Snoobington's Lower East Side

Cafe Petisco

Snoobington — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 23:50:00 GMT

The East Side Cafe is no more.

We now have Cafe Petisco to replace it at the corner of East Broadway and Henry St. (right across from the Seward Park Branch of the NYC Public Library) The new cafe uses the same guts as East Side with some simple re-purposing and furniture stain, but even those small things make a big difference.

Right now, it is a good deal as a BYOB with no corkage fee and ok food. The pesto panini is a good deal as it comes with a small salad. I really like the arugula and endive salad. It is nice at night because it is still quite empty and the wait staff are all brand new and eager.

We went there for brunch on Sunday and it was ok. The coffee wasn't good, but at least it wasn't burnt like it used to be at East Side. I had the goat cheese omelet, which was pretty ordinary.

The cookies they sale from a jar are clearly freshly cooked from a mix, which makes them kind of awesome if you miss that from your childhood....

The Two Boots from Hell

Snoobington — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:58:00 GMT

Last night I met a couple of friends to do some volunteer work at the Two Boots Pizza on Grand Street. Big Mistake.

When we first arrived, I noticed some gooey black junk all over the bench seat next to me. It looked wet and really gross. I had another friend arriving, so I asked the waiter/counter staff person to clean up the mess so that she could sit there. At first I just told him about the mess expecting him to come right over and clean it up. He did not. When I went back and asked him about it, he said that it was probably just ink... I had to specifically say, "Will you come and clean it up so that we do not get whatever it is all over our clothes?" He only then, reluctantly, came over to clean it.

Then, I ordered a large cheese pizza with mushrooms. He said, "eight to ten minutes". Fifteen minutes later I went to check on the pizza. They had clearly forgotten to put the order in and put it in as I asked about it. Fifteen minutes later, my friend went to ask again. This time he said, "three to five minutes". Ten more minutes later, she went to ask again. Same response. So, being in a more aggressive mood than me, my friend demanded half our money back and the food now. The man did not apologize. He just shrugged and said he thought that it may have been dropped on the floor and they had to make it again.

Five minutes later the pizza arrived. In total, it took 45 minutes and we were the only ones in the store!!

Then, almost immediately after eating the pizza, I got a very bad stomach ache that lasted all night.

No more Two Boots from Hell for me ever again. The good news is that they are probably going out of business.

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New Diner on Houston and Norfolk..Remedy Diner

Snoobington — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:52:00 GMT

Some of you may have noticed that there is a new 24-hour diner on Houston and Norfolk. The diner is aptly named "Remedy" for all the hangover cures sought there.

The place is decorated in typically dinner decor with a counter (complete with baked goods) and tables and booths with service. They have a rotating, glass-encased tower of cakes near the door to catch the attention of drunk passersby.

I have been there twice, but neither time was between midnight and 6am which is probably the best time to go.

The first was for dinner and I had the salmon and spinach salad. This was pretty good and the salmon seemed really fresh. The place was not very crowded and the service pretty good.

The second time I went was yesterday around 3pm. I had the tuna melt with fries and coffee. This was not so hot. The tuna salad was made with celery and parsley, so nice and crunchy, but it was cold for a melt. It was as if they melted the strangely solid piece of cheese in the microwave, let it cool in a melty-like shape, and then placed it on my sandwich as you would a slice of lettuce.

The other strange thing about the meal was the service. The waitress was very nice and got my difficult allergy order correct, but the bus boy was sort of rude and tossed us our coffee. But, hey, it is a diner.

Unfortunately, the prices for this diner put it in a non-diner category with diner-quality food. This is a problem.
I could go to one of my fav organic places for the same price. That means that the next time I visit Remedy, I will probably be desperate and searching for any place open after 2am.

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Feast of Love

Snoobington — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 23:22:00 GMT

I don't know why I haven't learned my lesson a long time ago on this one, but I recently watched the movie version of Feast of Love. The books was really amazing, but the movie was pretty bad. Sometimes I have to do this to remind myself that books really are better than movies most of the time. Hence, I should read more.

Anyway, Feast of Love (the book) is really sad, but definately worth it. The book portrays a clueless man and an aging philosophy professor who both learn a lot about love from a young, fearless couple in love. The interesting thing is that the young couple includes a recovering heroine addict and an astrology-loving runaway who work in a coffee shop. This a great because usually these types of books either feature ambitious young people trying to save the world or people in unfortunate circumstances trying desparately to recover so they can be the ones saving the world. Charles Baxter just lets us accept, and eventually love, these characters exactly as they are.

