Eating Around

Saturday, June 22, 2024 

Louisiana is getting away cheap. According to Jewish tradition, the Torah contains 613 commandments.

Sunday, June 23, 2024

Happy Birthday Lord K.

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While my readership is not entirely homogeneous, it does skew towards viewers of “Antiques Roadshow.” However, for the unwrinkled folks out there, choosing a welcoming environment as you move out into the world is an important step. Looking at one-bedroom apartment rents, restaurants per capita, number of single people, unemployment rates and other variables, this survey of the country’s 100 largest cities ranks their suitability for new college graduates.  

https://www.zumper.com/blog/best-cities-for-college-grads/

I can draw only a few general conclusions examining the results. The Sun Belt does not shine here. High rents are very influential (the Holy Land comes in 20th overall), but not dispositive (San Francisco lands in fifth place). Your parents’ basement does not figure in the calculations.

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Barbara and Bernie, cousins of cousins, joined us for dinner at Sempre Oggi, 166 West 75th Street. This was the site of ‘Cesca, once a favorite that suffered a fatal decline. The interior has been completely redone. Once fairly dark, the walls are pale green and the seating is covered in sea foam green leatherette. Service was very attentive, commensurate with the high prices and the absence of a crowd.

Bernie and I shared a very good, but small, plate of calamari, accompanied by both marinara sauce and ranch dressing ($21). I then ordered linguine with scallops in a buttery lemon sauce ($34). While good tasting, the portion was woefully undersized for the price.

I’d like to see Sempre Oggi succeed. The neighborhood could use a “nice” Italian restaurant, but the bucks have to carry more bang.

 

Monday, June 24, 2024

Dear Gentile friends,

Many on my team are as disturbed by the excessive loss of life (as if there is just the right amount) in the Israeli/Palestine conflict as you are. However, it would be helpful to curb the idiocy of the likes of Dr. Rupa Marya, a Palestinian advocate at the University of California San Francisco Medical Center, who said “the presence of Zionism in U.S. medicine should be examined as a structural impediment to health equity.” 

https://www.campusreform.org/article/ucsf-prof-suggests-zionist-doctors-are-an-impediment-in-us-medical-goal-of-health-equity/24605

Just imagine if we could remove Zionism from U.S. medicine? A lot of patients would be stretched out on examining tables, draped in flimsy gowns, waiting interminably for a doctor. 

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Our local heat wave of 90+ days broke today, so I decided to venture into Sandwichland again, guided by “57 Sandwiches That Define New York City.” I headed straight uptown to Morningside Depths, renamed after the appalling collapse of intellectual integrity at Columbia University.

Milano Market, 2892 Broadway, sits a half-block north of Tom’s Restaurant, the setting for countless “Seinfeld” episodes. Milano’s sandwich counter deserves a show of its own. A half-dozen people stand behind piles of meats, cheeses, vegetables, bread and condiments, assembling sandwiches quickly, but carefully. Their creations are formidable, judged by the #9 that I ordered. Rare roast beef, horseradish cheddar, sauteed onions, tomato, chipotle on toasted focaccia ($15).

It was so big that I could not finish it in one session. That’s seriously big. Milano is strictly a market, everything takeout. I ate the first half of my sandwich on a bench in the middle of Broadway at West 112th Street and the second half at a table on the sidewalk in front of a pizzeria on Broadway just below West 71st Street.

Tuesday, June 25, 2024

I was hoping that we could join in a chorus of “O Canada” in celebration of the Edmonton Oilers victory in the Stanley Cup finals last night. They would have been the first Canadian team to win in 31 years. But it was not to be.

In fact, one reason that I was rooting for Edmonton was my preference for their national anthem over ours. It was written in 1880, but only became the national anthem 100 years later. There is a French version and it is sung in both languages in some arenas. Of course, next year, we will hear the “Star Spangled Banner” when the New York Rangers go all the way, I hope, I hope, I hope.

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

I have begun working my way through Sandwichland, the 57 Sandwiches That Define New York City according to the New York Times. However, they have just thrown out a (geographically) bigger challenge, a nationwide collection of superior pizza.

https://www.nytimes.com/article/best-pizza.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

While some of the sandwiches were already familiar to me, these pizzas are terra nova. Therefore, I think that I need the assistance of you gentle readers. Cindy & David go over to Bird Pizza in Charlotte; Lyell, The Lincoln Winebar in Mount Vernon, Iowa is only 22 miles from you; Warren, Pizzeria Bianca is right there in Phoenix; Jeanne, check out Rose Pizzeria in Berkeley; Jae & Robert try St. Pizza in New Orleans; Larry, get John to take you over to Yellow in Georgetown; Rabbi Jonah, Bungalow by Middle Brow (sic) in Chicago has six pizzas without compromising ingredients; Alan H., Pizzeria Sei is easily accessible to you in Los Angeles. It takes a village.

