Rosa offered me camarones

10Nov09

Rosa offered me camarones, but I didn’t know what camarones were. She says she wants to bring me one of her favorite ceviches that she eats in her native Ecuador. I speak broken Spanish and she speaks broken English every day when I pick up my towels at the gym before I go into the [...]

Filed under: Crunch, Ecuador, diversity, food   |  1 Comment

Donuts Burgers Sandwiches

13Jun09

3 Star Coffee Shop on 86th Street and Columbus is at least as old as the era in which three stars defined the apex of Upper West Side dining experiences.
The lower line on the white plastic storefront sign promises “Donuts Burgers Sandwiches,” with unnecessary white space between the letters and each word.  When Teak and [...]

Filed under: Upper West Side, children, food   |  2 Comments

Leaving Herald Square

23May09

“Hey! Is that a pearl snap shirt?”
 
“No,” my coworker answered after coming to a stop in the hallway.  We blocked the entrance to his office.  Moments before, I ostensibly had something to do that was more important than admire what I thought was a pearl snap shirt.
“Oh.” I said.
“But I used to have one. I lost it.”
“I’m sorry.” [...]

Filed under: Fire Island, Kerrville, Point O' Woods, food, pearl snap, pearl snap shirts   |  Leave a Comment

Bones for soup

07Feb09

My father told me many years ago that when he was a boy he often dreamed of being trapped overnight in a Manhattan delicatessen rather than, like most children, in a candy store.  This somewhat explains the other night at dinner, when my 5-year-old son said, “Dad, for dessert I want pickles.”
 
The other theory might [...]

Filed under: Manhattan, Point O' Woods, children, food   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: Atlantic-Avenue, Brooklyn, city, Epicureanism, Jimi-Hendrix, Lower East Side, Sahadi's, Woodstock

Indigestion (re-post)

26Dec08

[Post originally appeared in November, now digitally remastered since some readers missed it after I took it off to edit.]
 
 
When my wife Karen and I would go to Jumbalaya, a Peabody, Massachusetts restaurant that promised a combination of Tex-Mex and Creole food, she always seemed to be smirking.  I should have taken this as an [...]

Filed under: Citarella, Lower East Side, Texas, Upper West Side, Zagat, family, food, home life, marriage   |  Leave a Comment