On & Along West 45th Street -- Orphans & the Ember Room

www.playbill.com

Lyle Kessler's darkly comic 1983 drama, Orphans, is back on a New York City stage ... and just now (April 18th) about to open on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre (236 West 45th St) following a few weeks of previews and directorial revisions.  In addition, there has even been a relatively last-minute actor replacement -- with Ben Foster (in the role of Treat, the older "orphan"-brother) -- who has joined this talented trio of actors, comprising Alec Baldwin (dominating  much of the proceedings as the notorious Chicago gangster, Harold) & Tom Sturridge (a British import who plays Phillip, the younger brother). And, indeed, a fine ensemble these three men make on stage in this extremely harrowing play with emphatically delivered lines, in, predominantly, four closely drawn shades of ... bilious, bellicose, tortuous & tortured ... all around.

Cast Photo / Joan Marcus

You might know the O. Henry short story entitled "The Ransom of Red Chief, " a genuinely ironic, utterly comical-farcical version of a kidnapping situation gone haywire every step of the way. The two kidnappers end up paying a few hundred dollars back to the kidnapped boy's father (the "Red Chief" of the title is the only child of one Ebenezer Dorset, "a prominent citizen" of Summit, a small southern town seemingly perfect for their scheme). Dorset will, in fact, not pay a ransom; if Dorset agrees to take the boy back it will be on his terms ... there will be no big win for Bill & Sam in having snatched the loathsome boy to begin with; not the $2,000. they had insisted on in their ransom note, not the $1,000. they might have settled for, but just a payment they are forced to make to the banker father in order to get rid of a troublesome, sometimes treacherous, belligerent, impossible kid ... for good, for sure, for ever ... and escape (alive and in tact) from Summit & from possible prosecution!

Orphans is also rich in irony, but the irony here is dark & bittersweet and sometimes just simply brutal & bitter, and considerably more complex and subtle. The ostensible "kidnappers" are the sociopathic Treat (the older brother: a thug, a petty criminal, a loudmouth & a bully) and the intellectually stunted & emotionally occluded Phillip, a boy-man who can't read, can't figure things out, can't even tie his own shoes ... and can't leave the North Philadelphia tenement-like row house in which they grew up with their mother (who died or departed) and where (now confined) he simply watches old movies (he seems to know every Errol Flynn flick, for example) every day for fear that, if, against his brother's dictate, he goes out into the street, he will not be able to breath the external air, day or night, and he will faint or ooze oral or nasal secretions, or suffocate & die.

Photo / Joan Marcus

But soon, Treat brings home Harold who he has, he thinks, kidnapped and who appears to be a rich businessman with lots of accoutrements, lots of ready cash ... a prize middle-aged male specimen who Treat intends to, if necessary, brutally shake down. But Treat doesn't know Harold, at all; he doesn't know that Harold was (and still is) a big-time Chicago-based gangster with lots of old (real) enemies and  who was, himself, an orphan living among orphans. 

And thus, there will be no money exchanged for Harold -- everyone from Chicago is looking for him and wants to take him down ... to kill him but not buy him his freedom.  And Harold is no "Red Chief"; rather, Harold wants to change these two boys; tame them; help them; pay them well; and ensure them that he will have them working for him after a certain period of time -- of change, of growth, of motivation, of "training" (of sorts) in anger-management, and "civilizing" them (in terms of their conversation, clothes & food; and, also, in living in a more carefully re-organized, respectable & newly appointed apartment. 

The orphan brothers, having had Harold enter their lives, will , indeed, be changed for ever.  They will have a "father" and he will have "sons."  Phillip will become a friend & son to Harold and will be motivated by him in all respects  ... even navigating his way around Philadelphia with a map (he has rarely before been out of the house; he has never seen a city map!) that Harold teaches him to read & negotiate. Treat learns to work for Harold and, under his guidance becomes, well, what might be termed a "bag" man for him ... now that he is slowly becoming suitable for "serious" outside work on Harold's behalf. While Phillip seems to get on well & easily with this father figure, Treat remains somewhat angry & edgy and uncomfortable in his new role -- even with new suits & new shoes & the use of Harold's credit card -- and slow to adapt to Harold's "rules," manners, ideas, and work ethic, if we can call it that.

But this new "family" seems to be getting on a bit too comfortably to be believed & fully supported by Treat; he soon has a few  major "professional" & personal-emotional lapses that upset Harold ... and presently Treat will leave the apartment stormily because he feels he is being suffocated & subsumed under Harold's rule and Harold's business ... Harold's "plans" for him. To where, exactly, he goes, we are not privy ... but he returns after a while to sniff around the apartment and to find out what's been transpiring. But Harold is not to be found at home ... he is downtown ... and when he returns, well, the boys will be grieving once again over their new orphan status.

Orphans is well acted and directed competently by the seemingly indefatigable & omnipresent Daniel Sullivan.  The ensemble works seemlessly during the play's two acts.  Kudos especially go to Alec Baldwin for his fine performance as the Irish gangster, Harold.  But Mr. Foster and Mr. Sturridge must also be praised for their idiosyncratic & consistent character delineation as they each wend their way throughout the proceedings.

