Gotham Gal

Assistance at Playwrights Horizons

Assistance is the first play I have ever seen at Playwrights Horizon and I guarantee you it won't be my last.  I love the space and intimacy of this theater.  I am also a huge fan of Judy Rubin who is the board chair of Playwrights.  We were introduced by her son and she reached out to me about getting involved with Playwrights.  I wish I was more passionate about theater because getting involved with her would be fantastic but alas that is not an area where my passions lie and there are only so many hours in the day. I can at least support by becoming a patron and seeing the plays that they put on. 

Assistance is one of the seven plays being written by Lesley Headland that represent one of the deadly sins.  Assistance is about greed.  The play centers around young assistants working for a hard driving CEO who  traumatizes everyone in his office at any hour of the day.  Why do they stay? The desire to start off somewhere in their career that they believe will take them someplace.  Greed.

We never see the boss and we never really know exactly what type of company he runs.  He is just someone who the audience forms an opnion about while never seeing him.   An amazing cast of young actors who show their emotional chops with this play.  The insanity of working in that office is under constant stress.

For me, it reminded me of my early days at Macys where I worked right after graduating college.  There were some really crazy terrible screaming lunatics that worked there and you really had to put on an armor of steel to survive.  There was one guy who made the people who work for him cry.  Not pretty.  Not sure why some people feel that it is necessary to create that kind of working environment but honestly life is just too short. 

Brooklyn and Vinegar Hill House

The vibe and feel of Brooklyn is so different from Manhattan and that is a good thing.   We stopped by a few places before ending up at Vinegar Hill for dinner.  We first popped into Dumbo to check out the carousel.  I used to love going on carousels when the kids were little.  This one has a killer location sitting on the waterfront with the views above. 

During the summer the glass walls open up.

Then we shot over to Williamsburg literally right as the sun was setting.  Half of Williamsburg might be cool and hip but the other half is filled with Hasidim Jews coming home from Shul.  It might be 2012 but watching the families walk home in the same hats and robes that they wore hundreds of years ago is just amazing.  We dropped in Rye for a drink.  I might have to return for dinner because the menu looks delicious. 

Rye has that earthy warm feeling that makes you want to stumble in there during a cold snowy night and eat something rich and filling.  Instead we opted for an old fashioned with rye.  Yum.

Our next stop was Vinegar Hill.  At 630 the place was packed and luck was with us because there were four stools at the bar.  Grab them!  By the time we left the restaurant was packed to the gills.  The restaurant is so quaint and charming.  There is something unique that in the food world these days that there are a variety of destination restaurants popping up in areas around the city.  They aren't on streets where there are tons of foot traffic or even other stores and restaurants but the only storefront on a street.  Vinegar Hill is one of those places.  At Vinegar HIll sitting at the bar gave us all a glimpse into watching the line chefs in the kitchen all night.  Such a tough job. 

Two of us began with the Caesar Salad.  Chopped iceberg lettuce with a really rich cheesey sauce and large crunchy schmaltz croutons. 

The other two of us went with the radish salad.  Such a nice presentation.  Crunchy crisp radishes scattered around the plate with almonds and mache perfectly placed around the radishes.  Underneath the salad are dots of chantilly brown butter.  Nice touch.  A nice take on the classic radish, butter and salt starter. 

We were first just going to order entrees and main courses but the pastas looked so good we decided to try one of them to split and then in the last minute we ordered one more.  Wow.  Bucatini mixed with a chorizo ragu and pieces of seared octopus.  So good.  The pasta was perfectly cooked al dente and the sauce had a nice little kick. 

The other pasta was the squid ink tagliolini.  I am a sucker for squid ink pasta.  This was served with clams, squid, chickpeas and uni.  The uni just melted into the pasta.  Really delicious.

Main courses.  I had the duck.  The portions are actually not that large which I like.  So although we ordered a lot it wasn't that much.  Pieces of duck sliced over a mixture of turnips, watercress, black trumpet mushrooms and cracklings.  Simple, tasty and not over powering. 

My friend had the chicken two ways.  A super crispy deep fried chicken thigh with a roasted chicken breast and dandelion greens. 

Braised wild boar shank served over grits mixed with a fennel pollen and pecans.  Perfect for a cold night.

