I knew a kid in high school whose last name was “Benoit.” First name Rick. Ricky Benoit. In Dallas, Texas, that French, foreign last name made him seem VERY sophisticated to me. I’ve since learned that French doesn’t always equate to “fabulous,” but France often does.
Alain Ducasse’s newish Manhattan brasserie, Benoit, has suffered through some [...]
October 5th, 2008
Benoit: Good Night and Good Luck, by Celest
August 10th, 2008
Table for One
I’m a fan of the occasional solo dinner or night out, alone. Maybe my plans have fallen through, maybe I just feel like channeling my inner Garbo, but from time to time, I want to be alone, in public. I’m not talking red dress, martini sipping and eye contact with a handsome stranger across the [...]
June 18th, 2008
Beet It!
It’s over. We’re over. Il Italiano and I are no more. Finito. I’ll spare you the bloody details…save this: once an Italian honeymoon comes to an end, you’re left with nothing more than a hairy, cocksure bamboccione (the Italian for mamma’s boy)!
My Italiano was true to form. I like a man who likes his family, [...]
January 17th, 2008
A Bon Voyage with an Italian Accent
My bright, young cousin Natalie, a constant running buddy since she came to study at NYU in 2006, is moving to Parisfor the next six months! I’ll miss our Grey Dog lunches and Sunday night movie dates while she’s immersed at The Sorbonne, seeking out the company of romantic young Frenchmen (who, I’ve already warned her, will most [...]
December 13th, 2007
Let Her Eat Cake, by Erin
Yesterday was The Big Day. The B-Day. This was the first year for as long as I can remember that I did not have some sort of elaborate, one-of-a-kind, stay-out’til-the
-sun-comes-up-the-next-day-
while-eating-BLTs-at-the-
local-diner-on-the-corner kind of birthday parties.
I love birthdays. Especially my own. I love them so much, I have even been known to throw myself a surprise birthday [...]
October 11th, 2007
Where to Eat…
I am not always enamored of French cuisine or even the beloved brasserie aesthetic because they too easily lend themselves to a kind of snobbery that does not a good side dish with moules frites make. And mediocrity on either the French food or décor front is usually worse than mediocrity in any other gastronomic milieu. But, you can’t argue [...]
Proudly powered by WordPress.