I am at my most miserly when given a gift that I don’t like. I can’t help it. It’s a combination of an overly expressive face and an underdeveloped sense of gratitude. The upside is that when I do get a gift I like, you’ll know it. I will emote wild rays of gratitude. Otherwise,…

In my brief stint as a fine diner (with Charlie Trotters, Seegers and now Per Se under my belt) I have reached the following conclusion about fine dining. It goes like this: fine dining is like death.Death is quiet. So is fine dining. Death is peaceful. So is fine dining. Death is infinite. So–it frequently…

When Restaurant Magazine listed its Top 50 Restaurants in the World this year, Balthazar placed 40th. This came as a surprise because I had been to Balthazar once before and didn’t love it. Was I missing something?After watching a play reading this morning at Juilliard, I hopped into a Death Cab (this guy was literally…

So after Juilliard (you may want to read today’s posts backwards, that way they’ll be more chronological-like), I made my way down to Times Square to meet my friend Ricky for an evening of Assassins and burgers. Who should I encounter on my way?Two zany prostitutes hawking their wares!Just kidding. These are my friends Dana…

This is Lincoln Center.See the trees on the upper right? Follow the path around to the building with the revolving door, take the elevator four flights up, follow the hallway down and enter the second room on the right and watch me on the couch interviewing at Juilliard. How did I do? Who knows! The…

Fresco is a sprightly Italian joint on Madison Avenue where powerplayers and fans of the Today show come to dine. Fans of the Today Show because Fresco’s owner, Mrs. Scotto, and her family are frequently guests with Matt Lauer and Katy Couric. In fact, my parents just one week ago spotted Katy Couric while lunching…

This morning dad and I walked through Central Park. The weather here has been wonderful: a perfect 76 degrees.We started on the south side where we encountered the Central Park carousel:We continued upwards, passing a castle:A shrine to John Lennon (at Strawberry Fields):And the Audobon Society:After which, we made our way over to the Metropolitan…

So I reached the point tonight where I maximized the storage space on my .mac account, where I post 90% of the pictures for the site. I had two options:1) Delete some of the older pictures, thereby rendering my archives pictureless and empty; or2) Pay for more space.I hope you appreciate that in a gesture…

[First, please notice the addition of a new category: Eating New York! Yes the time has come ladies and gentlemen. Only three months away before I move from Dixieland to Yankeetown. Oy can hoydly wait.]As you may recall, last week my parents declared their love for ‘Cesca. They told me I had to go when…

On my flight this afternoon from Atlanta to NYC, I was the victim of a severe pretzel inequity.The beverage cart on my side of the aisle had the same drinks as the one on the other side of the aisle, oh sure. But pretzels?My pretzel distributor was distributing horrendous Fisher Pretzels; the other side was…