Sliced country pork chop with sauerkraut.  Love the presentation here too.

At this point I was chatting with the other people at the bar.  Many bottles of wine later.  We went with white tonight.  The first bottle was from Jura Switzerland.  Those wines tend to have a unique flavor with almost a stinky odor.  If you have never tasted one, give it a whirl.  Really different.  We also had two Pouilly Fuisses from France.   The sides came out really late but at this point we didn't care.  Crispy brussel sprouts mixed with a grainy mustard and hazelnuts. 

Cheddar cheese curds.  Take out a spoon and dig in.

Dessert...bring it on.  Salted caramel custard.  Super dense and just delicious.

Intense Guinness chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

Such a great night.  Wonderful neighborhood restaurant.  Many of the people there are definitely regulars.  I plan on coming back. 

 

Karin Thayer, Fertility Planit, Woman Entrepreneur

Karin sent me an email with her business plan.  I was intrigued.  I set up a time to speak with her and so glad I did.  Her story is really interesting and has a happy ending which you have to love.  Her concept, Fertility Planit, is a sign of the times.  A worldwide social network for people who are trying to create a family. 

Every year our kids school has an event called Love Makes A Family.  What I love about this annual event is that kids from each grade (K-12) put up pictures of their family all over the school.  It is an exhibit.  So what does a family mean?  Gay families, inter-racial families, single parent families, divorced families, re-married families with new step-siblings...a family is a group of parents and children living in household...end of story.  Karin is trying to create a place where families in the 21st century, no matter who they are, can have a community around a topic, fertility, that is not discussed so openly in many places around the globe.  I bet everyone reading this piece knows at least one person who has used medical technology to get pregnant or have children.

Karin grew up in Marin County in a family of first generation Germans.  Both her Mom and Grandma made there way through Canada to get here.  Her Mom had her own law firm and practiced International insurance.  Great role model.  Karin graduated high school where she had won a few journalism awards.  Her teacher told her that she needed to go a good liberal arts school to be a great journalist and it should be Smith.  Smith it was. 

Her junior year abroad she spent in Germany.  Karin spoke the language fluently and wanted to spend some time in a place that was in essence her roots.  While she was there a hipster teacher told her to check out the film house.  She walked in and met a film maker and became his PA (production assistant). She was totally bit by the bug. 

Karin went back to Smith for her senior year focusing on a documentary thesis.  She always loved telling stories through journalism so this was just a different outlet.  After graduation she went to work for Bill Jersey, a documentary film maker for two years.  He had gone to USC and gave Karin the advice that she should go there too.  So she did. 

At USC she found a lot of trust fund kids who had deep pockets to make their films.  She really wanted to make the most of her time at USC as it s was a huge financial drain to be there for two years.  Karin made a short film while she was there called SEED.  It was about homeless teens living on the streets of Hollywood Boulevard.  Karin spent a lot of time living on the streets with them to get their story.  She first created a fictional thesis to document what the story would be about before going out to get funding.  Robert Zemeckis was her professor at USC and she asked him if she could put his name down as the executive producer.  He said yes and with that she was able to get everything donated.  She was seriously scrappy and probably in a little bit above her head yet her ambitious nature pulled it off.  Karin was even able to get Rose McGowan to play the lead.  The film was a success playing at Sundance going on to win awards at the Austin Film Festival and Palm Springs International Festival.

Afterward Karin pounded the pavement with scripts.  Although the conversations were interesting she needed to make some money just to pay the rent.  She found herself taking a job in TV doing shows, series and documentaries.  Then Oxygen came into her life as they were looking for some producers.  She took a job doing their daily news magazine in Los Angeles.  At that point the hot word was convergence.  It was a great gig and she met a lot of wonderful people and after four years the show was cancelled.

While at Oxygen she had met Michael Rosenblum, a self-proscribed video journalist guru and he said come join me and we are going to do something with the BBC.  It was so old school there.  They weren't even creating their own content so over the next four years they helped 250 journalists learn how to create, tape and edit their own content.  Karin continued to come back and forth to the states.  She still wanted to make another documentary and found herself co-producing and being the cinematographer for City of Borders, a documentary about the underground gay community between Israel and Palestine.  The film focuses on the one gay bar in Jerusalem which is an oasis for many in that area of the world and the community that goes there.  The film went on to play at the Berlin Film Festival in 2009.  Again, telling stories. 

