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Steve R.

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Everything posted by Steve R.

  1. Steve R.
    Don't take this wrong"¦ I have no quarrel with either Bowery House or anyone staying there. But, in the interest of accurate history, this place's history is not as quaint and clean as all they describe ("cabins", ex-military, etc) in their history section. The Prince Hotel (the former name of this property) was one of the notorious flop houses on the Bowery for many years, where mentally ill, drug and alcohol addicted men lived in partitioned rooms with walls that were six feet high & had barely enough room for a bed (inches on each side to the walls), bare hanging lightbulbs from open electrical cords with fly paper attached to them, rats and other vermin crawling everywhere and victimization of the helpless a daily occurrence (beatings, shakedowns, loansharking and worse). I know this because my job in the NYS Office of Mental Health from 1982-87 (in conjunction with co-workers from the Divisions of Alcohol and Drug Abuse) was to go into the shelters, flop houses, subway tunnels, etc. and find those who were de-institutionalized in the '60s and had fallen thru the cracks of the system and to try to re-connect them with services and get them into clean, appropriate living situations. Again, I'm sure that the current owners have re-done the place & have made it a fine place to stay. But, going to their linked web site and reading it just seemed to have left something out and whitewashed a period in NYC history that many have forgotten or would like to forget &/or misrepresent. Sorry for this somber post"¦ I just can't look at this "hostel" with "cabins" without seeing the images.
  2. Steve R.
    Well, having been to about 2/3rds of the list over the years, I guess my only reaction is to say that, if anyone wants to know anything about any of them, let me know. Otherwise, yep, they're all old.
  3. Steve R.
    I moved to Brooklyn in '64 at age 11 and played basketball (or whatever it was that 11 year olds played & called b-ball). I remember going into a luncheonette on my way to school (5th grade) and standing next to a very tall kid sitting there, eating breakfast. We started talking (I'm not shy and probably said something pithy like "hey, you're tall") & he introduced himself as Lew Alcindor. We talked about Power Memorial and I remember wondering whether I could go there when I got older. Never saw him again. Never went to Power Memorial either"¦ went to Midwood, when we won the NYC basketball championship (when I say "we", I mean that I was in school there"¦ never was good enough to even sit bench"¦ the beginning of a good tennis/squash player). Oh well.
  4. Steve R.
    With the caveat that I left over 30 years ago: God I hated Imo's pizza. Crackers topped with a made up cheese and canned industrial sauce Kemoll's (especially when it was on the North Side) & Ted Drewes. Absolutely Amighetti's. Crown Candy Kitchen?
  5. Steve R.
    We've been upstairs on a previous visit or two, but not these past 2 years. I'm not a dessert person & we've successfully gotten cheese & after dinner drinks downstairs (or just coffee) once or twice. We always let them "reserve" us a table upstairs when we begin our meal so that we have the option and they have the (mostly unrealistic) hope of us leaving after entrees.
  6. Steve R.
    Longboat Key; Sarasota; St. Petersburg; Tampa A couple of weeks on the Gulf Coast & I figure I might as well update this thread: Sarasota/Longboat Key: We loved Maison Blanche (LK) and went twice"¦ everything is excellent; Euphemia Haye (LK) was uneven but worth it for the duck (very nice salads as well); Libby's (Sarasota) was a nice neighborhood place that I could see hanging out & eating at the bar in if we were there for awhile (& knew the strengths/weaknesses for better ordering); Dry Dock Sea Grille (LK) has a great view and very fresh, good fish at ok prices; Louie's Modern (Sarasota) was much better than expected - worth going, but remember, it's modern in a NYC/D.C. way"¦ nice open kitchen, upbeat room/staff, but not a homey room. St. Pete: Z Grill was worth going for the fried chicken/waffles and for the deviled eggs. Overall, a yes. I liked Parkshore, but it seems uneven. Birch & Vine was a definite winner, although they need to tamper with a couple of the dishes. The taco truck has gone downhill. Little flavor"¦ wouldn't make it in Austin (or Brooklyn for that matter). Tampa: there for 2 nights, spent both w/friends at Berns. Cannot think of a better way to spend the time. Almost worth flying to Tampa just to eat.
