at the sign of The Pink Pig

Barcelona Dreaming

[A Pig At Large by Wilfrid: August 25, 2008]

Veinte años idos como una brisa.  Barcelona has been with me for twenty years.

New Catalunyan I: Hisop

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  August 25, 2008]

I took an apartment in a narrow, quiet back-street right behind La Bocqueria, which I regard as at once one of the most soothing and most stimulating environments in the world.  If a little whiffy in the afternoon.  But I made plans to eat in the Eixample.

(Reservations for 9pm were easy everywhere; by the time my dinner was concluding some time after 11pm, the places had finally filled up.)

New Catalunyan II: Cinc Sentits

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 25, 2008]

Having digested the Hisop experience for a couple of days, we went to see what Catalan-Canadian chef Jordi Artal was up to at Cinc Sentits,  another cool Eixample dining room just off the Passeig de Gracia.

Even if your Catalan is a little rusty, you can probably figure out that the restaurant's name, in English, is Five Senses.

New York, L.A., Chicago: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  August 25, 2008]

Where was I, before so rudely interrupted by techno-gremlins? 

Right: lazing around New York before being shot out of the business cannon again on brief trips to the west coast and the windy city.

Going West: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: August 18, 2008]

After a couple of weeks dawdling around Manhattan, I'm in the air again, and find myself more disconcerted by the time difference travelling to the West Coast than I ever do travelling back and forth between the East Coast and Europe.

Gone Fishin': Kyclades And 15 East

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 11, 2008]

When the city scorches, thoughts turn briefly away from pork belly and blood sausage.  I recently ate very enjoyable seafood dinners at quite contrasting restaurants - 15 East, the Japanese partner of Tocqueville, on the same block east of Union Square and the Kyclades Taverna on Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria.

Japanese and Greek, and they both had a great way with octopus.  At Kyclades, a mountainous appetizer portion was grilled, glistening brown.  At 15 East, delicates slices were shaved from poached tentacles.

Summer In The City 2: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: August 11, 2008]

Regular readers will know that these were the years when I fell in love with the restaurant San Domenico - I lived about five minutes walk away, and I often ate dinner there on Sunday evenings.  On the first Sunday in August, 1998: baby cuttlefish with a dandelion salad, followed by saddle of rabbit roasted with apples, and one of the signature desserts - panna cotta with a balsamico sauce and fresh berries.

A Second Look: Bar Boulud

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 4, 2008]

An obvious disadvantage of being quick to review new openings is that few restaurants hit the ground running.  In the case of Bar Boulud, the wine list was still being pulled together and I found some portions bizarrely small when I reviewed it in January barely a fortnight after it began serving the public.

Of course it's crazy to review a restaurant so fast.  And of course it's pointless - unless you have the comfort of a print media gig  - reviewing a restaurant after every blog in town has crawled all over it.  In any case, I was curious to re-assess Daniel Boulud's Lincoln Center pâté and wine joint with half-a-year under its belt.

Changes At Grayz

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 4, 2008]

The winds of change blow warmly through Gray Kunz's Manhattan empire.

Café Gray, his Time Warner Center flagship, ceased operation earlier this summer.  And on August 10, Grayz will close its doors for refurbishment.

Summer In The City 1: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: August 4, 2008]

At which point we slide into two lazy and quite uneventful weeks spent mooching around New York, ten years ago: innocent times between wars, when the dollar still bought something and global warming was a scientific theory rather than what was screwing up the weather.  I look back fondly.