Karin is now entering her thirties and wondering to herself, how about my life?  She took a full time job at the BBC and met a really nice guy.  Three lost pregnancies later that relationship ends.  She is 37 years old and wants to be a mother.  Not so easy being a single woman particularly in England where they do not even have a program around anonymous sperm donors.  She starts to think about who would her sperm donor be?  She finds herself traveling to Denmark to try and get pregnant.  17 attempts and 3 failed pregnancies later they basically tell Karin enough.  The whole experience felt like medical tourism meets fertility treatment.  She had given that attempt three years of her life.  She asked about egg donation but that wasn't something they did.  She thought about adoption but the chances were so slim.  She felt incredibly dis-empowered and wanted to take control of her life.  So she did.

Karin knew one thing when this was all over she wanted to create a community towards the pursuit of building a family.  She returned to London and started to take care of herself.  She began doing meditation, reading nutrition books, sleeping more, doing accupunture and creating a better balance in her life.  She met a friend who said he was game to help her have a kid.  One try and she got pregnant.  A friend for life.  Karin is now a single mother of a ten month old son.  See..a happy ending.

She went on maternity leave at the BBC, took a trip to San Francisco and applied to Astia with the idea of Fertility Planit.  She was accepted to the program and moved her life back to the states with her son in tow.  At Astia she really learned about how to grow a start-up business.  It was Los Angeles where she had so many connections and it was there she could start to raise some money and put together an incredible advisory group.  The vision is not only about the obvious, getting pregnant but it is also about complimentary medicine, mind body spirit work, positive reflex and what it takes to create a non-traditional family in the 21st century.  There are more adults living alone now more than ever.  What is indisputable is that the way we create families and move into adulthood has changed dramatically over the past fifty years.  Fertility Planit wants to be around those conversations.  It is the stories that lend itself to this space. 

I really think Karin is on to something here and Los Angeles is the perfect place to begin.  She had connections there and if you think that people having babies at 40 are not using fertility treatment, think again.  Perhaps a reality show around the trials and tributions of fertility is in her future...

 

hackNY

I am a huge fan of hackNY.   They are really trying to create opportunities for the next generation of hackers in NYC. Check out their fellowship opportunity below.  I believe we will see a lot more innovative programs coming from hackNy over the next year to come. 

Attention awesome NYC startups: hackNY is pleased to announce
applications are now open for hosting one of NYC’s next generation of
talented developers and engineers: the class of 2012 hackNY Fellows.
Please submit applications before 11:59 pm NYC time Wednesday February
29 via http://hackNY.org/a/startups.

The hackNY Fellows program, now entering its third year, is an intense
program designed to introduce students to NYC’s startup ecosystem by
pairing the best technical minds with great New York startups.  The
hackNY Fellows program is a paid summer internship program at NYC
startups, which provides housing as well as a pedagogical lecture
series covering all aspects of founding or joining a tech startup. The
2012 class will be the third year of hackNY Fellows. Previous fellows
have come from all over the US and Canada, majoring in a variety of
subjects. Last year we hosted a class (http://bit.ly/hackNY2011s) of
awesome student-hackers, who spent 10 weeks working with some great
NYC startups and learning all the things they won’t learn in a
traditional curriculum about joining and founding a startup. Don’t
take our word for it though: please watch the video created by the
class of 2011 hackNY Fellows and the video of the  end of the summer
'demofest:

 http://bit.ly/hackNY2011vid
 http://bit.ly/hackNY2011demo

Please to do go hackNY.org to learn more, or to contact us at
info@hackNY.org with your questions.

Truth In Aging

I absolutely love the name of this company.  Truth in Aging is an ecommerce site for products that are honestly reviewed and many of them are only available on their site in the USA. 

My favorite is something I call "hope in a box".  For $149 you get an annual membership where you will receive four times a year a box of new and interesting products that are deluxe samples sizes so you can really spend some time trying out the product.  There is a feedback form so we can begin to customize your needs over time.  Of course this membership gives you access to special deals.  An excellent gift for yourself or a friend.  I loved my last box and ended up buying one of the full-sized products.  What woman doesn't love good beauty products..and what woman doesn't continue changing what product is in the drawer.

