Gotham Gal

Sex and the City

I am sorry to see Sex and the City end. But, I give them a lot of credit, they went out at the high. Most shows don't have the balls to do that. This show had lots of spunk, so it would make sense that they would end it the same way.

I have so enjoyed my Sunday evenings watching Sex and the City for the last 6 years. The characters are great. It has been fun watching them grow. The show pushed the envelope in so many ways which is why it was successful. How refreshing to finally have a well written, smart, sophisticated television show. What a concept.

Last night's final episode couldn't have been better. You got a feeling of where these characters would be if the show just kept on going. Each character ended up where they should have. Most end of season shows are not even in line with what the show has been about for all the past seasons.

Smart writers. Smart characters. Smart actors. Smart crew. Smart show.

Bravo!

Is Soho an outdoor mall?

I have always loved Soho. The stores, the vibe, the restaurants, etc. It is truly amazing how much Soho has grown over the past 15 years. If you are a retailer, it is essential to have a store in Soho.

We watched Hannah and her Sisters the other night. One of the sisters, Holly, lived in Soho. My kids could not get over that Soho was so raw only 15 short years ago. Frankly, I couldn't either.

Yesterday, we (my daughters and me) were going to see a show at the Angelica at 1:25. We were seeing Kitchen Stories. It was ok. Very slow. The girls hated it. Anyway, we needed to have some lunch before hand. I forgot how popular Sunday brunch is around the city. Everywhere was packed with a line. On the corner of Mercer and Prince, we found a new spot.

I had actually watched this corner slowly go through construction. Completed is a huge Olivers Olive Oil/L'Occitaine Soap store. Conceptually, it is a great idea even though the store is a bit generic. The soap products are really good. I have yet to buy the Olive Oil but have been into another store of theirs before on Bleeker. Almost like Baskin and Robbins are located next to Dunkin Donuts(same owners), they have done the same thing in their retail locations. Smart.

This particular store is huge. They also have food which you order downstairs and then go upstairs and wait for someone to bring it to you. Salads, soups, quiches, desserts. Good idea but the food is unedible. Quite unfortunate.

We should have gone to an old Soho haunt to celebrate that fact they still exist instead of trying the new generic bad food store. Alas. Lesson learned.

sant ambroeus

Went to lunch yesterday at Sant Ambroeus at 259 West 4th at the corner of Perry. Wow!

This restaurant used to be located on Madison between 77/78th street. They lost their lease and made the plunge downtown. Lucky for me.

I have watched this corner restaurant undergo renovations. Little did I know this would become a favorite haunt among people in the West Village.

I went for lunch yesterday with a friend who has eaten every meal there - breakfast, lunch and dinner. The decor is basic, simple, bright and airy. They bake their breads and desserts on the premises.

The menu for lunch has at least 18 panini type sandwiches with a small green salad on the side. I had chunks of tuna smothered in olive oil, thinly shaved parmesan cheese, sauted warm arugula between 2 thin slices of tuscan bread. It was incredible! Added bonus, fantastic coffee.

The diners next to us each ordered a dessert. They were beautiful. I was tempted to ask each of them for a bite.

The dinner menu - which you could also have at lunch - had a variety of different couses. Salads, pastas, fish, poultry and meat. Everything sounded delicious.

I figured we will either get back there for Sunday brunch or Saturday night dinner. I can hardly wait to try out something else.

New York City Fire Department

Last night, around midnight, the doorbell rang. I was seriously out. I picked up the phone immediately (the doorbell goes through the phone and you can talk to whoever it is outside). I probably yelled "who is it?".
Answer, "fire department.". WHAT? My husband is out of town and I have 3 kids sleeping and it is midnight. What's the problem? The neighbor has a fire and we have to get in through your house to see what is happening next door. Yikes.

Lucky, I had left sweat pants and sweat shirt next to my bed last night and dashed downstairs as quick as possible. Sure enough, the neighbor had a fire on their porch. The firemen had already doused it from the inside of our neighbor's place and were checking to see if there were live ambers, or whatever at my place.

These guys could not have been nicer. In they come, in force, clomping through with their 400 lbs of equipment on their back. One cuter than the next. Chatting with me about my home and my family.

They finally left after making sure everything was ok, captain came in an surveyed the place.

