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A few weeks ago Deb Perelman, aka Smitten Kitchen, reached out to me and asked if I had any interest in seeing a staged reading of Moonstruck starring Patti Lupone. That’s like asking me, “Would you like to spend several hours in actual heaven?” I immediately said “yes” and then we got to the important…

One of our favorite New York secrets, back when we lived here in the early aughts, was nestled behind a red velvet curtain in the lobby of The Parker Meridian hotel. If you were going to see a show or a concert at Carnegie Hall, you’d walk through the ornate marble lobby and, against all…

[From the 2/23/24 newsletter] The other night we went to see Jelly’s Last Jam in concert at City Center and it was fantastic (go see it if you can!). Beforehand, we went to grab dinner and wandered into Blue Ribbon Sushi right by the Time Warner Center. Now you sushi purists may be shocked to…

[From the 12/9/24 newsletter] I feel like I’ve discovered gold in finding a dreamy new Chinese restaurant in the theater district: Sky Pavillion. We went there with our pals Mark and Diana before seeing Audra McDonald in GYPSY (an iconic performance: get your tickets now!). Finding a genuinely good place to eat in the theater…

[From the 2/3/25 Amateur Gourmet Newsletter] For Craig’s big birthday restaurant meal, we went out with our pals Diana, Rob, and Kath to the snazziest New York restaurant — perfect for a birthday: Le Rock in Rockefeller Center. You may recall that I went to Le Rock with my parents and they found it “too…

[From the 7/31/25 newsletter] On Monday, I met up with my old pal and roommate (and first season Amateur Gourmet cast member) Lauren at The View, the newly refurbished, Danny Meyer-owned rotating restaurant at the top of the Marriott Marquis in Midtown. We sat at the bar upstairs and caught up as we rotated all…