The Crazy Case of the $100 Bill at the East Broadway Vegetarian Restaurant

Snoobington — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 21:10:00 GMT

I finally checked out the new veggy restaurant on East Broadway, actually called, East Broadway.

The have local wine from Ithaca, which is nice, and they have lots of exotic salad greens. I ordered the fake duck and it was so much like actual duck it was shocking. They actually faked the skin! Pretty good, but ridiculously expensive. My "duck" was almost $30. If you are a vegetarian, but really miss meat, this is your place. Much better, but more pricey, than Red Bamboo.

The crazy thing that happened has nothing to do with the food!

We paid the bill with a $100 bill and a credit card (to split it). Then the change came back... the change was $142! Weird. They had left the $100 bill but also given us the change. I debated taking off with the money, but, since my friend's credit card was on file, I told the waitress about her mistake. That was really my mistake because she said "why didn't you just take it? I would have." Then she snatched up the bill and didn't even thank me! So, East Broadway gets a good rating on food, but a bad rating on service. Also, it is too expensive, but nice inside. The have a neat little back patio.

Trying a New Host, but still keeping Godaddy

Snoobington — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 15:07:00 GMT

First of all, I have to say that I love GoDaddy. I am not sure why, but they sold me. Unfortunately, I am having trouble getting a database for one of my sites to work, so I am going to sign up for one month with another hosting service called Hostgater (represented here by this allegator link). I will let everyone know how it goes and if it is worth using shortly....

Finding Good Coffee

Snoobington — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 22:26:00 GMT

I am not sure when I became a coffee person, but, what was once an addiction that I hoped to stymie, has now become a hobby, a passion, an endless quest. I have started to appreciate good coffee. Today I am in Virginia, where it is especially hard to find good coffee. I have purchased cups from three places today and it is only 10:30. So far, none of them were worth finishing. Also, they do not have soy milk in Virginia. It is as though they have never heard of lactose intolerance here. Not that I am lactose sensitive, I just like soy milk better for other reasons, but I worry about the people who can’t drink milk.

In my neighborhood we have a few good places. Full City (aka Roots and Vines) is ok, but occasionally burns the coffee. They claim to have recently changed their house blend (I think to a cheaper one because food prices are so high), but I can’t tell that it is any better or worse. The Roasting Plant is really good, but, although you can buy a cup, it is really a place to buy a pound. They have cookies and the like, but no café to sit in.

Another good place, if you want to venture north of Delancy, is the Falai Panetteria, on the corner of Stanton and Clinton (across from Alias). They have great coffee and pastries, but they are a bit expensive and offer table service. It is a good place to work in the afternoon if you can stand the house music they sometimes play. Flowers, on Grand and Essex, had good coffee for the first week after they opened, but it didn’t last. The food has suffered as well. The owner is a really nice guy, but when he isn’t around to oversee everything, it gets sloppy.

Shelly Silver

Snoobington — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 01:10:39 GMT

This afternoon I went on a search around the neighborhood for a simple household necessity. It was completely embarrassing, but I was looking for a plunger. They didn't have one at the Rite Aid on Grand and Clinton, they didn't have one at the CVS on Grand and Pike, and they didn't even have on at the Fine n' Fare (see my entry on Crap and Cheat). I finally found one at the 99 cent store. Figures. Why are "common" items like this so hard to find?

Anyway, while making the trek in search of the elusive plunger, I was accosted by five separate signature collectors for Shelly (Sheldon) Silver. While I haven't paid enough attention to know whether or not I have anything against Shelly, I was perplexed by the enthusiasm of these young people. Were they paid? If not, why did they feel the need to expend so much energy for someone so well established, someone who does not really need their help. I love that people are involved in the political process on a local level (it is so great and usual in this country), but I hope they are involved in worthy non-profits as well. I hope they are campaigning for other important things like SCHIP re-authorization and funding for desperately needed homeless shelters in New York. Shelly is well-loved around here and will have all the voters he needs.

The neighborhood was great today though, so warm and busy. I was happy to see that the fruit stand is back in front of the Citibank. I would much rather buy a banana than an ice cream.

Plug for my favorite internet score.

Snoobington — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 08:40:00 GMT

I will be back to write more about this later because I have to go to bed now, but I wanted to share this great deal that I use all the time. Seriously, they do give you free business cards but you have to pay postage, which is about $5 if you do it the slow way (takes a couple of weeks). But $5 is pretty darn good for 250 cards in full color. I use them as little flyers and notecards for all kinds of things. They even make good bookmarks.

