at the sign of The Pink Pig

The Minetta Tavern: Eating History

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  August 31, 2009]

There's the McNally magic again.  Open a new place, and unless you're a celebrity or a friend of the house, you're left with your nose pressed to the window, watching the fun from afar.

Except this isn't a new place.  Far from it; it's a 1930s classic, and McNally deserves warm gratitude for leaving it largely alone.

Pat La Frieda's Patties: A Burger Blind Tasting

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  August 31, 2009]

Pat La Frieda has been described as a burger master, the city's "preeminent hamburger maker" and even the "Great Guru of Ground Beef".

These days, almost any name restaurant in the city serving a hamburger seems to be serving a La Frieda patty, with Minetta Tavern serving a special Black Label patty called the "Bentley of burgers."  Whoa.

Hello London: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  August 31, 2009]

If you think this makes tedious reading now, imagine how tedious the travel could be once the novelty wore off.  Yes, ten years ago, I was flying back to London again.

Down Clerkwenwell

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 24, 2009]

Maybe I am losing my touch, maybe I am just unlucky.  Either way, I am a martyr.

In this dead season for new openings upmarket, and when the weather drives even a stylish pig into t-shirts and chinos, I have tried to find some casual options unfairly overlooked.

Quick Bites: Pho In A Bun

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 24, 2009]

I like to think I have the Far East Village beat covered.  What used to be called Alphabet City when nobody wanted to live here.

But it took New York magazine to draw attention to a sandwich right under my nose.

The Last Banana

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  August 17, 2009]

A summer cocktail to make purists scream.  A drink which will outrage cocktailians everywhere, and will forever disgrace my memory.

Equal parts cream, vodka and creme de banane, a dusting of nutmeg.  Why? I hear you ask.

Dog Days And Witches: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  August 24, 2009]

Anybody believe The Blair Witch Project is ten years old?  Well, I went to see it on a stormy night in August, 1999, and still remember the queasiness induced by the hand-held shakiness of the camerawork.

Le Gigot: Still On Cornelia

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 17, 2009]

What led me back, more than once this summer, to this petit boîte on Cornelia where I first dined back in the '90s?

To be honest, it did have something to with that disastrous duck confit at Union Square Cafe.

A Sunny Afternoon At Sripraphai

[Pigging by Wilfrid: August 17, 2009]

I didn't want to waste these cheerful pictures of Sripraphai's bright, fresh cooking.

At the same time, the last thing anyone needs is my review of this place.  So here's a Pink Pig pictorial.

Burger Bash: Txikito And Bar Breton

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  August 17, 2009]

Slithering through the humid, stormy, dog days of a very poor summer, sometimes only a burger and a beer will do.

From the various listings which appeared early in the summer,  I had noted some sandwiches I wanted to try, and recently I got around to Txikito's "El Doble" and the burger at Bar Breton.