Kernels: Nov 18-28, 2023
Finding comfort in turkey soup, New American sushi, and Broadway lotto wins.
Welcome to the first edition of Kernels, a somewhat weekly column of what I’ve been up to — plus a list of upcoming events that may be worth your time. I’ll experiment with the format for the first few columns; any feedback or suggestions are appreciated! And feel free to scroll past any section that doesn’t interest you.
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Man About Midtown
Over the past fourteen days, I was in Midtown on nine of them, which is usually nine days too many. But it’s the time of year where my calendar gets filled with movie screenings, and all of the screening rooms are in Midtown for some reason.
The MoMA has the best film programming in the city, and it’s also very cheap if you get a membership. Their annual Contenders series is always a highlight with the most buzzed about movies of the year, sometimes in advance of their theatrical release, and occasionally with a post-screening Q&A1. It can also be a good opportunity to see streaming movies in a proper environment; I saw Pablo Larraíns El Conde and David Fincher’s The Killer here; both are Netflix titles that definitely would have lost something had I seen it in my apartment. And I got to take some friends to a screening of All of Us Strangers a month before its release, with a really passionate Q&A with director Andrew Haigh and actors Andrew Scott and Jamie Bell (the latter of whom is particularly charming.)
I’m excited to see some more movies at the MoMA in December (in addition to the Contenders, the Ennio Morricone series will be fun), but nothing will be as memorable as when I sat down for a screening of a somewhat obscure movie from pre-Revolution Iran on Sunday. The person sitting behind me was telling her friends about how she was at a campground in Israel when suddenly, there were rockets exploding in the sky and she had to hide in a truck, and then run for four hours straight to escape, and the people who stayed in the truck ended up being killed. Like... did I hear that correctly?
Fueling for Film
The MoMA’s evening films start at 7 PM, and it’s best to arrive twenty minutes early, which means I can choose between a compressed early dinner or a late night meal. Finding a good pre or post show dinner in this part of Midtown is difficult, especially with these criteria:
A ten-ish minute walk to the MoMA
No problems for four-ish people to walk in
Inexpensive
Tasty
Quick
Kitchen is open until at least 11 PM
I’ve only found one restaurant that will do all that: Izakaya Toribar, which features yakitori and other Japanese dishes. The izakaya format allows you to eat as much or as little as you’d like, and you can get in and out in 45 minutes. A year ago, I was here after a screening of The Fabelmans when Jimmy O. Yang and Awkwafina came in with some friends to eat skewers and drink sake, which is perhaps the closest celebrity encounter I’ve had. Toribar has become my go-to at this time of year; I’ve been twice in the past week or so.
You can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu. (Don’t sleep on the onigiri!) But the one dish I always order is the tako wasabi: marinated octopus with a sinus-clearing kick.
Plus, their Happy Hour includes $5 Kirins. You really cannot go wrong with that!
On and Off Broadway
I had a good string of luck with theater lotteries, with three wins last week; any week I can see a Sondheim musical on stage is a good week, let alone two of them. (Still hoping to eventually win lottery tix for Merrily We Roll Along 🙏)
Stephen Sondheim’s final musical, the posthumously produced Here We Are, is as surreal as the Luis Buñuel films that inspired it. Even for Sondheim, this is not a typical musical, and I think it’s going to be admired more than it will be loved. But the actors in this world premiere production are uniformly excellent, and the show ends up becoming a fascinating, poignant meditation on the gaping hole left by the absence of a beloved collaborator. I’ll be writing a longer piece on this soon, and for now I’ll say it’s definitely worth entering the TodayTix lottery. (Ends January 21.)
For those seeking something a bit less experimental, the Broadway run of Sondheim’s horror musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street will do the trick. Josh Groban is as amazing a singer and as shaky an actor as people are saying. Annaleigh Ashford is terrific/horrific as Mrs. Lovett, and the full power of the production’s twenty-six piece orchestra is undeniable. I’m very interested to see how the show changes after Groban and Ashford are replaced by Aaron Tveit and Sutton Foster early next year. (Open run.)
Three’s company when it comes to lottery wins, it seems, as I also got to see a Broadway revival of Ossie Davis’ 1961 comedy Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch. The titular Purlie is a preacher (or maybe just a hustler) who returns to his hometown in Georgia with a scheme to claim a distant cousin’s inheritance, and use the money to buy back a local church and get his family out of debt. He may be a con man, but his intentions are good.
