We had tickets to the 2:00 matinee of "The Gin Game" and Jean-Georges' ABC Kitchen was perfect for a pre-theatre lunch.
We'd been to the Union Square restaurant on the ground floor of ABC Carpet & Home many times before; it's a great place for lunch. We ordered glasses of Sancerre, the crab toast appetizer and a pizza.
Crab toast with lemon aioli
Sweet onion, crispy prosciutto and arugula pizza We always order the crab toast at ABC. The meaty crab and the slightly tart aioli combine addictively on the freshly baked brown bread. And we usually order a green pizza at ABC. This sweet onion version, blanketed with arugula, tasted as good as it looks. Satisfied, we set out for "The Gin Game" at the Golden Theatre.
D. L. Coburn’s 1976 two-character play is about the residents of a retirement home who've withdrawn from the world and await the inevitable. It's not a great play. But it's a great vehicle, first for Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy, and now for James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson. The two generational actors were mesmerizing, Jones at age 84 and Tyson at age 90. On October 26, 1985, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown arrives in his flying DeLorean time machine and persuades Marty McFly to come back to the future with him to help his future children. They arrive on October 21, 2015. That's the premise of Back to the Future Part II and today was Back to the Future Day. Marlene's high school friend Bob Gale wrote and produced Back to the Future, and he invited us to a special screening of Part II at the AMC Lowes Lincoln Square, including a Q&A with the cast. We had fourth row seats and it was a blast.
Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd
Lea Thompson and Huey Lewis
Bob Gale Appropriately, on this evening the Mets finished their sweep of the Cubs in the National League playoffs. Bob Gale's prophesy of a Cubs' World Series win would only come true for Doc Brown and Marty McFly. Back to the present, we exited the theatre and walked the few blocks to our dinner reservation at Bar Boulud.
We'd dined at Chef Daniel Boulud's classic French bistro in the past; it's consistently excellent. And when in France we do what the French do; we ordered the Lyonnaise salad, the escargots, the mussels frites and the steak frites.
Frisée Lyonnaise — chicory, chicken liver, poached egg lardons, sourdough croûtons
Escargots Persillade — wild burgundy snails with garlic, almond parsley-potato croquettes
Moules A La Poulette — Muscadet
wine-streamed mussels,
NY Strip Loin — french fries, sauce béarnaise The sherry vinaigrette on the salad was light, without too much acidity; the chicken livers were a bonus. The escargots were plump and tasty, as were the mussels, which were beyond plentiful. The strip was perfectly prepared and delicious, as were the frites. We couldn't have had a better meal in Paris. Back to our apartment. Copyright © 2015 TwoForTheTable.com |