I slowly made my way upstairs, and of course had trouble getting back to sleep. But, as I lay there, I thought about this group of firemen. In NYC, you are very connected to the people living next door to you which is good and bad. But, my thoughts were how incredibly professional these guys were. How nice, pleasant, charming, efficient. It made me feel so secure about living in NYC and having men like this serve our city.

Today, I am sending over a huge box of treats just to thank them for being firemen.

Touching the Void

In general, I prefer films vs. movies. I got that quote from a good friend of ours who definitely prefers movies like The Rock, Independence Day, Terminator 2, etc. We go for smaller independent films which are abundant in New York City.

My kids prefer teen flicks which I have to admit, I don't mind. Some are god awful but some are cute and funny. It is like I still have a spot in my heart for pop rock. I admit it.

This past weekend we saw quite a few flicks. We saw 50 First Dates with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Not one of Adam Sandler's best films but he is always fun to watch. He reminds me of people I went to summer camp with. Again, a soft spot in my heart. We also saw Miracle with Kirk Russell which was a total feel good flick. Considering I remember watching that memorable hockey game during college and hearing the screaming rocketing through the quad, it was great to watch. My kids loved it. There was also the message about team work and coaches that you might hate but have something to offer, etc. The most interesting tidbit of information out of that movie which I did not know is that none of those players went on to play in the NHL. I thought that was interesting.

The other films we saw this weekend were on DVD. My favorite site, Netflix, made all this available through my mailbox. Due to the freezing cold winter we have been having, I have upped our Netflix availability to 8 at a time. It appears to be a big hit. We saw Beaches - my daughters loved it and I cried as I do everytime I see this film. We also saw Hannah and Her Sisters. A bit over their heads. My daughter attempted to watch Annie Hall, again too much for her. We also watched Cider House Rules, Amadeus and Driving Miss Daisy. We're doing Oscar movies before the Oscars.

Although, the best thing I saw this past week was Touching the Void which is a true story of 2 rock climbers and their test of survival. I can not get it out of my head. These 2 young kids, 21 and 25, decide to climb a mountain that they do not know enough about, in the Andes. One of the climbers, Joe, breaks his leg and his partner, Simon, attempts to carry him down to safety. They get caught in a bad area and Simon has to cut the rope holding Joe up because he presumes him to be dead. Simon manages to get down the mountain. Joe falls into a ice crevass but through sheer will makes his way down the mountain over 4 days. This movie is a true testament of the human spirit. The movie is intersliced with clips of them climbing and the recounting of their story face on with the camera. It is a must see!

Menupages.com

My friend Cory showed this site to me yesterday. I felt a tad behind the times because I had always wished for a site like this but did not know it existed. Menupages.com is fantastic! Every menu in NYC is basically on this site. Broken down by neighborhood, or cuisine. There are also recent restaurant reviews on the site. Comments on restaurants.

Before going out to a new restaurant, check out the menu and see if you are actually going to enjoy the food. Having a dinner party? Go into menus and see something that sounds yummy and try to replicate. Tired of the same old chinese delivery menu, maybe there are others in the neighborhood you were unaware of. Coming to NYC from out of town, check out the neighborhood haunts. I am going to really enjoy using this site. If you scroll down to the general comments, you can find out what credit cards they will take and if they deliver which is most important.

Take a look at this site and immediately add to your favorites. I did.

Lazer Park

Our youngest had his 8 year old birthday party this past weekend. Thanks his older sister, he requested that his party be at Lazer Park. Yikes!

First of all, being responsible for 14 some odd boys in the middle of Times Square is stressful enough but adding that to Lazer Park could send you over to the hospital for a mild coronary. These kids are all from downtown New York so they are pretty street saavy as far as 8 year olds go. They are real city kids. They are also boys.

Lazer Park is for all intensive purposes an arcade with lazer tag rooms as the added bonus. 2 floors of wall to wall games. You can barely breath inside. I truly wonder if fire code is met there. The games are major boy toys. How many people can you shoot? For an additional bonus, if you score high, you get tickets to cash in for bogus toys. The kids LOVE the tickets. They go for the games that can generate the highest yield of tickets.

