Category Archives: Restaurants

LateWinTer

Sun warmed longer days as clocks click ahead. Hotel Giraffe’s roof mid-afternoon. Delectable late winter root vegetables and pork offal at Washington Square’s Blue Hill. Braised hake the winner. Birthday treat to remember.

Tiger took charge of the last tourney on the original ‘blue monster’ at Miami’s historic Doral. Trump is blowing it up for redesign. Sightings… Johnny Depp on West 14th. Jim Parsons Park Avenue South. He and Alan Alda dined at Ciano.

My final four picks. Duke, Indiana, Kansas, Gonzaga. Huh? Or, is that il Papa.

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Filed under New York, Restaurants, Sports

NewTerms

Progessive agenda. Second inaugural. Makes takers risk-takers. Then, makers. With a little governmental cushion. Everyone succeeds. Barack’s true liberal heart revealed. Reset. Even Krauthammer admired the authenticity of the day.

Ethnically ambiguous. Demographic tipping point achieved. Washington Mall crowd. Melting pot is us. Michelle’s bangs? Not so much. Her coat, okay. Dress beneath missed. Red gown schmata, no. More structure needed. That’s just me.

Brothers going head-to-head in SuperBowl. A first. Go Niners! Pats never came to play. Disappointing for many. ilili Lebanese food and New York weather good. Fun with family and friends. Downton a snore. Edith will triumph in the end.

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Filed under New York, Restaurants, Sports, Writing

MondayRushes

Colin KaeperNick at night ran like the wind. Heart-stopping great playoff games. Except Pats. But, that was good to watch Red Carpet in peace. Still don’t get the stupid overtime rule. Nate Silver and I both out on SB picks. Go Niners!

Tarnished orbs. Plastic, too. Jennifer Lopez. Really? Did they try to insult Ben Affleck? Tina & Amy just okay. Disjointed weird show. Adele was real. Easy decision to flip it off over to Downton. Back to Affleck. Argo. Yay.

Downton. Edith was given a gift I believe. Bates is not the man we thought? Downstairs is where the soul resides. The Abbey is saved. For now.

Miss America may have waited on us at our NYC fave Lure Fishbar.

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Filed under Arts, New York, Restaurants, Sports

TheSideTrek-Best2012

Birth of RecipeDetours blog & biz.
Bruno Mars.
Christina Hendricks’s tour de force performance as Joan on MadMen.
SNL funny again. Daily Show’s continued wit and insight.
Grandma’s 80th Golf Open. Friends becoming grandma’s.
Ryder Cup Euro come-back for Ballesteros. Rise of Rory.
Giants SuperBowl prediction. Strahan.
Obama re-election. Axelrod, Messina, Plouffe, Michelle. *
NYC frequently. Madison Park, ABC Kitchen, Gramercy Tavern.
Next generation’s successful year. mAdBen, cuzins, friends’ kids.
Side Trekking with the talented blogisphotog, Dr.Husband.

Still time to add more. No need. Already a very good year.
Thanks to all loyal and new SideTrek followers.

*David Corn, Mother Jones - broke 47% video

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Filed under History, New York, Restaurants

MadMemories

Dreams of my father. Mad times in Manhattan 1960′s. Train from Springfield, dining car with formal tablecloths, waiters, silver, china. First plane ride on a PamAm prop to Idlewild from Bradley. Lunch at TootsShor watching an already drunk Jack Lescoulie at the bar during a day of buying men’s clothing at the Sperry Rand building at 1290 Avenue of the Americas. Jack was Dave Garroway’s sidekick on the Today show.

Sardi’s for dinner, then Jilly’s singing around the piano bar with Nancy Wilson into the wee hours. Memories of trips to New York with my Dad. Priceless.

Copa Cabana to see Sammy Davis, Jerry Vale, lots of other Italian singers named Frankie or Johnny or Tony. The bocce court at Il Vagabondo. Cousin Joey DiVito and his wife Tootsie (really) took care of me. P.JClarke’sElaine’s. Those were the days.

Daddy Joe always acted as if he were in his dining room at home. They responded in kind. No wonder restaurants have always been the center of my life.
Happy Birthday, Dad. 8/30/30

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Filed under Business, New York, Restaurants

WhistleStop

 SideTrek East. Route32 through Belchertown and Ware to Gilbertville, Mass. Whizzed past diner depot the Whistle Stop. Actually stopped at our original destination, Rose32 Bakery for lunch. My Mom told me about a SanFran couple who transplanted pastry talent to this tiny town. Bread, cookies, cakes and croissants in an unlikely converted garage. Circled up to Barre, Petersham, back around to Quabbin Reservoir on a Lochnessy Day- see photos on TravelTreks page.

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Filed under Restaurants, San Francisco, Travel

SweetSundae

 July 22~Happy Birthday GemQueen! It’s nice to focus on something and someone sweet this July Sunday. Great Graeter’s wishes. Dr.Husband had their chocolate chip when visiting Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Will your old hometown school chum, Rob Portman be the Veep pick? Good day to have ice cream in bed and watch the British Open.

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Filed under Food, Restaurants

HecticHulio

Lots of birthdays to celebrate. Too much eating in the heat. Great food in Manhattan. Lunches along the river. Gearing up for Grandma’s 80th golf and lobster fest. Tiger put one more ‘W’ on the board, besting Nicklaus.

mAdBen’s birthday dinner a night to remember at Gramercy Tavern. One of those occasions that will remain indelible in my memory. Perfect from Prosecco toast to tawny Port, and every morsel in between. Squab divine. Desserts sublime. Yes, even I liked the bread pudding. The night before, found a Peruvian gem, La Mar outside on Madison Park for a sultry late diner a deux.

Gotta go hit a bucket of balls to work it off.

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Filed under New York, Restaurants

BonusWeekend

What started out as boring and drippy, turned into a weekend of unexpected perquisites. SideTrekked up to Lee, on routes 66, 112, 20. Stopped at the ‘outlets’ and achieved some actual purchases before meeting up with our faves, MadMan and PithyV. Hanging a left at the Red Lion in Stockbridge, we continued on Route 7 ’til we came upon a little complex where we lunchez-vous’d at Cafe Adam, just shy of Great Barrington. It had the most delectable soft-shell crab BLT.

Then, mAdBen announced that he would be gracing our B&B with former roommate SuzyZ. Got lobsters from NorthShore and ready for a classic New England bake with bonus early local corn. Final dividend, lower humidity.

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Filed under Northampton, Restaurants

MondayLinks

Joey LaCava, the caddie went to see Bruce, the Boss in Tampa on Friday night. Yesterday his old boss of 22 years, Freddie won the Champions tournament. Then his new boss, Tiger won for the first time since September 2009. Great weekend for Joey. Hope Arnie is okay. Masters, ho! Still miss Stevie, tho’.

Final Four no surprises. After the long 17-month wait, Don Draper & Co. are back. Patience pays. Maybe. Too many ads! I know it’s a show about advertising. I know my son is producing ads. But, from now on we are going to record and fast forward. It was a tasty bouchon of a return in a mad pad. Oh la la!

TripAdvisor Restaurant & Hotel Reviews as a Top Contributor.
Amazon Book Reviews .
RecipeDetours.com

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Filed under Books, Food, Restaurants, Television