at the sign of The Pink Pig

Quick Bites: Back To Roberta's

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 29, 2011]

I returned to Roberta's recently, not for the lauded multi-course dinner which served to parties of four-and-a-half in leap years only, but to tour the regular dinner menu in the company of a visiting food writer.

It turned out to be the best meal I've yet eaten at the place.  (Note: the picture above is from Roberta's, but from a previous occasion; photos from this meal "from me yot").

Turkey Day: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 28, 2011]

I seem to have put some effort into the dinner back in 2001.  It was a wild turkey, brined.  We started with some osetra caviar.  Then a multitude of sides with the bird.

Cornbread stuffing with crumbled longaniza sausage.  Green beans cooked with fresh tomatoes, a recipe from an old French "housewife's" cookbook.  Brussel sprouts braised in chicken broth.  Sweet potatoes.

Bijou Buvette

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 23, 2011]

Traditional French, heavy on the meats and cheeses, on a leafy side street of Greenwich Village.  Who can resist?  I resisted Buvette for a while, though: reportedly the size of a postage stamp, I just wondered how hard it would be to get in.

To my surprise, I managed the trick readily late one evening.  But believe me, luck was on my side.

Mas (La Grillade): Turn Me Over, I'm Done

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  November 22, 2011]

I'd noticed this restaurant quietly opening a few weeks back, and it was easy enough to walk in for dinner on a weekday evening.  In fact, I dropped by after a reading by the artist and activist Stewart Home a few blocks away.

High-ceilinged, white-walled, rather elegant, the grill was fairly quiet.  I asked for a table rather than the bar and got one.

There's No Stewart Like Home

[The Cunning Tower by Kim Davis:  November 22, 2011]

It has been Stewart Home month in New York.  Not officially, of course.  There's not much official about Stewart.  For me he provides reassurance that my generation (okay, he's a couple of years younger) understand the world.  Oh, and how to change it, of course.

After all, changing the world should be easy enough.  As easy as standing on your head.  In a strip club.

Saxon + Parole = ?

[Pigging  by Wilfrid:  November 21, 2011]

Well, Saxon + Parole = two race horses, and I am sure I missed several press releases telling my why that's a great name for a restaurant.  But what kind of restaurant is it really?

It's a steakhouse with a raw bar.  Simply that.  Except it's also a kind of New American market-seasonal bistro.  It's a celebrity chef restaurant too, so it bears Brad Farmerie's distinguished signature.

Rounding Up The Galleries

[New York Peasant by Wilfrid:  November 21, 2011]

If you have some time free over the next few days, here are brief notes on some gallery shows which might beguile you.

Howard Hodgkin, an eminence of British abstraction, is an artist I've followed over the years.  There are artists one enjoys or is intrigued by, and artists whose shows one tries not to miss.  Hodgkin is in the latter category for me.  I went out of my way to see his 2006 Tate retrospective.

The Cheese(s): Bourville, Tomme De What?

[Pigging by Wilfrid: November 20, 2011]

I stopped by the Bedford Cheese Shop recently, and was blown away by the selection.  How do they pack that many cheeses into that corner space, which I still remember as a used book store?

In particular, I was paralysed by the choices of tommes, those firm-pasted, musty-crusted delights.  There must have been a dozen or more.  I picked one I hadn't heard of, and then - threw the label away when I got home and rewrapped it.

Pink Pig Thanksgiving Feast: Coming Right Up

I hope you have some time this week to put your feet up and get ready for winter.

The Pig is all back up here, by which I mean there's a lot of November eating to finish writing up. Let's do it the right way, five restaurants in five days, including newish openings like Saxon + Parole and Mas (La Grillade). Coming up.

On Track For Thanksgiving: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  November 20, 2011]

Ten years ago, Thanksgiving fell early, due to the rigorous calendar logic which governs its arrival.  By this time, then, I was plunged into the pre-feast shopping, snaring a wild turkey at Quattro's in the Union Square greenmarket. 

I did find time to eat out, though.