at the sign of The Pink Pig

Final Dishes From A Diary: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid:  April 17, 2017]

Turning the dust-encrusted heavy vellum pages of my journal, I realize with a mixture of regret and acceptance that: This is where we came in.

Ten years of meals, ten years of travel, galleries, books, and theater.  I did just celebrate twenty years of living in New York. It's simple math...

Petit Crenn, Boulevard: A Tale Of Two Brigades

[Pigging by Wilfrid: April 10, 2017]

Petit Crenn had been on my San Francisco list for the better part of a year--when I've been in town during large-scale conferences, it's been an impossible reservation--and I've heard nothing but consistently good things about it.

Boulevard has been around for more than twenty years, but it wasn't on my radar, and I was strong-armed in for a spontaneous dinner by the howling wind and driving rain. Guess which I liked best?

Perfunctory Bouchon, Las Vegas

[Pigging by Wilfrid: April 5, 2017]

I've eaten mediocre French bistro food in cities all over the United States.  If I want over-salted duck and bread dumped on the table without a smile, I can get that on the Lower East Side.

And the problem with Bouchon is that it really announces itself.  And really jacks up the prices.

Quick Bites: Yardbird Las Vegas

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  April 5, 2017]

Yardbird Southern Table furnished the best meal of my recent trip, not because it was leagues better in execution than Bouchon, but because the prices were--in comparison--sane.

It's tucked away in a subterranean "Restaurant Row" under the Palazzo, alongside some bars and another Batali-Bastianich joint.

Quick Bites: Gilley's Las Vegas

[Pigging by Wilfrid:  April 5, 2017]

If you haven't been, let me assure you that the Las Vegas Strip is not as glamorous as you might think.  Even if you thought it wasn't very glamorous, it's just a bit less glamorous than that.

This is especially true at the top end, around a gentle bend, where you lose sight of the Bellagio's fountains and Caesar's Palace. That's where I was, staying at the Palazzo, which is nice enough, and even has better smoke extraction than most of the other casino's I've visited.

A Bunch Of NYC Restaurants: Ten Years Ago

[Pink Pig Time Machine by Wilfrid: April 3, 2017]

A lot of moderate dining out in this city, ten years ago around the end of March.

Let's take it from the top. A lunch at Otto featuring the testa--tasty, if too mushy at room temperature-- a quattro stagioni pizza, and from the great Meredith dessert lab, a Guinness gelato.