RIVER DELI is delish

This part of Joralemon Street near Hicks is in a pretty residential part of Boerum Hill Brooklyn, and this
restaurant in a landmarkish deli is a charm within that charm. The vibe and view outside is as warming as the asparagi in a bechamel sauce with ham bits. The style of the place can be seen in the ciircular fennel
salad and the zuchini stuffed with eggplant. The Falanghina wine and my tuna steak were as perfect together as the thoughtful wait staff and the linoleum floor and wood ceiling. A little noisy but the music was soft and soothing.

PEELS... a drop in for oysters and a viognier auger well

a waiter passed on the stairs with these

It was early and the upstairs still had room

Bowery and 2st was on my to do list and is now on my to do again list . 

RATS...not what you think

humous and mushrooms and olives

bathroom detail

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Wind in the Willows inspired the name of the restaurant ,RATS, in Hamilton N.J. Here is a place for children and dream making. Or for whimsical adult dining. A perfect place to have a lunch with Corey, Alli and Sophie. There are fun sculptures on the restaurant grounds and a modest admission brings you to a fanciful Grounds for Sculpture.
Lunch included a cucumber vodka bloody mary and brancott white and olives,bean puree and mushrooms with flatbread. And short rib bourguignon and trout almondine and breast of chicken in a pool of polenta...the gardens are of the Planting Fields or Finzi Contini or Elvira Madigan or the bayou kind ...and the sculptures at Rats are of a victorian wax museum kind. The cushioined fireplace seating worked for Sophie. Feed your inner adult and entertain your inner child...and your outer grandchild.
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Live or memorex?

Contemplating son

Scarpetta connections

I love connections...730 a.m. meeting with former Commissioner Scoppetta whom Lane calls Scarpetta followed 12 hours later by dinner with Pierina at Scarpetta on 14st bet 8 and 9 av. Pierina is friends with Justin Gerrard whose Dad was an intern in Jamaica and whose Dad was a lawyer/swer in Queens for City Mental Health . The lobster in foam was followed by fresh spaghetti with basil and marinara. The steak belonged to the dancer/marshal artist and the pana-cotta with lemon belonged to the longest spoon. Service splendid and a fine chat-o-rama.



Pierina sanchez,intern, and passerby



FOOD and FINANCE HIGH SCHOOL

I love schools that nurture young people and connect to their passions and I love food and foodies and food bloggers...and I love the man (Richard Murphy) who founded Rheedlen Foundation(later Harlem Childrens Zone) and who invented Beacon Schools and youthline and youth mapping and who is on the board of this school on west 50st. Lunch was a tasting preview for Food Channel sponsor and press in anticipation of a fund raiser at the Food Channel. New York Magazine and NY Daily News writers and a wonderful artist inspired by children and recently featured in an episode of Housewives on Bravo , were all present
to taste the fennel salad, the squid salad, and the oven roasted squash and the talappia{a farm in the basement raises thousands}. This school grows plants in a hydroponic hot house...i think ..on the roof ..I think. But what i know is this is a well equipped and well staffed enterprise infusing skill and pride into fine students. What I tasted could have come from any good restaurant.I missed dessert but I will find an excuse to go back. Top Chefs, Anthony Bourdain, watch your rears there is a pack of fierce culinary future professionals coming up fast behind you.

Board member Richard Murphy handles napkin
and chats with Cornel University  Prof and 2 students describe the talapia 

Red Rooster at Midnight in Harlem with Wil Haygood Champion of Champions

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=stripbooks&field-keywords=wil+haygood&x=23&y=14    


              

Three Harlem giants:

 Adam Clayton Powell Jr., SammyDavis Jr., and Sugar Ray Robinson 
                          
Wil Haygood

  Biographical works of three figures forever linked to Harlem 

Friday, April 8^th, 2011

The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Langston Hughes Auditorium

515 Malcolm X Boulevard

 ▪ Harlem, NYC

 Sponsored by Bill Lynch Associates, LLC.   For more information please contact Arelis Tavares at arelis@bill-lynch.com or (212) 792-5110.

About the Author and the Books
    Wil Haygood has spent much of his writing life during the past two decades compiling a trilogy of biographical works of three figures forever linked to Harlem USA: Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Sammy Davis Jr., and Sugar Ray Robinson. Haygood has interviewed more than 400 individuals over the years, a quest which has taken him from European capitals to the Caribbean to points acrossAmerica and of course Harlem. A good many of those he interviewed worked with and intimately knew these three seminal African-American figures. Haygood's trilogy has been widely acclaimed.

   "King of the Cats: The Life and Times of Adam Clayton Powell Jr.," received the Massachusetts Black Political Caucus Award and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year.

   "In Black and White: The Life of Sammy Davis Jr.," received the ASCAP Deems Taylor Outstanding Music Biography Award, the Richard Wright-Zora Neale Hurston Legacy Award, and was named Nonfiction Book of the Year by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.

   "Sweet Thunder: The Life and Times of Sugar Ray Robinson," was a runner-up for the PEN/ESPN Literary Award, and has been named a Best Book of the Year by Parade Magazine, Forbes.com, the Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post.

   According to the Los Angeles Times, Haygood's trilogy conveys "the cultural importance" that Powell, Davis, and Robinson continue to have on America and the world.

   Wil Haygood is a staff writer for the Washington Post and an acclaimed biographer. Among his journalism honors are the National Headliners Award, the New England Associated Press Award, the Sunday Magazine Editors Award, the Missouri Journalism Award, and the National Association of Black Journalists Award for feature writing, which he has been awarded five times. He has been an Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow and a Pulitzer Prize finalist for his journalism work. Haygood has been Visiting Writer at Colorado College, the Ohio State University, the University of Georgia, and his alma mater, Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio. 

...And now winner of the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship. Wil,childhood friend of Dr Peter Sheehan and Tim Sheehan, spoke and showed clips inThe Schomberg with impresario former Depty Mayor Bill Lynch and Powell the 4th and NAACP leader Hazel Dukes and an enraptured audience.
Not a full house but Wils full heart led him to end with "you felt like a standing room only crowd."  A magical night where 3 legends were reintroduced without headlines but only nuanced subtitles and appreciation.

Not Marcus but cookin'

            And because this is a food blog, there was of course... a meal. We needed Sammy Davis Jr.'s mother to yell"I am Sammy's mother...get out of my way!" as she did in one very charming Wil anecdote. But after a wait in the lounge of the Rooster ,recent site of the Obama fundraiser, with buzzing Friday social capital...

Shrimp and Grits

apple pie

corn bread before evaporation

Wil and Tim leaning in

Dr Peter saves lives and makes good friends

construction noises and rhythms...we sat to a feast of  Top Chef Marcus Samuelsson shrimps and grits,oysters, and corn bread and fried chicken(no pictures...the fried chicken is so beautiful and large and plump that a photo would hurt my G rating).  See Urban Spoon for unexpurgated version. For an apre Rooster wine try Nectar Wine Bar next to Harlem Vintage wine store 2235 Frederick Douglass Blvd (121st) nectarwinenyc.com. Tell Eric eric sent you.

l to r Dr Peter Sheehan,Timothy Sheehan,Wil Haygood, Frank Spain and unidentified/eric obviously eats