Orphans is hardly what you might consider an upbeat play & a happy theater experience; it is, most fundamentally, a dreary, depressing & bleak play, with some high notes in various spots -- e.g., within certain sections of Harold's speeches. These characters are not loveable; perhaps, with the exception of Harold, not even likeable; you don't identify with them. And the play itself -- as a whole work, unified & full circle -- leaves us a little empty, a little annoyed, with only minimal feelings of pathos, a bit upset, emotionally confused, shaken & off-balance. But don't take my word:  Experience this bitter comedy-drama for yourself when it opens ...  The play is scheduled for a limited Broadway run (through June 30th).

Ember Room - Exterior

In the very same mid-town Manhattan area -- just walk west a block or so on 45th St. from the Schoenfeld Theatre to 647 9th Avenue (between 45th & 46th; tel. 212/245-8880) -- you can dine reasonably & exceedingly well in the Ember Room, a "trendy Thai" resto specializing in what has come to be known in Bangkok as "Thai comfort food." The very talented chef, Ian Chalermkittichai seemlessly adapts a wide variety of "seductive ingredients" from "other culinary cultures" (notably Italy, Belgium, France, Japan & the USA) to those traditionally found in the Thai kitchen ... and the results that are offered here are luscious & delectable across the board.   

Ember Room - Interior

As one might anticipate, the menu is full of interesting appetizers, noodle dishes, soups, small plates,and entrees reflecting a great variety of surprisingly well-blended tastes, textures, and tidbits. One of Mr. Chalermkittichai's signature fusion dishes, for example (which we did not sample) consists in his own version of baby-backed ribs grilled with an almost "irresistible"  (according to our waiter) BBQ-smoked Belgian chocolate sauce (@ $7). Another special dish, a substantial appetizer, featured a succulently grilled Japanese eggplant, prepared with smoked salt, cilantro & red miso glaze (which we did, indeed, sample; @ $6). All four of us agreed that the grilled eggplant proved to be just, well, a singular item ... scrumptious, indeed!

Red Chili Sea Bass

Green Curry Lasagna

We sampled several other dishes -- small plate & entree size -- not to mention a side/ appetizer (twice) of the crispy chili-crusted 7-spice fries, with "ember" mayo ($5).  For dinner, specifically, we shared a few small plates and each of us chose individual ("entree") items for our mains. The appetizers we ordered included the grilled Japanese eggplant (see description above), the ember room spring roll (filled with vermicelli noodles, shitake mushroom, shredded cabbage, mozzarella & accompanied by a dipping sauce of spicy mayo; @ $6), and the 7-spice fries (also described above). One member of our party ordered -- and thoroughly enjoyed -- the green curry lasagna bolognese, with fresh mozzarella, parmesan & ground beef; @ $14). Two others at our table settled on the sea bass, though prepared behind two different culinary interpretations -- one (my wife) chose the crispy whole striped bass ... a whole fish with sweet/sour/spicy sauce & crispy basil (@ $22); a friend selected the waiter-prescribed red chili-glazed sea bass ($24), freshly baked, and featuring a sweet & spiced glaze, celery root puree & gailan (or Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce) ... a very tender chunk of sea bass which all of us designated outstanding!  I selected something I thought unique, or, at least, unusual: the Heritage pork belly ($19), a braised "block" of tender, juicy, sweet (fatty) pork belly resting in a shallow bowl of Chaing Mai (Thailand) spices, with root vegetables, Asian herbs & finished with fresh ginger. 

Heritage Pork Belly

All of these plates proved consistently fresh, unusually tasty & wholly seductive to our quartet of palates!

Citrus Layered Crepe Cake

We finished up with coffee (@ $3) and, as we were all pretty agreeably full, we decided to share a single dessert: a large slice of the Meyer lemon layered crepe cake, with lemon inflected gelato on the side ($7). Just enough lemony flavor to tingle the taste buds, and sufficiently intriguing (a bit of silky perfection with the coffee), to end a very pleasant meal & to cite the discovery of a new -- from our coign of vantage -- culinary gem.

Thai Style Meatballs

There were simply too many luscious sounding items (large & small) we couldn't even attempt to try, and that irrefutably piqued our palates, so we figure we'll return the next time we're hungry (and in the vicinity of West 45th & 9th) ... to sample a few more of Mr. Chalermkittichai's creations -- the Thai pastrami meatballs ($9); the Thai tacos (filled with shredded chicken, bean sprouts, chives, tofu, coconut & sweet chili sauce; @ $8); the red curry crispy duck (with lychee, pineapple, cherry tomato & eggplant; @ $18); the steamed "icy blue" canadian mussels (replete with lemongrass, spicy & sour bouillon & garlic bread; $10); the Thai chili mac & cheese (encompassing an unusual mix of thai chili jam, smoked bacon, onion, fresh mozzarella, parmesan & house-made breadcrumbs ($8) ... and much, much MORE!  

Hope to see you all some time in the not-too-distant future enjoying the unique Thai fusion cuisine at the Ember Room!

