Wednesday was another beautiful day — clear skies, a light breeze, a temperature in the high sixties. Our morning walk took us to 18th near Broadway for our lunch reservation at ABC Kitchen. This was the third time we had lunched at Jean-Georges' ABC Kitchen, located on the ground floor of ABC Carpet & Home. On this day, ABC happened to be a twenty minute walk from the Linda Gross Theater, where we had tickets to the 2:00 matinee. But truth be told, we had our lunch reservation before we purchased our theatre tickets.
We ordered a Chablis by the glass and then Marlene talked me into ordering the same first course we had ordered the last time we were at ABC — the crab toast with lemon aioli. It was a good choice; the fresh meaty crab and the slightly tart aioli combined addictively on the freshly baked brown bread. We can keep ordering this dish as many times as Marlene likes.
Crab toast with lemon aioli For our second course, we shared the asparagus, bacon, ricotta, parmesan and black pepper whole wheat pizza.
Asparagus, bacon, ricotta, parmesan and black pepper whole wheat pizza
The asparagus were shaved atop the pizza and it was incredible. Perhaps Gerard Craft would consider adding this pizza to his St. Louis Pastaria menu. We would have loved to ordered the sundae, with salted caramel ice cream, candied peanuts & popcorn, whipped cream, and chocolate sauce. But if we were to stay awake at our play, the sundae would have to wait for another day. Marlene briefly browsed at the ABC Carpet & Home store and then, twenty minutes later, we were at the Linda Gross Theater for the Atlantic Theater Company production of John Guare's "3 Kinds of Exile" which was still in previews.
Guare's ninety-minute play was three short plays, all about artists who had come to the West after exile from Eastern European countries. In the middle segment, Gurare himself and a second actor stood at lecterns and told the story of Elżbieta Czyżewska, a Polish actress, who moved to New York after an impulsive marriage to New York Times reporter David Halberstam. The play recounted the Polish beauty's difficult transition to her new country — her inability to learn the language, her loss of fame, her rocky marriage that ended in divorce, her discreditation and eventual exile from her home country. Her life intersected with Guare's, which undoubtedly motivated the playwright to tell the story. That evening, we met our good friends Arthur and Barbara Gelb for dinner at Bar Boulud, Daniel Boulud’s casual French bistro on the Upper West Side, across from Lincoln Center. The Gelbs were already seated in a booth when we arrived, and as we squeezed in across from them, Arthur had the sommelier poor us each a glass of the excellent house red wine.
Arthur and Barbara Gelb Arthur Gelb is the former managing editor of the New York Times. Barbara is an author and playwright. Their son Peter is the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera. The Gelbs wrote the seminal biography of playwright Eugene O'Neill and they've written another book about the playwright, which will be published early next year. We talk theatre, politics, food, family and more with the Gelbs. When we told them we had seen John Guare's play about Elżbieta Czyżewska and David Halberstam, they exclaimed, "We knew them!" and proceeded to relate spicy tidbits the play had omitted. The Gelbs have led an incredibly rich life and they know everyone; dining with them opens a fascinating widow to New York history, past and present. When we dine with the Gelbs, the food can never compete with the company, but the food at Bar Boulud was very good. Marlene started with the frisée salad and I started with the special chilled green pea soup.
Frisée Lyonnaise; chicory, chicken liver, poached egg, lardons, sourdough croutons
Chilled green pea soup, mint oil Both dishes were excellent; the soup was refreshing and the chicken livers in Marlene's salad were tasty and plentiful. For seconds, Marlene ordered the CANARD AUX NAVETS and I ordered the POULET AUX MORILLES.
Crispy glazed duck breast;
Roasted amish chicken breast; Again, both dishes were excellent, although our normal focus-on-food was diverted to our hosts, and that was fine with us. We're meeting the Gelbs on Friday evening for a second dinner. Copyright © 2012 TwoForTheTable.com |
