Who we are

[Wilfrid]

(I think we had a forum called Bios or something in the previous incarnation.)

Sunday is the day I will mark my 27th anniversary of being a resident of New York (the 25th demanded and got a party).

I went back to that journal from 1997 and was reading about where ate in my first month living here. My first night, as I doubtless mentioned discussing my 25th anniversary, Vince & Eddie's, a long gone Italian-American place near Lincoln Center, a short walk from me. Crab cakes, lamb shank, ginger cake.

Next day, Petaluma (closed last year), vitello tonnato and rabbit with rosemary.

And then lunch at Le Bernardin with a law firm that wanted to poach me. And eventually did.

Next day, lunch at Night Gallery Cafe. Remember that? Kind of a themed diner on the west side.

I then found the storied Michael's, again walking distance from where I was living. I did not know the back story, but I ended up eating plenty of dinners there, including business dinners. Squab, blackcurrant sauce.

After a return trip to London, a brunch at Tiffany's (I have no memory of this place): Irish breakfast.

Le Biarritz, near my apartment on West 57th: ris de veau.

There's more but that will do. I am moved that, three days into my residency, I went to see Linda Purl at the Oak Room. I met her afterwards. I had had a huge crush on her forever, since before Happy Days.  She is still with us and I'm here too.

[backyardchef]

Thanks for sharing those memories @Wilfrid

[Wilfrid]

Who I am right now.

 

[small h]

I love that movie.

[voyager]

I love that T-shirt!

[Wilfrid]

Look what just surfaced. Australia (look at that glass), circa 1987.

[StephanieL]

And those giant eyeglasses!

[Wilfrid]

For sure. I wore those for years.

[Wilfrid]

Still thumbing through the old diaries I started keeping when I came to New York to live. Some surprises. Apparently I saw Pharoah Saunders at Iridium. No memory of that.

Then, March 19, 1998, one of my New York highlights. I vividly remember duetting with Goldie Hawn ("As Time Goes By") while riding the elevator in my building. I had known she and Kurt Russell had the penthouse, so it kind of made sense. We were both tipsy. What I could not have remembered, but what the contemporary diary entry tells me, is that it was two in the morning.

[stone]

On 1/14/2026 at 11:21 AM, Wilfrid said:

Still thumbing through the old diaries I started keeping when I came to New York to live. Some surprises. Apparently I saw Pharoah Saunders at Iridium. No memory of that.

Holy cannoli.  I saw Pharaoh Saunders at the Iridium around 1998.  

[Wilfrid]

Not to overshadow Steve.R's birthday or the Super Bowl, my anniversary being a New York resident is on February 18. I started celebrating this on the 25th anniversary; this will be the 29th.

Bittersweet because some who toasted my 25th are no longer around. One, departed and missed. One, moved to Germany. One, dumped by my daughter and rightly so.

No, I have made no plans.

[Steve R.]

Overshadow all you want.  That ship has now sailed.  You came to NYC in '97?  What year was the MF dinner you arranged at Joselita(?), the Dominican place on Ave C?  So many years run together and my Apple Calendar (aka my external hard drive) doesn't start until around 2011.  I know that I was on CH around the time Leff started it, but I really can't remember when we all started with eG, then OA then MF.

You should put 2/18 in the MF Calendar.  Its the cool thing to do these days.

[maison rustique]

MF has a calendar?

[Wilfrid]

It does!

Yes, I arrived in February 1997. The Joselito's dinner must have been 2001 or later because my daughter had been born (she was born in 2000 but we were living in Gramercy Park and wouldn't have known places on Avenue C).

I actually got involved with online food forums for the first time with the limited interactions Shaw was hosting for the New York Times. That's where I came across Yvonne Johnson and others, pre-eGullet. Chowhound was around but I discovered it later.

[maison rustique]

Throwing this out there to hold myself accountable. My goal is to fully move into the other house the beginning of May. Of this year. I need to crack the whip on myself and get stuff done.

[maison rustique]

Going through stuff in my late husband's office yesterday, there was a lot of junk and a lot of photos along with the negatives. He worked for United press International in the early 60s. Covered politics, sports, riots, etc. Here's one from 1964. There are pix of Nixon, Rockefeller, HH Humphrey, and lots more. I suppose I'll just put them in the estate sale.

Second photo is us at the Hollywood Bowl in 1994. We had a dear friend who had a box in a prime location and we were invited to go every year. It was great fun and we saw a lot of wonderful performances there. And watching the audience was nearly as much fun. I remember the night we saw Victor Borge. Ray Charles was in the box across the aisle and up one. He was laughing so hard he had tears running down his face. Good memories!

[Wilfrid]

A couple of occasions to celebrate recently led to me visiting old haunts in the theater district, my neighborhood when I first lived in the city. A lot has changed, of course, but some places remain exactly the same.

Met up with my cohort at The Rum House. First nostalgia stop, Don't Tell Mama's. I was thinking I hadn't been there for years, but then remembered that a friend had a cabaret show there about a year ago that I attended. I once alternated visits to Mama's with the piano bar at Danny's Skylight Room across the street (long gone). Late nights drinking whisky sours. Shout out to Elaine Brier who was serving and singing here more than 20 years ago and is still on the roster.

Then Sardi's. I know when I was last here; five years ago with, among others, Sneakeater. The now veteran bartender who joined the staff when I was a regular still remembers me. Cunningly, I had my daughter go to the bar to order some snacks, telling her to ask the bartender why the cheese and crackers are no longer free. For years they were set out on the bar for drinkers to help themselves; now they're $18 an order. He looked across the room at me, raised his eyebrows, and comped us a huge tray of the stuff.

Then he and I reminisced about how Rita Moreno used to keep her credit card attached to her wallet with a rubber band so she wouldn't lose it.

Mais où sont les neiges d'antan ?

(Earlier in the day I took a photo of my first apartment building on 57th Street. Oh and I dropped by Zibetto, celebrating its 20th anniversary with prices from 20 years ago: espresso $2).