Poet laureate ... Paul Abler ... Pig & Prince

Death notices in the arts community, it seems, have been,, unfortuntely, pervasive this past weekend.  Much attention, understandably, has been focused on Roger Ebert, the popular film critic (and TV film reviewer) who has been making news during the past several years owing to his stamina, his personal  & professional persistence, and the outright strength he had exhibited amidst the various interrelated illnesses he suffered prior to his death at 70. There was also the death of the novelist/fiction writer (Heat and Dust, Out of India: Selected Stories) and screenwriter, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who, in collaborating with the Merchant-Ivory film production team wrote numerous award-winning screenplays, including Howards End, A Room With a View, The Remains of the Day, and Mr. & Mrs. Bridge.  

Daniel Hoffman

But the death I most want to acknowledge is that of the poet, critic, essayist & scholar, Daniel Hoffman, my brother Robert's poetry (metrics) teacher at Swarthmore College during the early 1970s. Mr. Hoffman was, it must be underscored, a prolific poet who explored a variety of poetic forms & structures (simply see Beyond Silence: Selected Shorter Poems, 1948-2003; or Brotherly Love) and multifarious scholar-critic whose idiosyncratic study, POE POE POE POE POE POE POE (Doubleday, 1972; my signed copy, LSU Press, 1998) explored that writer in every context -- from the personal to the scholarly-biographical ... to the autobiographical (bits of Hoffman's own) -- and produced what Dwight Macdonald concluded is,, simply, a "delight," an "unlikely, indeed unique combination of scholarship and poetic intuition" and John Hollander suggested is an "informed and subtle" work, "a rather nutty ... [but] completely necessary book."

(Note:  It has been said, too, that Mr. Hoffman even resembled Poe, physically.)

Daniel Hoffman, who served as the United States Poet Laureate, during1973-1974, was the Felix E. Schelling Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania, died at 89 this past Saturday in Haverford, PA. He had taught intermittently at Columbia & Swarthmore and at Penn for decades and was frequently mentioned to me by my brother as a masterful teacher, scholar-critic, and lyric poet.  His poem, "Today," is one of my favorite Hoffman (short) lyrics -- simple, powerful, touching, lovely -- which, I suspect, was written on the impact of the death of his wife, Elizabeth McFarlane, a poet & editor who died in 2005. Here is the poem, in full, as published in the October 2007 issue of POETRY magazine:


Today the sun rose, as it used to do
When its mission was to shine on you.
Since in unrelenting dark you're gone,
What now can be the purpose of the sun?

Were my brother alive today, I'm sure he, too, would want to acknowledge -- and memorialize -- the death of his former teacher, Mr. Daniel Hoffman. 

On a less somber note, I want to move to Montclair, NJ and a recent visit (one, of course, of many) to Trumpets / Jazz Club (at 6 Depot Sq., corner of Walnut St.; tel. 973/744-2600; operated, these days, by Kristine Massari & Enrico Granafei). Have you been?  Do you know this commodious Essex County jazz venue?  Trumpets, if you've never been, is a local club in the musical league, and tradition, of New York's Village Vanguard, the Blue Note, Birdland, Smalls, and Iridium. Indeed, during the past several years, we've seen (and heard!), giants in jazz at Trumpets ... the likes, for example, of Houston Person and Dave Valentin.

Paul Abler

This past Saturday (April 6th), Trumpets celebrated the birthday of the jazz-blues guitarist (and composer-arranger) Paul Abler who took center stage and presided along with a fine group of musicians, including: the inimitable Harvie S on bass; James Weidman on piano; Adriano Santos on drums/percussion; and Mrs. Abler, the talented Rio-born songstress Yashmin Charnet-Abler who did all the vocals, including a low-key rendition of the famous Carlos Jobim samba, "Girl from Ipanema ."  We showed up for the 2nd set when the mood grew festive, the band rollicking but still serious & "connecting," and  the club's hosts adding to the celebratory atmosphere with a finger-licking creamy birthday cake & champagne all around for a crowded, very near full house.  (Incidentally, Mr. Abler, who, apparently, does this birthday gig, well, yearly, insists that admission to the event shall be free; an "admission" to the party just required payment for drinks, service & tax.)

Trumpets  is a for-real jazz club, as many of you already know, right out here in the 'burbs ... providing a large, friendly & substantial musical venue and serving all kinds of food (a full menu!) and drink. And the club even offers (of late) a Sunday Jazz Brunch (11:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.) -- just check out their web site for details and, also, for a calendar of upcoming musicians & events. In addition, the club has been hosting a fabulous (and not outrageously priced) New Years' Eve party -- with typically buoyant & lively music and dancing -- for the past few years which we attended this year with friends down for the occasion from the Boston area. According to my wife, probably the best New Years' party we'd been to in quite some time.  

So, for a consistently "major jazz experience," any day of the week, we'll see you soon at Trumpets in Montclair, NJ!  I can assure you that you'll be treated generously, as we always are, at this friendly local club: a very special place ...

Pig & Prince

And, speaking of special places in Montclair -- and keeping within walking distance right in our neighborhood -- we decided to head out this past Sunday evening, for our Anniversary dinner, to a relatively new local  restaurant & "gastro lounge":  the Pig & Prince (at 1 Lackawanna Plaza; tel. 973/233-1006). This restaurant, located in a refurbished Lackawanna RR station, is a physically & architecturally beautiful and imposing place to dine, what with, for example, the original features of the station's brick & tile interior and the exceptionally (!) high ceilings and muted but spectacular lighting. The bar is housed along (nearly) the full length of one of the inner walls and is stocked with a list of interesting & exotic beers, a large selection of all kinds of wine, not especially expensive choices, and a wide variety of mixed drinks (some unique to the Pig & Prince).

