What a dashing porker (and all original art is for sale, at astonishingly low prices).
Here we are. I launched the Pink Pig on or around April 27 last year, trepidatious as to its prospects, but whether covered in glory or shame it is now up and toddling. I have been putting my trotters up this last week, for various reasons, and will return on May 12 with new reviews, including a positive panorama of the evolving Le Cirque - a restaurant which continues to squeeze energy and interest (at a price) out of a brand which, by all standards, ought by now to be moribund.
I gave up counting, but certainly I've posted well over a hundred restaurant reviews in the past year, possibly casting some of the professional critics as mere slugabeds. Most weeks, I actually publish two new reviews, and I question my sanity and solvency in doing so.
I'd like to take the great Curnonsky as my model. In the memoir by Stanley Karnow, this doyen of French food writers gathered his acolytes about him early each evening, took a glass of kir - cocktails, he shrewdly remarked, are to be shunned as produits chimiques - then set off for dinner. On returning to his apartment, he wrote to dawn, slept, and arose mid-afternoon to an soft boiled egg and warm milk.
Although it may sound appealing, one has to note that Curnonsky eventually terminated the routine by jumping out of his window. I dine out two to three times per week. When I review a new restaurant, it's usually on the basis of one meal - often taken with other diners, allowing me to taste a range of dishes. More frequently than you'd imagine, I return to taste something again (maybe a quick lunch or a dish at the bar). Writing about older restaurants, there's usually a history of dining experiences behind the review.
I try to take photographs. I have no talent for it. I think the pictures here have improved, thanks to the splendid donation of a decent camera by a friend and reader. Well that's it, that's what I've been doing, and may continue to do. There are any number of enthusiastic, sincere and articulate "scribblers" (as the chefs call them) posting their New York dining experiences on the internet. I certainly thank Eater, Grub Street and others for occasionally singling my reviews out for attention.
Respect also to the publicists and industry people who actually read and respond.
Another year, another meal: raise a glass in wassail, and find me here every Monday and at Mouthfuls pretty much every day.
To close, here are some pieces - the good and the bad - I can stand re-reading (hey, I have the best headlines, no contest):
Pig Meets Grill: Or Bobby Flay Has A Cold
Adour: Project For A Restaurant In New York