with charitable institutions involved. And fancy guest lists (there was a time, back in the day, when I was often a +1 to gigs like this, but that was when record stores really mattered, as a very old and close friend managed the largest Tower Records in the world). This morning, when I saw photos of guests arriving to the gig last evening, I'm not that surprised that they weren't letting my ass in. Whoopi, McEnroe, Turturro, Porizkova (worth the price of admission alone!) and others way more important than yours truly. Can't say I didn't give it the old college try.

A couple of Graham Parker gigs over the last few weeks, including one at a friend's place on Staten Island... Amazing thing about Graham, other than actually remembering me by name over all these years, is that he never uses a lyric sheet or anything to help remember the lyrics to songs, some of which are well over 50 years old.

I was trying to make my parents proud; they put up with a lot of shit, and a lot of loud music (especially the Stones, Kinks, et al.) while I was still in high school!

Good to see that they can undercook duck there (looks like sous vide) as well.

MY wife is quite amazed that I am clueless when it comes to all those detective/cop/crime drama shows. I was too busy watching the Honeymooners, Get Smart, Green Acres, et al.

I believe the lyric is "Yankee detectives are always on the TV..." And "Watching the Detectives" was written by Elvis Costello, after listening to that first Clash album, on headphones, for like 12 hours straight. Originally recorded with members of Graham Parker's band, The Rumour.

As John Hiatt opined: Oh, it breaks my heart to see those stars Smashing a perfectly good guitar I don't know who they think they are Smashing a perfectly good guitar

Pan-seared wild Gulf shrimp, Hokkaido scallops, salad.

Where's Door Dash get their $$ from?

I'll be honest - I don't remember. Though looking at the current menu, I'm pretty sure we like the gnocco frito, braised beans, the pastas, and I'd probably order the braised lamb.

A couple of recent dinners: Penne with chick peas and green beans - ramp pesto. With a big salad. Crispy-skinned chicken thigh, pan gravy. Sautéed green beans with shallots. Potato salad alongside.

They sure trimmed a lot of the fat from the Serrano ham. Maybe they're sourcing from Despaña?

I surreptitiously took pictures, which is frowned upon. Not only there, either.

Basil and garlic get pine nuts when I make a batch of more traditional pesto (and I try to make sure the pine nuts are Italian, or at least Mediterranean). I also don't add the cheese until I'm tossing with pasta, or potatoes, or whatever. I know people use walnuts instead of pine nuts; I'm just not as big a fan of the walnut. I think the pistachios worked pretty nicely, offering a slightly sweeter profile - but I haven't yet used the pesto in or on anything, only tasted it.

If it's 40 years old, I sure wasn't living here when they opened. I do remember it being not necessarily the first or second 'nice" restaurant I went to with a date after moving back here in '94 to go to cooking school (I think the first was Bouley, and I was taken there by someone, maybe even to celebrate graduation), and probably enjoying myself.

There is actually some medium-rare rib eye cap hiding under the mushroom/shallot/mustard sauce, but it's hard to see. Green beans sautéed in ramp butter. Yukon golds.

A friend gifted me this: A pound + of ramps. Sustainably harvested, somewhere up in the Hudson River valley (I think). So I got a little busy (cleaning these suckers is a pain): Couple of cups of ramp pesto, and some rather "rustic" ramp butter. Like, it could have been finer had I used the food processor, but I chopped the ramps and mushed them with the butter by hand. AS I do when I make pesto with basil, this has no cheese added at this point. I learned from an old Italian cook not to add the cheese if it's not going to be used right away, as the cheese doesn't get any better sitting in the pesto. And for this ramp pesto, pistachios.

I just read this entire piece, which I think is supposed to be funny, and didn't even chuckle...https://www.grubstreet.com/article/hannah-selinger-grub-street-diet.html

The problem, methinks, with these books, is that no one gives a shit any more. I'm pretty sure.

WTF is a dish like this... Or more precisely, why? At the new downtown hot spot ... Bar Bianchi...

I really like the quality of these. I do prefer them at 4 lbs. or so, but I guess this one escaped the hatchet for a little longer.