The Whitest Kids U' Know

A flyer that was handed to me a few Sundays ago at Pianos (158 Ludlow St. at Stanton St., tel. 212-505-3733) read something like, "The Whitest Kids U' Know, 5 handsome young comedians you'll soon see on TV." Well, I am not sure about the handsome... but I wouldn't be surprised to see Trevor, Sam, Zach, Timmy or Darren on national TV sometime soon.

The Whitest Kids U' Know are a fantastic Sketch comedy troupe--as they define themselves--who perform mostly at Pianos every Sunday night at 8pm, in a show called Sunday Skool. The show has been increasingly more popular since I first discovered it a few months ago (thanks to a starred entry in the Time Out New York calendar of comedy), to the point that you need to be there at least by 7:45, if you want to sit.

The Sunday Skool begins with a few typically funny guest stand-up comedians (which is a nice bonus, given the kinds of people that pass as comedians these days) and then moves on to the Whitest Kids' sketches. They are really funny! And these guys are not without theatrical skills. Amazing how believably a 15-by-10 stage with no scenography and an absolute bare minimum of props turns into a basement, an office, a battlefield, the cockpit of a starship...

After the sketches, a few equally funny videos--or funnier, given the bigger possibilities of the electronic medium--will play, usually including a musical one. You don't have to take my word on the videos, just download some low-resolution versions at their website, whitestkids.com. My current favorite is the Hitler rap.

The Whitest Kids' biggest weapons are their prolificity--you can go 3-4 times and not see the same sketch twice--and creative senselessness--as in "What the!? How the hell did they think about this?". They make for a powerful antidote to comedy's most lethal and common disease, sameness.

Cupcake Café

Sometimes I think my posts are too long. So here's a very short one.


Check out Cupcake Café. MV and I walked by chance into their Chelsea location (18 W. 18th St. b/w 5th & 6th Aves., tel. 212-465-1530) the other evening, and we really liked both the quaint locale and its cupcakes (vote 7/10) (see more). It seemed just the perfect place for a 5pm dessert and tea, and it did deliver, in terms of giving us a sweet and relaxing time. The tearoom is augmented by a childen bookstore which gives it an intimate homey feeling.

Cupcake Café has another location at 522 9th Ave. (at 39th St.).

Brunch suggestions

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary's definition of brunch reads: a meal usually taken late in the morning that combines a late breakfast and an early lunch. That doesn't quite solve my quandary: Is a brunch simply the meal that you have when you wake up late and skip breakfast? Or are you supposed to eat something a little different from both an ordinary breakfast and an ordinary lunch for it to qualify as a brunch?

If you, like me, opt for the latter alternative, here are some suggestions for a brunch in New York City.

Le Pain Quotidien is a big favorite of mine. I wrote about it in a previous post.

Rachel's (608 9th Ave. b/w 43rd & 44th Sts, tel. 212-957-9050) is a Hell's Kitchen fairly elegant little restaurant which--at least on weekends--aims to work primarily with the theater-going crowd (one day they told us they'd give us a table only if we promised to leave by 5, the Sunday post-show rush hour). They have a very nice, if limited, brunch selection (vote 7/10) that will please both the egg-oriented and the sugar-loving person in your party. Although they have good omelettes and sandwiches, I tend to go for the their exceptionally delicate pancakes (vote 8/10). A specialty is the one with walnuts encrusted in it. Prices at Rachel's are very reasonable for a restaurant with an upscale tone.

A quainter but smaller and way more crowded place is Tartine (253 W. 11th St. at 4th St., tel. 212-229-2611), in the West Village. If, and I emphasize if, you manage to get a table, you can try their (locally) famous selection of pastries. I liked mine very much (vote 8/10), the one time we succeeded at getting a table, and MV liked her apple tart as well. Reviews that I've read rate the other parts of their menu highly too. But I have to say, my unsophisticated upbringing makes me think that very few eateries are worth a long wait or too many attempts at getting in; Tartine is not one of them. My advice is to walk by, which has a value of its own in that nice neighborhood, and give it a try. If it doesn't look like you'll be seated in 5 minutes, just move on.

City Bakery (3 W. 18th St., tel. 212-366-1414) is a cafeteria whose main attraction are the freshly baked goods (vote 6/10). The food might not be so special here, but something still drives me to this place every now and then. It might be its sleek look of a modern busy place (imagine a London fast-food restaurant in the 1980s crammed with exceedingly young white collars on their lunch break plus the ever-present representative of backpack-endowed Italian tourists); or maybe it is the nice second-floor gallery overlooking the main counter, that is placed in the middle of the floor below; or possibly it is their selection of foods (including a variety of yogurts) which subconsciously appeals to me as very brunchy.

Ideya (349 W. Broadway, b/w Broome & Grand Sts., tel. 212-625-1441) is a cute Caribbean bistro in TriBeCa with a peculiar specialty: brunch cocktails! (Well, this place is big on cocktails in general; what I mean is, your average bar or restaurant won't have a list of cocktails specifically designed for brunch.) Among them, I really like the smooth taste of their Morir soñando (vote 9/10); MV favors the Fresh mint limeade. As for the brunch menu, the quality is more than satisfactory (vote 6-7/10) and the selection... well, if you go to a Caribbean place, you must expect to eat Caribbean-style food.

Thank you New York!

