Monday, July 12, 2021
Last week's reference to the Horn & Hardart Automat hit a sweet spot for some of you. There were recollections of a roll for 5₵, baked beans (one of my favorites) 15₵, and lemon meringue pie also 15₵. Beside the food, I clearly remember the lady, always a lady, sitting in a booth in the middle of the floor making change, because coins were needed to operate the machinery for food and drink. For each dollar bill, she would spin out 20 nickels without looking,
Here's a picture of the wonderful coffee dispenser, where a nickel got a stream of very good, hot coffee into a thick China cup.
Speaking of coffee. This article tells you more than you probably wanted to know about its consumption and pricing around the world. https://www.cashnetusa.com/
However, it is fun trying to figure out why the most coffee is drunk in Luxembourg and whether the high price of a cup of coffee in South Korea is the cause or effect of it having the most Starbucks.
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The weekend's real estate section always contains brief write ups of available residences in the area. I was intrigued by a five-bedroom, three-bathroom house in Brooklyn where "the basement laundry room is large and chic."
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Arthur and Lyn Dobrin treated us to lunch at Mediterranean Kebab House, 190 Post Avenue, Westbury, yesterday. Aside from the good company and the expected fare, it was notable for its Shepherd Salad, a traditional mix of cucumber, tomato, olives, and feta cheese with lemon juice and olive oil, simple, but very satisfying.
Not enjoyable, however, was its water policy. It did not serve tap water, offering only bottled water at $4.25 a liter. While we huffed and we puffed, we failed to get this most ordinary amenity. I later found that New York State does not mandate free tap water in restaurants, but New York City does. (As of midweek, Arthur has not been able to locate relevant municipal or county policy.)
I was reminded of a dinner several years ago at Sapori d'Ischia, 55-15 37th Avenue, Woodside, where only unlabeled, bottled, flat water was served at a fast and furious pace at $5 a bottle. It was one of the restaurant's fussy commandments, which compromised the dining experience. The restaurant ("flavors of Ischia," an island in the Gulf of Naples) closed a decade ago, so we can't straighten it out.
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An opinion column on "vaccine hesitancy" evoked this unprinted letter:
You uncritically quote Dionne Grayman, Brooklyn healthcare activist, on "vaccine hesitancy." "People aren't 'hesitant.' They don't trust a system that has never worked for them before."
Dramatic rhetoric, but far from accurate. The CDC provides a long list of vaccinations and immunizations given to children and adults. https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/
All of us probably don't get all of them, but most of us probably get most of them, which accounts for us being up and about, writing newspaper columns or, at least, being quoted in them.
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Jonathan Henney and I celebrated his impending entry to law school tonight at Palm West, 250 West 50th Street. Regrettably, it's the University of Pennsylvania's law school in Philadelphia, so I am losing my pandemic pal.
I was pleased to introduce him to this almost quintessential New York steakhouse, lacking only sawdust on the floor, the finishing touch. We ate well, sharing the Monday Night Salad, diced red bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, garlic cloves, radishes, iceberg lettuce and anchovy fillets ($14). I had the rib-eye steak, advertised at 18 oz., $70; Jon had the classic New York strip sirloin, 14 oz., $59.50. We shared hash brown potatoes, extra crusty, far removed from the weak diner versions ($16). We washed this all down with Bodega Tapiz Alta Collection Malbec @ $17 for a 9 oz. glass.
Indulgent? Damn sure.
Tuesday, July 13, 2021
Robert Sietsema is is a very reliable restaurant critic. He recently published a list of "11 More NYC Sandwiches That Are Getting Us Through the Pandemic (and Beyond)" https://ny.eater.com/2021/6/9/
With his top choice just up the block from us, Stony Brook Steve and I headed to Kitakata Ramen Bannai, 267 Amsterdam Avenue, for lunch, which has a subset of Sandos, Japanese sandwiches, on the menu. We both ordered the potato croquette sando, as recommended by Sietsema, a delicious, protein-less, crusty potato croquette, with coleslaw and mayo on toasted white bread ($13.99). It comes in four pieces, two more than either of us could finish. Steve hated his; America's Favorite Epidemiologist loved the half that I brought home for her dinner.
The joint itself is very small, 3 two-tops inside, spaced far apart, and 2 two-tops on the sidewalk. One other storefront separates it from the Häagen-Dazs store, if you feel that you are missing a food group.
Wednesday, July 14, 2021
The Boyz Club heard the siren song of Chinatown again today. Seven of us were herded into Golden Unicorn, 18 East Broadway, one of the biggest remaining dim sum parlors, although at least a third of the tables were gone post-Covid. The rolling carts are gone as well. Instead, 31 items are displayed on the menu, which also has a smallish collection of regular dishes and 12 lunch specials. Eye opening was a whole Peking duck at $63.99.
We stuck to dim sum, priced as small ($5.99), medium ($6.69), special ($7.69) and XL ($8.29). We had two portions of 9 different items of every size (18 plates), 3 or 4 pieces to a plate. The cost with tax and tip came to $25 each.
Friday, July 16, 2021
The lovey and talented Connie Goldfarb forwards this shocking piece, likely to turn the Jewish kitchen upside down. It comes from the June edition of the Journal of Near Eastern Archaeology. The formal title is "Everything But The Oink: On the Discovery of an Articulated Pig in Iron
Age Jerusalem and Its Meaning to Judahite Consumption Practices." [Access limited, sorry.]
You know what this means? "Remains of piglet from 2,700 years ago support the theory that ancient Israelites occasionally did eat pork." Bacon and eggs, bacon and eggs!
"On the Discovery of an Articulated Pig in Iron Age Jerusalem"
ReplyDeleteIf it had been eaten it would no longer be articulated: those ribs would be all over the place.