oh yeah, lomax died
There was a lot of good eating and some serious cooking in Montana, but the top local dishes were the simplest ones: elk burgers supplied by Charles (red meat, duh), and fresh morel mushrooms collected by Jeff. We heard that it was a good year for morels, especially where there had been fires. You don't even have to shoot the 'shrooms, but it's serious hunting nonetheless. This week's New Yorker has a piece on the phenomenon.
In the 80's my friend Donald Alberti and I were know to eat two dinners, one at his art studio where i helped him move big paintings, then after at Manhattan Bistro right before they closed.....both Donald and I are overweight today......last night I went to Barbetta at 6:00 to drink old Barolo and eat a slightly tired meal and when this bizz meeting was done I went home to load up on wine to take to a 10:00 dinner with one of my best customers at Great NY Noodle Town (a very famous and tasty joint but not as good as GSI when they rock, I fear GSI exspecially the 24St location are streaching thin, they just opened a 3rd spot)......

I miss those days with Donald but I do have a lot to show for it!!!!!
i often had designs (without any design) on a few choice corners on spring st in what is now considered nolita. recently, cafe lebowitz opened on one such corner, which owing to its name, i was sure would be a failure. guess i was no less clueless than usual.

meanwhile, aka and alias get another plug from new york mag.

Lucy in the Field with Flowers
From the Museum of Bad Art, discovered on a page of search results from my log. The story reminds me of the time I went by my childhood home a few months after we had moved out. They were having a garage sale, mostly of our old items. The sale was announced by a sign hung on a tree out front, painted on the back of one of my old self-portraits. You just can't go home again.
linda and i are about to embark on what we hope will be our wildest culinary trip--two weeks in Vietnam--Hue seems to be one of the eating hot spots, was a capital city for 100's of years--it was near flattened by the Tet offensive in 1968.....below is from one site I found

Being an ancient capital city, Hue has inherited a treasure of unique traditional heritage of a capital city, gastromony is one of the heritage. Hue food ranges from royal dishes to popular dishes for common people. Hue food have been well-known for a long time, in particular dishes made in Hue style. Those dishes are of Vietnamese style, but have their own flavor of a region of special culture.

According to incomplete statistics, at present, Hue has more than 600 dishes (of which, over 300 non- vegetarian dishes; 125 vegetarian dishes; 120 dishes of ‘Che’ (sweet soup), soup, cakes, jam; 60 types of pickles; salted fish and shrimp, all kinds of sauce). Most of Hue dishes are very simple, but they are sophisticatedly and specially made, which makes them become special dishes.

One of the main principles in Hue cuisine is that food is seasonally typical. Geographically, Hue owns plains, rivers, sea, lagoon, mountains, Hue food diversifies and is always available in every season. The fact that Hue food is seasonally typical means that the dishes can be changed all year round and brings good appetite and diversified menu for Hue people.

In addition to the big restaurants with their own specialities, Hue city is famous for common dishes, namely “com hen” (mussel rice), ‘beo’ cake, ‘nam’ cake, ‘loc’ cake, rice cake, Hue beef noodles, etc.

- Tourists can find “com hen”, at Ms Teo’s food-shop at Pham Hong Thai Street, or 2 Truong Dinh Street, and some similar ones along Truong Dinh Street. However, the most delicious mussel rice is at Hen Islet. Each bowl of mussel rice costs VND 2,000 at most.

- As for Hue beef noodle, the best beef noodle is in the early mornings. Otherwise, tourists can enjoy this kind of dish at shops along the Cong Market, or shops of Ms My, Ms Loi, Ms Let, Ms Mai (the crossroad of Han Thuyen and Dinh Tien Hoang streets), on Ong Ich Khiem street (crossing Le Huan street).

- “Banh Khoai” (Rice pancake) can be found at Lac Thien Restaurant, 6 Dinh Tien Hoang Street or at Ms Ton’s on Chi Lang Street.

- Several small restaurants where tourists can find the most delicious ‘beo’, ‘nam’, ‘loc’ cakes are Mrs. Do’s at 9 Nguyen Binh Khiem street, Tel: 527203; or Mrs. Cu’s on Nguyen Hue street (near the An Dinh Palace), Tel: 821692; No. 1’s on Pham Ngu Lao street; Huong Hue at 76B Nguyen Sinh Cung street, Tel: 822707.

- Mrs. Nhon’s small restaurant at 29 Le Duan street, Tel: 523853.

- Banian Tree Restaurant on Hung Vuong street, at the crossroad of Ba Trieu and Hung Vuong streets.

- For ‘uot’ cake (a kind of steamed thin rice pancake) and grilled meat noodle, tourists can enjoin these dishes at Huyen Anh Restaurant, 207 Nguyen Phuc Nguyen street, Tel: 826655
Nice to see all this press on Brooklyn eats due to the release of a Brooklyn Zagat, as with all Zagats take the reviews with a grain of salt. This restaurant i have walked by for 10 years is one of the top rated, its been open since 1958. The wine list blows, the food is good, but rated the same as Lupa and more than Al Di La and Locanda--NO WAY--anyone wanting to taste 15-20 Brooklyn restuarants and all the fresh beer you can drink join us at the Brooklyn Brewery this Saturday.
a friend has been using this dvd delivery service called netflix and really likes it. no late fees ! the envelopes show up in a day or two w/ a prepaid return mailer envelope included
At Jewel Bako they serve live octopi!!!!

