Saturday, September 6, 2025
We had a lovely dinner with Barbara & Bernie, cousins of cousins, at Lincoln Ristorante, 142 West 65th Street, on the grounds of Lincoln Center. With all of the constituent venues closed at the end of this holiday week, the place was uncharacteristically unbusy. Fortunately, the kitchen was not in vacation mode, but rather performing in high gear. The food on the whole was excellent, pricey but excellent.
We started with a small loaf of Roman style foccacia, coated with cherry tomato sauce and dripping Sicilian olive oil ($15), finger licking good. I had a sliver of the shared tomato tart, “pecorino, onion crema, heirloom tomatoes, vincotto [thick paste made from reduced grape juice]”, brilliant ($22). I expected to be delighted also with "Potato & Caviar, crispy potato torta, egg yolk mousse, regiis ova ossetra caviar" ($30). However, the two pieces were so small that there really wasn't enough to enjoy. Why so expensive? Regiis ova ossetra caviar costs close to $5 a gram. https://www.regiisova.
My main course was less exotic, more reasonably priced and very good tasting; "Tagliatelle, italian sausage & porcini ragu, parmigiano reggiano" ($31). Lincoln is a very good choice for a dressy evening out, but too many customers on this and previous occasions seem to have been misdirected from 7-Eleven. I ain’t the most elegant guy, but I have some sense of occasion.
. . .
In 2015, the Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz announced their merger. “Combination Creates Unparalleled Portfolio of Powerful and Iconic Brands.”
Now, like too many unhappy couples, they are divorcing. This is a familiar story in American business.
I was amused by a comment taking an overview of the subject of mergers and acquisitions. “The Harvard Business Review reported in 2016 that M&A is a ‘mug’s game,’ with a failure rate between 70 and 90 percent. Similarly, a 2019 report by strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company stated that about 10% of all large mergers and acquisitions are cancelled in any given year.”
If we dig into the paper work surrounding the inception of many of these deals, I am confident that we will find the paw prints of Harvard Business School and McKinsey & Company, with the word synergy in an early paragraph. After the fact, they readily supply “I told you so,” for an (im)modest fee.
Sunday, September 7, 2025
Small World Department
I had a telephone conversation with my friend Jonah Mendelsohn this afternoon. He has relocated to Santa Fe for specialized training while still accepting theatrical roles. I told him about our trip to Albuquerque earlier this year to learn about conversos and crypto-Jews, lives severely affected by the Spanish Inquisition and its offshoots.
Well, he grew up in Albuquerque and his best friend’s mother is Maria Apodaca who learned of her crypto-Jewish lineage as a teenager and who spoke to our group about her experience. I remembered her name easily, because the New York Mets had a pitching coach named Bob Apodaca.
Monday, September 8, 2025
I don’t consider myself a glutton for punishment even though I am a fan of the Mets. However, today, I pushed the envelope a bit. I started at 8:15 AM with a steroid injection in my right hand to deal with a finger locking into place when bent. Then, without leaving the building, but shedding my pants and underwear, I had a very invasive plumbing examination. Finally, around noon, I visited a charming endodontist, Mahua Bose Illai (Dr.Bose), who was poised to do a root canal. I ducked that bullet, though, and was directed merely to have some more ugly periodontal work. My nap afterwards was well earned.
Tuesday, September 9, 2025
“The Supreme Court issued a decision Monday that lifts restriction on tactics used during immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.” https://www.
“The Supreme Court issued a decision Monday that lifts restriction on tactics used during immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.” https://www.
This illustrates an important distinction in examining recent decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The so-called conservative majority views the Constitution as primarily protecting the government. Other examples include rulings on presidential immunity, immigrant deportations and firing government employees. Opponents, myself included, believe that the Constitution is intended to protect the public.
On what day did God send Donald Trump to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.?
- Halloween
- August 23, 2024
- April Fools'
- February 30, 2000
. . .
Jay S. is the son of my graduate school roommate. He loves Indian food as his late father did and I was happy to have dinner with him at Jaz Indian Cuisine, 813 Ninth Avenue. He lives in Arlington, Virginia, but his work for the ACLU brings him to New York every so often and I jump at the chance to spend time with him.
The restaurant occupies a small space, around 16 two-tops, with a service bar taking one corner. It was less busy than I anticipated on a Wednesday when there is theater during the day and the evening in the neighborhood.
We shared mixed pakoras (vegetable fritters) ($10.81 including credit card surcharge), chicken tikka masala, chunks of white meat in a creamy tomato sauce ($26), lamb vindaloo, lamb chunks in a very hot paste of chiles, garlic, and vinegar ($29.12), garlic naan ($7.28) and Matar Pullao rice ($7.28). All the items were very good and we balanced the slightly elevated prices with a Groupon coupon.
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Baruc S. took me to lunch as he plans his move from a bank in Colombia to a bank in Argentina, drawing on my genetic predisposition to international finance. We went to Han Dynasty (a/k/a Handy Nasty), 215 West 85th Street. Behind a modest entrance, the room opens into a grand space, seating about 200 people. It appears to be the ballroom of a long faded hotel, no resemblance to a Chinese restaurant.Aside from the architecture, Han Dynasty, actually one of seven locations in the Northeast, features very hot and spicy Szechuan cuisine which we chose to avoid in our ordering. Instead, we shared spring rolls, ordinary ($7.45 for two), scallion pancakes, ordinary ($8.55), crispy smoked duck, world class ($36.95) and shrimp fried rice, good ($12).
. . .
Madam and I went to a showing tonight of “Seven Days in September,” a documentary about 9/11 assembled from the work of 27 photographers, professional and amateur. It was released in 2002, but out of circulation for over two decades. It brings back the rawness of the event and its immediate aftermath. I think that there is an everlasting impact for those who lived and/or worked on Manhattan Island at the time.
I was living on East 46th Street and unemployed. My strongest memory was the march of people moving uptown, headed to the 59th Street Bridge to get to Queens and Long Island when all transportation was frozen in Manhattan.
Two other memories stay with me, the Red Cross blood bank in the basement of the Citicorp building on East 53rd Street turning me away from donating, because there were no wounded, only dead victims. Then, on September 21st, the New York Mets resumed playing baseball at home. I was driving David Webber and a friend home, listening to the game against the Atlanta Braves, the enemy. The Braves were leading 2-1 in the eighth inning when Mike Piazza came up with Edgardo Alfonso on base. I was stopped either by a red light or in fascination.
I squeezed the steering wheel and cried, which I usually do when replaying the event.
Friday, September 12, 2025
