We’re at Giants Stadium waiting for The Police reunion tour. We took the bus from Port Authority, which was pretty good at only $10 round trip. Sting’s son was on with his band Fiction Plane, which was pretty generic except for the liberal use of the F word. A surprise opening appearance by the Fratelis (best known for the iPod Flathead “ba da ba ba da ba da” commercial) was really good. More soon.
Author: F C
Enter the Dragon
Shout-out to YC – Happy Birthday!
On the way right now to the dragon boat races in Flushing. Its a beautiful hot day for it
Last week’s roundup::
Restaurant Week: Cafe des Artistes. Well executed French bistro food. Three courses inclide a fancy salad, a choice of three entres, and a vanilla bourbon cake that really blew us away. Only can really afford the pre fixe menu, which is available for the rest of the summer. Recommended (as long as you don’t object to classic French nude female portraits).
On the other end of the spectrum, P’s friends picked the new three story Olive Garden for dinner. The included salad and breadsticks were ok, the stuffed chicken marsala was fine, but I thought that the pasta was overdone. The craziness was going on outside, where the jumbotrons of Times Square were literally outside the window. So this is what it is to be a NY tourist! You can have just as good food from your neighborhood Italian place, but at least the service is prompt and bubbly. Thumbs down on the mandatory 15% tip, but it’s their loss as we would usually round up towards 20%. We actually came out with exact change.
Explosive
This week’s recap:
Narrowly avoided Wednesday’s Grand Central Explosion. Was supposed to be at a meeting at 45 and Lex at 6:30; instead was stuck on a 4 train at Bowling Green. Later met up. with P at Times Square.
Food this week:
Sunday: Bastille Day on Smith street with Costa Rican food. Loved the ceviche.
Wed: Go!G!o! Curry on W. 38 St. Definitely the best Japanese curry to be had in NY. Everything is themed with NY Yankee player H. Matsui – from his number 55 to the sizes of the meals, which range from “walk” (normal sized) to “Grand Slam” which is everything – 5 lbs. of food! We had pork katsu curry with pickled shallots and natto. They also sell the curry sauce separately in economy sizes. Recommended.
Restaurant Week:
Thalassa on Franklin Street – gourmet Greek cuisine. The prix fixe had fine selections of seafood and lamb dishes. The day”s seafood is laid out on a icetable in the dining room – the ultimate proof of freshness – no smell and in perfect condition. Service wqas impeccible. The open kitchen is quiet and efficient – a hurly tattoed grillmaster is in charge. Recommended (but the fish is about $20-30 per lb. on the regular menu, so be forewarned.)