Thursday, June 27, 2024

Caring Ken Klein came over for dinner and our debate watch vigil, in retrospect named Misery Loves Company. To describe what we witnessed, I am unsure whether to refer to a Shakespeare play or a Peanuts cartoon.

Friday, June 28, 2024

How about we turn our attention to Iran’s presidential election?

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Kinky Friedman - R.I.P. 

Commenting on how he represented an amalgam of two cultures, cowboys and Jews: “They both wear their hats indoors.”

It's Only Money

Saturday, June 15, 2024 

The concept of equity arose in English law because precedents could not be found for every dispute, the normal path of common law. Ubi Jus Ibi Remedium is the overarching principle — Equity will not suffer a wrong to be without a remedy. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. 

A notorious current example is the intellectual (or is it moral? or is it ethical?) corruption on the United States Supreme Court in the persons of Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas. While Article III, Paragraph 1 of the Constitution provides for impeachment and removal of a Court member, it has never occurred. In fact, the only impeachment of a Supreme Court member was in 1805 by the House of Representatives with the Senate failing to convict. As a practical matter, the wrong(s) will persist.

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You can stop holding your breath. "Tesla shareholders have reaffirmed a pay award of more than $45 billion for Elon Musk, the chief executive, after it was thrown out in a legal challenge."

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/business/tesla-shareholder-vote-elon-musk.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare

To understand how grossly disproportionate that is, let me run some numbers by you. In 2023, $192,084 was the median household net worth in the United States. The top 1% household net worth was $13,666,778; the top 0.5% net worth was $20,149,352; the top 0.1% net worth was $61,827,166. 

https://dqydj.com/net-worth-percentiles/

Sunday, June 16, 2024

If you are in one of the elevated categories, you probably don’t have to worry about housing costs. Nothing might be “impossibly unaffordable.” The rest of us may have to pick a perch carefully. https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/14/business/house-prices-impossibly-unaffordable-intl-hnk?cid=ios_app

The Holy Land does not even make it into the top 10 of this global list of 94 major markets.

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While buying real estate for the super rich may not be a problem, selling can prove difficult. Derek Jeter, retired baseball great, has been trying to sell his home, a veritable castle, about 50 miles north of Yankee Stadium, for years. At $14 million, it sat like a lox for six years. Now, there’s a buyer at $6.3 million.

https://www.usnews.com/news/us/articles/2024-06-15/derek-jeters-new-york-castle-might-finally-have-a-buyer

What struck me about the property was the configuration — six bedrooms and 13 bathrooms. Was it originally designed as a highway rest stop?

Monday, June 17, 2024

Today is the birthday of America’s Favorite Epidemiologist, my roommate.

Tuesday, June 18, 2024

I met Johnathan the poet for lunch today at Daily Provisions, 103 East 19th Street, one of a local chain with a slightly gentrified breakfast and lunch menu. This branch has extensive outdoor seating, but the hot, hot temperature kept us in the very tight indoor space where we got two high stools at one of the three small counters.

Johnathan’s company and the copy of “Just Need Encouragement and Love,” his latest book of poetry that he gave me, more than balanced the chicken salad sandwich that I ate, distinguished from the ordinary only by including cucumber, spinach and arugula.

($16).

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Today's paper describes the increasing popularity of durians in China. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/16/business/durian-china-malaysia-thailand.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

While long a favorite in Southeast Asia, this fruit with a spiky rind, roughly the size and shape of a rugby ball, is notable for "an odor so powerful that it is banned from most hotels." This was exactly our experience in Cambodia, where hotels elevators had signs prohibiting durians and unaccompanied youth from the premises. I've seen durian ice cream before in Chinatown groceries, but never eaten it until now. H Mart, 210 Amsterdam Avenue, the new, large pan-Asian store just outside my front door had only one product, to my surprise, Mustang King coconut durian ice cream bars, three for $9.99, made in Malaysia. The odor reminded me of standing right outside a bathroom in a heavily trafficked service station. The fruit taste was slightly sweet when it penetrated the smell. In all, skip it.

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Willie Mays - R.I.P.

Wednesday, June 19, 2024

The New York Times offers the "57 Sandwiches That Define New York City”  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/dining/best-nyc-sandwiches.html

On the whole, I can't argue with the list, but it avoids the existential question "Is a hot dog a sandwich?" While some places are familiar, others are not. By coincidence, Daily Provisions is listed for a sandwich that I completely overlooked yesterday.

