Pastis: Wish I Knew How to Quit You

Dara writes:

I submit to dining at that chestnut of meatpacking milieus, Pastis, Keith McNally's French bistro on 13th and Hudson, (only) because my cousin works down the street. But actually I love McNally's creations--from the ginger iced tea at Balthazar to the toffee pudding at Schiller's--and think he does an expert job with city restaurants.

Just when my cousin and I sit down, in comes, yes, the hunk who uttered those now-famous words in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, Jake Gyllenhaal. Whoa, right? As I'm telling cuz about it, he saunters over and sits right next to us.

My cousin and I were supposed to have a serious talk and 'twas a tad tough to concentrate thereafter. He ordered sardines and mentioned to his companion--who also looked familiar and seemed, in his seriousness and absence of hunkishness, to be a director or writer--that she'd stayed at his place all week. She going unnamed.

Director/writer and I each ordered the chicken palliard, which I recommend. The frisee on top is dressed just right with vinegar and salt, and the kitchen sprinkles crispy fried shallots on top.

Strong Women

Dara writes:

I’m tired of the cliché strong women. When people use the phrase they seem not to talk at all of courageous women, but of cowardly women who use outward trappings to seem strong.

At Olympus Fashion Week in NYC in early September, a reporter asked designer Nanette Lapore about her inspiration. Lapore designs kind of ‘50s-style, half housewife-inspired, half-Carmen Miranda-inspired, fun clothes. While I’m sure strong women wear them—but probably not to sit on the Supreme Court or hold children or write poetry—I’m not sure that when I look at the clothes, they scream: feminism, bravery, resistance, etc.. But I have been in the store, and I consider myself strong, so. And I've worn the clothes. But I just didn't feel like Wonder Woman when I donned them.

To the reporter, Ms. Lapore gave her inspiration as “strong women everywhere.” How does that notion manifest itself in her clothes? What is a strong woman? I suspect it’s someone who might dare to wear green instead of black. I guess sartorial spontaneity is an element of strength, but probably not the most essential one. Integrity, ingenuity, loyalty, passion, etc., would seem more important markers of female resilience.

Shofar so good

Dara writes:

Happy new year to all my Jewish readers.

James and I went to Temple Emanu-el this morning. We love Rabbi Posner. He's kind of burly and when he wears a dapper suit and shades, he resembles Will Smith from Men in Black. (Speaking of which, Will Smith's new movie I am Legend closed the streets in front of Madison Square Park today. The movie's about a "new flu" epidemic, and the set people put up fake signs about the flu on phone booths. They looked so real I was like, "Shit, it's already time to think about a flu shot?" Until I noticed, by the fact that the mayor's name given at the sign's bottom was Collin Grant and not Michael Bloomberg, that they were fake.)

Anyway, Rabbi P is a very malleable performer. For instance, at our outdoor wedding on Block Island, he became kind of rugged, ordering a Scotch when he got off the ferry, which he had literally jumped onto to board because the I95 traffic was so slow. Then back on Fifth Avenue he's suave, and yet when he blows the shofar, the traditional ram's horn that in Judaism announces portentous occasions, he's all Ornette Coleman improvising a jazz riff.

James and I capped the holiday off with a productive stroll up Madison Avenue--stopping to talk to gallery owners and other assorted glitterati on the way--and then a prosciutto (oh-so-kosher) panini lunch at 73rd Street's Via Quadronno. Ah, the life of a starving poet...

...this is completely off the subject and I kind of feel sacreligious bringing up his name in the same post as that of a revered rabbi, but did anyone listen to the revolting former governor, current "gay American" Jim McGreevey on NPR with Leonard Lopate yesterday? McGreevey is kind of disgusting, not to say slimy and hypocritical.

First of all, I'm always suspicious of someone who repeats his interlocutor's name constantly in a conversation. Everything McG uttered began with, "Leonard, you know," as if addressing the venerable host would mask his hideousness in credibility not to say folksiness. Here's the thing: to me he seems like a kind of old-school repressed guy who never could face up to his predilections and is incredibly ashamed but now sees that his shame has a price tag and can bring him money, public speaking charges, and a book deal. I've never heard talk of gay rights and "queer identity" sound so specious. I feel like he bought a book at the Piscateway Barnes and Noble's called "Queer for Dummies" and memorized how to use postmodern identity politics to his advantage. The result is what happens if you cross a kind of cut-rate Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick with a smarmy lifetime politician. It's not pretty.

The fact is adultery is never cool, and that McG got in trouble not because of his affair but because of the nepotism of appointing his lover as NJ's Homeland Security head.