Since it's the holidays, I'll write a different post than usual, a personal reflection on something that everyone knows: New Yorkers don't say "thank you"--they do say "excuse me", but it is not usually a form of courtesy, at least not when it means one of the following:

• "Get out of my way!"
  
• "What the f*** are you doing?"
  
• "Know that, although this subway car is not really crowded, I want to stand on the same square foot as you."

This is neither an apology nor a defense (I do say thank you). It's my personal attempt at rationalizing this fact and coping in a thank-you-less city.

I do not think New Yorkers are jerky or mean. After many years of giving directions, telling people the time, letting someone in front of me in a line, I have come to the conclusion that the lack of a polite reply from the person you've just been nice to does not mean they don't appreciate your help or your gesture. Rather, I feel they're too mentally busy to say thank you. They just can't think of it! Their brain has registered that you've been helpful and this was a good thing (and if you're perceptive enough you can detect signs of that) but a new thought or preoccupation--and mostly a lack of exercise--prevents it from implementing the full thank-you procedure. I suppose if someone or something made them consider this matter, these persons would say that a thank you is implicit, and would have no problem speaking it anyway. But social habit plays against it.

Granted that the above is just a gross unarticulated generalization, do I conclude that New Yorkers are impolite? Well, this behavior is the definition of impoliteness. Are they haughty? Not in general (there's many, to be sure, but they're usually the least interesting people anyway). Are they unfriendly? Not at all. Actually, they're among the frendliest people, when you manage to get through to someone.

Happy Holidays and thank you for reading!

Le Pain Quotidien

Le Pain Quotidien is a chain of restaurants first originated from a Brussels bakery, established in 1990, and now present in several countries around the globe. These restaurants are very peculiar, especially within the U.S., for a couple of reasons, both of which I appreciate a lot: First, they offer a luscious bona fide European continental breakfast (vote 8/10) which can be made to include fresh bread, coming in several shapes and types, fruit jam and other spreads, baked sweets (pain au chocolat, croissant, muffin, etc.), and a satisfying choice of milk & coffee derivates. Second, (in general) you are seated at a communal table, that is, a long, rustic, wooden table where you share condiments, spreads and elbow space with your neighbors, whether they're in your party or not. I know this is a big turn-off for some, but I actually enjoy it a great deal.

If you take me up on this and decide to go, I suggest you order the Bread Basket (available before 2pm), a selection of different kinds of bread that, together with the free spreads, will happily satiate 2 people. As for the spreads, do not miss the Brunette, their delicious hazelnut praline paste (vote 8/10). (Although don't ask me to compare it to sublime Nutella.)

Lest someone say I only gave a partial description of the place, let me add that the menu also has a considerable "salty" section (vote 7/10) with several sandwich and light-lunch options--I particularly like the Jambon de Paris side order. This makes Le Pain Quotidien a great place for brunch.

Le Pain Quotidien has ten nice-looking locations in New York City (check near the end of this list), each of which doubles as a bakery. You can buy their freshly baked bread--which is among the best in the city--as well as their pastries and spreads.

Pink Pony's steak au poivre

I have two things to say--for the moment--about Pink Pony (178 Ludlow St., b/w Houston and Stanton Sts., tel. 212-253-1922), a rather convincing French bistro smack in the middle of the Lower East Side.

First, Pink Pony has the best steak au poivre that I've ever had outside of Paris (beating many in the ville lumiere too). Its sauce has just the right amount of flavor and amalgamates splendidly with the tender meat's own juices (vote 9/10). It costs $18 and it comes with a side of on-par grilled potatoes.

The other thing this restaurant has is an interesting crowd. Which, last Sunday night, included:

• a leathered-up wild-haired young man who might have just come out of a 1980s Berlin basement club, were it not for the fact that he was sporting an Osama bin Laden T-shirt (yes, that's right);
  
• his gothic girlfriend, whose black eyeliner was spattered all over her face;
  
• a chubby man in his sixties with a lot of bonhomie about him and at least four women (of different types, shapes and ethnicities) around him; they all seemed on a big date;
  
• a chimney sweeep, or someone who very much looked like one (hat included);
  
• a couple of waitresses dressed in conspicuous vintage clothes from the 1950s, but I suppose they are a designed part of the decor and don't count.
  

The funny thing is that all these different people seemed to know each other. Makes me wanna go back...

The infomercial store

'Tis the holiday season again and we must buy gifts to our dear ones (because apparently there is no other way to show them our love--but this is not a political blog and I'll end it there). So here's a little tip for your holiday shopping.

RHX stores (433 5th Ave. at 39th St., tel. 212-685-5105) is what MV and I call the "infomercial store", as its merchandise is almost exclusively made up of those little useless gizmo-thingies that you see publicized on TV at ungodly hours. Like the Hairagami, to make a sculpture of your hairdo for only $6.95; or the how-could-I-live-without-it AM/FM radio-pen; or the phenomenal all-vegetable peeler. Not to mention, ladies, the $19.99 strapless, backless and bosom-enhancer bra! You get the idea.

At any rate, I found this to be the perfect place to buy presents for those people you never know what to give to and who, anyway, are going to stick your gift somewhere in their house only to forget it for a varying number of months and trash it at the next big cleaning.

Walk in and buy that cheap crap without shame! It's not for you anyway.