  7. Steve R.
    Gee, I guess it is. The silence on CH, local Bklyn food blogs and by my Park Slope friends is deafening. No one I know has been or plans to go. Hmmm.
  8. Steve R.
    They're opening a branch in Park Slope (5th Ave.)
  9. Steve R.
    Not to mention that there's a winery half way down that opens pretty early.
  10. Steve R.
    As fellow 60-somethings, I get the question. However, I don't have much to say that you probably haven't already thought of. The one that does come to mind is watching the sun rise from over the cloud line at the Puu Ulaula Overlook over 9000 feet up in Haleakala National Park on Maui. A bit chilly, but worth the trek at 4am. Otherwise, for us it's not so much a particular event but getting to spend more time in each place. A month living in Hawaii last year, a month in Florence this past year, a month in Provence this coming spring"¦ we like being able to sink in and just have the time to take everything in slowly. Time is passing pretty quickly these days & we try to take every chance to slow it down a bit. Or you could come to NYC & I'm sure we can make sure that every minute is an adventure. Have fun. eta: I wouldn't mind a walk on the Great Wall in China, seeing some of temples in Thailand, maybe the Northern Lights. Don's idea aint half bad either.
  11. Steve R.
    Do you folks all come from Brooklyn? Seems like a "just like home" thread to me . At any rate, I'm sorry I couldn't make the trip to D.C. to eat at either of these and will miss the current location for the trips I do make. Now I gotta go look at a map and see what goddamn hotels are near the new place. Best wishes Dean"¦. does the "free food" invite extend to those of us who were not at the 1st dinner but wanted to be? (now that's Brooklyn chutzpa).
  12. Steve R.
    Well, for that matter, why is it that I'm supposed to cry exactly 96 Tears?
  13. Steve R.
    I agree with Don except that I really hope that he ain't calling me Canadian (or you a damsel, for that matter). At any rate, glad Lupa worked out. It's a nice sit down place for dinner and much more accessible than it used to be (it was initially more crowded than Babbo). With Carbone across the street (higher end) & Arturo's around the corner (lower end), they've established a good niche for themselves in the middle. My wife and I tend to frequent Otto much more, but we basically sit at the bar at both and like bantering with other patrons and with Dennis, Frank and the other bartenders at Otto. We also like the veggie & seafood tureens at Otto, as well as the full selection of Meredith's gelatos. By the way, the Langhe Nebbiolo is one of the reds we keep at home & order at places like Lupa and Otto"¦ it's easy to find retail and easy to drink with most anything. Again, glad it worked out.
  14. Steve R.
    They probably lumped delivery in with take-out (which, to me, means going to the restaurant on the way home, ordering and taking it with you in bags) but, if not, that's a big category. We re-did our kitchen a year ago and have used the oven maybe 10 times so far (including this year's T'giving dinner). Maybe triple that for stove top cooking. The rest of the dinners: restaurants, delivery, take out and occasional left-overs.
  15. Steve R.
    Offhand: Maialino: http://www.maialinonyc.com Lupa: the middle ground between Otto & Babbo in the Batali empire Hearth Annisa
  16. Steve R.
    Yep, that's the one. Although it was loaded with tourists, there were long communal tables and we wound up talking to several Italian pilots and stewards from Alitalia who knew many other locals who kept coming over and talking. My wife ordered the blueberry steak and I ordered the balsamic reduction coated steak. Both were excellent pieces of meat, the blueberry cooked down into the same thickness as the balsamic but added a little liveliness that made her steak better than mine. But, surprisingly (at least to us), both were very good. I wouldn't run there but, the one in D.C. is like the one in Florence, I wouldn't avoid it either. Might be a fun dinner.
