The Pursuit of Happyness

My family finally gave in to my pleadings on Sunday night to watch "The Pursuit of Happyness," starring Will "Fresh Prince" Smith and his really cute son who has like 4 names. I have wanted to see this movie since it was in the theaters but didn't, probably because I never see movies in theaters anymore (that will be explained at another time).

I don't know why I wanted to see this movie, other than I just like Will Smith. He's been there throughout my life, even though I wasn't the biggest "Fresh Prince of Bel Air" fan. Yeah, I watched it sometimes, but not on a regular basis. Regardless, Will and I have, in a sense, grown up together. Now we're older. He's married, I'm married, we're like old married buddies who remember each other when... when we were up to no good in our neighborhood. You understand.

So I wanted to see this movie and once it passed through the theaters and I missed my chance there, I knew that the best time to see it would be a weekend upstate with the fam.

When watching movies with the fam, it's best to choose lighthearted and easy-to-follow films that don't require silence and intense amounts of thinking. This is because, as anyone who has tried to watch a movie with the fam knows, Harvey falls asleep and awakes throughout the film, insisting that he be updated when he wakens (just to fall right back asleep as soon as the recap has taken time from the rest of us viewers), and Pam just talks...and talks...and talks... (yes, she did study film in school, but we don't always want to discuss symbolism of flowers, especially because its likely we'd figure that out on our own without having to discuss it ad nauseam).

Anyway, I knew that this movie would be good because it wouldn't require us to analyze any scenes, no one had an accent (that confuses Harvey) and because it was clearly a tear-jerker. Those work the best in the realm of the fam, because Harvey cries easily (well, mom and I do, too. Mark however has not cried in two years...) and for some reason the rest of us bond together when watching Harvey cry. It's usually a good time had by all.

On to the movie...

The movie was rough! For anyone who's seen this - my god, how depressing! This poor guy - Chris Gardner - meets bad luck around every corner, from investing poorly into bone density scanners that are ahead of their time and not cost-efficient for the medical offices of the early 1980s, to getting hit by a car on his 10 minute break from his stockbroker internship and, of course, losing his shoe and having to return from said break without it. There's so many other bad things that happen, I wouldn't want to ruin it for anyone. Needless to say, the movie was exactly the tear-jerker we'd hoped for and by the end of it we were all rooting for this man, Chris Gardner, and crying, and so into it that we HAD to google him so we could see a picture of this poor, yet happy, man.

God bless you, Chris Gardner, for your perseverance and your story's Freedman/Tate/Spacek family entertainment value.

Island Restaurant, Astoria

Sunday, May 20, 2007

Andy, my fabulous husband, and I finished up Season 1 of "Top Chef" repeats (We of course have already seen both seasons and are anxiously awaiting Season 3 - June 13th!!) and were definitely in the mood for some good food. Luckily, we'd made plans to FINALLY try Island with some friends.

Island opened about 6 weeks ago and the kitchen is headed up by ex-Top Chef wannabe Josie Smith-Malave. After first reading about the restaurant in TONY Andy and I walked over (it's only 2 blocks away from our apartment) on a Friday afternoon and walked in, wowed by the grand, spacious and open design - poured concrete floors, hanging white fabric and white islandy chairs. Fancy. Islandy. Anyway, they told us they weren't open. Dern. We'd have to wait for another time.

So we waited and waited and finally made plans to dine here. We hoped that any growing pains the new restaurant might have experienced had been ironed out by this time. I searched everywhere trying to find some kind of online menu for the place, or even a real review, and could not. It would be up to us.

We met our friends and walked in. The maitre d' asked where we'd like to sit and we told him it was our first time there, so we were in his hands. (You know, so we could be wooed and wowed so we'd be return customers.) Hmph. We were seated in the back of the restaurant, between the bar and the kitchen/bathroom area. We didn't see that guy again. Thanks a lot, guy.

The menu was confusing. Now, I'm no Einstein of gourmet eateries, but I'm no dummy either. The entrees are listed on the left side of the one page menu, while the "small plates" are listed on the right. And one category of small plates are "nibbles," so we all came to the conclusion that those must be the "smaller" or "smallest" plates. It was all kind of backwards from there. Not to mention, the dishes are just all over the place!

