Monthly Archives: April 2019

April 2019 First night in the great capital, this was a really spectacular find. A 10-minute walk from our Air B&B and recommended by the hostess’ instruction booklet, I wasn’t optimistic based on her wall graphics in the otherwise nice … Continue reading →

April 2019 (see also comment at the end) Delightful and unique. We were at the same-named restaurant in Toronto several years ago and not much impressed, but this is obviously the original. It’s cozied into an expensive upper east side … Continue reading →

April 2019 This is billed as a (or the) premier pizza place in New York City. There must, of course, be hundreds of these but prominence here may also be attributable to a “best hamburger” competition between Emily and “Au … Continue reading →

April 2019. Wonderful. There was very little not to like about this ultra-modern, beautifully-run Italian cuisine spot in the Williamsburg neighbourhood of North Brooklyn. It has a sharp clean white-on-white decor with a sunny cheerful atmosphere in which its capable … Continue reading →

The Collected Stories of Amy Hempel. Scribners, New York, 2006. F;4/19. These are unusual and compelling short stories. Hempel is a nonconformist among short fiction writers, and her colloquial style and straight-ahead content belie but also frame what she accomplishes. … Continue reading →

March 2019 A Michelin star is pretty well a guarantee (except in Japan) of a cut above ordinary little bistros, and a price to match. This was our last day in a short stay in San Francisco and it wasn’t … Continue reading →

March 2019 This expensive classy Chinese restaurant serves a pretty spectacular Sunday dim sum with tables spilling out into the middle of the Rincon Center, a public office, apartment and retail complex near Embarcadero. The restaurant occupies part of the … Continue reading →

de Botton, Alain. The Course of Love. Simon and Schuster (original) 2016. F & NF; 3/19. I love this guy. This is the second of his books I have read, and like Religion for Atheists, when (as we are told … Continue reading →