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Discovering RSS Feeds

Snoobington — Fri, 30 May 2008 01:49:25 GMT

How will I ever get any work done now that I have subscribed to 20 blogs? I am using a new FireFox add-on called Sage. I like it because it is so simple. No graphics or complicated set-up. I think it takes very little memory in comparison to the bigger readers. I really like the simple interface. Now, if I could use FireScribe, then I could easily blog. Unfortunately I set this blog up using Quickblog, a godaddy program, so it has ads on top. These are really not necessary because I have hosting and Wordpress. I have another blog that is especially for news commentary. It is, appropriately, named Newspapergirl.info. It is a Wordpress blog, which is pretty good, but not as easy. It took me hours to learn how to install a theme because I accidently deleted the default theme folder. There must have been some special file in there because deleting the folder made my whole blog appear to be a blank screen! Well, if you want a free blog with no effort, you can use Wordpress.com, but I downloaded the program from Wordpress.org and use my own hosting. Now, finding time to actually write these blogs is going to be tough. It isn't really an issue now because I have no subscribers yet!

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Alias, Clinton Street Gem

Snoobington — Thu, 29 May 2008 02:18:00 GMT

Just North of Delancy, on Clinton, is a resturant which is reasonably priced (unless you are buying multiple bottles of wine!) and all local and organic. Alias, is great for brunch and dinner on Sunday night. On Sundays they have a prefix menu, which I love, and I usually just get eggs and grits for brunch. Yes, grits. They even have cheese grits! How is a country girl supposed to stay away!

My favorite dinner is the free range chicken in mushroom jus. I am trying to be more veggy, but the chicken is really good. They also have great kale with currants and pine nuts. I love the kale so much that I could just go there for that. Then, to top it off, they have mint ice cream cookie sandwiches. Yes, chocolate chip cookies with mint ice cream in the middle. They are tiny, so you get a treat, but you do not feel like a stuffed cow.

Why Juno is So Great

Snoobington — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:30:00 GMT

I absolutely love the movie Juno because she does such an excellent job portraying the boredom and absurdity of teenage life. Although the whole movie is great, it is her relationship with the potential adoptive father and her ultimate decision that really make the movie. The adoptive father-to-be, played by Jason Bateman, is even less mature than she is, which she didn't really note as a red flag until everything starts to fall apart. Thankfully, she makes what I consider to be the right choice in the end. The clue here is that I considered it to be the best choice, not everyone. It deserved the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

I also saw Margot at the Wedding the other day, and I was very disappointed. I loved Squid and the Whale so much that I was sure Margot would be great. I hate it when I am wrong, but it is especially bad this time because I made my poor, unsuspecting friend watch it with me. This is a movie that wallows in its own angst. Yikes! And, you have to see many, many shots of Jack Black in his underwear. Not fun kids.

Rush Hour, saving us from the annoyance of hunger or ever leaving the house

Snoobington — Wed, 28 May 2008 04:59:00 GMT

Rush Hour (134 Ludlow St), a burger joint that delivers until 2:00 am on weeknights and 4:00 am on weekends, is a live-saver. Although not gourmet, I have never been too grossed out by anything ordered. Ok, sometimes I am a little grossed out, but it is good for your immune system to challenge it every once in a while! The fries are often under-cooked. It is best not to order fries. Also, the wraps tend to be a bit dry. They tend to deliver quickly and still be hot, but the burgers can be pretty overpriced if you order any of the special combinations. My favorite is the Paul’s Burger, pineapple and Swiss.. yumm… Since I don’t eat red meat, this is actually a Paul’s Turkey Burger, and that comes to $10.00! If you just order a regular turkey burger, it is only $6.00 and you can still get lettuce and tomato. Cheese is an extra dollar. Fries are more, but are usually pretty soggy. You can get mixed greens as well, but they are sometimes soggy too.

Lately the late night guy has been a bit flirty with me, and I CALL IN. That means that he doesn’t even see me. I find this pretty funny, but so far, no free cookies or anything. No matter how many times I say my name, they always think it is something else. So, I just respond to anything. They give you a ridiculous amount of mustard and ketchup though. So much so, that if you like your ketchup in packets, then you only need to order once per month and you have your fill. I have never actually eaten in the place, but I did order a smoothie in the store once. It was pretty good for 1:00 am. I guess I agree with all the yelp reviewers, this place is great, if you are drunk..

