Wilfrid

I can’t imagine how that “proffer” is viable. No matter how good, she has lost me at that price point. So her market is people who have silly money but who are actually interested in spending it on that kind of food? At a place that isn’t legendary? Maybe I am missing something.

It’s worth it.

Interesting opinion piece in the NYT (but not just about New York, in which a restaurateur explains how he came to adjust and re-adjust his business models as he progressed into and out of the pandemic. That's something I have often heard and never quite understood. Okay, it looks like this place is busy, turning tables several times a night with walk-ins. But say it isn't, that it usually has a table or two empty. Do you know whether you are losing more money because people won't take a chance on not getting a table than you would lose on no-shows?

Well I shall make a Final Ward tonight in his honor. (Last Word with rye instead of gin, lemon juice instead of lime.)

Some funny stuff in there.

Oh, I thought that was my line.

A Written Word last night. I don't know why I don't make it more often. Last Word with Cointreau replacing the maraschino.

And a student memory: buying fishcakes in the fish and chip shop when I couldn't afford actual fish.

Finally finished my brandade made with cauliflower rather than potato. Last act meant squeezing handfuls really dry, really dry, then shaping them into fish cakes to be breaded and fried. Result fine but hardly photogenic.

That is very useful. Thanks.

At a catered dinner last night I drank one of those big, buttery, hard candy west coast Chardonnays. First time in years, I think. It was quite startling (but free). The red wine was on similar lines, but not as dramatic.

I am five minutes from Sardi’s where, back in the day, we would plunge into communal bowls of nuts and crackers up to our wrists. I never caught nothing. That I know of.

Isn’t it hard to pick up potato chips with a teaspoon? I am at a fancy reception where, for hygiene reasons, nuts, chips and pretzels are being served in bowls with teaspoons. The nuts, no problem. Haven’t tried balancing a pretzel yet.

Dominican salami (Induveca, the best) on zero carb bread with plenty of beurre de Barratte, cucumber and tomato. Simple is good is one point; the other is that there are barely any carbs on that plate.

Last night. I had ordered bags of zero carb tortilla chips from, well, Mr Tortilla. There was a bag of tortilla wraps with the order. Freebie I guess. Finely chopped a length of stinky longaniza, plus some tomato; spread the wraps with crema Mexicana and hot sauce; cooked the sausage and rolled it all up together. Very good because the brand of longaniza is very good. No, I can’t remember, I will look harder next time.

Back to the brandade which I froze as I was in Cali for a week. Eating it warm with toasted bread and sliced tomatoes. There is a lot of it. I think the final batch will be squeezed dry, breaded and eaten as fish cakes. But not tomorrow as I am being swept away to a Gala dinner for which I may actually wear a necktie. Remember that?

I share that impression, but I never really counted.

I remember Ike. That's where Vandaag opened later.

They could come to New York, play three nights, then get a train down. Did you see they’re now a five piece? Added another guitarist.

You are paying my dry cleaning bill. Still here, sitting in a bar, watching the Phillies and listening to fools. I love travel. Tomorrow home to Harlem as they say. Weather is nice though.

“Dude, what’s happening on TV?” You are watching it. Figure it out. It’s not like you are being confronted by a Latin text or a Bresson movie.

So The Desmond was a dinner of two halves. On the second floor of a Kimpton Hotel, it had the look of fine dining… The service was the over-enthusiastic, cheerleading kind. My server explained that the menu had ingredients from many cuisines and offered to help me with my “vocabulary.” She congratulated me on picking her favorite wines. That kind of thing. I decided to ask the captain about the “floral congee.” I told him I knew what congee was, but what was floral about this one? He didn’t know. He thought it might be how the “rice cake” was garnished. I think he needed help with his vocabulary. Anyway I ordered the dish. Dungeness crab with what (happily) was a congee. Not much flavor to anything. Some nigella seed crackers that seemed stale. The wine list was mysterious. Items called “red blend.” No vintages. Two Coravin selections, one a red at $30 a glass. I looked it up and it’s $28 a bottle. Maybe this was a prized vintage; wouldn’t know from the list. Then it all turned on a dime. The beef cheek was excellent, served on a thick, unrefined but tasty guajillo tomatillo sauce. You could make “tacos” by wrapping it in Moroccan baghrir, freshly made pancakes with crisp edges; unsuitable for my diet but quite delicious. A glass of Inniskillen for dessert. I even started liking the service. The cost was better than I expected but I was probably comped (knowingly or not) at least one glass of wine.

Hinds are playing SXSW next year. I have indicated to them that New York would be a good stopover.

I write about the companies that enable this kind of thing. Imagine how many ads I get from them. Which is more annoying? Ads for something I just bought or ads for something I can’t buy — like one I probably already wrote about, a big discount from a fancy hotel, but exclusively for people visiting New York from London. How did I get on that list?

These posts are designed to make me miss Kathy.