at the sign of The Pink Pig

Much Meat at Ilo: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  July 27, 2011]

Now where was I?  Oh yes.  It wasn't as hot ten years ago as it has been this week.  At least, if it was, I can't imagine what would have tempted me to engage with a long, all-beef tasting menu.  I like meat as much or more than the next person but I couldn't bring myself to envy the Meatopia guests last Saturday afternoon, force feeding themselves flesh in 103 degree heat.  But back to Ilo.

Faltering Vandaag

[Pigging by Wilfrid: July 18, 2011]

I welcomedVandaag after my first visit last year, relishing the kitchen's unusual flavor palette, the menu's ambition and the lively cocktails.  I didn't love the austere setting as much as Sam Sifton, but agreed with his praise of dishes like "hot lightning" - "it makes for the sort of meal you can wake up thinking about a few mornings in a row."

If the joint praise of the Times and the Pig can't fill seats in a restaurant,  what can?  That must be what Vandaag's owners are wondering.

Mesa Grill In The Heat: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  July 18, 2011]

The big heat kept rising, mid-July ten years ago, while I cooled off in some of the dark local bars around Third Avenue and Gramercy Park.   I don't recognize half the bars along that Kips Bay strip of the Avenue when I walk it these days.  Barfly is a long survivor, and I occasionally favored it in summer because the beer mugs were kept on ice.

Chambre de Sucre Sugars Me Up

[Free Stuff by Wilfrid:  July 14, 2011]

Who could refuse some super-cute sugars from Chambre de Sucre to taste and test?  Well honestly, I was half in a quandary.  I only use sugar if I drink strong espresso or ristretto or maybe mint tea.

Of course I cook with sugar,  but regular readers will know I am more likely to be stewing some gizzards than baking a cake.  But like I said, it's cute.  And there are people who care.

Quick Bites: Tacos at Empellón

[Pigging by Wilfrid: July 13, 2011]

I originally intended to write a lengthy review of Alex Stupak's village Mexican, but as you'll see it's a little difficult to do so based on my experience there. Also, I just don't think it's ready

Unphotographable!

"What can you possibly mean, Wilfrid?" I hear you cry.  Has not Sam Sifton spoken already, ex cathedra, and bestowed a star.  Adam Platt too.  Well, yes...

Cheesy Enough For You? Cheese-O-Mania 2011!

[Pigging by Wilfrid: July 11, 2011]

It took a little hunting around online to find out who won this veritable "smackdown" last Friday night. Or Saturday morning.

Worth the journey from Portland for Steve Jones of that city's Cheese Bar who beat thirty nine of his caseophile peers to take the $1,000 first prize.  I was fast asleep by that time.

Cheese porn after the jump.

How About Jean-Georges: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  July 11, 2011]

As you all remember, July 4th fell on a Wednesday ten years ago.  Whee, talk about entire week of work disrupted.

I marked the occasion by signing up for a blow-out at Jean-Georges on the preceding evening.  Easily done, thanks to vacationers.

Downhome BBQ At Mable's Smokehouse

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  July 4, 2011]

You feel like you're not in New York.  Really you do.  And this isn't some ersatz re-creation of a Texas meat market or a Tennessee truck stop.  This just feels like a real bar in a small (college) town a long way away.

For one thing, don't expect to see New York baseball on the flatscreen TV.  Do expect most of the people around you to be young, new arrivals in the city, flushing out some homesickness with the very cheap beers.

The Didactic Impulse: German Expressionism At MoMA

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  July 4, 2011]

A busy couple of days in the run up to the holiday weekend.  I attended an event to save the seals (more later); I ran over to Poet's House to survey their annual showcase of poetry books published nationwide; I got to bed at 2.43 am following a cabaret performance at D-Lounge; and I scrambled to MoMA to see "German Expressionism: The Graphic Impulse."

Well it closes July 11, so there was no more delaying.

The Heat Comes: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  July 4, 2011]

Heat and humidity descended on the city as we approach the 4th of July, 2001.  Maybe it was this which prompted me to cook Hoosier fried chicken.  Well that's what it says in my diary, although I have no recollection of where I saw the recipe or why I decided to try making it.  Or how it was. 

I should speculatively blame a food magazing and move on.