Check out the site.  $5 from every purchase over $35 goes to The National Womens Health Network.  After all, a girl has to take care of herself.  Truth in Aging is about finding the right product for you with content that makes us feel good about who we are at any age. 

Also..except for a few things these days, I really do love the ecommerce model.  By the time I get to the store, it could have been sitting on my shelf for two weeks. 

 

Brooklyn Navy Yard

Last week I drove out to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to get a tour from Andrew Kimbal.  Andrew is the President/CEO of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development.  What he has accomplished behind those gates is extraordinary....and the gates are opening up to the rest of the community starting with an incredible interactive museum that tells the story of the Naval yards from past to present. 

Originally the Naval yards built merchant vessels.  Fast forward to 2012 and driving through the yards made me feel like I was entering a secret commerce development that was like having a tour at Universal Studios in Los Angeles.  There is an area for films called Steiner Studios that not only create televisions shows but there are small venues for commercials too.  Still building, still growing. 

There is an area that is to preserve the Maritime industry where they dredged up the harbor so that boats can come in there to be serviced.  Keeping with history.

The museum is part of a visitor and job training center that has helped over a thousand people pivot their careers including helping people who have been incarcerated enter back into society with work skills.

Duggal, one of the last remaining photo labs in the area, has over 30,000 square feet. 

There are buildings devoted to Green Manufacturing.  There is a buildling that is in the process of being built out right now that will be a 80,000 square feet Third Ward with classes, co-working spaces, etc.  The ultimate DIY building.

Buildings are available for future development.  They are hoping for a food incubator and the buildings have easy access for freight trucks and shipping.  Approval for a grocery story has just happened and the community is thrilled. 

I was thinking about a million things that could be done to add to the area that will connect with the community from retail, food and classes at Third Ward.  The most difficult part of the Navy Yard is really just getting there.  The opening at Navy Street is about a 10 minute walk from the N train.  Obviously when the subways were build nobody thought that maybe we'd want to build on our waterways. 

If you have kids, I highly recommend getting out to the museum at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.  It is fantastic.  Andrew has created something that is so well thought out, intelligently curated and such a great addition to Brooklyn.  There are actually companies who want to take large pieces of property with long term leases that had moved out of NY to NJ but want to return.  That is seriously a sign of the times. 

 

 

 

Empellon Taqueria

Empellon is another restaurant that has been on my list.  Finally got there!  They just recently opened a second restaurant that is supposedly a little higher end.  Will put that on my list too.

The front room is very loud so we were thrilled when we got placed in the back where it is a little calmer and quieter.  Since I just got back from Mexico City where I ate some amazing food it is kind of hard to be as excited about how good it could be because the food was so unique and delicious in Mexico City.  Funny enough in Mexico City, no garlic.  In NYC, they love garlic.  What's up with that? 

We shared everything last night.  Started with the classic guacamole and two salsas on the side.  One of the people we were with last night was a vegetarian so I didn't go full hog wild - no pun intended.  The guacamole was really good and had this nice smoky flavor to it.  One of the salsas were a mild chipolte flavor and the other made of roasted tomatoes had a little kick.  BTW, the tequila and mezcal menu here is fantastic. 

This is thinly sliced octopus with parsnips and a pumpkin seed chipolte salsa.  Really interesting.  Rich and different.  Everyone seemed to love this more than I did.  Fred polished it off.

Large fresh hearts of palm with greens and smoked sunchokes and a spicy dressing.  Creative.  Nice touch on smoking the sunchokes.

The queso fundido section of the menu was a total winner.  A variety of dishes that are served with a melted jack cheese and served with fresh tortillas on the side.  Jack cheese is perfect for these dishes as it is similar to the Oaxacan cheese served in Mexico.  Grilled shisito peppers served in a dish with melted cheese.  Wrap these up in a tortilla, scoop some spicy salsa over the top and you are set.

Our other queso fundido was baked pumpkin roasted in orange juice with pumpkin seeds and serrano chilis.  I liked the serano chilis better.

We did three sets of tacos.  The larger portions come with 3 tacos.  Simple open faced tacos.  This is the fish taco.  Fish tempura with sliced cabbage and limes

Scallops with cauliflower, capers and a spicy raisin puree.  Unique but totally worked.

