at the sign of The Pink Pig

DBGB - A Bar On The Bowery For Uplifting Gormandizers [sic]

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  June 29, 2009]

The Bowery.  The Bowery.  I won't go there no more...

Or so they used to sing in olden times; but in summer of '09, beautiful people flock to the former flop strip.

Quick Bites: Chile To Centrico Came

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  June 29, 2009]

Thanks to ProChile, the trade commission for that long and narrow country, I enjoyed a "Flavors of Chile" lunch at Centrico while the rain hammered the sidewalks of Tribeca outside.

 

The meal, showcasing Chilean produce, was directed by Centrico's chef Aaron Sanchez, with desserts by Double Crown's Ryan Butler.

A Wine For June: 1986 Tignanello

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  June 29, 2009]

As red wine weather is still with us, along with general depression and a rare crop of celebrity deaths, I sent my wine valet down to the cellar to find a bottle of special cheer.

The question with wines laid down for the future is always, if not now, when?  The answer, usually, is later.

Accent On Youth: Amusing Enough

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid: June 29, 2009]

To the Manhattan Theater Club after a couple of stiff highballs at Sardi's for Samson Raphaelson's Accent on Youth.  Truth is, to paraphrase Julian Maclaren-Ross, I knew f-- all about it.

Footlights And Circuses: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: June 29, 2009]

Another week without much to report of gastronomic interest.  I guess it must have been hot and sunny out in June 1999, because I certainly seemed to be hitting the streets.

WD-50: Wylie Laughs Again

[Pigging by Wilfrid: June 22, 2009]

Wylie Dufresne has a sense of humor.   And that's something any chef in today's economy could use.

These have not been the easiest of times in which to sell a pricey, experimental menu of challenging dishes, where the pleasure offered to diners is often as much intellectual as gustatory.

Bringing the Restaurant Home: #6

[Correct Dining by Wilfrid:  June 22, 2009]

This was well worth the trip.  Even on Metro North in the rain.

That's the recommended route from downtown up to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, one of the best food shopping neighborhoods in the city and about eighteen minutes out of Grand Central, plus a ten minute walk from the Fordham station.

Quick Bites: Sally's Jamaican

[Pigging by Wilfrid: June 22, 2009]

A quick mention for the satisfying inexpensive home-cooking, and the surprising fried chicken, at this counter on Fulton Street in Bed-Stuyvesant.

I stumbled into it by chance, and only later confirmed the inevitable - that Eating in Translation had planted its flag already in a nice bowl of ackee.

Off To The Circus: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  June 22, 2009]

No, not that kind of circus.  Sirio's midtown fantasia, Le Cirque 2000, housed in the old Villard Mansion wing of the Palace Hotel.  But first things first.

Delightful Aldea

[Pigging by Wilfrid: June 15, 2009]

A pleasure to welcome this Flatiron debutante from George Mendes, emerging from three years as chef de cuisine at Tocqueville.

I suppose "modern Portuguese" is the correct label - and Aldea wears its roots proudly.  But that's only half the story.