While mains (which change periodically) are a bit on the pricey side ($24. to $35.) -- for generously sized "from-the-forest," "from-the-sea" & "from-the-farm" plates (like roast Peking duck, pork tenderloin, roast venison & wild boar ), you can dine on any of the reasonably priced  "petite pizziette," pastas & risottos (these last are just melt-in-your-mouth fabulous judging from the duck risotto we sampled on our previous visit).  You can build on these selections with such items as pork meatballs or escargot (sauteed in "compound butter," crispy potatoes & egg yolk) or Prince Edward Island mussels from the "starters" category of the menu and have a very pleasant, very appealing, and relatively inexpensive meal.

But this was our anniversary -- a special occasion, indeed! -- and we expected to eat a full (dinner) meal; and so we did.

We began with two large glasses of New Mexico sparkling wine (Gruet Blanc de Noir, NV; @ $10. the glass) and a shared order of the beef short rib ravioli ($11. for the 1/2 portion), replete with roasted shallots, a "delicate" Stilton cream & golden raisins ... ecstasy amidst, and along with, the creamy sauce and stuffed ravioli pasta.  (We simply couldn't stop dipping our crunchy slices of bread into the ravioli sauce while we patiently awaited our next course, our entrees.)

My wife chose the potato-wrapped spiced salmon, a "tagine"-spiced (substantial) chunk of salmon surrounded by a chickpea puree, with harissa & broccoli "flowerets" polonaise.  While the salmon proved fresh & tender, nicely prepared & plated, the chickpea & harissa addition seemed absent or, at best, minimal. From the "forest" section of the menu, I selected the wild boar, double-cut loin chops atop beluga black lentils, roasted sweet peppers & baby beets in a sage-scented roast boar demi-glace. This wild boar "forest" plate -- the chops in an ensemble of sage-based demi-glace sauce, the extraordinarily flavorful black lentils, the roasted sweet peppers & beets -- was exceptional. And, after an initial few bites, I simply set out to engulf the whole dish which, in my inimitable way, I did ... chewing every bit of the tender boar meat off  the double-cut bones and, finally, sharing the remains of the rich sauce with my partner of forty years. The wild boar meat went down with ease -- and unabated satisfaction -- accompanied by the large glass of California Pinot Noir (The Pinot Project; @ $9.).

Red Velvet Sampler

We topped off our anniversary dinner with  black coffee and opted for one of Amanda Hartigan's singular desserts:  the almond-raspberry swirl blondie (@ $9.), under amaretto anglaise, and accompanied by white chocolate sorbet, almond cluster & sherry berries ... formidable, as they say en francais!

We'll be back to Chef Michael Carrino's elegant & imposing Pig & Prince, sans doubte ... the lobster risotto awaits!

Chekhov & Yu ... Chef Yu, that is ...

Lately, it seems, productions of the plays of Anton Chekhov - Uncle Vanya, The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters - have been proliferating on, off  & off-off Broadway like the  near-viral quantities of ennui, disaffection, self-satisfaction & bitterness packed in, and generated by, his most well-known, vividly articulated characters:  Ivanov, Vanya, Konstantin, the three sisters (Olga, Masha & Irina) themselves, Trofimov, Trigorin. And some of those productions have been quite solid, well-paced & well-acted ... with the possible exception of a fairly stodgy, slow-moving, flat, far too lengthy production of Ivanov (with Ethan Hawke in the title role) which we saw just just before it closed only a couple of months ago. Even film versions of the plays pretty regularly surface, the most notable, perhaps, being The Sea Gull, dating back to 1968 and Sidney Lumet's treatment of the play by the same name, featuring an absolutely stellar cast: James Mason, Simone Signoret, Vanessa Redgrave, David Warner, Denholm Elliott & Kathleen Widdoes (and well worth a viewing). And yet another film version of The Seagull in 1975, actually a filmed product of the "theatrical" event, also worth a look and also with a very fine cast - Frank Langella, Blythe Danner, Kevin McCarthy, Lee Grant & Olympia Dukakis - is available from Netflix. And then, in 1994, there was the curiously idiosyncratic Louis Malle film, Vanya on 42nd Street, with Wallace Shawn & Andre Gregory, wherein the Chekhov play in rehearsal (with a David Mamet script) transitions into the actual play as it evolves within the film.

Mr. Durang

But the latest - and by that I mean current - iteration of a Chekhovian play is not by Chekhov at all but happens to be a comedy (at-times-farce) written by Christopher Durang - Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike - which lightens up the general Chekhovian mood & atmosphere a bit by placing pseudo-Chekhovian characters interacting "in the present, in a lovely farmhouse in Buck's County," PA (with a lake in view!), rather than situating them, say, lakeside in the Russian countryside & presenting rural "aristocratic life" as it appeared to be lived in late-19th century Russia.  

