at the sign of The Pink Pig

Eat Till You're Mussel Bound: Flex Mussels

[Pigging by Wilfrid: February 23, 2009]

Eat till you're mussel-bound, all night long, as the song goes - and this cheerful, well-priced UES fish shack is a good place to do it.

Fish shack?  Yeah, right.   If your idea of a fish shack is a series of brightly lit, white-walled dining rooms, decorated with big, colorful paintings of simple fisherfolk.

Just A Couple Of Dinners:Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  February 23, 2009]

Not much to occupy us this week; just a few days and a couple of dinners in New York, February 1999, before I head back to London again.

Knife + Fork = Value

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  February 16, 2009]

Now be honest, how many of you had just forgotten about this little dining room on East 4th Street?  Show of hands.

I thought so.  It has been around since early 2006, and in these penny-pinching times the headline has to be that the price of the chef's tasting menu hasn't changed:  five courses, $45.

Quick Bites: Mogridder's BBQ

[Pigging by Wilfrid: February 16, 2009]

Every now and then, seeking to rid my mind of thoughts of death and doom, I get up early and go down to Fulton Fish Market.  Thus the opening words of Joe Mitchell's immortal story "Up at the Old Hotel."

If Mr Mitchell were with us still, such a habit would now take him not to Fulton Street, but to the market's new location at Hunt's Point in the Bronx.

We're In or We're Out Of The Money: At The Galleries

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  February 16, 2009]

Two engaging midtown gallery shows book-end each other nicely right now.  Glitz and glamor at the ICP and gallows humor for when the money runs out at the Morgan.

Continue reading for Edward Steichen and the New Yorker money cartoons.

EMP And JPM: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  February 17, 2009]

It hardly seems that Eleven Madison Park has been with us over a decade now, but it was ten years ago, soon after it opened, that I first took my place on a banquette beneath that soaring ceiling.

Run Of The Mill Irving Mill

[Pigging by Wilfrid: February 9, 2009]

After some discussion of the Irving Mill re-invented burger (positive) and odd-shaped beer glasses (negative) a few weeks ago, I thought I'd go back and see what a full meal was like.

One reason, I confess, was that whereas some commentators on Mouthfuls had been dismissive even of the look of the place (like a Houlihan's, someone said), I'd actually been attracted by the room.

Twelve Mystery Bottles: A Blind Beer Tasting

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  February 9, 2009]

Beer is in the air.  Not literally, perhaps, except at Black 47 shows, but the humble, ancient brew is being talked up in New York food and wine circles more than ever.

From tutorials on beer and food pairings, to restaurants with specialist beer lists (Devi the most recent I noticed - esoteric brews with your chaat) to the "extreme beer" movement - the attempt to push poor old beer as far as it will go.

Derek Jarman, Jeffrey Lewis, Glimpses Of Sunshine

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid: February 9, 2009]

As we've been seeing the occasional mild day recently, I though it would do me good to wander across the Brooklyn Bridge for the first time since I went under the sawbones to get my hip scraped.

Continue reading for Derek Jarman at the Elizabeth Dee Gallery and the post-folk of Jeffrey Lewis.

London's Brilliant When It's Raining: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: February 9, 2009]

Cold, overcast too.  A seventy-two hour return trip to take care of old responsibilities.  And then I checked into 22 Jermyn Street, a very nice West End boutique hotel, and went shopping for ties.