  17. Steve R.
    There is a "Florence Diner" in Florence, Italy that is under the same ownership as an interesting restaurant across the street that serves a steak with blueberry sauce and has 2 branches in the US. Cant remember the restaurant's name -- it looks like a tourist trap but its actually worth trying. Not sure about the diner"¦ we didn't have hamburger urges while living there this past summer.
  18. Steve R.
    It's been several years now, but we really liked this place when we were there: http://www.laciccia.com Just past Incanto in the Noe Valley.
  19. Steve R.
    Since you all are waxing poetic about Katz', Ratners and the good ol' days, let me add my 2cents in. I'm now (a young) 60 and my father, if he were still alive, would now be over 100. He was born in Bklyn and, when I was but a youngsta he would take me on walks from mid-Brooklyn all the way to the Lower East Side of Manhattan via the Williamsburg Bridge. It was explained to me how both sides of the bridge were actually considered to be one neighborhood by the immigrant Jewish population, separated by a small bit of water. Vis a vis the restaurants, there were more dairy places on the Brooklyn side, especially in the growing Hassidic neighborhood in Williamsburg (around Lee Ave), but there were more than a few small ones dotting the Manhattan side as you walked off Delancey St.
  20. Steve R.
    We've been to Perilli 3 or 4 times now, most recently a little over a month ago (just before they went on vacation end of July). Glad you found it, as it's one of our favorite places to eat when in the area. From our experience, the owner and a couple of the waitstaff look more disinterested than they are (& speak more English than they let on). Not sure why or when they decide to be nice but my wife speaks Italian and that breaks the ice with them & they wind up even pretending that they like me too by the time the meal ends . At any rate, too late now but, in addition to the cacio e pepe & the carbonara (which we also think are very good), they have pajata, an offal/pasta dish that I wish I could get back home. And they use the long pasta for this dish. There's also a place with a nice outdoor area about 5 minutes walk from Perilli in Testaccio named Flavio e Velavevodetto that's worth going to as well. Our 2 meals there have both been above average and the setting is much nicer. And, I've heard similar remarks about Ditarambo. Thanks for the reviews... I'll bookmark them for the next time.
  21. Steve R.
    Sorry we didn't know that anyone else from the boards was in Florence last month, since we were there for almost 5 weeks, renting an apt. in Santa Croce. Since we'd been there several times before, we didnt feel too bad about all the places on vacation, having eaten at many of them on previous trips. And it was fun tracking down others. I fully agree with you about Zeb... we loved them and their food. My wife got the eggplant -- excellent. Found it thru Elizabeth Minchilli's "Eat Florence" app. Since I'm too lazy to repeat post on where we went, here's a link to the Chowhound thread I started and used to chronicle the month: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/911705 Hope you had fun... we sure did (boy, was it hot though).
  22. Steve R.
    I think that Delmonico's dates back to the earlier 1800s & Fraunces Tavern is way older than that. Bridge Cafe might be late 1700s as well. Then there's Keens and Katz's... not sure when for either but definitely 1800s. Time for Google.
  23. Steve R.
    Twenty-something years ago, I bought Ginny a street Movado, which many other Execs in her company complemented her on & which lasted ten years before the gold paint started rubbing off. yes, it still told the correct time & yes I told her it was a $20 fake when I gave it to her. Our joke.
  24. Steve R.
    The easy answer is "no" & weinoo is correct -- dont eat in Little Italy. But there are kitchens there that have chefs in them & I'm sure that, if you know someone or have been in the area for 30 or more years, you could bring your family there & have a great time & eat well. However, the entire area is not set up for this and their focus is on the tourist trade, getting the most out of the appearance of genuine Italian culture without any content. Almost 100% of the time you'll get overcooked pasta, big batch sauces, made from canned ingredients, and poor cuts of meats at as much $$ as they think they can extract. These places are, by & large, the equivalent of buying that cheap bag or watch down the block on Canal St. You wind up with a Roll-ex, not a Rolex.
  25. Steve R.
    Been to Otto? I actually like the pasta a little better there... less salt, I think. And better desserts, simce only 1 or 2 of Meredith's are on Lupa''s menu, while there's a complete array of them at Otto.
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