Wedge Issue

Monday, September 16, 2019

Real estate is a preoccupation for many New Yorkers.  This weekend I read two stories that represented sort of the Yin and Yang of our local market.  "One in Four of New York’s New Luxury Apartments Are Unsold"  https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/realestate/new-development-new-york.html
"The monthly median rent for a studio in Manhattan this summer hit an astonishing 11-year high"  https://www.businessinsider.com/cost-of-studio-in-manhattan-hits-eleven-year-high-2019-9

Rent for a Manhattan studio has risen to $2,700 monthly, while, "[f]rom January to late August, there was a 35 percent drop in the number of contracts signed for new development at or above $4 million."  So, I guess that those folks who couldn't pony up several million for their crib, are cramming into studios until their ship comes in or the tide goes out.
. . .

David Goldfarb is a connoisseur of wine, cheese, Hebrew texts and tomatoes.  In pursuit of the latter, I agreed to drive him to Wallkill View Farm Market, 15 Route 299, New Paltz, New York, 80 miles north of the Holy Land.  David has a longstanding relationship with the owner of the farm stand, who advised him that the San Marzano tomatoes were ready for a new home.  Earlier this summer, David traveled to the farm stand with his daughter to purchase 50 pounds of heritage tomatoes, which he cooked into soup.  Today, he went for San Marzano tomatoes to be made into sauce and I was his enabler.  After we loaded about 20 pounds of these Italianesque tomatoes into my car, we went further up the road to Jenkins-Lueken Orchards, 69 Yankee Folly Road (at route 299), for five pounds of Cortlandt apples.  Both of these operations stood in front of vast acres of fields yielding their produce.
 

I passed on tomatoes and apples, buying only a couple of jars of preserves and a bottle of hard cider.  While I couldn't take it home with me, the best purchase of the day was lunch.  We went to Gadaleto's Seafood Market and Restaurant, 246 Main Street, New Paltz.  Indeed, almost anything on the menu is taken from the refrigerated case in the retail section and cooked to order.

I had fish and chips Southern style, cod with a very crispy, spicy cornmeal crust.  Gadaleto's offers two other versions of fish and chips, traditional flour-coated and British beer-battered.  I was very pleased with my choice, accompanied by a large portion of Cajun-spiced French fries.  The place stands right off exit 18 of the New York State Thruway and is worth a stop on your way to or from Albany or other points north.  Tell them the two old guys from New York sent you.

Tuesday, September 15, 2019

Except if you live in the Boston suburbs, you are probably unaware of Natick, a town bearing the Native American name for "a suburb of Boston."  We visit regularly in order to mingle with our second and third generations.  What I just learned is that the New York Times has enunciated the "NATICK Principle" as part of its crossword puzzle canon.  "If you include a proper noun in your [crossword] grid that you cannot reasonably expect more than 1/4 of the solving public to have heard of, you must cross that noun with reasonably common words and phrases or very common names.”

Wednesday, September 18, 2019
I'm excited.  Miznon is a chain of restaurants that started in Israel in 2011, offering non-Kosher Israeli/Middle Eastern/Mediterranean food.  It is now on four continents, a counter in Manhattan's Chelsea Market its initial American outing.  Recently, it opened Miznon - North at 161 West 72nd Street, a short catapult hurl from Palazzo di Gotthelf.

I went there today and first noted the extensive renovations from its former occupant, Aroma Espresso Bar, another Israeli enterprise.  There is exposed brick on one wall and greenish subway tile opposite.  Left of the entrance, there is a high wall covered with Hebrew graffiti, at least, it looks like Hebrew and it looks like graffiti.  One third of the ground floor is an open kitchen bordered by a counter with 10 stools.  There are additional tables and chairs upstairs and on a back terrace.

In spite of the attractive physical setting, I was initially apprehensive at the sight of raw vegetables sitting on every table.  Admittedly, the sight of raw meat on every table would have been more disconcerting, but I worried about the implication of the raw vegetables.  Fortunately, the kitchen cooks its vegetables and serves hearty proteins as well.