Gentleman Jerry and I turned to the list for lunch. We chose Blue Sky Deli, 2135 First Avenue at 110th Street, a/k/a Hajji’s, a classic bodega considered to have originated the chopped cheese sandwich. This is basically a cheeseburger, chopped up and served with tomatoes, lettuce and onions on an 8” hero roll ($8). Fabulous.

Note, Blue Sky is crowded with coolers holding an enormous variety of soda and beer, but no place to sit. We ate in my car parked on First Avenue with plenty of napkins to avoid a mess. There is a park running from 111th to 114th Street along First Avenue with benches and picnic tables. 

Going forward, I hope to use “57 Sandwiches” as my lunchtime roadmap, Chinatown aside.

Thursday, June 20, 2024

By chance, I was wearing a Stuyvesant High School T-shirt today when I read: "Across the public school system, 24 percent of students are Black and 41 percent are Hispanic. But at Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, often viewed as the city’s most competitive high school, 10 of the 744 offers made this spring went to Black students while 16 went to Hispanic students. Asian students were offered 496 spots, and white students were offered 127." This same paragraph has essentially appeared over and over for many years now.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/18/nyregion/nyc-specialized-high-school-admissions-black-and-latino-students.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare

It is a great credit to Asian kids, many of them Chinese from low-income households where, at best, parents struggle with the English language. In the middle of the last century, it was Jewish kids in a similar situation, although we were more likely second generation New Yorkers. Sadly, even now, many Black and Hispanic kids remain on the outside. One major study, though, claims that attendance at the City's most competitive schools, Bronx High School of Science, Brooklyn Technical High School and Stuyvesant ("exam schools") had no causal effect on longer term outcomes. https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/fryer/files/dobbie_fryer_shs_07_2013.pdf

 

“[E]xposure to these higher-achieving and more homogeneous peers has little impact on college enrollment, college graduation, or college quality.” In other words, opportunity is broadly available and does not only run through branded institutions. The study recognizes, however, that "attending an exam school with higher-achieving peers increases social
capital in ways that are important for later outcomes."

 

Okay, but what’s the problem with Stuyvesant and the other exam schools? History, I believe. Through dozens of decades, Black Americans were treated as inferior by law and custom. Today, many have not shed those teachings.

Friday, June 21, 2024

The Ratners' wedding anniversary is one day later than ours. Our plans to celebrate together were disrupted by illness, but we made up for it this evening with dinner at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, the consistently excellent Israeli/Mediterranean restaurant. Usually, we take advantage of their large outdoor dining section, but a wise choice placed us inside away from the 90+ temperature, at least temporarily.

As has become the custom with us at Dagon, we concentrated on the mezze, the appetizers, the vorspeis, the starters. Dagon offers 6 for $51. We chose Japanese eggplant confit, roasted garlic, tomato jam, buttermilk, shabazi (either a Yemeni spice mixture or a 17th century Yemeni rabbi) breadcrumbs (2 orders); Sasso chicken liver mousse, mustard seeds, date syrup, crispy shallots, baharat (spice blend including paprika, pepper, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon); marinated beets, horseradish yogurt, chickpeas, crispy beef tongue; muhamarra, spicy roast pepper & almond dip; hummus, green harissa, tomato jam. We added a small plate, shishbarak, Lebanese mushroom filled dumplings, warm yogurt, pine nuts, spicy herb sauce ($23).

I offer this attention to detail out of admiration.

 

Vanguard of the Proletariat?

Saturday, June 8, 2024

Today is the first anniversary of my hip surgery. I believe the appropriate gift for the occasion is Extra Strength Tylenol .

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I guess that I wasn’t surprised that the list of supposedly the world’s best restaurants didn’t tally with my recent nights out. 
https://www.cnn.com/travel/worlds-50-best-restaurants-for-2024?cid=ios_app

In fact, I don’t think that I will catch up with many in the near future either. As Pete Wells, New York Times food critic, wrote, “the list is dominated by places that normal people can’t get into, where the few diners who will go to almost any length for reservations will go home feeling bloated and drunk. They are not restaurants, or not just restaurants. They are endurance tests, theatrical spectacles, monuments to ego and — the two most frightening words in dining — ‘immersive experiences.’”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/07/dining/what-makes-a-50-best-restaurant.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

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Speaking of hard to get into, here’s a list of the hardest colleges/universities to get into. 
https://www.mentalfloss.com/posts/hardest-schools-to-get-into

What’s surprising here is that the fancy schmancy Ivy League and nerdy Cal Tech and MIT trail a small, obscure institution that sells its T-shirts for as little as $18.40. 
https://minervauniversitystore.merchorders.com/mu_fans__tshirts__mens_performance

So, as hard as it is to get into Minerva University in San Francisco, it admits about 1% of applicants, it is easy to pretend that you did.
 
