Saturday, July 4, 2009
Friday, July 3, 2009
the real reason
i want to move back
to new york
The Neighborhood Changed,
but the Local Restaurant?
Not So Much.
By FRANK BRUNI
Diner
85 Broadway (Berry Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 486-3077.
One minute our waiter was standing over us, in the usual tableau; the next he was seated beside us, not only reciting the night’s menu but also scribbling it, in shorthand, on the paper that covered our table. That’s Diner for you: shaggy, improvisatory and cheeky, much like Williamsburg — or at least, like Williamsburg when Diner opened there a decade ago.
The neighborhood has changed. And Diner? Not so much. A while back, Caroline Fidanza ceded the reins in the kitchen to Sean Rembold, who had worked beside her. But now, as ever, the cooking emphasizes seasonality, accessibility, comfort and correctness: the beef for a recent strip steak special ($32) was grass-fed. Diner was doing the Brooklyn tropes before they were Brooklyn tropes.
And it still does them with charm and skill, based on a recent dinner there, which I found more satisfying than a dinner not too long before that at Marlow & Sons, the most prominent of Diner’s offspring, including the two Bonita restaurants.
A half chicken ($22) was impeccably cooked. Same for a fillet of halibut ($23). Neither reflected particular daring — that was left to an appetizer of grilled duck hearts ($11), by far the best dish of the night. The runner-up? Possibly a sorrel soup ($8) with such intensely smoky, porky accents that it tasted almost like a liquefied ham sandwich. I mean that as a compliment.
All of the desserts I sampled — chocolate cake, poundcake, lemon pie (each $8) — were good. There’s a sophisticated wine list and carefully chosen beers. You can get an easy-drinking, refreshing Presidente ($4) from the Dominican Republican. You should.
Diner’s setting — in a narrow, snug metal dining car from 1927 — remains irresistible. But its prices have risen sharply since the start, when an evening’s soup special was, say, $3.50, and the chicken was $9. That’s inflation, yes. But that’s also what happens when a neighborhood itself ascends.
i want to move back
to new york
The Neighborhood Changed,
but the Local Restaurant?
Not So Much.
By FRANK BRUNI
Diner
85 Broadway (Berry Street), Williamsburg, Brooklyn; (718) 486-3077.
One minute our waiter was standing over us, in the usual tableau; the next he was seated beside us, not only reciting the night’s menu but also scribbling it, in shorthand, on the paper that covered our table. That’s Diner for you: shaggy, improvisatory and cheeky, much like Williamsburg — or at least, like Williamsburg when Diner opened there a decade ago.
The neighborhood has changed. And Diner? Not so much. A while back, Caroline Fidanza ceded the reins in the kitchen to Sean Rembold, who had worked beside her. But now, as ever, the cooking emphasizes seasonality, accessibility, comfort and correctness: the beef for a recent strip steak special ($32) was grass-fed. Diner was doing the Brooklyn tropes before they were Brooklyn tropes.
And it still does them with charm and skill, based on a recent dinner there, which I found more satisfying than a dinner not too long before that at Marlow & Sons, the most prominent of Diner’s offspring, including the two Bonita restaurants.
A half chicken ($22) was impeccably cooked. Same for a fillet of halibut ($23). Neither reflected particular daring — that was left to an appetizer of grilled duck hearts ($11), by far the best dish of the night. The runner-up? Possibly a sorrel soup ($8) with such intensely smoky, porky accents that it tasted almost like a liquefied ham sandwich. I mean that as a compliment.
All of the desserts I sampled — chocolate cake, poundcake, lemon pie (each $8) — were good. There’s a sophisticated wine list and carefully chosen beers. You can get an easy-drinking, refreshing Presidente ($4) from the Dominican Republican. You should.
Diner’s setting — in a narrow, snug metal dining car from 1927 — remains irresistible. But its prices have risen sharply since the start, when an evening’s soup special was, say, $3.50, and the chicken was $9. That’s inflation, yes. But that’s also what happens when a neighborhood itself ascends.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
LAWRENCE WEINER
Los Angeles Premiere of Lawrence Weiner’s
Water in Milk Exists
Thursday, July 9, 8pm
Cottage Home
410 Cottage Home St. LA, CA 90012
Screening followed with a few words
by Lawrence Weiner and a reception.
Water in Milk Exists
Thursday, July 9, 8pm
Cottage Home
410 Cottage Home St. LA, CA 90012
Screening followed with a few words
by Lawrence Weiner and a reception.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
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