The show is marketed as a showcase for Leslie Odom, Jr. (best known for originating Aaron Burr in Hamilton) and he’s excellent. But it’s Kara Young who stole both the show and our hearts, effortlessly merging semi-slapstick comedy with buried emotionality. There’s no dust on this sixty-year-old play thanks to Kenny Leon’s energetic direction. And while Purlie Victorious may no longer have the immediate topical relevance that it had in the sixties, the long march to equality is still ongoing, and Davis’ rich text is a pleasure to hear performed by actors with such sonorous qualities as Odom. His final sermon in the play, which nearly breaks the fourth wall, was absolutely stunning. Vinson Cunningham’s review in the New Yorker is terrific, and it easily convinced me to check out this show. (Ends February 4.)
Youth discount
I just turned 29, which means I’m in my last year of getting steep discounts for Off-Broadway shows. Most of these theaters have special programs for patrons 30 or 35 and under; it’s foolish to pay full price if you’re in your twenties! Second Stage Theater has a very cheap subscription for those under the age of 30 — $30 a pop for any seat in the house — and last weekend, I saw their first production of the season. Jen Silverman’s play Spain takes us to 1930’s New York, where two artists on the KGB payroll are tasked with making a propaganda film about the Spanish Civil War. They rope in Ernest Hemingway to write the script, which is fun. The play makes the case that money and power compromises all art, with the barest, bleakest hope that something personal will seep through the propaganda. It didn’t fully work for me, but at $30, I’m satisfied leaving with something to think about. (Ends December 17.)
Three expensive dinners
Last week, I went to three separate restaurants where I spent roughly $150 at each. This is not usual for me, I swear! This week, I have been eating very, very cheaply.
Delmonico’s
The American steakhouse is not usually my thing, and normally I would not be caught dead in FiDi on a weekend, but I had to pay a visit eventually, given all of the history behind it. I had a first dinner at Izakaya Toribar before coming to Delmonico’s, which was probably a mistake. I could barely get through 12 ounces of chuck eye, but I get easily tired with a large steak. As with most steakhouses, the sides were the real stars.
Did you know that this restaurant invented the Baked Alaska? I certainly had not, but the dessert menu helpfully mentioned this, and we dutifully ordered one. While it was good, the Baked Alaska from Gage & Tollner has surpassed the creator. White tablecloths and a classic model of service lent the dining room an elegance that has been out of favor for awhile. For a few moments, it was serene — until the TikTokers a few tables away busted out their mini selfie sticks.
Tablecloths aren’t cheap. Dinner cost $151, including a nice bottle of Nebbiolo d’Alba split five ways. (All prices in this newsletter will factor in tip & tax.)
53
I always walk past this strikingly designed restaurant that’s on the same block as the MoMA. It was finally time to actually dine there. I popped in for dinner with a couple friends before seeing The Killer. Indeed, the place was very nice, and the acoustic design was thoughtful: you couldn’t really hear the conversations from other tables. The menu is best described as fancy Asian, the prices best left undisclosed. Befitting a restaurant next to the MoMA, 53 is as expensive as it is un-Googleable. Everything was delicious, but if it weren’t for the obligatory rice dish to fill the stomach, I would have left hungry.
The best thing I had was also the most expensive, the “Eel Club,” a slivered of grilled eel under a slab of foie gras and a cherry. A truly decadent bite… out of my wallet. I recommend the restaurant if you’re not paying for it, because it was a really really good meal and I don’t want to take away from that.
My portion of a light dinner cost $115, and I had a couple cocktails which added another $60 or so to my tab.
Rosella
There is one restaurant where I will happily spend over $100, and the day after Thanksgiving I went in with a few friends who hadn’t been before. Rosella is my favorite restaurant in the entire city; I’ve eaten here every other month since last December. I’d describe it as a New American restaurant that serves sushi. Every ingredient is sourced domestically with an eye towards sustainability, but there’s zero compromise on quality. You’ll stop fetishizing seafood flown in from Japan after you have a smoked trout nigiri that was farmed on Long Island.