Sunday, June 9, 2024
Bruce Franklin, a Stanford University professor who was fired in 1972 because of his Maoist politics, died the other day. His obituary said that he identified as a revolutionary, a word that he defined as “someone who believes that the rich people who run the country ought to be overthrown and that the poor and working people ought to run the country.”

Okay. Poor can be measured, but who are the “working people”? Anyone who gets a W-2? If we change the phrase to “working class,” eliminating non-economic elites, don’t we step into Trump Nation?

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To more important matters. Wirecutter, a New York Times consumer products operation, recommended the Cuisinart ICE-21 ice cream maker. Price, ease of use, durability and quality of results favored it. This comment particularly intrigued me. “One long-term tester has had the ICE-21 for about six years, and he’s used it about 20 times.” 
https://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/card-story/wirecutter-best-ice-cream-makers?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Is that self-control or what? In 312 weeks, 2,190 days, this guy with a great ice cream machine makes ice cream only about 20 times. He must be a lot of fun.

Monday, June 10, 2024
Terrific Tom, Peter Benjaminson, author of “The Life and Times of Betty Boop,” and I went to Roosevelt House, 47-49 East 65th Street, to hear Peter Sparrow discuss his new book “Awakening the Spirit of America: FDR’s War of Words With Charles Lindbergh — and the Battle to Save Democracy,” a non-fiction companion to Philip Roth’s “The Plot Against America.”

Sparrow effectively conveyed the challenges faced by Roosevelt, trying to control isolationist public opinion and counter a global icon as war consumed Europe.

Wednesday, June 12, 2024
If you have had the misfortune of spending time with me in the last few months, you have heard me complain about my slow recuperation from surgery last year. This week, I probed possible underlying causes, a CAT scan on Monday and a stress test on Tuesday. The results were positive, that is negative, no problems found. That leaves Sloth and Indolence, two reindeer overlooked by Santa, at the root of my infirmity. 

.  .  .

I am maybe the next to the last person in North America who has never seen the movie "Titanic” (1997). Tonight, however, I saw a revival of "Titanic," the Broadway musical, also from 1997, but otherwise unrelated. It was part of the Encores! series of short-term revivals. There was no attempt to have dramatic stage or scenery effects. Rather, a powerful score, beautifully sung, made for a memorable evening. Bravo Encores!

Thursday, June 13, 2024
I have made some significant course changes in my life, going to law school at age 56, for example. However, a contemplated next step has been thwarted. My plan to move to North Dakota and run for Congress is now barred by popular vote. “North Dakota sets age limit for Congress candidates.”
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/north-dakota-sets-age-limit-204610275.html

Currently, the United States Constitution only sets a minimum age requirement of 25 to sit in Congress. An upper limit would certainly be challenged in court. At my age, though, I can’t sit around waiting on the appellate process.

Friday, June 14, 2024
Today is Flag Day, Martha-Ann Alito’s favorite holiday.

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George Orwell wrote, “An autobiography is only to be trusted when it reveals something disgraceful.”

I pass.

Numbers Game

Saturday, June 1, 2024 

Reading the newspaper this morning about the reaction to Donald Trump’s felony conviction, I encountered this evidence that extraterrestrials are among us. "Richard Steele, 82, a pastor and retired building contractor in Dalton, Ga., . . . praised the former president as a ‘gentleman’ who does not flaunt his wealth, and an ‘honest man’ — despite the thousands of documented lies or misleading claims he has made over the years. Mr. Trump, he said, was cloaked in ‘Godly armor.’"

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/us/trump-verdict-voters.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=highlightShare

Reflecting on this, I discern at least four categories of Trump support. There are the Reverend Steeles, for whom I struggle to find a polite description. Then, there are the frightened Republican politicians who propagate falsehoods (tell lies) while constantly looking over their shoulder. Most dangerous possibly are the titans of wealth whose vision does not extend beyond their bank account, emulating certain Germans in 1932. Finally are the ordinary citizens who feel disprivileged or underserved by the current administration. Is there a way forward?

