e. gustavo petersen | cinematographer

With Hollywood is still quiet from the strike (even though it’s over) and the fear of investing in films still persists, my wife and I bugged out of town and traveled back to New York to visit her parents while they stay there. If you’re interested, visit the “more…” section below.

We started the week with the Broadway play, “Sunday in the Park with George”. What an amazing experience. The play integrates live performance and video projection. I which I had the words to give the experience due justice. I hope a video snippet is available online to at least taste a bit of the it.

When you’re in a “food town”, you’ve got to try the food. My wife made a list and my father-in-law made the reservations. Here’s where we went:

A list of our food jaunts:
Cercle Rouge - (Tribeca) A little French bistro in TriBeCa just a short walk from where we were staying. Great local hang out and the food is very good.

Barbetta - (Midtown) Open since 1909, it’s a New York institution. Very formal and wonderfully old-school. We had lunch there before going to the theatre. The food was excellent – a great start before the play.

Square Meal - (Upper West Side) This was a recommendation by friends. The food was good, the atmosphere was casual. Before leaving, we met the owner as she knits with cashmere. Nice.

Bouley Bakery / Café - (Tribeca) Nice for an afternoon lunch. Lots of very tasty, Frenchy delights. ↓ ↓

Café des Artistes - (Lincoln Square) Valentine’s Day celebrated here. The ambience is truly wonderful for a special day like this. The food was OK but not great. I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt given the fact that we visited on a busy night. Still a great evening.

Asíate - (Lincoln Square in the Time Warner Building at Columbus Circle) Definitely in the top three of my favorite places to eat. ↓ ↓

Irving Mill - (Gramercy) Opened by a former Gramercy Tavern chef this is eclectic American flare. It was very close at making my top three list. I look forward to visiting again.

Petrie Court Cafe - (Upper East Side at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) After visiting the museum, we shopped here for full afternoon tea. A bit pricey for what you get, but it is reasonably good and it is convenient.

Perilla - (Greenwich Village) Opened by Top Chef’s first season winner, Harold Dieterle. We went there for Sunday brunch. It was only OK. I was really hoping to be wow’d but that didn’t happen. Here too, I look forward to visiting again and seeing if we visited on a bad day.

Industria Agentina – (Tribeca) Our last night on the island, we walked along Greenwich trying to find a place to eat. Here’s what we found. The food was very good, but the service was awful. We order a bunch of starters that never arrived. I guess on the plus side the main course was a bunch of food.

Blue Ribbon Bakery – (West Village) What a wonderful breakfast. When we got there, there was a line out the door to get in on a cold, drizzly morning. Service was very attentive and the place is very cozy.

Frankies Spuntino – (on Court Street in Brooklyn) We went there to to celebrate a friends birthday. We had a bunch of people and a baby with a stroller. We were escorted through the front bar and restaurant to the back yard area and into a building they call the “barn”. Long tables, heated and cozy. The food was fantastic.

Aquavit – (Midtown East) Wow. Marcus Samuelsson’s restaurant. It’s Scandinavian swank to the core. On my list of top three visits this time around. The service was amazing. ↓ ↓ Food from the Chef’s menu.

Merkato 55 – (Meat Packing District) Another Marcus Samuelsson restaurant. One of the best dinners while in NY (part of my top three). African tastes that are familiar and yet completely different. Drinks (while not inexpensive) are amazing. We order four different drinks and each would have been a great choice if we only ordered one.

Momofuko Noodle Bar - (East Village) New, bigger restaurant. Same wonderful yummies. We always visit and always can’t wait to revisit. ↓ ↓ Meat buns and chicken wings.

And what else did we do…

From Soho to Brooklyn, we had a chance to catch up with friends which is always good.

MOMA & Metropolitan Museum of Art – Art and good food. That very well sums up our trip to NY. So what did we see. I really liked the Jasper Johns exhibition especially his numbers, alphabet and flag period. I also discovered that I really like John Singer Sargent. While at the Met, I saw a painting of cowboys and happened to like it very much. Who painted it? Sargent. Then, while in the portrait room, my wife was reading the blurb next to an amazing painting titled, “Madame X” ↓ ↓ (In real life she was Mme. Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau). I really like it and soon found out why. Also a Sargent painting. Although he considered it one of his best works, it was deemed too scandalous to 1884 French public when it first appear the Salon. He keep it until he sold it to the New York Metropolitan Museum where it now lives. What a beautiful portrait. In reading more about the painter I discovered that he also painted the official portrait of President Theodore Roosevelt.

↓ ↓ Where’s Eric!? Me, art?, and my cool new shirt (thank you ma-in-law).

↓ ↓ Speaking of art, we saw dirt. Yes, that’s right. Dirt. Not dirty… dirt. In a Soho loft. About 60 cm deep. Dark as Mississippi delta. 3,600 square feet worth. Dirt. No pictures please. Moist but nothing growing. No even the smell of earth. Just dirt and a guy keeping watch. Blank, white walls and a few hanging lights. Big windows. And dirt. Look around the internet and read all about it. It might be nothing more than dirt, but it certainly stirs up conversation.

There’s an expression that’s been going around lately, mostly on geeky gadget sites, mostly. It’s when you find something very elegant, simple and offering a clean aesthetic that you mind hear it described as being “very Muji”. A new store opened up in Soho that’s straight from Japan and it’s the Muji store. My wife purchased some of their product line for me at the MOCA’s gift store on previous visits. Now they have their own store and even when it was raining hard, there still was a crowded at the store. Very cool stuff and very reasonably priced, especially for New York.

I finally had a chance to see Grand Central Station. We walked in. Stood in the middle looking around. Then got on the 6 toward the Lower East Side. Really nice though.

Again with the walking. This time we came prepared and purchased several gel insoles for our shoes. Much better, even with dress shoes.

I had a chance to visit Christie’s Auction House with my father-in-law while they were showing off some photographs that were up for auction. What an amazing opportunity to see some legendary photographs by some legendary photographers. The ones I specifically enjoyed were photos by Dorothea Lange, Weegee, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bill Brandt, Walker Evans, Peter Beard, Gary Winogrand, Robert Mapplethorpe, Annie Leibowitz, Lee Friedlander (we saw an exhibit of his work at the Met), Horst P. Horst, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, and even a few Ansel Adams prints. It total, based on the estimated price, I easily found $100,000 with of photographs I wish I had. Sigh.

Here are some more photos I took while there. Maybe someday they’ll be worth $3000 a piece.

↑ → Frankie’s in Brooklyn – candlelight through my water glass
↑ ← Subway mosaic

↑ → A tribute to “the Jay”
↑ ← A message to the world

↑ ← → A couple for the collection.

↑ ← Graffiti from the Meat Packing District
↑ → Reminders of Kilroy

↑ ← We saw “chefpants” at various parts of the city – I can’t wait to photograph more
↑ → More graffiti

↑ ← Love the flag art
↑ → I like how this shot looks like night but it was actually day.

↑ ← Shoes at the Met
↑ → I ♥ NY

↑ ← Homeless in front of the cathedral
↑ → Homeless kitty needs a buck
↑ → SoHo

↑ ← Cobblestone streets in the Meat Packing District