For the bday party, they give each kid 30 tokens to go wild for the first 1/2 hour. The problem with the game area is that kids can wander freely and it is hard to keep an eye on their whereabouts. Although, my husband hung out at the bottom of the stairs so nobody could leave the downstairs location. There are also tons of huge teenage kids and adults roaming around. Who are these people?

I could hardly wait for the game time to end and the lazer game to begin. Once they are in the lazer tag area, they then move on to pizza and cake in a contained area. The lazer tag is great. They kids run around and shoot each other with with lazer guns and the points are registered above. The kids had a blast. I would have loved to do it but my husband went in an played. He thought it was great.

Once the lazer tag, pizza, cake etc. ended it was hard to get the kids out of there. They still wanted to cash in their tickets. When we finally did leave, I felt my blood pressure slowly return to normal.

I would say Lazer Park is a once in a lifetime experience, at least for me.

Fiddler on the Roof

I remember the first time that I saw Fiddler on the Roof. I was 8 years old and the play was making its way across the country. We lived in Ann Arbor Michigan. We went in as the snow began to fall and by the the time we left there was about 2 feet on the ground. I loved it! I have now seen the movie umpteen times and know every song by heart.

Yesterday, I saw Fiddler on the Roof at the Minskoff Theater. The original Broadway opening was in 1964. Seeing Fiddler on the Roof again as an adult makes you think about tradition and history in a different light. The story starts off so uplifting and as the saga unfolds you can relate to the changes in tradition that the children wanted and certainly what has taken place since then. The characters certainly embrace their judaism but on the other hand they want a little more freedom. As the story goes, the townspeople are eventually pushed out by the Russian Czar because they are Jews. I thought about how that is still happening in 2004. Each townsperson tells where they are going, the US, Poland, another town in Russia. We all know from history what happens to the areas that they migrate to. Certainly going to the US at the beginning of the Russian Revolution, pre World War I, was a better place to end up. My grandfather's parents ended up in Chicago from Russia at that time. Fiddler on the Roof tells us a story about history that is as wonderful to see today as it was 40 years ago. My kids loved it and had plenty of questions to ask.

I applaud the producers of this production. To recreate an old play and make it look new again is not easy to perform. The set design is fantastic! The stage is set with white firs surrounding the stage, and an outdoor hill to the left of the stage which is used again and again for different purposes. The musicians are in the trees to the right of the stage, and the fiddler roams or sometimes sits above the stage is a makeshift roof. At times the stage is set as a kitchen celebrating the sabbath where there are other families set into the trees also performing their sabbath ritual at the same time. You can see the entire community celebrating together yet apart. When Hodel is waiting to take the train to Kiev to meet up with Perchik, the set is gray and eerie like a lonely train station. Brilliantly staged is the dream that Tevye has in order to get Tzeitel out of his commitment to Lazar Wolf to marry. The stage is transformed into a bedroom in the midst of a crazy dream with flying characters. My favorite scene. The lighting and stage design really set the scenes for this production.

The music, as always, is tremendous. The voices are strong and glorious. There is some funny lines thrown in that are clever and fresh.

Tevye is played by Alfred Molina. He is a bit slim for a Tevye. His voice is strong and I believe his presence will become stronger as he continues to play the part. The actors in general were solid. They are all very much into their characters.

I highly recommend buying tickets before the play is opened on Broadway. I would hope that this would be a huge hit and have a great run. I am thrilled to see Fiddler on the Roof back on Broadway.

Peter Luger in Brooklyn

Any true carnivore has got to love Peter Luger's. You must be prepared with cash in hand, no credit cards.

Years ago I had an adorable young woman who worked for me. Her father had just retired from working years on Wall Street. I believe he was a stock broker but regardless he did quite well for himself. He had raised 2 kids in Manhattan, private schools, etc. He was a regular at Peter Luger's. When he retired, Peter Luger's manager asked him if he would be interested in working as the cashier which is behind the plastic partition and really be the CFO. He figured, why not, since he enjoyed the people there and he did not want to be just hanging around doing nothing. Supposedly, he made more money the first year at Peter Luger's than he had ever made annually on Wall Street. After paying the price the other night, I am not surprised.

The crowd is the same. Mostly men from Wall Street drinking loads of scotch, beer and martinis. Lots of heavy Brooklyn accents. I love it! We took the family. It is their second time there. My daughter requested Peter Luger's for her bday night dinner.