Webshots - Giving your pictures to the world?

Snoobington — Tue, 27 May 2008 10:32:51 GMT

Apparently, I have tons of great photos on this site called Webshots, from a long time ago. Great photos of my trips that I do not even have on my computer anymore. And people are downloading this photos. I am not sure how comfortable I feel about this. I clicked on one photo (someone else's) and it gave me some html to post into a blog. Humm.... I am going to try it to see how that works. This is supposed to be a thumbnail of someone's picture:

It is kind of strange to have personal photos posted for the world to copy and use at will. Other people can actually download prints of your photos. Tell me that isn't weird. I think I am going to be deleting my old pictures from this site, unless I can think of a useful reason to have them there. I suppose they could generate traffic to my other websites or this blog, but that is kind of a long shot if they only link to the Webshots page.

I know a friend who has many, many great shots posted on this site. I wonder how many have been used without his permission. It is not so bad if someone took a photo and put it on the wall of their living room (not bad, but really weird), but it is bad if they used it for commercial purposes. I think it would be appropriate to ask the photographer for permission and give credit. They also have professional photographers on the site. I wonder how they protect their interests. This website seems to have less of an interest in preserving rights than Flicker, a similar site of which I am not currently a member.

Crap and Cheat

Snoobington — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:19:17 GMT

There is a grocery store in the neighborhood which is basically the closest and easiest way to get the essentials, but it continually stocks expired food, bad food, even cheese with visible mold. You have to be careful what you buy there. It is called Fine and Fare, but I refer to it as Crap and Cheat. I have found juice that is over a year expired there. They like to put the price tag over the expiration date, so be careful if you shop there.

Recently, a fruit stand opened next door that has much better produce. Unfortunately, the fruits and vegetables are still imported and non-organic, but at least they are fresh. This fruit stand was up 24 hours a day for a while and then, this morning, suddenly disappeared. Where did it go?

Meanwhile, I carried several bags of fresh fruit home from Whole Foods on the bus Saturday because it is the only way to get anything decent in the neighborhood. Luckily, there is this great bus that practically takes you door to door from Union Square.

Thelma Lives!

Snoobington — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:09:41 GMT

I am building a site for my pet chicken. Yes, that's right. There is a new online social networking site for pets. I guess the idea is that you pretend to be your pet when you create a profile. These people are so funny. Most of them are cats and dogs, so I am going to post my dad's pet chicken, Thelma. Thelma is really great because she only laid eggs and few times, but they were special eggs. She laid them in a plant on the front porch every morning after my dad came home sick from the hospital. We cooked them up and fed them to him as her recovered. Technically, Thelma is my father's pet chicken, not mine, and she lives in California. I am building a Thelma profile anyway because I can't help myself!

Lab Meat - Literally!

Snoobington — Fri, 23 May 2008 02:37:08 GMT

They are now growing meat in labs for human consumption. The debate is whether this is good (saves animals) or bad (WEIRD). I haven't decided. I am usually completely against anything genetically modified, but this might be good if it uses less energy and it doesn't kill animals... yet.. YUCK.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90235492

Goat in Diapers

Snoobington — Thu, 22 May 2008 14:37:53 GMT

I just wanted to see if I could email pictures in to the blog and I decided that this picture was worth sharing with the world.

This is one of the family goats. I am not sure if it is Ethel or Fred or Tina... but it sure looks cute. That is until the diaper slips and baby goat droppings fall all over the living room!

Why do we have a goat in diapers? Because that is the best way to play with your baby goat inside! And come one, they are adorable, right?

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Housing Works Used Bookstore and Cafe

Snoobington — Thu, 22 May 2008 13:17:39 GMT

My favorite bookstore in the city is the Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe on Crosby St. (just south of Houston)

They are having some interesting upcoming events:

May 24, 2008 - The New York City Spelling Bee
May 27, 2008 - Paula Fox and Lynne Tillman Reading
May 28, 2008 - Poetry Magazine Reading
May 29, 2008 - Literary Death Match
June 7, 2008 - Open Air Book Fair!

I donate books there all the time, but not for too much longer because I just got a NY Public Library Card! So now I can

read the books and just return them instead of selling them or donating them. The library rocks.

Daily Weirdness

Snoobington — Wed, 21 May 2008 20:55:00 GMT

There is a great article in the Christian Science Monitor about a deer rescuing a rabbit from a cat.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0502/p19s01-hfes.html