Some essential dishes that are must orders, whether it’s your first or sixth time dining here:
There’s always a seasonal fruit dish and it is always terrific. This fall, it’s spicy honeycrisp apples mixed with sungold tomatoes and what is essentially granola, served on top of labneh spiked with chili oil. Get everything in your spoon and it’s a gorgeous combination of crunch and soft and spice.
The ceviche here is probably unlike anything you’ve had before. The corn nuts are what really make this sing.
During the cold season, a mug of the farro miso soup hits the spot, whether it’s as an apéritif or as a digestif. One sip will convince you to buy a jar for yourself to make at home.
It sounds boring but the spicy avocado roll is anything but.
Besides those recommendations, let your server choose the rest of your dinner and I promise you will not leave disappointed. Their wine and sake program is excellent, let loose and order a bottle or two! The food totaled up to just over $100, plus $30 to share a bottle of sake (Otokoyama Tokubetsu Junmai "Man's Mountain"). And unlike the other restaurants I went to that week, I can’t wait to spend another $100 when I go again in January.
Turkey Noodle Soup
The week after Thanksgiving is a time to get creative with the leftover turkey. With the weather getting much colder, it’s ideal noodle soup weather, and I was thankful for the two quarts of poultry stock I had made. Usually I’m pretty big on following recipes to the letter, but this was a good opportunity to freestyle. Using this SeriousEats recipe for chicken soup as a basis, here’s what I did:
Dice and sauté onions, garlic, carrots, parsnips, turnips, and celery — however much you want to eat. Personally, I go pretty heavy on the veggies.
In a separate pot, boil salted water for add orecchiette (or whatever pasta you have on hand). I weigh out 0.12 pounds per serving.
Add the stock. I used about 1.5 cups per serving but I tend to make very big servings.
Simmer the vegetables for ten minutes so they get tender, which is roughly the amount of time needed to cook the pasta to al dente.
Chop up the leftover turkey and add it to the soup pot just before adding the pasta. (If it isn’t the week after Thanksgiving, a roasted chicken will do just fine, whether it is home-made or from the rotisserie rack at the supermarket.)
Stir it together, adjust seasoning, and serve, garnished with minced herbs. I used sage, which added a beautiful, earthy dimension to the soup.
On My Radar
Some things that I haven’t done, but seem really cool.
Off-Broadway: Michael Shannon and Paul Sparks headline a new production of Waiting for Godot at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center in Fort Greene. Anyone aged 30 and under can get tickets for just $20; for the older folks, it’s a bit more expensive. I’ll be at the matinee on closing day, December 17.
And it’s not too late to sign up for that Second Stage subscription I mentioned above; Spain runs for a few more weeks, and a new play from Pulitzer Prize finalist Branden Jacobs-Jenkins opened last night, with Hollywood stars Elle Fanning, Sarah Paulson, and Corey Stoll among its cast.
Holiday Togetherness: Tip of the hat to the New Yorker for listing this participatory music piece Unsilent Night. I’ll probably check this out!
Every winter since 1992, the composer and sound artist Phil Kline has put on “Unsilent Night,” a performance-art piece that began in Greenwich Village and has since spread across the world. Open to anyone willing to participate, every procession makes unique ambient music from a set of four audio recordings that “carollers” play simultaneously. On Dec. 17, Kline leads participants, armed with boom boxes (and cell phones), along a fixed course through the city, from Washington Square Park to the East Village, jingling all the way. (Begins by the arch of Washington Square Park; Dec. 17 at 6.)
Imbibing: This is perennial, but if you ever find yourself in between the West & East Villages between 5 - 8 PM (I refuse to call it NoHo), pop in to Astor Wine & Spirits for a free tasting! You can see a weekly schedule on their website.
Taiwan Number One: You can find me at the Walter Reade in the waning days of the year. Film at Lincoln Center has announced the schedule for their Edward Yang retrospective, screening all of the movies by the canonical Taiwanese director, classics and rarities alike. I actually haven’t seen any of his works save for the lesser known A Confucian Confusion, a hilarious romp through modern Taipei, so I’m very excited to delve into as much as I reasonably can.
Usually the Q&A is with the director and/or some cast members, but sometimes you get a Barbie screening with Mark Ronson and Dua Lipa. I would be there if I weren’t going to be out of town!