 

So what we are given by Mr. Durang is, essentially, a set of contemporary Chekhovian character types, with similar degrees (both real & mock) of pain, ennui & disaffection, jealousy, rage, feelings of failure & stasis, all coupled with humor-laden lines to deliver as all kinds of familial & historical axes are being ground in this fluffy two-act drama!  Previously, Durang's play had had a run at Lincoln Center (last fall, I believe) and is now amusing what seem to be sell-out crowds (it just opened last week) at the Golden Theatre on Broadway, on West 45th Street, near 8th Ave.

Vanya & Masha

The acting is, for the most part rousing, raucous, interestingly subtle, and, all around, superb, with lots of verbal & physical (facial) humor - and with kudos going, especially, to David Hyde Pierce, as Vanya, and Kristine Nielsen, as the titular Sonia, here a step sister and brother so named because their now-deceased parents were academics who couldn't resist the fun, the humor, the dramaturgical ballast and pedigrees attached to these appellations.  The third sibling is Masha (Sigourney Weaver), a "world famous" movie actress who shows up at her family's home (she foots the bills) every so often to ensure that all is well and that her brother and sister have not strayed too far ... even after the death of the parents who they cared for during their final years.  

Sonia, as Maggie Smith (Ms. Nielsen)

Masha (a sort of bemused, befuddled, bully-ish but ultimately empathetic Arkadina) has been married several times, remains a successful movie actress, but has come to visit this time - along with a new "romantic" male bauble in tow, a young hunk named Spike - to apprise Vanya and Sonia of the fact that she intends to sell the family home because, she insists, she no longer has the spare cash to keep it, and the two of them, afloat.  In order to distract them all from the bad news and the possible displacement from their long-time home, Masha has gotten them all invited to a nearby costume party where she will "play the lead" character in her Snow White costume and the rest of them will be second or third or lesser fiddles.  Only Sonia demurs and refuses to cooperate ... which leads to her purchasing her own costume locally and going to the party as a Maggie Smith clone, an "imitation" in dress, voice & all.  And this decision - a small but emphatic rebellion -  metamorphoses into a wonderful monologue and wonderfully funny gag, resulting in a rich display full of Ms. Nielsen's bravado a la the (legendary) Maggie Smith, and providing an imitative set piece that simply breaks up the theater audience for the next few minutes. 

Without giving too much of the play away - all's well that ends well ... & all that - be on the lookout for Mr. Hyde-Pierce and his second act play-within-the-play ... and his ten-minute (+) long harangue at everyone but especially at Spike. He just about covers all the ills reflected in our current technological age (including our generally poor behavior & continually lapsing societal "manners & morals") in a speech which is verbally assaulting, linguistically robust & thematically cogent, and, in the character of Vanya, heartfelt, indeed! 

And Spike, for reasons you will find out if you decide to purchase a ticket to Vanya & Sonia et al., will be cast out by Masha ... and the family home will NOT be sold. Would that the characters in a (typical) Chekhovian drama ended up so hopeful, so stable ... so well!

Christopher Durang's Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike is suffused, in various spots, with Chekhovian pain & angst, but it is also full of mild intrigue and, above all, fun!

Chef Yu - Main Floor

Following the matinee, on the same cold & blustery March evening, we (next) trundled downtown some nine blocks to Chef Yu at 8th Ave. & 36th Street (tel. 212.736.6150) for  "authentic Chinese cuisine," primarily Szechuan & Cantonese. We had been scoping out the place for some time now as a possible pre- or post-theater dining destination ... and it proved a successful adventure. The resto is particularly spacious - situated on two large, commodious & airy floors, with comfortable chairs, couches & banquettes - and the wait staff is friendly, efficient & helpful. Best of all, though, the menu is very large, indeed, with great depth & distinctive dishes in all major sections. And there is a special section that identifies 16 or 17 of Chef Yu's Signature Dishes containing lots of entree-size (readily sharable) intriguing items. There are scallops, shrimp, whole fish, prawns, and chicken & beef & fresh bacon specialties to choose from, not to mention the interesting combinations of Mandarin, Hunam, Cantonese, Shanghai & Szechuan items spread all around the extensive lists of appetizers (hot & cold), soups (standard or large & filled with noodles), main dish platters & noodle dishes, as well as Cantonese BBQ plates - this latter category featuring items such as roast duck, roast pork, BBQ ribs, or BBQ "duo" combinations.


Hot & Sour Soup

Sliced Beef w/Shiitake Mushrooms

We each began our shared, moderately sized dinner with a popular small bowl of soup (each @ $1.85) - a tasty wanton soup, replete with freshly ground pork gently packed in several wantons ... exuding a mildly gingery fragrance that proved homey & perfect on the palate; and a bowl of hot & sour, with a nicely thickish consistency and a medium spicy-sour essence lingering in the mouth.  We moved on to the pan-fried dumplings (an order comprising 8 pieces for $5.95), crispy on their (at this resto) near-rectangular outside, and filled with tender ground pork & ginger flavoring on the inside, perfect with the bottled Heineken brew (@ 5.00 the bottle) we ordered throughout the meal (both "Heineken-lite" & normal).  Accompanying our main dish we selected (as we always seem to do) a bowl each of white and brown rice, hers & his! While the resto seems to celebrate seafood (shrimp, prawns, scallops, squid & fresh fish) done in all sorts of sauces &  in various guises - for example, a Chef Yu signature dish featuring "fresh fish fillet with fresh garlic," or another showcasing "prawns, scallops & squid with salted pepper - we decided on a plate of tender "sliced beef with bamboo shoots & shiitake mushrooms" to which we added a side of sauteed Chinese asparagus spears.

