The Musings of Ron Kapon

Art Crawl Harlem

A few months ago I wrote about Jacqueline Orange’s Taste of Harlem Tour. It was the most read article I have done in the past 10 years and appeared in 8 other outlets. When I received an invitation to her Art Crawl Harlem I signed up immediately. On a beautiful late October Saturday afternoon our group of 25 met at The Sol Studio at 123^rd & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. This was a walking tour. When the group is larger they use a trolley bus.

 

Our 2^nd stop was La Maison D’Art B&B & its art gallery & garden (259 West 132^nd St). The world famous

Shomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (part of the New York Public Library system) was our final stop (Malcom X Boulevard & 135^th St). The exhibition is a visual arts celebration of the 40^th Anniversary of Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls. The 20 commissioned pieces correspond to the 20 poems (from) for colored girls. Our walking guide for this tour was John Reddick. The curator for the 3 gallery exhibition -which runs September 19, 2014 through January 3, 2015- was Souleo.

 

 

ArtCrawl Harlem Inc. was established in 2008 and incorporated as an educational not-for-profit art gallery tour in 2010. The organization was designed to educate participants while supporting and promoting the rich visual arts in Harlem. It was created by two community entrepreneurs, Jacqueline Orange of Taste Harlem Tours and Averlyn Archer of Canvas, Paper and Stone Art Gallery. Their combined backgrounds in tourism and art provided the foundation for ArtCrawl Harlem™. Their mission is to support Harlem's rich art, cultural institutions and experts, including individual professional artists. 

 

i found god in myself

THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF NTOZAKE SHANGE’S

for colored girls...

i found god in myself is a multimedia and multigallery exhibition celebrating the 40th anniversary of Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.

Since its debut performance in 1974 just outside Berkeley, California at a bar named the Bacchanal, Shange’s work has captivated, provoked, inspired, and transformed audiences all over the world. On display at The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture are 20 specially commissioned pieces in honor of the individual poems and archival material that traces the journey of Shange’s text from that bar in California to its critically acclaimed run on Broadway.

The multigallery exhibition extends beyond the walls of the Schomburg to include additional noncommissioned artworks on display at two satellite locations, The Sol Studio and La Maison d’Art. These multimedia works portray women at the life stages of youth, adulthood, and late adulthood. Thereby each work gives tangible life-form to Shange’s words and women’s contemporary experiences with issues such as class, body image, gender identity, immigration, politics, war, love, sexuality, racial identity, sisterhood, and ultimately self-love.  i found god in myself is curated and organized by Souleo of Souleo Enterprises, LLC.

 

For further information, or to join the mailing list for future tours:

(212) 866-7427 or artcrawlharlem@gmail.com - $55 per person. $25 pp for two people.

Sister company- www.tasteharlem.com

All photos by Ron Kapon

Villagio on the Park: Relax & Enjoy

When the public relations firm invited me to sample Villagio in the Park I noted the location, 40 Central Park South. The address sounded familiar and with a little research I realized that site used to be Mickey Mantle’s Restaurant & Bar. For you non-sports fans he was one of the greatest NY Yankee players, along with Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio. I had been to the restaurant many times including the Sports Network’s award presentation. Since the CEO of said Sports Network was in town (from the Philadelphia area) I invited Mickey & his wife Roz Charles to join me for dinner.

 

Designer Jeffrey Beers had also designed one of my favorite restaurants db Bistro Moderne (Daniel Boulud). My eyes were immediately drawn to the hundreds of illuminated crystals hung from the ceiling as they reflected off one another. The walls are lined with rustic pizza paddles and there is plenty of marble and wood. Executive Chef Paul Johnson utilizes a wood-burning pizza oven and open kitchen.

 

Co-owners Thomas Billante (Italian) and Alexander Kosmas Kalas (Greek) operate four Villagio’s in south Florida, with one in Chicago and now one in New York City (as of March, 2014). They have several other restaurants in south Florida under different names, including my favorite, Carpaccio.

 

There are many restaurant reviewers out there more qualified than I to give or take away stars. I would rather talk about the ambience, service and especially the food. There is a small outdoor seating area, an upper dining room, with bar, plus a step down seating area and then a step up semi-private dining area. It was still warm for mid-October so I choose the dining area down just a few steps. I could look at the open kitchen and the AC was in full cooling mode. I always check out the restrooms to see if management takes pride in their upkeep. There were 4 large-size unisex rooms that were sparkling clean.

 

The staff was extremely attentive, especially the young general manager David Fuentes. A Cuban-American, he worked in the south Florida Villagio restaurant and moved to the Upper West Side this past spring (he lives 1 block from me). He picked out a menu for our visit that reflected the best of the restaurant.

 

Appetizers

Fiore di zucca- zucchini flowers stuffed with smoked mozzarella and prosciutto

Gondoletta-homemade 4 cheese and spinach filled pasta in a light cream truffle sauce

Entrées

Branzino-filet of Branzino grilled with lemon and olive oil

Lombatta Parmigiana-flattened veal chop lightly breaded and topped with mozzarella and marinara sauce

Dessert- Chocolate fudge cake- house made chocolate sponge cake, with preserved cherries, grand marnier mousse and homemade chocolate ganache

Apple pie crostini

 

The wine list is not the strong point of the restaurant. I consider double retail price charged by a liquor store to be fair. Several Champagnes met that criteria but not many of the wines did.

 

Great atmosphere, good friends sharing a meal, superb food and service and prices that are not out of line. Perfection is only a wine list away.

 

All photos, except outside shot, courtesy of Lawlor Media Group.