Wilfrid

Tired of weather.

Cold pickled souse on hot toast with capers, the lovely Jamon Jamon orange wine.

@Evelyn I had a great dinner at Lonesome Dove, but indeed years ago before COVID, but I see the same adventurous menu, so worth a look.

So Patrick's on the Hill is open, the old Grange space not really changed. That long, comfortable bar. Not busy tonight but I did see and smell some great oxtails. Will be back for dinner.

I saw him on the UES once. Great hair.

One of those rare museums you can enjoy without even looking at the art.

About to open at the Met. I believe I saw a big show of his work years ago, but who knows where or when (music)? Such a limited artist in terms of subjects and form. He does what he does and gets bigger and better at it. Land and seascapes that are intended to convey meaning to those that gaze on them. One thing, with an exception, every figure he paints here has his/her back to us, because the signal is to gaze on what they're seeing. The exception is a young man in a stages of life painting. There are children ignoring the beautiful vista, their mother too. The young man has his back to it. But then there's the older man, wisely braced and facing away, drinking in the sight of eternity. Positive: he conjures incredible light, even with the simplest means like brown ink and wash.

Tuesdays and Saturdays through February, the Met is offering a walking tour for members that visits five works of art related to Black history. I went along, mainly curious about what would be selected along with maybe a dozen other people. One was Winslow Homer's amazing "Gulf Stream." The docent was explaining the geography of the stream itself and used the phrase "Gulf of Mexico." She was not expecting the round of applause she got.

I watched it through and the brevity might be explained by it cutting from song to song with no applause or talking from the stage (and Carlotta will talk). Result, a really complete and quality version of the current Hinds show, from hi how are you to gabba gabba hey and therefore utter magic. If you have an hour to spare. I am looking at Austin in the spring but surely they will post a show in the north east.

Recently posted on YouTube, full set from Brighton last October. Pretty good quality too. It says full set, but 52 minutes seems a bit short.

Alex Stupak's seafood restaurant in The Manner, a glam new Thompson street hotel. Reservations look fairly open; on a snowy Sunday in February, business was very quiet. Maybe six tables got filled and one or two couples at the bar, and it's not a small restaurant. The first thing to note is a very rare NYC experience. The check was so low that I thought they must have omitted a bunch of stuff. No, it was missing the dessert wine, but I decided to take that as a comp. So two other glasses of wine, two appetizers, an enormous entree, espresso: $128. The pricing and portioning are both curious. Pricing. From the raw bar, shrimp cocktail, $28. From the appetizer section, tuna tartare, $29. The entree, mackerel, cheapest at $22. Portioning. The shrimp cocktail (eight large pieces) shareable by two people. The tartare, credible as a single portion, but could be shared. The mackerel, easily enough for three (not two, three) people, especially if a side is ordered. I have a lot of mackerel in the fridge this morning. The food is good and inventive. The meal starts spectacularly with house made butters -- bouillabaisse, anchovy and sea-salted -- served at room temperature. The latter is important because I discovered I could dunk the shrimp in them. That complimented the first-rate romesco and aioli sauces that came with the shrimp. I rarely order tuna tartare, but was curious about the "gilda" dressing, and indeed it came mixed with the anchovies, peppers and olives you would expect to find on a gilda pintxo. Spicy. Garnished with devilled quails eggs. Swordfish steak frites, au poivre has looked pretty in the pictures I've seen (one disadvantage of the restaurant being so quiet is that I couldn't snoop on what other tables were eating). It's $68, which is more than three times the price of the beer-battered mackerel with tartare sauce. The mackerel came in a basket, three massive bricks of it. There was a bucket of tartare sauce on the side. It's impossible to eat from the basket as the pieces of fish rear above its rim. A server noticed and delivered a plate. The batter is notably crunchy. Not life-changing but fine and as I have repeatedly said, absurdly under-priced. Orange wine with that, a Semillon from Chateau Lestignac. The room is spanking new, comfortable, banquettes and cushions, a large central bar. My server was charming; service overall was friendly, but honestly they had nothing to do other than chat with customers and each other. A sunny Saturday might be different.

And thousands of pages, again.

Bar just played "Supersonic" by JJ Fad. I had to shazzam it to find that out. Real old school rap. It reminded me of "The Cars That Go Boom."

A dream come true.

The location is certainly storied but for many years now the stories have not been good.

I just watched the season finale of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, thank god Below Deck Down Under starts next week. I am only addicted to this one franchise, okay?

I just saw Brooks 1890 closed this month. A restaurant since 1910. The interior was interesting and atmospheric, the food not so much.

Wagyu strip from HMart I thought was good value, $14 I think. One of the better steaks I've cooked at home within memory.

It's easy to find a subway car with only one person.💩👃

Did Babbo stay busy? Haven't thought about it in years.

I had completely forgotten that Grill on the Hill was being refurbished. Apparently it opened in October as Winnie Said. Odd name; pleasant, cozy space. It is indeed part of the Harlem Public portfolio so the food is probably good.

I don't know if the translation from Norwegian is the problem, but another really mediocre piece by Knausgaard this week. I can only believe his name is getting these things published.

How very, very...edgy.

"Broken English." Yes, I have a lot to listen to tonight. And I still have this book...

The au poivre sauce looks nice...