GRAPPA 72

Chicken with rosemary and polenta

This little gem is hidden in the back of an Albany shopping center. Nicely spiced and presented Italian food from a number of regions.

Duck with onions

Carmine's Brazilian Grill

4-6 Sheridan Albany. Starter Bar with cheeses and veggies and shrimp...followed buy a parade of poultry and meat and fish skewers  .  Tropical drinks and warm cheese bread. This will be a popular place for parties and small groups.

REDS since 1944 in w. coxsackie ny

There was a time when graphics on a napkin and humorous signage was an essential marketing option. And those pre mad men who did this work have had their work fade more than Inca pottery and tyrannosauruses..but sometimes you get lucky and land a lobster and some vintage environment...I mean ambiance. And the baked potato was just right. Broccoli was just wrong but the lobster was responsible for his own magnificence.

SEA WITCH...quirky place for a beer and a schnitzel

in a garden at 703 5th ave bklyn. 347 227 7166. Order food at the foyer window and drinks under the Captain Nemo aquarium and take it all to the rock garden. Great fries. Good Indian spiced veg patty...

Pork on a bun fun

GREENWOOD PARK

NOT FAR FROM GREENWOOD CEMETERY on 19th st and 7av in Bklyn is a place to bury some beers have your last onion ring or french fry (before you give them up for your health) , tap a keg, toss a boccie ball, stroll with your toddler , seek sun or shade or even a heat lamp on a cool night. This is the

Boccie

Corn and veg or hamburger

beergarden you wished for.

Anyone remember Happy Felton's Knothole Gang. Heres a peak through a fence
though not Ebbett's Field.

CARLTON PARK 636 Carleton Ave nr Flatbush Av

CP is a horseshoe of flavor ,a semi-circle of comfortable healthy food and good drink, and a half moon that sweeps around a corner and takes the edge off a day traveling  from Albany and climbing hills in the Bronx. Welcome CP.

grilled patty pan squash

Tofu and quinoa

Yellowfin

The American Hotel in Sharon Springs New York

Looking for a location to film the Separate Tables remake. This is it. A restored early 19th century hotel and fine dining room. Food and service very different than my Colgate era memories.
Wasn't ripple and blackberry brandy the perfect slim Jim companions back then. Well now an excellent Napa Frenzy  goes with the lobster,shrimp,scallop grill. Excellent though pricey given the current lobster bargains. Then again I was surrounded by people. The table with the Vermont life magazine executive looked like they were happy with each other and the place. We got to meet because they were startled by my phone camera flash(shooting the perfect cantaloupe and watermelon sorbets). And then there was John DeMain and his engaging wife from Wisconsin. John conducts the orchestra at Glimmerglass ("Cooperstown) and is currently waving a real baton for the music man whose instruments are imaginary (for those with little regard for the power of imagination...anybody remember early TV's Mr. Imagination?).
                                                                   

lobster,scallops,shrimp grilled ambrosia

   

Colicchio&Sons...not since I was a teen

Cavatelli with ricotta and Calabrian chili

Corn soup

Radish salad with purslane and buttermilk dressing

Margarita pizza

While growing up in Bushwick/Ridgewood dining options were limited (Triangle Hofbrau,Gebhards,Salernos) and vacations were too (Whitelake Bungalos and Kutshers)...and then in my late teens I found restaurants that were like exotic vacations..Voisin, Forum of the Twelve Caesars, Luchows, Jillys and Four Seasons, and The 21 Club.  My brother's credit card was in play and I was like a character in a Woody Allen film entering the screen. It has been a long time since a new restaurant has captured that sense of  awe and the wonder that good food and good drink in a space with a grand design can bring. Collichio and Sons does it for me again...and without some of the pretentiousness and dress codes that were a drag once I got over the costume party fervor.
          The Queen of Sweden was involved in my receiving a gift card (long story) so we started in the main room with a  gorgeous menu but the tavern room and its own menu looked great. The last time we were in the pizza called to us.
No ...disappointment..roasted tomatoes with almost a sun-dried tomato depth and fresh mozzarella.  The chilled corn soup with creme fresh was fueled by the corn broth. The radish salad was a cure for salad doldrums and the cavatelli had a spice ting that rang all the right bells on my tongue.   Fabulous Arnold Palmer ,Plum sorbet ,an Oregonian Chardonnay and late harvest Riesling. We were happy. And the Audubon boat excursion to Brothers islands wasn't as not me as I predicted.
             But all this positivity doesn't include the human asset we enjoyed...the staff at this restaur-acation: professional ,thoughtful,knowledgeable, patient and genuine.
             I am sure some people dine here for the celebrity chef cache...but I have offered some other reasons.