  

Szechuan Shrimp Dumplings

In sum, a very fine meal all around for our initial visit to Chef Yu; everything proved very fresh, cooked precisely to our specifications, delivered on time, and, the whole thing, with a couple of beers, totaled about $40., for the two of us, give or take.  Merci bien, Chef Yu; we shall return soon to sample any number of of other tantalizing dishes - delicacies in the seafood domain, or perhaps a plate of the "fresh bacon with green chili peppers" ...  or even a "whole fish braised with hot bean paste."  Whatever strikes our fancy ...

Dance, dinner & an Oscar-nominated documentary

Cooper Union / 41 Cooper Square

St. Mark's Place

Every time we visit the East Village there are new "treats" to take in, whether a new building or two at Cooper Union or a revitalized St. Mark's Place now replete with noodle shops and sushi dens and Oriental eateries of  various provenance - Japanese, Chinese, Korean. All over the East Village there are new wine bars sprouting up, well, like mushrooms in a magical urban forest, and restos of every ethnic "flavor" & gastronomical challenge.

Two  Dancers in Black

Once again, we found ourselves in the East Village visiting La Mama and viewing a dance program at the Ellen Stewart Theatre (66 East 4th St., 2nd floor) this past Sunday, actually a threesome of featured programs in their "2nd Contemporary Israeli Dance Week" (March 7th-10th). The event, part of La Mama's "Beyond Borders" (Winter 2013) series, contained two dance creations - Prospect Minds, by Dana Katz & White Wash, by Gil Harush - performed live ... in the theater, and a third, Private I's, by Oren Shkedy & Dana Ruttenberg, shown via a black-and-white film. The latter dance (seen here only on film) proved the most interesting and accessible of the three offered in this Sunday afternoon program. The dance (on film) reflected a mixture of melodrama, slapstick, shtick, and two graceful, roguish  erotically charged male figures, performing in a far-off, Becket-like, mountainous-desert landscape (dusty, indeed!). The choreographed outcome proved light, a bit flaky, a series of near Laurel-and-Hardy-like interactions tinged with Godardian noir (think, if you will, Jean-Paul Belmondo meets Eddie Constantine) ... with kicks & slaps, hand gestures & knockout punches all melded together in a quirky (conceptually & physically) unified whole.

The work by Gil Harush - White Wash - proved excessively lengthy, relatively abstract in conception, and, in outcome, somewhat dry, cold & bloodless. Prospect Minds - choreographed by Dana Katz, who also performed in the program featuring two female dancers and a male - was the more interesting, entertaining & original of the two live performances; the piece was filled with tightly circumscribed movements and creatively geometric male-female & female-female interactions.

Dance - "Prospect Minds"

In sum, as a Haaretz (online) reviewer has noted, "a labor of love, dance and diplomacy," all working in concert, brought the Contemporary Israeli Dance Week back to La Mama, promoting & celebrating "unmatched" performances "from the heart of Israel's dance community" (an event enabled through the cooperation of the Eshkol-Wachman Movement Notation Center and The Jewish Museum of New York).

Tapas Plate & Wine - Interior Table, The Barrel

Naturally, and according to our customary modus operandi, we had planned to dine right there in the East Village, as well, following the afternoon dance performances at La Mama. We had chosen a (first) visit to The Barrel, a wine bar and tapas restaurant (located at 10 Stuyvesant St., near 3rd Ave. & 9th St.) to which we will very definitely return ...  just a sleek, friendly & accommodating enterprise, with an extensive menu of fine foods, a mix of "contemporary" Mediterranean origins (notably Italy, Spain & France) in a variety of plate sizes, and an extended happy hour, even on Sundays.  Available wines - a broad range of reds, whites, sparkling, dessert, ports, Champagne, and so forth - also reflect, and couple well with, the contemporary European-Mediterranean milieu projected.  (Indeed, the "romantic" surroundings, they proclaim on their web site, recall the "highly engineered interiors" of a wine barrel itself.)

Needless to say (well, in this case, at least), the wines were unique & interesting, generous in quantity (by the glass), very fairly priced (again, by the glass); and the food, well, equally interesting as reflected by the various (and variously sized) tapas-style plates we selected.

Hanger Steak - Tapas Plate

We began our late afternoon (early evening) dinner with a happy hour selection of wines - a Domaine Houchart rosé (Provence; 2010) and a blueberry-pink & sparkling Casaleggio Spumante rosé (Lombardia, Italy; 2009), both about 1/2 price (under $5.). We then coupled the wines with a relatively large, but tapas-size portion of hanger steak slices & lightly pan-fried potato squares, in a light picante sauce (about $5.), which we shared as our appetizer. Simply juicy, tender & tasty ... an auspicious beginning. 

