urbanista

be fearful,,,,

harlem tavern

oh Harlem Tavern, I so want to love you but you keep breaking my heart.  Love, love the space, so spacious, so casual, you feel so comfy like you can put your feet  up and dive into a good book for hours and no one would bother you or you can invite your friends from college , your friends from work, you uptown friends, your downtown friends and everyone would be happy and just get along in an alcohol-fueled haze.. For that one moment I thought I had found perfection and then there it was, the first inkling that all was not quite what it seemed.  The waitstaff is enthusiastic but spotty but the bartender always remembers my drink and places it in front of me without a word being spoken, I'm sorry but I love that!! But then the food, oh dear, don't get me wrong now,  it has been very, very good at times.  and other times, what the hell??  The burger was so yummy and the nachos so delicious but the second time we ordered the same thing i thought  are we in a different restaurant, did they fire the chef??  Ok, so I know its bar food nothing gourmet but i want good bar food and the detail put into the decor and layout should be transferred into the kitchen,  Okay so my tavern is a little flawed, I was willing to accept that until last Friday....you know in a relationship there are some things you just can't ignore,  Went on friday about 4pm,  of course the restaurant is mostly empty, no one at the hostess stand to seat us which was fine because we wanted to sit in the bar area anyway.They have those high tabletops with bar stools where you can still order food but is clearly part of the bar area.  It was our friends birthday and we were treating her to dinner.  A few minutes after our food arrived  and we had  taken only a bite or two, a hostess came over and said that we had to leave the table by six because it was reserved.  completely taken aback by the intrusion. we questioned her and she responded "did I seat you?" and lightly pounded the table.  At this point we had already been in the restaurant for about 45 minutes so if there was any concern about needing the table they could have addressed that when we first sat down or anytime thereafter, meanwhile the restaurant is not even crowded and it's only about five o'clock.  Not cool!!

The manager was lovely and very apologetic, and in fact he said he remembered  me, hmm was that a lIne??  The hostess actaually came back and apologized to the table.  The manager also took off my birthday friend's dinner and dessert.  Nice!!  so Harlem Tavern, please try to do better, I don't want to break up just yet.

be who you are

you all laugh

bohemian rhapsody

my dream house

wine and more wine

Even though I am an urbanista, I sometimes escape the city to recharge my batteries and simply breath.  My favorite escape is the North Fork of Long Island and when I discovered this magical place a few years ago, I was completely smitten.  Not to be confused with the South Fork aka the Hamptons, the North Fork is still more farmland then fabulous and it is still a bit under the radar.  One of my favorite places to go is Martha Clara Vineyards in Riverhead, and in fact there are dozens of wineries to choose because what used to be mostly potato farms is now wine country.  Minutes from the Long Island Sound, it is charming, quaint with farm stands selling goat cheese, homemade apple pies and fresh produce.  It reminds me of Cape Cod. The air is just different out there. 

marcus sammelsson's favorite comfort food

http://www.dailycandy.com/atlanta/video/entertainment/130136/Marcus-Samuelsson-Gravlax-Sandwich

I wrote about Marcus's Red Rooster earlier in this blog,  but i continue to be fascinated by his exotic upbringing, Ethiopian by birth but raised in Sweden,  which makes his take on food so fascinating.

pop of color

everone who knows me knows that i love a pop of color, this got mixed reviews on the red carpet, but i loved it.

where everybody knows your name

On   the eve of Yom Kippur,  a co-worker and I met up with friends at Coogan’s, an Irish pub in Washington Heights hard by New York Presbyterian. Coogan’s has been there forever and  it’s that kind of comfy bar that you can ease into a barstool  grab a pint of beer or a cocktail special for five dollars  and listen to some really entertaining karaoke.  Case in point, an older Mexican gentleman in full Mexican regalia with an elaborate sombrero, purposefully strutted into Coogan’s pulling his rolling cart and got up on stage  sang his heart out in a moving Spanish ballad and got off stage and rolled right out.  Love it!! The guys in the picture above  who were sitting next to me won two tickets to a Jets game in the nightly raffle .One of them confided to me that he’s really a die-hard Chicago Bears fan and hates the Jets even though he was a born and raised New Yorker.  Our friend Lori braved the fray and sang Cindi Lauper’s  “True Colors”  Good job!! The place is as diverse as it gets, off-duty cops, staff from the hospital, artsy types, neighborhood folks and more…..  And if your hungry, the burger and chicken quesadilla are pretty damn good.

harlem public

just opened and only a few blocks from my house, can't wait to check it out...

basquiat

mom's take on folk art.

different drummer

I saw this in my neighborhood the other day.

bohemian rhapsody

the bigger, the better...

francais vs. americana

http://sdtr.co/PQDNk0

cute video french vs. american

urbanista

womanly wisdom

The Barnes Collection and Urban Blight

I had the wonderful opportunity to see the Barnes exhibit in Philadelphia.  I was completely blown away by the breadth and range of this private collection that is now open to the public.   From Matisse to Picasso, Renoir and Van Gogh even collections of Chinese sculpture and Native American  jewelry.  The story behind bringing this private collection to the public was a very controversial story with politicos and other pitted against one another and is well documented in the documentary “The Art of the Steal.”    Matisse and Picasso are arguably my favorite artists and  the curating of the show is personally the best I have ever seen (the intent is to replicate how Barnes arranged the works in his own home) but the bigger story for me as the Barnes exhibit fuels money into the Philadelphia economy and I left the exhibit exhilarated by the experience and drove through West Philly, I was taken aback by the miles and miles of urban blight.  The dichotomy of  the beautiful works of art I had recently seen and the harsh reality of inner city  life is jarring,  The politicos who fought so hard to get the Barnes collection to be placed in Philly should fight so hard for the people who already live there.

for mom

,

That though the radiance which was once so bright be now forever taken from my sight. Though nothing can bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower. We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind.

william wordsworth

la vie bohemian

"I'm a girl from a good family who was very well brought up.
One day I turned my back on it all and became a bohemian."

- Brigitte Bardot