[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.
Not much to detain us this week, then. A carbonnade de boeuf here, a tendrons de veau Marengo there: my apartment in 2000 had a nice kitchen and I was making use of it. I did venture out on one important occasion, though - to see a very rare staging of Stephen Sondheim's first, and initially unproduced, musical Saturday Night. The Second Stage Theater offered a fully produced and costumed production, the highlight of which was Christopher Fiztgerald's performance of "Exhibit A" - an overlong but typical Sondheim "list" song. He later starred in a terrific show about New York restaurants and getting reservations in them - Fully Committed.
Out to dinner just once over these few days: to Le Madeleine, the theater district bistro which recently closed. After pâté, a thick-cut slab of calf's liver with polenta, and then a chocolate marquise. A 1996 Volnay premier cru appears in my notes - perhaps it was by the glass, as my diary also mentions the 1988 Chateau Simard.
Dinner at home again on Valentine's. Perigord pâté to start - which I don't believe I made myself - then roast salmon with a cassoulet of beans (of course) and smoked pork. A bottle of Mumm to go with it all.
Next week Bayard's. Remember Bayard's?
