Franny’s was an immediate success when it first opened on Brooklyn’s Flatbush Avenue in April 2004. So much so that there were notoriously long waits for its then dinner-only service. The restaurant eventually started lunch service and at some point expanded seating by opening its garden. Not even all those moves did the trick, and the place moved to more spacious digs earlier this year. Continue reading “Pizza Lunch: Franny’s Brooklyn”
I haven’t been to Don Antonio by Starita in a few months and certainly not since I’ve been working at Paulie Gee’s. So when I had the chance to meet a longtime friend/former coworker there, I jumped at it like Evel Knievel jumps rope. I wanted to see if I had developed a keener palate or had more finely tuned my pizza sensors.
Pizza By Cer Té is about a block away from my doctor’s office. So while I don’t like having occasion to visit my GP, I do like the consolation prize of a pizza lunch here. On Friday I arrived late at Pizza By Cer Té and the selection was limited so I was forced to finally try the Margherita pizza. I generally avoid “Margherita” pizza at New York–style pizzerias, since a typical slice joint rarely does them justice. But PBCT’s Margherita slice this day was palatable. It was quite good, and the cheese was still a bit creamy rather than rubbery and tough as is usually the case. Continue reading Pizza Lunch: Pizza By Cer Té
From top, the Farmer’s slice (corn, potato, green onion, cheddar) and the Lafayette (caramelized onion, gruyere, grana Padano, mozzarella, thyme). The Lafayette was very good. The Farmer’s needed more of a flavor punch (especially where the potato was concerned), but points for use of corn. I am inspired. Continue reading Pizza Lunch: The Farmer’s and Lafayette slices at Pizza By Cer Té
Where am I going with this? Well, I was going to say that even though I’m not writing on Slice much, one of the things that I truly value about the site is that it has allowed me to connect with pizza nerds from all over the country (and even the world). People like JEL. Continue reading Weekly Pizza Lunch: A couple pies with ‘JEL’ at Rubirosa
This was sort of a bonus WPL pi. I’d already eaten my WPL but ended up trying Ditmars Station with my friend Justin on Saturday while I was doing laundry. The crust really is ultra thin. Most people think that New York–style pizza is “thin crust.” And, yes, it is thin, but I find that … Continue reading Weekly Pizza Lunch: Thin-crust mushroom pie at Ditmars Station
I love all forms of Christmas music — traditional/religious carols and poppy secular songs alike. It was too difficult to make a Top 5 list that drew from the entire Christmas songbook, so here are the poppy ones first.
OK, so this one is pretty much traditional as most people would define it, but I think the fact that it’s a David Bowie and Bing Crosby duet, complete with cheesy banter at the beginning, puts it into post-modern pop territory. For a while, you think Crosby is going to overpower Bowie, but then the Thin White Duke pipes up, and … wow, that’s some beautiful harmonizing there.
From as early as I can remember, “The Little Drummer Boy” has always gotten to me. There’s something I’ve always found moving about stories like the drummer boy’s — people of modest means offering up all they have. Blah blah blah.
I don’t know why, but the theme song to The Nanny has been stuck in my head intermittently over the past week. I tried to dislodge it by watching the whole thing on YouTube: But then I found there were foreign versions: There’s also Моя прекрасная няня, the Russian version, but it’s not embeddable. Also, … Continue reading ‘The Nanny,’ ‘La Niñera,’ ‘Die Nanny’
(George Michael’s favorite Wham! song, btw.) [Andrew] Ridgeley now lives near Wadebridge, Cornwall, United Kingdom, in a restored 15th century farm property with his partner Keren Woodward[2] of the pop group Bananarama. The majority of his spare time is taken up by golf and he is a keen member of a local club where he … Continue reading Andrew Ridgeley, Bernard Sumner: football fans
Irv’s Burgers: 8289 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood CA 90046 (at N. Sweetzer Ave.; map); 323-650-2456 Continue reading Irv’s Burgers, Los Angeles
In late August, Domino’s invited me and a bunch of other bloggers on a tour of its corporate headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and also of a “supply chain center” outside of Ann Arbor. The supply chain center supplies regional Domino’s with dough, cheeses, condiments, and other varies supplies. Prior to this, I had no … Continue reading At the Domino’s ‘Supply Chain Center’ outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan
Photograph: Nate Hofer Like all aging folks, as I get older I slowly and belatedly accede to the wisdom of my parents. My dad has long talked about setting up snow cone stands outside the Walmarts near where he and my mom live. (Apparently there are a few Walmarts there that allow these stands in … Continue reading Retro snow cone trailer
I guess I am going to start a blog post here to keep track of stuff I need to eat in various places I might be visiting. There’s probably a better way to do this with an app or something, but most likely it would be some sort of socially networked thing, and I do … Continue reading Stuff I need to eat in San Francisco
I was sad to see last night that Six Apart has been bought out by VideoEgg forming a new company called Say Media. I started using Six Apart‘s then-signature product, Movable Type, in mid 2003. It was the only option at the time if you wanted to host your own blog, on your own server, … Continue reading An ode to Movable Type
This video uses Sims to act out the story in Kenny Rogers’ “Coward of the County.” At about 1:43 in, when Tommy’s love, Becky, is introduced, things get a little creepy. She basically looks like Tommy but with longer hair — and bad teeth. This video is really strange. Continue reading Kenny Rogers ‘Coward of the County’ depicted by Sims
The Space Between: Arch, originally uploaded by Adam Kuban. Took this Monday night while walking home along 33rd Street in Astoria from El Mariachi Mexican restaurant. I enjoy walking around Astoria. It’s probably due to the novelty of it all — I was thoroughly familiar with Park Slope after having lived there for eight years. … Continue reading The Space Between: Arch
Locals and Tourists #2 (GTWA #1): New York, originally uploaded by Eric Fischer. Heat map of Flickr photo volume around NYC. Red is tourist-generated, blue is locals, yellow might be from either. [via City Room] Continue reading Flickr NYC Photography Heat Map, Tourist vs. Locals
A) Haddaway, the original “What Is Love?” artist, actually has a pretty fascinating bio. B) Diane Birch, who’s covering the song above, also has an interesting bio. Continue reading Video: Diane Birch, “What Is Love?” on Wurlitzer electric piano
I’m writing this from the cabin of a JetBlue plane somewhere over the Atlantic. I just looked out the window and saw the engine read “www.jetblue.com.” Now why would they advertise their URL to people already on board, I thought. But, aha! … It’s there for all the people who like to take photos out … Continue reading JetBlue’s somewhat stealth engine-based marketing