at the sign of The Pink Pig

Snacking: A Reuben Remedy

[Snacking by Wilfrid:  February 24, 2010]

Late night, Lower East Side, seen a show, missed a meal...

One remedy is a Reuben at the Remedy Diner, a newish (couple of years?) spot on Houston and Norfolk.

Wilfrid's 38, Or "Eat My Dinner!"

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  February 22, 2010]

It was Eater which started it with the whole "38" thing, posting listings of thirty-eight "essential" restaurants for New York and several other cities.  Why thirty-eight?  I don't know, but then why ten, why fifty?

View The Wilfrid 38 in a larger map

If you can't beat them, join them.  Here, if the technology holds up, is my New York thirty-eight.  It includes what I consider the best restaurants in the city - in no strict order - as well as places I just happen to like and enjoy.

Colicchio & Sons Needs Work

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  February 22, 2010]

Marc Shepherd of New York Journal took some stick for publishing an unfavorable review of Colicchio & Sons when it had been open only three weeks.

Well here we are another couple of weeks older and grayer, and the restaurant - in effect - just raised its prices.  And here comes another brickbat.

Bayard's Etc.: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  February 22, 2010]

Remember Bayard's?  A restaurant which had a run of several years in the historic One Hanover Square building downtown.  I visited ten years ago this week to sample the cooking of Eberhard Müller, late of Lutèce where he had taken over the kitchen from the legendary André Soltner.

Snacking: Dogmatically Dogs

[Snacking by Wilfrid:  February 16, 2010]

Since it opened, Dogmatic Dogs just off Union Square - perhaps the only eating place in the city with a happy-cow-abattoir mural - has filled a niche for me.

It's the niche which used to be filled, slightly more expensively, by 'wichcraft in its original location.

The Mystery Of La Mangeoire

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  February 15, 2010]

Christian Delouvrier, one of the city's most honored chefs, crept quietly into the kitchen at ten year-old UES bistro La Mangeoire.  No fanfare, little ballyhoo.  

He has described his arrival at this casual, Provencal neighborhood spot as a return to his roots.   He certainly came by a circuitous route.

Quick Bites: Graffiti Still Scribbling

[Pigging by Wilfrid: February 15, 2010]

I have recommended Graffiti on East 10th Street a couple of times recently, and I lavished some praise in the new Pink Pig dining guide, Eating the Apple.

And then I asked myself why I hadn't been back there recently.  No reason, so I went.

Seeking Solace On 52nd Street

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  February 15, 2010]

The obvious place to seek solace on 52nd Street, if you ask me, is at the long, curved bar of the 21 Club.  And indeed alcohol is one of the main themes of a show called "Solace" at the Austrian Cultural Forum just the other side of Fifth Avenue.

Mostly Staying In: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine:  February 15, 2010]

It seems I already knew, ten years ago, that Valentine's Day is as much a day to avoid restaurants as St Patrick's Day is a day to avoid bars.  In the week running up, I mainly cooked at home too.

Snacking: EJ's BLT

[Snacking by Wilfrid:  February 13, 2010]

Sometimes, when you missed lunch and dinner is a distant promise, only a BLT will do.

There I was, on the Upper East Side and hungry.  Halfway between an art show and a sherry tasting.