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Jeffrey Heller, the distinguished human rights warrior, and I were recently discussing proportionality in the tragic Israel/Gaza conflict. I gathered this data. The population of Israel was 9,842,000 at the end of 2023.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel

Hamas killed 1,139 people on October 7, 2023, including 71 foreigners, mostly Thai workers. 

https://web.archive.org/web/20231217222630/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20231215-israel-social-security-data-reveals-true-picture-of-oct-7-deaths

 

At least 21 Bedouins were among the victims as well. 

https://www.timesofisrael.com/in-rahat-a-bedouin-community-mourns-its-october-7-losses-away-from-the-public-eye/

2,977 people were killed in the al Qaeda attacks on September 11, 2001.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casualties_of_the_September_11_attacks

This included 372 foreign nationals from 61 countries. https://brilliantmaps.com/9-11-victims/

Our population was about 285,000,000 at the time. 

https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/USA/united-states/population#google_vignette

In the 20+ years that followed 9/11, at least 408,749 civilians died in the resulting wars. 

https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/figures/2021/WarDeathToll

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Maybe the worst part of the New York Rangers premature exit from the championship playoffs is leaving me to confront the woeful performance of the New York Mets.

Sunday, June 2, 2024

Happy Birthday Allison.

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A couple of weeks ago, I offered some challenging adult spelling words in contrast to the worse-than-obscure material now populating formal spelling bees. Thursday night, the Scripps National Spelling Bee concluded. Some of the stumpers were “kanin,” a kind of boiled rice used in the Philippines; “Lillooet,” an indigenous Canadian tribe; “Hoofddorp,” a village in the Netherlands. I am uncertain whether to celebrate or lament the fact that some of our young people actually know this stuff.

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To celebrate Allison’s birthday in absentia, we went to dinner at DB Dhaba, Indian Cuisine, 108 Lexington Avenue, in the center of Curry Hill. The quiet premises soon added about two dozen patrons shortly after we entered. The decor has changed twice over the years that we have been customers, a little less attractive each time.

Fortunately, the food has remained constantly good. I had mustard chicken tikka ($14.95) and Chapli Kebab ($15.95). While both items appear on the menu as Starters, each are generously sized. Four hefty chunks of chicken have been marinated, deliciously spiced and perfectly grilled. The two kebabs could properly be called lamb burgers, mixed with coriander and green chilis. Near-vegetarian madam left me on my own with enough food for two normal human beings, even more than I could finish.

Monday, June 3, 2024

Discuss: Who is less Jewish, Claudia Sheinbaum, new President of Mexico, or Bernie Sanders, United States Senator from Vermont?

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Two weeks ago, I joined a pilgrimage to Nathan’s Coney Island, a Holy Land landmark. The long subway ride was fun, the company of friends enjoyable, the walk on the boardwalk refreshing, the hot dogs undistinguished and expensive. This afternoon, I made amends on a trip to Costco, 517 East 117th Street, where I ate a quarter-pound, all-beef hot dog with a refillable fountain drink for $1.50 plus tax, a steal.

June 4, 2024

Nothing to be proud of. “The U.S. maternal mortality rate continues to far exceed those of other high-income nations, despite a decline since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2024/jun/insights-us-maternal-mortality-crisis-international-comparison

June 5, 2024

A healthy contingent of the Boyz Club met for lunch at Wo Hop, 17 Mott Street, downstairs, dark and claustrophobic, just the way we like it. The eight of us dug into spare ribs, egg rolls, beef with scallions, honey crispy chicken, beef chow fun, Singapore chow fun, chicken lo mein and egg fried rice, costing $18 per person. I’m ready to go back tomorrow.

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Tavish advises keeping a lookout for Brown Chicken Brown Cow ice cream when next in southern Colorado. He particularly recommends the caramel pretzel crunch flavor, which is right up my alley, although 2,000 miles away.

June 6, 2024

It’s 80 years since D-Day, the massive Allied landing on the French coast. V-E day followed on May 8, 1945 and V-J Day on August 14, 1945. What is amazing to me is that over 72,000 WWII American soldiers remain unaccounted for to this day. 

https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebWWII

What a burden for tens of thousands of families over these many decades.

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I campaigned against a candidate who won reelection last night. As much as I wanted to call out “Stop the steal,” the results were mechanically fair and square. However, while politesse is not a quality that I usually regard, the winner this time seems congenitally unable to concede anything to her opponents. If I appear to be a sore loser, it is an instinctive reaction to a sore winner.

 

Friday, June 7, 2024

Our dinner plans tonight with beloved out-of-town friends at Dagon, 2454 Broadway, that excellent Israeli/Mediterranean restaurant, succumbed to the flu. Fear not, we will find something to eat.