The restaurant is supposed to be Mediterranean yet listed small plates like steak tartare, fries and "Miami" pulled pork sliders. Both of these were ordered, as were salmon tartare and tuna sashimi. The steak tartare was garlicky and good, but Andy and I couldn't taste the truffle oil that supposedly (per the menu) came on the dish. The salmon tartare was fresh and refreshing, with a citrus creme fraiche type of topping. The tuna sashimi was also good, tasting of soy and a range of textures as it was served as chopped tuna atop thinly sliced tuna. Tarshimi anyone? So, all the raw items were yummy, but our friends weren't impressed by the sliders.

The entrees menu was way more limited than the small plates, and felt more restrictive, too. Pizzas, steak or lobster and pasta among choices. Nothing too appealing, to be honest.
Andy and I shared the Lobster Orzutto (something like that) which was lobster and orzo risotto... and $30. A bit pricey for us, but since we shared it it was okay. The dish itself was a lobster tail on top of orzo risotto... basic. Not great, but it was fine. Our friends had the chorizo and carmelized onion pizza. Again, nothing too impressive.

When I was trying to find a review or menu listing for Island, online and in print, all I was able to find was TONY touting that Island "is home to the only four-head Cimbali espresso machine in the U.S." So, we're getting ready to order dessert and I ask the waiter, "so I hear you have the only four-head Cimbali espresso machine in the country. What does that mean?" The waiter first didn't understand me (slurred wine-language? dunno) and so I repeated myself, to which he replied, "uh, I don't know about that... let me go see..." Finally he returned, took our dessert order and informed me that the espresso making person wasn't there, but if I just wanted a cappuccino he could make it.

The dessert was okay, A & I had a panna cotta (and found the truffle oil that was supposed to be on our steak tartare! Quite good, actually.) and Friend C & Friend J shared the chocolate cake with grilled banana and felt the banana was the high point of the dish.

After trying to figure out how to handle the check (at least three items were listed on the check at a different price, though not much different, from the menu listing), we split it down the middle. Our waiter seemed confused when we asked him to do this, stood still and looked at the cards for a minute, went away and finally returned, telling us he made a mistake and put $10 more on one card than the other. Now, J was a waiter, and Andy was certainly a waiter in everything from NYC diners to fancy celeb-attracting restaurants, and we ALL know how easy it is to get the manager to reverse the charge and fix that shit. But no. It was trashy, and gross. And embarrassing.

The service was nothing special. There was no hovering (thank goodness) but there was also something lax about the whole thing. Andy feels it's the whole European-cool thing (don't worry, folks, he's European, he can say that) that makes the waitstaff work extra hard to not impress. Seriously, though, my girlfriend and I were both still eating our food, had food on our plates and were clearly not done when another guy tried to take our food away. What it comes down to is this (a tidbit of info from the postcard served with the check): There's a DJ there on the weekends. it's a damn club! It all made sense now - that's how it's going to survive Astoria, not because of good food or service, but because it's going to fill up with stupid club people who will pay $10-$12 a drink (hey, if you can afford it, god bless ya, but come on!). When faced with the CLUB realization, our appreciation of the place dropped from 0 to -10. Whatever. I just don't like clubs or that culture. Unfortunately I live in Astoria and I'm outnumbered.

Andy summed it up as he and I walked home, "I feel ripped off!" We both agreed that we would not return to Island. The food was not worth the price, nor was the service. Just the week before we'd eaten at Gotham Bar & Grill (a real restaurant! Gotham B&G could totally kick Island's ass any day of the week!) and that meal, like a real good meal, made us forget about spending the money, not to mention, relive the food, decor and service later.
I focus a lot of money, mainly because I don't have much, but I will spend money for good food and good service, and won't think twice about it. And you can have good cheap meals, too, also with exceptional service.

Island offered none of this and was a complete flop. Island, PACK YOUR KNIVES AND GO!!!

VERONICA MARS CANCELLED??

That's right, that's what this 1st ever blog is about.

I'm not saying much more. Just, I'M SO SAD!! What will I watch now? I loved "Veronica Mars." There's something about that show that is great, it's got a deep, dark, seductive, sexy noir feel that I really haven't felt with other shows, and I know other shows.



Crap.