Sandwiched
Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Ave. (75th St.), Manhattan
Neither rain nor snow, nor sleet nor dark of night shall stay us from the swift completion of our appointed rounds. Yes we're talking about the snowstorm that accompanied the opening day of the Whitney Biennial and the opening day of Sandwiched, the USHG cafe temporarily filling the lower gallery (pictured right), to be replaced with a real (meaning full service) restaurant in the fall. That's a mouthful.
The biennial features such masterpieces as Wood on Pedestal. If that's too high concept for you, run downstairs to such masterpieces as Chicken Schnitzel with Black Truffle-Celery Slaw and Gruyere on Toasted Brioche (pictured left, seemingly sans Gruyere and certainly sans toasting, but satisfying nonetheless). $14.95 for that sandwich created by the chef of Eleven Madison Park. About $9 for most others - Egg, Tuna, Turkey & Gouda, Ham & Cheddar, Cured Salmon, PB&J - created by other USHG chefs. $6.50 for Brooklyn Lager, Pilsner and Abita Light (why is there no regular Abita in this town?). $2 for chips. Cash only, for now.
And who was out on this slushy day? Wet, attractive Age Appropriates not speaking English. But we're designating Sandwiched and the Whitney *Best* because we don't want you to forget how lucky you are to be in a city where you can check out art work by James Casebere and Duane Hanson. No link for Woman With Dog but we suggest you find it. Really. And we suggest you look out from your umbrella and up from the swampy curbs to catch moments like this one:
Sandwiched is open 11-5 (T-Th), 11-9 (F), 10-5 (S,S). Everything is closed Mondays. Museum galleries are open 11-6 (W, Th, S, S), 1-9 (F).
Manhattan Chinatown Chinese New Year Cracker Show:
Sunday 2/14/2010, 11:30am - 3:30pm
Roosevelt Park
Continue reading "Chinese New Year 4708 - Year of the Tiger" »
It's Italian Wine Week in NYC.
30toMidnight is going to start an education column, everything from Art to Wine. While we work on that we have to tell you about a variety -pun! get it, varietal? funny because it sort of means the opposite thing. hmm- of wine promotions at bars, restaurants and shops throughout Manhattan, until February 10th: Flights, Pairings, By-The-Glass specials on wines from Apulia, Calabria, Tuscany and Veneto here:
Bull & Bear Steakhouse (Lexington Ave at 49th St., Manhattan)
Le Cirque (Bloomberg Building, 151 East 58th St., Lexington Ave., Manhattan)
SD26 (19 East 26th St., Madison Square Park, Manhattan)
Salumeria Rosi (283 Amsterdam Ave., 74th St., Manhattan)
Serafina (29 East 61st St., Madison Ave., Manhattan)
Click to check out the complete Vino 2010 list.
Thunder Mountain Skeet Range
Ringwood State Park
Ringwood, NJ
973-962-6377
Sometimes friends go to Miami, leave their cars, and need help alternating sides of the street. To these people we say, thank you very much for enabling us to drive out to Ringwood State Park to enjoy the gorgeous weather and shoot some clay pigeons, an activity that is both Age Appropriate and Age InAppropriate. That said, we highly recommend it, especially to you womenfolk; the place is overflowing with menfolk.
You don't have to know a thing about guns or shells to play here. Yes we said play in a sentence about guns. The guys who Pull the skeets are incredibly friendly and helpful. We did, however, wonder if there should be more safety instructions. But we all survived unscathed. In fact, we had so much fun we're planning to return in a couple weeks. It's $9 for 25 skeets, plus shells, etc., which means $17 plus tip. You can bring your own shells if you have a clue what to get. Sara used a 20-gauge gun while the boys used a 12, and by "boys" we mean the four other people at the practice (read: beginner) area during her turn.
The final scores:
Greg - 23/25
The Dad - 19/25
Daniel - 14/25
Sara - 14/25
The Son - 11/25
Outdoor activities are Appropriate! If Sara didn't close her eyes for most of her first round, or use the wrong eye for most of her other rounds, she think she'd have shot 19/25. Seriously. Click on the picture to make it big to see the bright orange skeet flying by.
Yes that's a subway mosaic in a post about a taxi book. Wrap your head around it. Our Age Appropriate friend Amy has put together a collection of tales from NYC cabbies and passengers. We went all the way to Greenpoint to get our copy signed, and hear from some of the characters she interviewed. The book is called Taxi Confidential: Life, Death and 3 a.m. Revelations in New York City Cabs
Check it out because reading is always Appropriate, which reminds us we've been meaning to plug another author, Mark Bauerlein, who analyzes the negatives of our turning-digital culture in The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don't Trust Anyone Under 30)
Back to Amy: clearly she dragged us out to Word bookstore, lovely as it is, to encourage the taking of cabs. We give.
We at 30 to Midnight, like many of you, sometimes go to parties, especially in the summer when we huddle in any available outdoor space, often behind buildings, like the one pictured here where various punk bands played (and covered themselves in white face makeup and fake blood) in celebration of the recent grad school graduation and subsequent new job of one delightful, brainiac Age InAppropriate (friend of friend's friend) who approached us as such: Is your dress inspired by laundry bags?
Sara: (Looking down at her red-white-blue-striped sundress) Those plastic Chinese things?
AI: Yeah.
Sara: Don't think so
AI: (Seriously) It looks really good on you.
Sara: Thank you. So what's your new job?
They have a nerdy conversation involving the words Procurement, Government, Analyzing, and Cool. Then the AI says he stumbled upon the Subway Inn post(!). Sara, thrilled, practically blushes. AI attends to other guests.
Later...
AI: (Not exactly whispering in Sara's ear) I'm not 30, but I'd go out with you.
Sara: I don't do that, not even for smarties.
AI: But I have the 30's mindset, no frat boys. I can use your site.
Sara: (Pointing to friend of friend, not wanting to lose a reader, genuinely entertained by fast brain and ability to withstand her teasing, flattered by almost anyone who can read) Well, you know how to find me.
Smile and GoodNight.
Nicholas Roerich Museum
319 W 107th St. (West End Ave.), Manhattan
You've been to the Met Roof Garden (and, presumably, the Met itself), but have you visited the Nicholas Roerich Museum? We bet not. Well, go. Even if you never heard of the Russian-born artist until this moment it's a treat to wander the lovely building, regard the hundreds of paintings, and consider Roerich's conviction that art is a path to peace, like world peace, like the world would be a better place if we were more culturally evolved.
In the fall and winter, the museum hosts readings and classical music concerts (generally Sunday, 5pm). It should not surprise you to know these events are Age Appropriate. It should surprise you to know that this June the museum was robbed.
Update: One of the two stolen paintings was returned via mail to the museum the day we ran this post.