We always start off hanging out at the bar. The bartender is charming and pours quite a stiff drink. His shirley temples are top.

We sat downstairs which I prefer. We sat upstairs last time and the vibe is just not the same. We ordered the standard. Steak, shrimp cocktail, spinach and of course the yummy onion rolls. We passed on the tomato and onions because tomatoes are never that great off-season no matter which way you slice it. Also, the bacon there is out of this world. We passed on it this time but I saw a huge plate going by, hot and sizzling, on the way out and I was sort of bummed we hadn't indulged ourselves. Next time.

Most people are completely full by the end of the meal but we went for the chocolate sundae. It is incredible. The whipped cream is thick and rich and just right. Hey, it's a birthday, right?

The bill was high but well worth the cost. We had steak leftovers and brought it home. You know it is good when the steak tastes terrific 2 days later after sitting in the doggie bag.

I think Peter Luger's will become an annual event. It is just a classic place with a slice of New York that all New Yorker's should experience (and out of town guests too).

Chelsea Galleries

It was recommended to me to go and check out the hot new emerging artist galleries. I went to 3 of them today. I will continue to go but the work that I saw today was a bit too alternative for my taste.

We started out at Oliver Kamm at 504 West 22nd Street. The photographs were of tough men, men with weapons and angry men. I did not care so much for the content but at the same time I found the photography very flat.

We happened to wander downstairs to the Bruce Silverstein Gallery. Bruce could not have been nicer. The current show is from Kathy Suder called Knockout. She has taken large scale color photographs of boxers in the ring. They truly capture the moment. The colors shoot out at you and the sweat sparks off the boxers foreheads. You feel the drama of the ring in her pictures. Bruce was happy enough to take us into the back where he represents many famous photographers from the 40's, 50's and onward. He actually had discovered a young photographer who had taken pictures, in his cab, of the passengers, over the past 10 years. The next show will be in March where he will show portraits of cab drivers. The portraits that he showed us were excellent. Really captured the person. There will also be quotes of the cab drivers. I am really looking forward to that show.

En route to our next stop, we were struck by a diptech in the window at Kashya Hildebrand Gallery. What a find! The exhibit now is from the artist Thierry Feuz, the first New York show. The paintings are huge lacquers on canvas. Some of the paintings are works of abstract flowers and other organic materials. They are beautiful to look at. The flowers actually bleed into the canvas so they look as if they are glowing. There are also horizontal striped paintings. The enamels are so layered that the stripes almost look as if the wood grain is coming through but these paintings are done on linen so the wood grain look is from layers of color. We poked our heads into the back and struck up a conversation with the owner. He represents artists from different countries. One artist which was interesting was Russian. All his works are done on large canvasses with ball point pens. Very interesting. The other artist, Tianbing Li, who they refer to at "Bing" looks extraordinary. His exhibit will be in early March. This artist is incredibly prolific. Not only has he done beautiful oils on canvas from flowers to buildings to self portraits, he has also used human hair to create images of places and people on linen. I have never seen anything like it. Bing has developed these "hair" pieces without any drawings underneath them which is incredible because from afar you would think they were intense sketches from either charcoal or pen. Glad we stepped in here and am looking forward to this next show too.

We found ourselves in 2 more of the young galleries next. Daniel Reich Gallery who was showing Tyson Reeder, a mixture of paintings, drawings and objects on canvas from this young artist out of Milwaukee. The subject matter did not "wow" me and the pieces had a juvenile look to them. But, I will continue to g back and see the next artist shown. I liked how the show was represented. The third one, John Connelly, on West 26th street, isn't even worth mentioning. The art represented was a jumble of a variety of artists that appeared to be very underdeveloped.

One last note, we stumbled into Pace Wildenstein that had a photography show from Richard Misrach. I almost bought one of his photographs last summer so I recognized the work. I still love them! He has captured the images of swimmers and sunbathers at the beach. You can see the sand moving, the water is beautiful. How he captures that movement from so far away is his best kept secret. Absolutely worth going to see.

Tonight, I am off to the LREI Art Auction. Our kids school is having their 25th year Art Auction this week. It is always a treat. They get fantastic artists and the prices go from $50 - $20,000. If you are in the area on Thursday night, when the final bids come in, go check it out. We are always thrilled with the pieces we bring home from this event.