At
Tad's
Steaks on 34 St, Grilling Meat & Salivating Customers
Meet, Moo Goo Gaipanini
By
Matthew
R. Lee, Restaurant Review
NEW
YORK
CITY, September 18 -- If restaurant review stars were given
based on the perfect marriage of customers, food and ambiance, Tad's
Steaks on 34th Street and Seventh Avenue would get the highest
rating.
The grill is right in the window, the options listed by
numbers on pictures above it. The steaks, in fact, are in freezer
drawers directly under the grill, leading to a higher electricity
bill but infinitely more convenience.
The
griller points
at the people in line and says in English or Spanish, “What do you
want” or “que quieres?” You
order by number, adding rare or
medium rare.
Then you
stand in line, watching your steak smoking on
the grill. People line up beyond you and order. You pick up a
plastic tray and are asked if you want onions, baked potato or
mashed.
Further
up there
are glasses of wine covered in cellophane, and beers like Dominican Presidente on
ice. There are wooden bowls of salad; you choose the dressing and if
you want a slice of tomato or not. Then you are allowed into the
back, with red walls and many photos of the World Trade Towers and an
American flag.
The plastic
tray lists Tad's other locations: Chicago, San Fran, Philly. It's a
good quartet.
The
sound track is
smooth jazz, George Benson and the like. People bring their kids,
their spouses or their dates. There is Heinz steak sauce, not A-1,
and jello or cake for dessert. People come with expectations and
generally leave happy. On this basis we give Tad's our highest
rating, for being what it is.
Footnote:
further
south on the Lower East Side we recommend Marco Polo, where a
Chinese and Italian wife and husband team serve up bison burgers and
tater tots for a dollar a piece, and Moo Goo Gaipanini, in a small
storefront with a tin ceiling. Dumpings and ravioli and paintings on
the wall, the fusion is complete, the integrity without question. All
along the Silk Road...
* * *
In
Brooklyn,
A
Tale of 2 Girl Bands, The Raw & The Cooked,
Heliotropes and Scamps
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
GREENPOINT,
NY,
August
27 -- Two female led bands rocked the Matchless Bar in
Greenpoint on Friday night, one raw and one cooked. The first, the all
female trio Heliotropes,
was
reminiscent of the Grateful Dead. The
guitarist and singer was in a flannel shirt; the drummer, also Asian,
stood up in a too short skirt. The African bassist was allowed to
rock out. The trio was endearing and promising, touchingly
deferential to the coming headliners, The Scamps.
The
Scamps, a
hybrid quartet with closely honed songs reminiscent of the early
Talking Heads, were launching their CD. They played each song from
the CD. The lead singer and guitarist, in David Bowie-like short
hair, switched midway to a slide guitar. The space grew warm; she was
sweating and smiling.
The organ
player, a placid
Asian woman with a tattoo on her left arm, sang in unison. The bass
player, a seemingly emotionless Nordic session musician, was matched
by a drummer with tongue out and drum machine.
If
the Scams'
lineup sounds incongruous, their songs were tight, maybe too tight
for some. Comparing the two bands, one imagined the Heliotropes drawn
as is by gravity to increasing practicing and tightness, in order to
become headlines like the The Scamps, to have a better attended CD
launch event. But is bigger always better?
Better
is
subjective.
This reviewer prefers the endearing amateur to the finely honed
presentation. It is merely a prejudice, or preference. One might
advise Heliotrope to move out of New York, or at least out of
Greenpoint / Williamsburg, to a place like Akron, Ohio. Perhaps there
is an
Akron in New York. Perhaps Inner City Press can find it. Watch this
site.
Heliotropes, overcooking not shown
Matchless,
as
venue,
is virutally matchless. The former car garage to the side of
the bar has been subdivided by a door with windows. In the music
space, complete with disco ball, a long wooden bench as if from a
subway from another era has stools as Ottomen. There are sound
checks, and outside, McCarran Park.
In
the park, there
is a yellow school bus with at least one person living inside. Is it
Ken Kesey or the next Heliotropes? Watch this site.
* * *
NYC
Summer
Music
Ranges
from Monklike Tango to White Rabbits, Fania All Stars,
Hipsters to Salseros
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
NEW
YORK
CITY,
August
22 -- This summer in the City the music has been
free. The main Summerstage in Central Park has hosted, among others,
the minimalist British duo The xx. Click here for
Inner City Press'
review. But its satellite in East River park has recently had the
White Rabbits, complete with upright piano in the renovated East
River Amphitheater.