Hedgehog mushrooms served with a tomato-chipolte salsa. 

All and all quite good. Not Mexico City but ranks up there with simple, good, creative real Mexican food.  Looking forward to checking out their second place. 

 

A tasting at the Plaza

The only tastings I have ever been to was for each our kids bar/bat mitzvahs.  I went with each of the kids individually and they loved the whole process.  So when Liz Neumark asked me if I wanted to join her for a behind the scenes tasting for Great Performances I immediately said yes.  It was definitely fun and certainly interesting when you think about how these dishes can be served from a restaurant to a catered event.  Very interesting day.  Pretty sure that these classic kind of dishes need to lighten up.  More grains, more veggies and less protein and that is what we talked about.  Fast forward, the next day that is exactly what they did.  Not surprising because I was having these conversations with Liz.  So she sent me the follow up pictures.  Long post but it is interesting to see the original concept and then the dish that is actually going to come out of the kitchen. 

And the food began coming and coming and coming.  We started with a lemon ricotta gnocchi, no flour.  Hints of citrus mint and the only butter was in the sauce.  Radish flowers on top.

Pan roasted striped bass served with braised fennel, smashed fingerling potatoes, cured tomatoes and caperberries that were roasted in a chicken stock.  Original concept.

Day 2 of what the dish ended up to be. 

The salmon was my favorite.  Pumpernickel crusted farmed Scottish salmon served with a salsify potato puree and hen of the woods mushrooms.  There was a nice tang to this from the horseradish butter with small hints of citrus.  Really good.  Day 1.

Dish on day 2.

Lemongrass slow roasted Branzino over a mixture of black forbidden rice, ginger, shitakes and mizuna.  Loved the rice.  Sticky and chewy.   Day 1.

Day 2.  Makes sense.  The rice was amazing. 

Too much happening here.  Chicken roulade stuffed with an eggplant caponata and a green mustard vinaigrette.  What was the best part were the vegetables.  Roasted baby eggplant with creme fraiche and pomegranate seeds with harissa braised chick peas and kale.  The chick peas might have to be made at home.  Day 1.

Day 2.  Completely lightened up.  Heavy on those yummy chickpeas.

French breast roasted chicken served with a mushroom leek bread pudding and a frissee and sorrel salad.  Loved the sorrel and everything else was way too heavy. Day 1.

Day 2 is much lighter. 

Farmed chicken over a mixture of roasted vegetable.  Carrots, baby turnips, purple potatoes, swiss chard and a tarragon jus.  The veggies made the dish.  Only got the first day here. 

Day 2. 

Shoulder of beef cooked medium rare over a wasabai potato puree which was excellent, baby bok choy and a soy demi glace.  Day 1.

Day 2.  Equal parts. 

Grilled sirloin with a truffled potato gratin, gruyere creamed spinach and bordelaise sauce.  Way too rich for 2012.  Day 1.

Day 2..much lighter.

Olive and almonds crusted beef tenderloin with steel cut oat risotto, spinach and caramelized onions.  Not the best on color but the risotto was quite good.  Day 1.

Day 2.  Better on presentation and choice of veggies. 

The vegetarian option.  Farro and pea risotto with a whole grain mustard jus and morels.  Not great on presentation but the farro risotto was delicious.

Lamb chop over a lamb ragout with gigante beans and kale.  The ragout was nice and I really liked it with the big beans.  Not necessary with a big lamb chop too.

Here are all the plates together plated.

On to desserts.  Chocolate peanut butter banana treat.  The cookie is just pure peanuts.  Really amazing.

Here is what it looked like inside.

Cannoli filled with marscarpone and berries with a mango sauce. 

Red velvet crunch bar.  The crunch comes from oreo cookies.  Made into a bar with vanilla filling and roasted plums on the side.

Fig and yuzu pudding cake with bourbon molasses sauce and creme fraiche.  The chef also made a yuzu sauce on the side to taste that was incredible.  You could pour it over anything.

Leche cream flan with ginger glazed fruit and a caramel sauce.  The cookie is just pure ginger.  Very clever and tasty.

This was my favorite.  Bittersweet chocolate hazelnut torte with chantilly creme.  What i loved was the mint.  He took mint pieces, brushed them in egg whites, dipped them in sugar and let them dry.  They were delicious.  A total mouth cleanser.  Definitely making these at home.

