Archive for September, 2008
The Rose & Crown
This new ‘Victorian pub’ is an amazing piece of work, with wooden furniture, long benches and a carved-effect ceiling making it look every inch the old English pub, despite the fact that it’s on the ground floor of an otherwise anonymous modern office block. But for some reason, having ploughed millions into creating a genuine English décor, the owners have decided not to stock a single foreign beer, so you’re stuck with a choice of Japanese approximations of lager (not bad), English bitter (barely drinkable) and stout (utterly vile). The food, a mix of pseudo-British pub fare (around Y1,000/£5.50), is better.
Le Tambour
Set in a seedy section of the rue Montmartre, this ‘zarbi’ round-the-clock bar is easily spotted – it’s the one that looks like a Swiss chalet, its two-storeys shadowed by the six-storey buildings on either side. Inside it looks and feels a lot like a junk shop, with a fin-de-siècle glass screen here, a hideous lumpy green statue there, bar stools made out of old bus stop signs, coins set into the floor, an old post box set into the bar, shelves full of books and an ancient Métro map on the wall. The customers are a mixed bag too – on our visit, a heavy man with a handlebar moustache was bellowing out passionate opinions about art, ignored by the bar staff; we assumed he was a regular. The rest included a few men in smart suits, also clearly regulars, and a sprinkling of young student types writing letters. Drinks are reasonably priced and the staff are cheerful. One of a kind.
I Kriti
This restaurant not only showcases the tastier recipes of Crete, but also the island’s relaxed and frolicsome vibe. With lovingly prepared and reasonably priced dishes, plaster plates available for the throwing, the owner on hand to give dance lessons and famous Greek musicians often dropping by, it can all feel as if there’s a sandy beach just outside the door… A main course costs G25-G35 (£7.50-£10.50).
Pastis
Keith McNally has for some time had his finger on the pulse of Manhattan’s eating and drinking preferences, having brought the city Odeon, Café Luxembourg, Lucky Strike, Pravda and Balthazar, to name a few. And if he’s still on the money with his latest venture, the city is suddenly taken with what the New York Times calls the new faux-hemia: upmarket venues that carry a veneer of bohemian pretension. Pastis attempts to capture the ambience of a Parisian bistro in the Henry Miller era, full of faux authenticity but with a menu that more than compensates. For the late-night party kids (read Leonardo DiCaprio) there are burgers, steak frites, omelettes and delicious soups and desserts, but the roast lamb, the skate, the seafood stew with chorizo, braised veal and more make for an excellent dinner. Or at lunch you can simply do the très Parisien croque monsieur or even a simple but tasty fish and chips. Brasseries are suddenly all the rage in New York, and Pastis leads the pack. Dinner will set you back $30-$40 (£18-£24).
Fever: The Art of David Wojnarowicz
David Wojnarowicz is a classic tale of the ’80s New York art world. A teenage Times Square hustler, he ended up as a graffiti collaborator of Keith Haring, and like Haring he soon found himself a downtown gallery celebrity. The New Museum retrospective brings together paintings, sculpture, installations, drawings, photographs and short films by the prolific visionary who succumbed to AIDS in 1992, the year his photograph of a buffalo heading over a cliff was immortalised in the rock video for U2′s ‘One’.
Abstract Expressionism – Work on Paper
This collection of work, on loan from the Metropolitan, comprises 75 works by 22 of the most representative figures of American abstract expressionism, all carried out between 1938 and 1969. Most of the artists resided in New York around the time of the outbreak of WW2 and, horrified by the event, began to question the place of humanity in the world and look for a form of expression in tone with the dark times they were living through. Represented, among others, are Jackson Pollock, Elaine de Kooning, Robert Motherwell and Mark Rothko.
Beruska
Quality woodcrafts, whimsical toys, puzzles and miniatures, and the attention and care you don’t see much any more, certainly in city centres at any rate. For something to appease the little traveller or wow the ones left back home, you’ll not likely find better than this old-time trinket shop, named for a ladybug and hidden half-way down the Lucerna shopping arcade, a well-worn throwback to the graceful pre-mall 1920s.