Eggplant Lasagna

For my main I ordered the Duck Confit Spaghetti, comprising pulled duck confit spaghetti with garlic, shallots, extra virgin olive oil & truffles ($12.), a simple & masterful concoction that certainly needs to be sampled again, in the very near future. My wife ordered a mixture of three small items on sliced baguette rounds (3 for $9.) from the "Pintxos" (in Basque, snacks, typically eaten in bars) section of the menu, including: shrimp scampi, in a "fresh" tomato-garlic sauce; mixed mushrooms, sautéed with herbs, shallots, white wine & butter; and prosciutto-wrapped asparagus, with black olive paste & a cherry tomato. We supplemented all of the above with an eminently sharable (rather substantial) tapas size portion of eggplant lasagna, a grilled "eggplant ricotta," fresh mozzarella & a marinara sauce ($8.).

Dessert Tart w/Chocolatey Sauce

For dessert, we each managed a coffee - de-cafe & regular, both black, strong & robust. And we topped off this flavorful pan-Mediterranean meal with a large salty-caramel tart with an invitingly rich chocolatey sauce (coffees & dessert also at "mild" happy hour pricing). I should note, too, that daily "specials" (e.g., duck, beef, pork & vegetarian) are available and all items are priced moderately.

                                                  
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While the recent Academy Award for outstanding documentary feature film was given to Searching for Sugar Man - a Swedish-British effort directed by Malik Bendjelloul - about the "lost" and reclusive Detroit-based folk-rocker, Rodriguez (see my October 15th post on this subject), resulting in a fine, entrancing film which proved well worth seeing, another Oscar nominee, in the same category and of equal or greater significance, if one can assign distinctions of this sort relative to a documentary's worth & value, is  Dror Moreh's The Gatekeepers.

The Gatekeepers is, in many areas throughout, a strident and forceful compilation of interviews with all surviving former heads of Shin Bet, the Israeli security agency whose activities and membership are (perhaps now, to an extent, were) closely guarded state secrets. In addition to the finely etched interview sessions, with the 6 talking heads (however dynamic they are), the director provides relevant historical footage in appropriate contexts which helps the viewer to recall and examine various "truths," political positions, governmental mandates, military actions & security necessities, as well as the Israeli politicians, generals & security staff involved during the period since the start of the 1967 war and the creation of the Palestinian "occupation."

Initially, Moreh was able to draft one former Shin Bet director (Ami Ayalon) to collaborate with him on the film project and Mr. Ayalon, the first of the six to be "recruited" by Moreh, was able to help him secure the consent of the additional five Shin Bet participants. Ultimately, the former Shin Bet heads all agreed to appear on camera while answering Moreh's questions without any preconditions.

Dror Moreh - Filmmaker

Ami Ayalon - Former Head Shin Bet

If you have any interest in Middle East politics, security issues emanating from that region, in the players, their deeds, the philosophical underpinnings, then Dror Moreh's assiduous & artful effort is a must-see documentary film for you.  What's proves most interesting - despite stated (& alleged) political beliefs, biases, national security contexts as they evolve - is that each head seems to agree (forcefully) that the Palestinian problem must (yes, must!) be resolved and that all Palestinian interlocutors and potential discussants - including Hamas leaders - must be reached to continue a dialogue toward an amicable resolution that provides Israel with safe and secure borders and safety from all regional enemies and ongoing terrorist threats & activities.  To this end, they conclude, as one unified group, that a two-state solution must be negotiated, must be sought, and must be found for the ultimate survival of the State of Israel and its people.

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A footnote: If you've never been to Connolly's Pub & Restaurant (121 West 45th; between 6th & B'way.) during Mardi Gras season, you've been missing a big, boisterous New Orleans-inspired evening of Zydeco music and dance, including the waltz and the two-step ... and a free dance lesson (around 6:00-6:30) prior to the entry of the featured band. On a Sunday evening in mid-February, we visited, once again (for the third time in as many years), rounding up all kinds of Mardi Gras festival beads upon entry  ($25./person), selecting an out-of-the-way table at which to sit and chat (while catching one's breadth, when needed), and purchasing a few draft beers which Connolly's offers in abundance. This time, we came specifically for the Zydeco music and the rollicking sounds of C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band.

Pub food of all kinds prevails, including traditional Irish fare (chicken pot pies, with vegetables, cream sauce, in a golden puff pastry; "bangers" & mash, with grilled Irish sausage, mashed potatoes & onion gravy); incredible giant lamb burgers with chipotle jack cheese & sweet curry sauce, garnished with large portions of thickly cut French fries; large & deep salads of all sorts & "classic" chicken parmesan pasta in tomato basil sauce; ginger grilled tuna, with spicy scallion mayo, tomatoes & greens on a ciabatta roll; New Orleans & Cajun food, from chicken & shrimp etoufee to sausage & crawfish gumbo, lobster corn chowder, oyster po-boys & Connolly's crab cake, with applewood smoked bacon, white cheddar, spicy  mayo ... all situated on a more than ample brioche bun!

C. J. Chenier

But the real reason for attending one of these NYC (local) Mardi Gras bashes is for the fast-paced Zydeco music itself (!) ... to catch the action, to listen & dance to the wildly insistent & reverberating sounds of the now legendary C.J. Chenier (son of the celebrated Clifton Chenier) & his indefatigable Zydeco-rocker band, par excellence. What a night ... the mood of every couple proved friendly & participatory, the dance floor was crowded (make that seriously overcrowded!) with enthusiastic dancers of every size & shape (dressed in straight & quirky "outfits"), including those in middle age, older folks & seniors. What an evening this proved to be ... the beads flopping & tinkling, the beer bubbling up & around & appearing just when you needed a swig to quench a sweat-plagued thirst, the whole bar & bash rocking to that earthy & inimitable pulsating music, and the band nearly insisting, yet again, that you can't sit down; yep, only one message to signal & receive at Connolly's that night: laissez les bons temps rouler ...  