Octo-wussy By Jecinta Noble

Always check it's dead. Like these are
Always check your food is dead before you tuck in.
A man from South Korea probably wished he hadn't eaten a live octopus that ended up killing him.
The 62-year-old Seoul resident liked eating live octopi for some strange reason - perhaps he had a death wish.
The diner covered the squirming dish in vinegar and red pepper paste, but it still continued to struggle.
Thinking it was on his last few legs, he stuffed the octopus into his mouth.
But this little blighter was a fighter who decided to use its tentacles to push himself off the man's teeth, dive down his throat and spread itself out.
The man quickly began to choke prompting his wife to come to his aid.
"I slapped him on the back, but it didn't work," she told The Korea Herald.
Clearly.The emergency services managed to pull the octopus from the man's throat, finding it still alive.
But the diner was dead.
Never mess with a feisty hor's d'oeuvre
help your country, spy on your neighbors
A nice group of photos by our friend Laura Nash are on view in a group show at June Bateman Gallery. She’s interested in contamination zones, as seen in her Brownfields project, so I told her she’d love Butte.
avoid Grand Sichuan Upper Eastside, yuk!!, i hear the dont have a good chef yet or family fueding......on a decadent note i go to Maison du Chocolate at 30 Rock Center once every few months, expensive, awesome hot chocolate (i prefer the darker version) and a treat will set you back over $10 but its worth it, no need to tip at the bar its like being in France (service compris)...
we went to theo last night, new(ish) place in the UPS building on spring street between washington/greenwhich. although the food's pretty decent (albeit expensive and tiny-portioned), the interesting thing is the dessert list -- about 15 different things, each one costs 4 bucks and comes in an egg cup (it isn't really an egg cup but that's the size and sort of the shape) with various different things layered inside, like a little parfait. they put on the hard sell, we got 5 to split among a table of 4, the waiter acted like that was way too few...but they were pretty good! not worth the trip -- but maybe someone else will knock the idea off?
Name:

Joe

Whore:

white house press corps

Date:

07/08/2002

Testimonial

God! How inept are these people! It's not about the #4 form people! It's about selling on insider information! Unbelievable. Shoot me now.

Went to Jewel Bako last night and this place is expensive, wine list $50 to $1000+, $12 to $15 app's that you eat in two bites, I ate some wierd stuff, but the fish sushi (which i dont usually love) was amazing, best I have ever had (one Japanese Bass was like eating silk, cant stop thinking about it), the owner said that this is the best season to eat here, and toro tartare w/ avacado cream is an awesome dessert...
went to Cap Cod and I have not as of yet had a great meal there (but have not tried hard), some nice fried clams but the fish is usually overcooked and when they try to do something special usually its pushed too far....well my mom (83 1/2 years old) decided that we would try two new spots....pea shoots are in :>) and both places had no idea how to cook them, but i needed the fiber, one place the fish was the freshest and was the best meal we have eaten on the Cape (The Cape Sea Grille, Harwichport), not special but good flavors, not overcooked too much, yummy desserts, the other place no need to return (Ocean House, Dennisport)...she said we could try some news places Labor Day weekend, thanks Gracie!!
Thursday, September 26, 2002
The Mark
6 pm to 8 pm
$35

Amy Goldman is on a mission to save the heirloom melon. She grows about 100 varieties of ancient gourd in her garden in Rhinebeck, NY, and with her new book, Melons for the Passionate Grower, she's spreading the word about these long-forgoten delicacies, and their seed. Join us for a tasting of the snake melon, Queen Anne's pocket melon, and Prescott Fond Blanc as well as Bouvet Brut Champagne, Taittinger Cuvee Prestige Rose, Michele Chiarlo Nivole Moscato. Members of the AIWF will leave with a complimentary copy of Amy Goldman' book, "Melons for the Passionate Grower."
Montana Postcard

Hope there are some better pictures out there; we’ll scan ‘em if necessary. Mine are mostly landscape, and don’t include all participants (or do justice to those they do include). Nor do they show the incredible series of meals produced and consumed. I’m sure you’ll see more of such things, but this is what I’ve got. Wish you were there.
this guy hijacked abaton book company (marianne nowottny) website too.
never really thought margaret cho was that funny. i was very, very wrong. she's fucking hilarious. very sexuality and sex-oriented, sailing gleefully past any taboos you might have thought you had. best bit: "what if straight guys menstruated" (at one point she says, i sometimes feel a little weird talking about my period but if Richard Pryor had one, i bet HE woulda talked about it). other highlights include "everybody's a little gay," "Margaret visits the leather scene", the pussy riff, and of course "visit to Water's Gift." the weird thing is, although it's more explicit than Pryor it doesn't seem _dirty_ at all, just achingly funny. at Sunshine.
Another recommendation: Lovely and Amazing by Judith Holfcener, director of Walking and Talking. It helps to clean the toxins out of your system if you've recently seen the awful Minority Report. Don't go see Holofcener's film expecting a neat narrative arc, though. The movie just kind of ends. But the details and performances are wonderful. Think Ghost World without the male menopausal bile; Magnolia without the apocalyptic pretensions; Short Cuts without the length. It's good!
went to Lupa again, triple pasta pre 7:00 movie dinner at the bar, awesome again
I guess there really was attitude at Smith.
Bad attitude.
The Post dishes the demise.
(Clipped as a comment, to avoid transient, ad-heavy site.)
Back at work on the third of July; an abrupt transition. Head still full of canyons and meadows and rivers and mountains, receding now behind the city, but still there, finding a way through the cracks, the gaps, all the little spaces never quite paved over, in the city or in the mind.

I want to thank our hosts once more:
The RenHillWalls, who put us up in Bozeman, providing various sorts of guidance.
The Copelands, who installed us in their amazing Lucky Dog Lodge on the Gallatin.
The MacFaddens, whose beautiful cabin on the Smith River is no more than a fitting setting for their jewel of a daughter, Sarah, who was the major motivator behind the whole adventure.
Thanks to all, and to all the friends, old and new, who shared the good times.
May we meet again.