Wilfrid

To my surprise, grabbed a prime time seat on Saturday (yes, I remember the Claud thread). I can hardly not compare what they offer with what I just ate in Portland. They can hardly help being more expensive.

Also the gin in the freezer. 😐

How precious.

Alex Barasch's piece on actor/director Halina Reijn is interesting but when they get to the Morgan Library and Museum, fantasy takes over. Or, the charitable view, things that actually happened are very poorly described. Barasch and Reijn had "learned" there was a copy of Frank Wedekind's "Lulu" in the library. From an unreliable source as Lulu is a character in two plays, neither of which is called "Lulu." A docent, no less, directs them to the room with multiple levels of bookshelves. They can't, surprise, find "Lulu." Yes, there are modern collections containing those plays (and usually "Spring Awakening") that have names like "The Lulu Plays." A bit after Morgan's time. In fact, the first of the plays was translated into English after Morgan's death. It's possible a copy of "Erdgeist" is in there somewhere and their informant knew that to be the case. But where in the Morgan do you need to whisper because of the "hush" of the library? Pure fantasy.

Yes, indeed. Funny and perceptive. Bad food stops being funny when you eat it.

Quick after-performance supper. Cold souse, hot toast spread with butter and Dijon, raddicchio salad with oil and fig balsamic. St Liebling spoke of flavors that know their own minds; true, but here the textures, springy souse, crunchy toast, crisp/chewy salad.

Cod loin with a revival of the Albarino, raisin, caper butter sauce I made for the scallops on Thanksgiving, a few rancho beans thrown in. And yes, that's one of several portions of (frozen) leftover soofle.

It was a bit like a frog trying to cross the FDR. Squelch.

Wells returns with a lengthy piece on Sushi Sho (not technically a review).

We need this thread or at least I do. Twelve and a half miles walking in the last three days including the hideous climb from Frederick Douglass Blvd back up to the Heights this afternoon ("Manhattan is essentially flat," Calvin Trillin). And half of one of those days was spent with airports and NJ Transit. I'm tired.

If that's a half portion just call it Big Pig.

Airport story. I underestimated the ease of getting to my gate at Portland (ME) this morning. Zero traffic on the road, and the airport is nearby, and for the first time ever I am the only person in the security line. No one ahead or behind. So rather than being a reasonable hour ahead of boarding, I am 90 minutes or more. There is Starbucks or there is a bar. I seat myself at the bar, telling myself it’s too early to be drinking. Drip coffee. As 9.30 approaches I consider breakfast. I ask my server about the avocado toast. A fierce woman appears from the kitchen and says breakfast is over at 9.30. Okay, it’s 9.27 but whatever. At that point, the only other person in the place, a very small older woman, rushes to the counter and banging her menu down threatens the staff with “the rage” of someone who had come there just for breakfast. She continues ranting as my server and I exchange rolled eyes. After she storms out a party comes in and orders from the post-9.30 menu and I would have thought the kitchen could make avocado toast as easily as burgers for 6 five minutes later. I settle back with a cold cider as that‘s not really drinking.

One of those occasions a direct comparison in eating is easy. I was in New Orleans last month and ate a lot of oysters, from high end (Seawitch) to low end (fried at the market). The oysters in Portland are at a different level.

I wouldn’t expect to be served an entire saddle. Is it the loin he’s serving?

How completely different Eventide and Scales are. Eventide does have a bar and several dining rooms but is still compact and cozy. Scales is a massive barn of a place on the docks and it was packed last night. The oysters, again, were great. Crab fritters were okay but the tartare sauce, I assume made fresh, was delicious. Main was a reminder of my childhood: baked haddock. Three courses, three good wines BTG, a digestif and espresso, about $160. Another saving here, it’s hard to pay as much as $10 for an Uber.