Restaurant week + Leonard Cohen new biography

Cafe Boulud

Another Restaurant Week in New York (Manhattan; January 14th to February 9th ) has just come and gone and, alas, we took advantage ... we visited the upscale Cafe Boulud (20 E. 76th St.; tel. 212/772-2600) for a mid-week lunch.  What a success it turned out to be on all counts. The Restaurant Week menu -- the 3-course prix fixe du marche, at $25. per person -- proved enticing, the food (each course!) irresistible; and the service proved equally fine, maximally customer friendly and consistently helpful (whether from the waiter, the sommelier, the servers, or the bread & rolls "vendor").

I began with a country duck pate, carefully dressed with quince chutney, rutabaga mustard, and surrounded with une petite frisee "salad."  A simple, hardy & pleasant introduction to the restaurant's offerings and a very inviting way to begin a leisurely lunch. My wife chose the radicchio & arugula salad (with shaved fennel, toasted hazelnuts & suffused with an orange vinaigrette dressing) ... providing a good-sized but light beginning. So far so good.  We  ordered a glass of Weingut Jager Riesling (Austria; 2009) each to accompany our initial luncheon plates, although, during Restaurant Week, Cafe Boulud offered two Italian "wines by the bottle" at $24. -- a Falerio Saladini Pilastri (2011) & a Chianti Melini Borghi d'Elsa. We opted, however, to continue with another glass, this time a silky, fruity, Cabernet Franc (Bedell, Long Island; 2010).

For our mains, I selected braised beef paleron, with pommes aligot, red pepper piperade & watercress, a very nicely presented dish, indeed, comprising extremely tender chunks of beef in a creamy sauce with a touch of pink-peppery spice. My wife ordered the olive oil poached flounder topped with an "everything bagel" crust, salsify, & wild mushrooms in a delicately prepared sauce "chasseur."  We both thoroughly enjoyed our entrees and soaked up the sauces to the last with broken pieces of the plentiful small, crunchy rolls. Boulud had hooked us ... and now we awaited our dessert choices and coffee.

Boulud madeleines

Shortly, after a decent interval, our coffee -- black, strong, flavorful  & robust -- arrived and the two desserts soon thereafter:  one, a caramel gateau, with carmelized apple & brown sugar biscuit accompanying a small cylinder of cinnamon ice cream; our second dessert choice, a milk chocolate mousse, equally sweet and equally appealing, came with peanut cremeux, a flourless biscuit & a side of salted caramel ice cream. The coffee and dessert we ordered emphatically topped off our lunch, along with a small bag of Boulud's signature madeleines ... all of which signaled to us that we must soon return, however cher, for lunch or dinner!  

All three courses on the Cafe Boulud prix fixe proved tasty, sophisticated, and seemingly magically blended to kindle our tastebuds, enrich our dining experience & consistently delight.

And so, fully fortified  with food & drink (replete with sweetness & lingering savory tastes), we then headed away from the silk-stockinged upper East Side way down to Battery Park and The Museum of Jewish Heritage where we would attend a book discussion, featuring the London-born, San Francisco based music journalist, Sylvie Simmons -- author of the new biography, I'm Your Man: The Life of Leonard Cohen -- in conversation with Liel Leibovitz, a professor of Media, Culture & Communication at New York University & senior writer at Tablet Magazine. 

(As a prelude to the evening's event, we, fortuitously & appropriately, heard a recent Leonard Cohen tune played in the background while we sipped our lattes at a downtown, tip-of- Manhattan Starbucks.) 
 

Sylvie Simmons

The chemistry between these two interlocutors proved positive & reinforcing and we were able to witness a very self-effacing biographer discuss her subject in intimate & stimulating detail. Ms. Simmons was able -- via questions from Mr. Leibovitz and from members of the audience -- to shed all kinds of light on the iconic Leonard Cohen (his songs, his women, his talent, his musicianship, his joys & fears, his personal life) with all kinds of interesting brief anecdotes, longer biographical "essay"-stories & references -- even a lyrical interpretation of one of Mr. Cohen's songs accompanying herself on her ukulele -- that rounded out, and added to, the collective memory of the audience that evening.  

And a very enlightening, entertaining & pleasant evening this all turned out to be! 

If you purchase (or borrow from your local library) Sylvie Simmons' I'm Your Man, you'll learn a prodigious amount about Mr. Leonard Cohen that you didn't know before -- about his life, his lovers, his  decades of music-making, his origins in Montreal, his volumes of lyric poetry, his songs -- sending you back to his recordings with a renewed sense of his import & his urgency (he's now in his late 70s), his artistic power, his intellect & his many talents. For, he surely remains, as the critic Bruce Eder has noted, one of the most "enigmatic & fascinating" singer-songwriters to have emerged during the past 40+ years ... still making music, still retaining a loyal audience, still concertizing ... AND still news!