The lunch menu offers 11 main courses, $14-34, Ratatouille Plate to Roasted Branzino, and three stuffed pitas, $13-18, Lavan Cauliflower to Rib Eye Minute Steak.  Included with all these dishes is a choice of appetizer, such as, Beetroot Carpacio (olive oil, salt, grated horseradish and sour cream) and Grilled Leek.  I ordered Rotisserie Broken Chicken ($16), many small pieces of chicken in a subtle sauce (so subtle I couldn't identify it) stuffed into a fresh pita.  I started with Spicy Platter, 4 spicy dips with a chunk of fresh crusty bread to mop with.  Delicious on all accounts. 

Thursday, September 19, 2019

I hit the road again today, without America's Favorite Epidemiologist or even David Goldfarb as company.  I went to the University of Massachusetts - Amherst for the 15th Annual Dean Alfange Jr. Lecture in American Constitutionalism.  Generations of Dean's students established this series upon his retirement, a tribute to an exceptional teacher and a superb human being.  

 

Today's speaker  was Goodwin Liu, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of California, discussing "State Courts and School Desegregation: New Perspectives on Judicial Federalism and the Myth of Parity."  Justice Liu clerked for Ruth Bader Ginsburg and taught at the University of California Berkeley School of Law before his appointment to the California Supreme Court.  His theme was that state courts, reaching back even before Plessy v. Ferguson, the U.S. Supreme Court case that legitimatized "separate but equal," were ruling against segregation and may still have a role protecting civil rights in the future independent of the U.S. Supreme Court. 

Justice Liu, the son of Taiwanese immigrants and a Rhodes Scholar, will have a sad footnote in American political history, because, as the Washington Post reported on May 19, 2011, "Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of President Obama’s nominee to a high-profile federal appellate court, the first time Republicans have ever united to successfully filibuster a judicial nomination.  On a 52 to 43 vote, law professor Goodwin Liu fell eight votes short of the 60 needed to overcome a GOP filibuster to his nomination.  All but one Republican, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, opposed ending debate on Liu’s nomination to the San Francisco-based U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit." 

Justice Liu's  presentation today demonstrated why the Republicans opposed him.  He was coherent, informed, reasoned and insightful.  Truly an enemy of the state.

. . .

Although public policy and jurisprudence were my primary motivations for the trip today, I have to admit that I welcomed the opportunity to have lunch on the way up at Nardelli's Grinder Shoppe, 540 Plank Road, Waterbury, Connecticut, at exit 25 of I-84, a longtime favorite.  Note that I have never called a hero sandwich a grinder and rarely a sub.  However, nomenclature plays little role in my dining choices.   

Nardelli's offers abundant choices, 19 cold and 21 hot sandwiches, but I knew what I was having before crossing the threshold, a roast beef sandwich ($6.99 for a half, about 4 1/2" long and 3 1/2" wide), with all the fixings, mayonnaise, lettuce, diced marinated vegetables, provolone, and olives, but no tomatoes, as they sometimes give me heartburn.  I also planned to have a bag of dill pickle-flavored potato chips, a staple at Nardelli's, as well as a bottle of their private label diet root beer. 

Delight did not follow, however.  The sandwich tasted dull, the meat tired.  They were out of dill pickle-flavored potato chips.  Only the root beer met my expectations.  Maybe I'll return tomorrow for a meatball parmigiana.

 

Friday, September 20, 2019

It was a gorgeous day and I made good time heading south from Amherst, so I was able to hit Nardelli's just about 12:30 P.M.  I had the meatball parmigiana ($5.99 a half), really a bargain, but not entirely a hit.  The tomato sauce was bland, barely tasting of of the herbs that characterize Italian seasoning, oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil.  The cheese was also underrepresented; no strings of parmesan stretching down your chin as you bit into the sandwich.  

I'm not dismissing Nardelli's, mind you.  I've been pleased with them in the past and there are still 38 more sandwiches for me to try out.