Here are all the desserts at once.

Really fun to see the back story.  I really do love the food business. 

Caren Maio, Nestio, Woman Entrepreneur

My first experience as a mentor at Techstars was a great one.  I sat down the first day and met with a handful of companies.  On the first go round it really is about the people.  I loved Caren and her partners.  They all clicked so well together, they were friends and it was obvious that they spent a lot of time together before creating a company.  I felt like I was sitting down with some new friends myself...so needless to say I stayed connected and ended up being one of their mentors. 

Nestio makes it easier to find an apartment.  Simple to use, efficient and organized.  Timing in life is big as people have attempted to do this before but based on their traction and the other opportunities out there, the timing appears to be right on. 

Caren grew up in Monmouth County, NJ.  No surprises, her father was an entrepreneur.  He has a business in management waste, recycling.  Caren is the oldest of three kids.  After graduating from high school she jumped across the river and went to college at NYU.  She was accepted into the Gallatin School of NYU where you get to really plan your own curriculum, aka an entrepreneurial education.  Caren took full advantage.  She always knew she wanted to own her own business so she took as many courses as she could that would help her lay the foundation for her own biz.   Although she was writing pitch decks at 18, her parents said, graduate from college first and then we can talk.

She had majored in brand building and publishing and after graduating college decided to take a job at Nike doing corporate sales and marketing thinking about understanding brand building and wanting to learn more before going out on her own.  After a year she left.  Wasn't what she wanted to do.  Next stop was into publishing at the Wall Street Journal in sales.  Her father said, and I totally agree with him, learning sales is key as it will help you in a variety of other ways as you grow your own business.  She was selling to large financial companies such as Barclays, Morgan Stanely and the NY Stock Exchange.  She continued to get promoted up the ladder eventually doing sales in luxury tech in Latin America and Europe but she kept thinking that she had to start her own business.

Personally she kept moving a lot.  She was frustrated by the real estate market as we all are.  There had to be a better way.  She had met Matt, one of her partners about four years back and over the years they kept talking about businesses that they could build together.  Caren finally figured out what she thought she wanted to build which was a company originally called Urban Apartment and asked Matt if he wanted to join.  He had worked building brands such as Red Bull, Nike, Esquire and Lexus.  He said yes and introduced Caren to Matt who was the tech guy who worked with him doing the back end.  Perfect partners, a back end tech person, a front end product person and Caren the biz person.

In the summer of 2010 they closed all their legal documents with no funding and began to build out the company.  They decided to apply to Techstars and got in.  The first day they looked around and thought to themselves, boy are we lucky we got in to this.  Your game improves, your ideas improve, your businesses improve when you spend every day for 3 months with other smart entrepreneurs...doesn't hurt to have the tech community checking in on you every day either.

Their tech is clean and simple.  Caren is sharp as a tack and I love her team.  She was named one of the 15 women to watch in tech from Inc magazine.  The needs of real estate are scattered and Nest.io is moving them to one simple place.  An old school business that finally woke up and is taking the real world online.  There is tons of data there to be used but that is part of the evoling story....and btw, I am investor.

Talking with My Mouth Full, My Life as a Professional Eater, Gail Simmons

Gail Simmons is one of the lovliest people.  She lives in a world where it would be very easy to become snooty but she is just a good Jewish girl from Toronto who counts her lucky stars every night...and she should. 

Her book, Talking with My Mouth Full, My Life as a Professional Eater,  is an absolutely worthy read.  The book reads as if you are getting a full account of how she got where she did as if you were having dinner with Gail or chatting with her at a cocktail party.  She is transparent about her life, her family and just about everything. 

She pursued the world of food and timing wise she hit the perfect wave.  Her experiences from working with Jeffrey Steingarten to Daniel Bolud to Food and Wine where she ran the Aspen Food and Wine Festival to being the on Americas Top chef that has defined a generation of foodies, chefs and a burgeoning industry. 

If you love the food industry, you will love this book.  Gail is smart and has truly taken the opportunities that have come her way and grabbed them with bravado as she educated herself at every turn.  The book is an education giving the reader a glimpse into the reality of all aspects of the food industry.