I have known Tania Grossinger for more years than either one of us care to count. Since I spent my teenage & early 20s in the "Catskill Mountain Resorts, I have read and reread Tania's Growing Up at Grossinger's when it first came out in 2008. I recently gave her new children's book Jackie & Me (Jackie Robinson) to my 5 year old grand-nephew to enjoy. I just spent Memorial Day fascinated by her newest book, which was literally released this week, Memoir of an Independent Woman; An Unconventional Life Well Lived. There is love, lust, drama, pathos, joy, sorrow, death, life, murder (maybe), marriage, divorce, travel..... and that is in the first chapter. What do Timothy Leary, Hugh Hefner, Betty Friedan, Jackie Robinson, Ayn Rand and Art D'Lugoff have in common? You will have to read the book. Published by www.skyhorsepublishing.com.
Ori Mor started Take Me Out New York Nightlife Tours in 2012. There is a Party Bus Tour ($100) but I am 50 years too old for that one. The same goes for the Night Club Tour ($180). I was interested in the Prohibition ($150) and Mixology Tours ($150). There was available space on a Wednesday night Mixology Tour and I grabbed the spot. There were two couples visiting New York from Alaska that found out about TMO through a Groupon promotion. Ori told me that sale generated close to 1,800 customers. “We did not make any money but it sure got our name out there. We don’t want to compete with the large companies doing daytime sightseeing tours and I found an unfilled niche.” I met the stretch limo in front of the Barnes & Noble bookstore on 17th & Union Square Park. Ryan Kahl was the mixologist who made and served the three drinks sampled (included) during the three-hour tour. He has developed cocktails for the Four Seasons and Waldorf Hotels, as well as Food & Wine Magazine and the TV show, Bar Rescue. He was terrific and acted as the host at the three bars we visited that night. Locations vary since they customize the tours to specific days and the dynamics of the group. We started at Bathtub Gin at 132 Ninth Ave (18-19th St). You enter through a coffee shop into a very noisy and jammed back room with a bathtub sitting in the middle. TMO had a table reserved where one could order food or drinks (not included in the price). There was another bar next door that was completely empty. In vs. out. A very American bar, as opposed to the more laid back French style Experimental Cocktail Club at 191 Chrystie Street on the Lower East Side. Our last stop was The Rooftop at 230 Fifth Ave at 27th Street. It was 75 degrees at 11 PM and the view and cool breeze was welcome. What I liked was the VIP experience. We did not have to wait in line to get into the most prestigious bars in the city. With a TMO tour, all-inclusive access means skipping the lines. Also there are no cover charges. Check their website for special promotions-www.takemeoutnyc.com.
I write for 12 (mostly) online outlets that had 3.8 million visitors in 2012. Unfortunately, most are not household names. For that reason I am often passed over when invites are extended to the press. I am not insulted but sometimes wonder if I should start bragging about my outlets covering wine, spirits, food, sports and travel. Now in its sixth year the New Taste of the Upper West Side (my neighborhood) is one of my favorite events. I have attended several of the Friday night Comfort Classics where over 40 of the Upper West Side’s chefs serve samples of their “comfort food.” Since I am not on the press list I ask wine and food friends for a ticket. Thankfully, they have never turned me down. This year I spent time with my friends at Palm Bay International who had all the wine and spirits being poured. I knew, from past experience, what would occur as soon as the crowds were let in. I stopped by Luke’s Lobster for their Maine Shrimp Roll, an all-time yummy dish. A few minutes later there were 100 people in that line. I visited and tasted dishes from some old and some new local restaurants including: 5 napkin Burger, Artie’s Deli and Restaurant, Baconery, Big Daddy’s, Bomboloni, Café Frida, Ditch Plains, Insomnia Cookies, Isabella’s, Magnolia Bakery, Momofuku Milk Bar, One Cup Two Cupcakes, Picnic Market & Café, P.J. Clarke’s, Rigoletto Pizzeria, Piposa 72, Sarabeth’s, Shake Shack, Toloni Wine Restaurant, Virgil’s Real BBQ, Sysco Metro NY and Whole Foods Market www.newtasteuws.com.
