Monday, September 18, 2017
Our trip to Berlin was very busy, so now I am catching up on my reading. In the New Yorker dated September 11, an article about the alleged mistreatment of a Muslim member of the New York Police Department identified David Cohen as the deputy commissioner of NYPD's Intelligence Division and formerly deputy director of the CIA. Responding to allegations that the department conducted racial profiling, Cohen said, "I don't know what an Arabic-sounding name is. Who knows what an Arabic-sounding name is?" How reassuring.
Shake Shack started out in 2004 as a hot dog stand in Madison Square Park, the original site of Madison Square Garden. It has been quite successful ever since, more than I can say for the current occupants of Madison Square Garden. It has 136 outlets worldwide and is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. In spite of this coverage, I only ate there once before. Actually, it was Shake Shack's success that kept me away, à la Yogi Berra. I just wasn't prepared to be the 30th in line to order a hamburger.
Most often, I approached the Shake Shack behind the left field stands at Citifield during a Mets game, only to find dozens of people ahead of me, sometimes more than were seated in the stands. I have had enough delayed gratification waiting for the Mets to play consistently winning baseball, so I wasn't prepared to shuffle very slowly to place an order. On the one occasion that I got to eat at Shake Shack, it was at the branch at 366 Columbus Avenue, right across from the American Museum of Natural History. It was an off hour and the wait was tolerable, which was how I would describe the hamburger I ate.
Today, I returned to the same location with no intention of ordering a hamburger, but rather to have a fried chicken sandwich, the subject of recent praise. At around 12:30, the joint was busy, but not crazy busy. About 20 people were waiting for their order to be ready, while another 12 or so were waiting to place an order. Things moved quickly, with three people taking orders and another dozen working behind them, cooking and organizing the food.
Two different chicken sandwiches were offered, Chick'n Shack, a crispy chicken breast with lettuce, pickles and buttermilk herb mayo on a bun ($6.55), and Hot Chick'n, a crispy chicken breast dusted with a guajillo (medium hot chili pepper) and cayenne pepper blend and topped with slaw and pickles on a bun ($6.79). I ordered both. I enjoyed the mild version more; the chicken was not greasy and the fried coating had a snap to it. The spicy version was more peppery than spicy and the chicken seemed to get lost. So, if the line isn't too long, step up for the Chick'n Shack. Note, I skipped the French fries to leave room for the second sandwich, so I cannot comment on this usually essential part of my unbalanced diet.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
On April 28, 2017, Stony Brook Steve and I shared a very good lunch at La Salle Dumpling Room, 3141 Broadway, in the immediate vicinity of Columbia University, Barnard College, Jewish Theological Seminary, Union Theological Seminary and Manhattan School of Music, probably the densest collection of intellectual and artistic firepower in the world. On Saturday night, returning from dinner, I spotted another branch, brand new of La Salle Dumpling Room, 25 West End Avenue. Therefore, it only made sense that Steve and I visit this location for lunch as soon as possible.
The new site is small, 11 two tops crowded together. The menu appears to be the same as the mother ship, with prices holding. We shared cold sesame noodles ($7.95), 6 pan fried pork dumplings ($8.50), 6 steamed chicken dumplings in spicy sauce ($8.50), and popcorn chicken ($10.95). We ate very well and abundantly. The spicy sauce for the chicken dumplings was just right, tangy, but stopping short of inducing tears. Service was quick and efficient. Customers included students from John Jay College and staff from what is now called Mount Sinai Roosevelt Division, Mount Sinai St. Luke's, St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital Center, Mount Sinai West, or, most inclusively, Mount Sinai St. Luke's-Roosevelt, all resulting from the moshing together of St. Luke's Hospital and Roosevelt Hospital under the hegemony of Mount Sinai Medical Center, which previously gobbled up Beth Israel Medical Center. This conglomeration was in response to New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center (which includes Columbia University Medical Center) and NYU Langone Medical Center, consisting of Tisch Hospital, the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine, and the Hospital for Joint Diseases. It seems destined that all of these entities will eventually merge into The Sick Place.
In any case, Steve and I agreed that we have found a new clubhouse and encourage your patronage as well.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
The Huffington Post published a survey today looking back partially on the 2016 presidential election.
I must admit that I was shocked by the views expressed about Hillary Clinton. 51% of the respondents had "Somewhat unfavorable" or "Very unfavorable" opinions of her, less than one year after she got a majority of the popular vote in the presidential election. The survey did not posit her against you-know-who and did not report attitudes towards him. Maybe the folks were upset with her, because she failed to keep him out of office. That may prove to be her unpardonable offense.
. . .
In a column that appears only on-line, the New York Times boasts that it "introduced readers to pizza 73 years ago today as 'a pie made from a yeast dough and filled with any number of different centers.'
'With the dexterity of a drum major wielding a baton, the baker picks one up and twirls it around, first in one hand and then in the other,' the report said, describing Luigino’s Pizzeria Alla Napoletana in Times Square."
The Times has claimed this distinction before, that it "introduced readers to pizza 73 years ago," and we know that their readers are the gatekeepers of Western civilization, at least on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. However, I addressed this issue before, attempting to set the table straight. http://alanatlunch.blogspot.
At the time, I wrote that:
I ate at Luigino’s regularly when I worked at the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, on West 44th Street, Saturdays throughout college. It felt very much like the old section of John’s Pizzeria on Bleecker Street, with high-backed wooden booths, and thinnish-crusted pizza. The problem with the Times article then and now is, I believe, that it was scooped long before by the Daily News (or was it the Daily Mirror?). I remember a clipping on Luigino’s wall of a story, the work of a good publicist, about this strange food, with a photograph of Rockettes from nearby Radio City Music Hall sampling slices. It’s been a long time, but I really believe that this story dated from the 1930s. A search of my brother’s memory, Arthur Dobrin’s memory (they both worked at the Bar Association at some time), and the Internet only yielded the image below. Arthur confirms the newspaper article on the wall, but has no recollection of a photograph in it. My brother simply relishes the memory of good lunches. The E-Bay seller claimed that this menu was from the 1930s, but offered no support for this.
Lombardi’s at 53 ½ Spring Street, a successor now at 32 Spring Street, claims to have been the first in the USA, starting in 1905. http://www.firstpizza.com/
John’s of Bleecker Street, 278 Bleecker Street, my favorite, started in 1929, but on Sullivan Street. http://www.johnsbrickovenpizza
Whether or not the Times got to Luigino’s first, it was scooped on pizza by the New York Tribune on December 6, 1903, four decades earlier. http://chroniclingamerica.loc.
Thursday, September 21, 2017
5778, but who's counting?
In case you haven't succumbed to Clinton Fatigue, I suggest two somewhat contradictory views of Hillary's career and her current book, What Happened. Both are worth reading; buckle up.
The New Yorker has a somewhat balanced appraisal of Clinton.
Huffington Post savages Clinton.
No matter what, 5777 was not her year.
Acting solely in my role as universal fact-checker, I must say that Madison Square is not the original location of Madison Square Garden. It has always been Madison Square. The Garden (1879) was at the northeast corner of 26th St. and Madison Ave., and named in honor of its neighboring park.
ReplyDeleteI can vividly see what I read through the text, narrated well
ReplyDeleteSolomon is a law student in Uganda whom I met this summer.
ReplyDelete