at the sign of The Pink Pig

Snacking: Kolache Mama

[Snacking by Wilfrid: October 28, 2009]

This cheery little storefront take-out spot hard by Grand Central has hopes of being a chain.

The owners hope New Yorkers are ready to fall for the koláč - a stuffed dough snack from the Czech Republic.

Slapdash Resto

[Pigging by Wilfrid: October 26, 2009]

A disappointment.  Resto had been off the radar as the midscale Belgian moules and beer joint it once was.  [But see below.]

More recently, chef Bobby Hellen has made progress in establishing the restaurant as a destination for so-called nose-to-tail diners, with a charcuterie program and a burgeoning selection of offal dishes.

Quick Bites: Bahar - Afghan In Flatbush

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  October 26, 2009]

Only sheerest coincidence led to me lunching yesterday at an unassuming Afghan kebab house listed in last week's Time Out guide to the "best food neighborhoods".

In fact, it was only the sight of the Time Out review carefully pasted in the window which made the connection, even though I'd read the article.

Sweet Delight: Blake At The Morgan

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid: October 26, 2009]

The Morgan is not especially devoted to blockbuster shows, and the meticulous, detailed engravings and works on paper of William Blake do not lend themselves to Guggenheimish grandstanding.  Nevertheless, a good stream of citizens was flowing through the gallery when I visited.

Home Cooking And Baseball: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: October 26, 2009]

Appropriate, I suppose, that as the Yankees carry off their fortieth pennant, my diary falls open to the World Series of 1999 - which was all over by October 27.

Snacking: Swanky Sliders At Mark

[Snacking by Wilfrid:  October 21, 2009]

Color me surprised.  I assumed this would be another entrant in the hipsterly downmarket stakes, doing its best to look like a greasy spoon pit-stop.  Not at all.

Smooth-countered, amber-lit and attractively staffed, it's a bit upmarket for St Mark's.  Does not look like a tattoo parlor.

Quick Bites: Return To SHO Shaun Hergatt

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  Octiber 19, 2009]

Where the Pink Pig leads, Michelin follows, awarding Shaun Hergatt a deserved star a couple of weeks after I described SHO as "one of the most accomplished openings the city has seen this year."

And before you knew it, it was one of John Mariani's best new restaurants in Esquire magazine too.

Snacking: More From Sunny And Annie's

[Snacking by Wilfrid:  October 19, 2009]

I do not know that I am obsessed yet with the myriad creations of the sandwich man at Sunny and Annie's Deli on 6th St and Avenue B.

It may just be that I find myself here too often after watching post-season ball games at Manitoba's across the street.

Allan Kaprow's Pungent Rubber, Twombly's Ruins

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  October 19, 2009]

A few days are still left in which you may penetrate the doors of Hauser & Wirth on East 69th and plunge into the world of Allan Kaprow's "Yard."

Fall Of '99: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  October 19, 2009]

Back from the pastoral joys of the vendange in Burgundy, and the drizzly if romantic pleasures of Paris, I had to find things to do and eat in Manhattan, fall of 1999.  I seemed to do pretty well with a mix of home cooking from Waverley Root's classic The Food of France and a few restaurant meals.