Languedoc-Roussillon is one of the 27 regions of France. It comprises five areas and borders the other French regions of Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Rhône-Alpes, Auvergne, Midi-Pyrénées on the one side, and Spain, Andorra and the Mediterranean Sea on the other side. It is the southernmost region of France. The Sud de France Festival 2013 ran from June 2nd to June 23rd. There were wine classes, concerts, wine tastings, seminars and local restaurant events. I was invited on a two-hour tour around NYC with stops in Manhattan & Brooklyn. There were 3 tours given during this year’s festival. They left from the Languedoc-Roussillon ground floor showroom at 53rd Street between Fifth & Madison Avenues. The best part of the Sud de France bus tour was the Luck Chops Brass Band, especially Josh Holcomb the trombonist. The driver got lost finding 53rd Street between Madison & Fifth Avenues so we started out 40 minutes late. The open upper deck was filled and the 5-piece band was in the first two rows and played continuously for almost an hour as we drove downtown. People along the route were dancing to the music. The driver tried to make a turn down a narrow village street. I could tell immediately he was not going to make it. A car was legally parked at the corner and the driver literally touched his bumper. Then the great city of New York took over. People gathered to watch. The bus was half way out into 7th Avenue, which backed traffic up for blocks. A person on the ground began directing the driver and spent a good 15 minutes trying to help him. A Fire Department ambulance came by and the men put on their lights and directed traffic around the bus. Eventually the bus backed out and found another route to the first stop- Beau Marchais at 409 West 19th Street. It was Tuesday night jazz and our band joined their band while we were served wine from the South of France. Then it was already 9PM (the time the bus should have returned us to East 53rd Street) so I left the group and went home. Their next stop in Brooklyn was at Battery Harris in Williamsburg. I was told the view from the Brooklyn Bridge was spectacular. For more information- http://www.festivalsuddefrance.com/Events.181.0.html.
I have known F. Paul Pacult for more than 30 years. His Kindred Spirits book is my bible for everything spiritus. The Fourth annual Ultimate Spirits Challenge was held in March 2013 and resulted in the first 100-point score- Highland Park 25-year old Single Malt Scotch Whisky. In June I was invited to briefly observe the Ultimate Wine Challenge at The Astor Center in NYC. How impressed was I that Paul, who founded the challenges and is the judging Chairman, was able to get 7 Masters of Wine as judges? This may be the most talented wine-judging panel in industry history. Wines are tasted blind, in flights organized by category. All tasting and scoring is by panel and subject to three separate, progressive sets of evaluations. Top honors go to best wine in a category- i.e. best cabernet Sauvignon, best Riesling, best Champagne, etc. I did my old mini-blind tasting and can’t wait to see how my results stacked up against the judges- www.ultimate-beverage.com.
Wine & Food Festivals have become so commonplace that I don’t normally read the press releases announcing yet another event. This was different. In earl June the third annual Westchester Magazine Wine & Food Weekend featured seminars by Kevin Zraly, author of Windows on the World Complete Wine course and teacher extraordinaire. Rumor has it that Kevin has sold over 4 million copies of this book. I may have been teaching and writing about wine for more than 50 years but Kevin makes me look like a beginner. He is the most entertaining wine lecturer/teacher out there bar none. That is why I wanted to drive up to the Ritz Carlton Hotel in White Plains and sit in on one of his three tasting seminars- Grand Cru Vineyards of Washington, Oregon and New York. I got there early so I could spend some time at the Grand Tasting with many wines available to sample. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. The food samplings were the best I have had at any wine & food festival I have ever attended. The weekend also included the Burger & Beer Bash, a winemaker’s dinner, bartender’s shake-off, a sparkling Sunday brunch and a beer and vodka seminar. Bravo Westchester Magazine- www.westchestermagazine.com/wineweekend.
My last item was supposed to be about a wine tour of Long Island. We would visit three wineries including making our own blend at one of the stops. Lunch was included in this all-day trip from Manhattan. Unfortunately, the day before the tour was to leave, the bus company informed me that they were without a bus for this trip. What to do on this lovely late spring day? I had a good idea in an email from On Location Tours that they have just partnered with TMZ (Thirty Mile Zone- referring to the area around Los Angeles) to offer the TMZ Tour NYC. A call confirmed there was one space available the next day on the 1 PM two-hour tour, leaving from 51st Street and Broadway. I had taken an On Location Tour before, the Sex and the City Hotspots. They operate in New York and Boston and have other tours including: Sopranos, Gossip Girl, and the New York TV & Movie Sites tour. I watch the TV version of TMZ many nights on Channel 5 at 6:30 PM here in NYC. They are the fourth most searched news source in 2012 according to Google. The tour showcases over 70 locations in Manhattan. The real star of the tour was our guide Mathew Chadwick, who 10 years ago was a finalist in the Australian version of American Idol and the TMZ video clips that focused on locations and people on our route. We moved through Times Square and past Macy’s, Madison Square Garden and Chelsea. After a right turn on 14th street through the Meatpacking District, down 9th Avenue and the Chelsea Market, West Village and Soho. The bus moved down Lower Broadway, along Canal Street, and then uptown on the West Side Highway. There goes Chelsea Piers, the Jacob Javits Convention Center, the Circle Line and the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. There was a ship docked at the Cruise Terminal as we turned toward Columbus Circle, past the Time Warner Center and Central Park. Hello F.A.O. Schwartz, St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Rockefeller Center, Radio City Music Hall and NBC, as our tour came to an end. Well worth the $49 price, children are $39 www.onlocationtours.com.
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