Nearly
entirely
white
hipsters
stood awkwardly and listening, filming the proceedings
on cell phones for uploading to YouTube. There was Grape Nut ice
cream and people longing for (a) Spoon.
A
week later in
the same venue, the tribute salsa band Fania All-Stars drew a larger
and more demonstrative crowd, this time nearly entirely Latino. A
woman in the front rows slowly waved a Puerto Rican flag; the smell
of pescado frito for sale wafted over the crowd.
A
borough east in
Brooklyn on August 20, an Argentine tango quartet rocked the Vora
Space at 315 4th Avenue. Most striking was pianist Octovio Brunetti,
who deployed Thelonius Monk-like chords over Mercedes Sosa songs sung
by Mariel Sol, and even a bit of salsa.
Octavio Brunetti, radiator and Rooftop not shown
The
crowd was
largely South American and older. They looked happy in Vora's small
space, with a white painted radiator on the stage. The bartender gave
out free wasabi peas. The event packed more wallop and not only wasabi
than the season's
end of Rooftop Films just a block away, sold out to a European crowd
which tried to scalp tickets on the banks of the Canal.
Finally
for
now,
further
back in Park Slope at 444 Seventh Avenue in the Bar 4, a rock
quartet played for what looked like their own roommates. There was
vodka on the foosball table, a white crowd gyrating. This is summer
in the City, at least some parts of it. Some heard as soundtrack: LCD
Soundsystem's "New York, I Love You." To be continued.
* * *
At
UN,
Nigeria's
Reception
Features
Fela
and Gambari, UNAMID Vote Friday
By
Matthew
Russell
Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
July
28
--
At
Nigeria's end of Security Council Presidency
reception Wednesday night, the de facto guest of honor was Ibrahim
Gambari. Ambassador Joy Ogwu, who has followed him in each of his
Nigerian jobs, took photos with him, as did Nigerian and other UN
staff members in attendance.
The
event was in
the penthouse of Nigeria House, built under Gambari's tenure as his
country's ambassador to the UN. So it was something of a home coming.
As
regards his
current job, the joint African Union - UN Mission in Darfur, the vote
to extend its mandate will be Friday and not Thursday. Gambari
chatted up the political coordinators of Council members such as
Mexico, Austria and Turkey. He schmoozed Western Deputies Philip
Parham and Rosemary DiCarlo.
Chief
backer
China
did
not
appear
in attendance. But that was not the point: Nigeria's
representative on the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and
Budgetary Questions was there, kindly telling Inner City Press about
ACABQ's trip to El Fasher during one of Gambari's absences, to see
the cost of living differences in different parts of Sudan.
Later,
she helped procure a plate of food for Ghana Perm Rep Leslie K.
Christian, then clear the tables It is a down home and full service
mission, one refreshingly without pretensions.
The
soundtrack was
pure Fela, spun by a Ethiopian DJ who words for the Nigerian mission.
More than one Nigerian remarked to Inner City Press that Gambari,
like Fela, might not always be welcome in Nigeria: the latter because
of protest, Gambari due to perceived defense of the military
dictatorship of Sani Abacha.
But
on Wednesday
Sani Abacha was scarcely mentioned. Ambassador Ogwu, the host with
the most, said she does not envision following Gambari to a
peacekeeper mission, as she is 64, as in the Beatles' song.
Joy Ogwu and DPA, Ms. Gurlach not shown, outside
candidate in wings?
Goodluck Jonathan's picture was
up; the UN Department of Public Information's reticence to move from
Lagos to Abuja was a bone of contention. A spicy dish came with fish
bones included. The vibe was good: but where were China and Russia,
August's president?
It
was confirmed
to Inner City Press that DPI is consenting to include the word
“blogger” for the first time in their accreditation guideline.
Still they are trying to confine it to a footnote. We'll see -- watch
this site.
Our own footnote,
then: the top Department of Political Affairs post with Security
Council Affairs, from which Horst Heitmann was removed without
ceremony, will not necessarily go to Ms. Gerlach. The talk now is of an
outside candidate. But why leave this post unfilled for so long?
, 
