JANE RESTAURANT

100 West Houston 212 254 7000....Its lawyer Jerry Lefcourt's son's
restaurant i would say. No she'd say. Then she goes without me comes back and says great. So we go together and no mushrooms for me she says. Then she tastes my tortolloni. Let me have it she says. Boy Id like to I says. We will go back.

Mushroom Bolognese Tortolloni

Fletcher's Brooklyn Barbeque....makes nyc a bbq town again.

NYC was not known for its BBQ, but then again Memphis was not known for its bagels or pastrami. We do have Daisy Mae's on the west side of Manhattan and we once had Pearson's Texas Q in LIC and then Manhattan and then back of a bar in Jackson Heights Queens...and Virgil's(thanks Artie) and Syracusian Dinosaur spreading around the State. But with some exceptions in one decade or another few were as promising as this chopped/pulled pork heaven hidden as it should be on industrial 3av and 7/8st park slope...not pork slope (name taken) . Bill Fletcher,after selling his Dumbo /Chicago ad agency, started this 5-9pm (Weekend:5-11) joint with the same smoker Brit Pearson had . But he liked bbq before(Bills bbq blog). Matt is the pittmaster and they both like people and talking about bbq-love. Beer and wine and deeply smoked beans,,,crispy slaw..sauces from hot n tot land...brisket and ribs mac  and pickles and a chicken that crossed the road before i got there. A mix of rock and country in the background. And actually if i implied this was a food desert, I am sorry because a Chinese restaurant, a pie oasis and a pub are in arm's reach. Thank you Santa..just what i wanted for Xmas.  347 763 2680

This meat had the tender/crisp blend that God intended and was spicy before adding sauce but
it wanted to wear as least one dressing and it looked and tasted right when sauced and when not.

433 3rd ave bklyn 11215

VESELKA....Ukrainian eats for the evenings

Since 1954 ,Veselka was serving up pirogi and apple sauce and sour cream and blintzes and stuffed cabbage with movie set lighting and a diner decor at 144 second ave but now there is another option at  9 east 1st st between 2av and  Bowery. And in addition to softer lighting there is a good wine list and great salmon cakes and the same great latkes/potato pancakes(kartoofel flaks?). Jack Hitts one person show at Joe's Pub was  evocative of the late great Spalding Gray but with a special blend of brain science meets Jean Sheppard ...dark humor meets humanism...The Moth meets Mark Twain. Hitt
produced for Fred Friendly, wrote for Harper's and the NYT, and taught journalism at Yale (mainly how to sell your story). At the Public Theatre he sold stories from his child-eye and ever growing heart

Salmon

Latkes

Res Ipsa

steeped in a  broth of rugged academic/politics. And so that is why I needed some Gruner and comfort food and why Veselka made me happy. One question though...who is the guy pictured on the wall in a leather sleeved collegiate jacket at Veselka. Is it as one waiter said a Ukrainian singer or a recently released convict as another waiter suggested?  Silly to wonder a day later but that Jack Hitt got me thinking about everything...just as he did when he worked so brilliantly with Fred Friendly on the Ethics in America series for PBS or when he edited a dictionary called Words That Ought To Be.

Bob AND Timmy's Grilled Pizza..Rhode Island

So much was goung on ...Alli singing with Providence Singers and 3 birthdays and Sophie's soccer award...that there was barely time to eat (HAH!)  Timmy and Bob grilled the pies to fuel the gift giving and laughs. Crowded like you want it to be...and real..with great salads and fried things and crispy tasty providential pizza with meats and vegies and soft fresh mozzarella.