Thursday, May 13, 2004
Takeout on 1st Avenue, Petrosian's and Mahler-power
LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis
On our way to Carnegie Hall we stopped at the fabled caviar and champagne palace called Petrossian Paris – although it is 58th at 7th Ave (212-;245-2214 – for a pre-concert meal. Surprise, there is a prix-fixe $30 dinner that includes an appetizer of herring sampler (dill, Madeira and juniper-marinated), although the Transmountainese caviar extracted from farm bred live sturgeons under Pertossian’s control is $10 extra. Entrees are a nicely seared salmon steak, calf’s liver that melts in your mouth and organic chicken. Reservations.
For the connoisseurs, Petrossian’s offers a $199 caviar sampler, Sevruga, Ossetia and three other, 75 grams, vodka chaser and sides included. When questioned, the affable waiter disclosed that although some people share this treat while having other entrees (ranging around $28-32), caviar enthusiasts will spoon up as much as 125 grams in a sitting, Surprisingly, the wine cellar offers bottles of French white and red starting at $28 (my favorite Muscadet is $25), and then there are those two pages of wa-wa -woom champagnes. The ambiance is superb, uncrowded at pre-concert time, good service, comforting mahogany panels and posts, and an Art Deco bar with flappers and dandies on a mirror background. Top value for Tsarist-French decadence. Takeout? Petrossian’s has a café-takeout/retail facility a block away.
And the concert? Gidon Kremer and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christopher Eschenbach held the audience breathless while performing the finale acrobatics of Dmitri Shostakowich’s austere Violin Concerto No.2. Sveiks, Gidon!.
The true moments of peace and relief came with Gustav Mahler’s hour-long pastoral Symphony No. 1. In these days of tenseness and doubt it is a mind-relaxer, recommended to be played to relieve stress. Not pure comfort food, Symphony No. 1 has moments of self-mockery, and each movement ends in a crescendo, but it delivers what I call Mahler-power, the ability to let you transcend the cares of the day. It does not transform you, it just soothes.
This spiritually strengthening set me up for the day’s work, addressing the takeout food facilities on First Avenue, on the edge of East Village. It is a fascinating area, where within the same three blocks you can smoke a hookah, have some kielbasa and borscht, try out bistek Pilipino and pusit (sautéed squid), not to speak of customary everyday exotica.
First Avenue, South of 14th Street
David Bagels , 228 First Ave (212) 780-2308, a branch of the store six blocks North with which it shares the phone, also offers sandwiches and egg dishes. Free delivery.
Ikura Japanese Restaurant, 221 First Ave (212) 529-8500, offers “sushi half price seven days a week.” Sushi & Sashimi for two $33.95. Lunch through late dinner, free delivery.
Elvie’s turo-turo Authentic Philippine cuisine, 214 First Ave (212) 473-7785. Chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian dishes, two for $7.25, coconut juice, daily specials. Free delivery.
Gena’s Grill, saboro latino, 210 First Ave (212) 473-3700. Chicken, beef, fish, served with rice, beans and sweet plantains. Free delivery.
Christina’s 208 First Ave, (2121)254-2474. Polish-American cuisine.
Wai Café, 201 First Ave (212) 388-1997, offers. New American Lean Cuisine (Asian and Italian courses). Garden, late breakfast through late dinner. Fast delivery.
Neptune 194 First Ave (212) 777-4163 Polish – American Home Cooking, hot & cold borscht, kielbasa , goulash and stuffer cabbage . All day, home delivery.
Brunetta’s Italian Restaurant 190 First Ave (212) 228-4030. Free range chicken, spinach & pesto lasagna, choice of pastas with salad and focaccia brad ($11.95). Dinner and brunch, takeout available.
Oyama Japanese Restaurant 188 First Ave 11/12 streets (212) 777-1989. A new menu, sushi, negimaki and filet mignon ($12.95), party room, free delivery.
Sahara East 184 First Ave (212) 353-9000. Tabouli, baba ghanouj, schwerma, kebab (halal). And… you can order a hookah pipe and smoke Oriental tobacco in 30 different flavors, watermelon, to Lebanese cedar, in their open-air garden ($13). Take-out.
Atomic Wings 184 First Ave (212) 505-7272 . Buckets of buffalo wings, fries - but you can also get salads. Free delivery.
On our way to Carnegie Hall we stopped at the fabled caviar and champagne palace called Petrossian Paris – although it is 58th at 7th Ave (212-;245-2214 – for a pre-concert meal. Surprise, there is a prix-fixe $30 dinner that includes an appetizer of herring sampler (dill, Madeira and juniper-marinated), although the Transmountainese caviar extracted from farm bred live sturgeons under Pertossian’s control is $10 extra. Entrees are a nicely seared salmon steak, calf’s liver that melts in your mouth and organic chicken. Reservations.
For the connoisseurs, Petrossian’s offers a $199 caviar sampler, Sevruga, Ossetia and three other, 75 grams, vodka chaser and sides included. When questioned, the affable waiter disclosed that although some people share this treat while having other entrees (ranging around $28-32), caviar enthusiasts will spoon up as much as 125 grams in a sitting, Surprisingly, the wine cellar offers bottles of French white and red starting at $28 (my favorite Muscadet is $25), and then there are those two pages of wa-wa -woom champagnes. The ambiance is superb, uncrowded at pre-concert time, good service, comforting mahogany panels and posts, and an Art Deco bar with flappers and dandies on a mirror background. Top value for Tsarist-French decadence. Takeout? Petrossian’s has a café-takeout/retail facility a block away.
And the concert? Gidon Kremer and the Philadelphia Orchestra under Christopher Eschenbach held the audience breathless while performing the finale acrobatics of Dmitri Shostakowich’s austere Violin Concerto No.2. Sveiks, Gidon!.
The true moments of peace and relief came with Gustav Mahler’s hour-long pastoral Symphony No. 1. In these days of tenseness and doubt it is a mind-relaxer, recommended to be played to relieve stress. Not pure comfort food, Symphony No. 1 has moments of self-mockery, and each movement ends in a crescendo, but it delivers what I call Mahler-power, the ability to let you transcend the cares of the day. It does not transform you, it just soothes.
This spiritually strengthening set me up for the day’s work, addressing the takeout food facilities on First Avenue, on the edge of East Village. It is a fascinating area, where within the same three blocks you can smoke a hookah, have some kielbasa and borscht, try out bistek Pilipino and pusit (sautéed squid), not to speak of customary everyday exotica.
First Avenue, South of 14th Street
David Bagels , 228 First Ave (212) 780-2308, a branch of the store six blocks North with which it shares the phone, also offers sandwiches and egg dishes. Free delivery.
Ikura Japanese Restaurant, 221 First Ave (212) 529-8500, offers “sushi half price seven days a week.” Sushi & Sashimi for two $33.95. Lunch through late dinner, free delivery.
Elvie’s turo-turo Authentic Philippine cuisine, 214 First Ave (212) 473-7785. Chicken, beef, pork and vegetarian dishes, two for $7.25, coconut juice, daily specials. Free delivery.
Gena’s Grill, saboro latino, 210 First Ave (212) 473-3700. Chicken, beef, fish, served with rice, beans and sweet plantains. Free delivery.
Christina’s 208 First Ave, (2121)254-2474. Polish-American cuisine.
Wai Café, 201 First Ave (212) 388-1997, offers. New American Lean Cuisine (Asian and Italian courses). Garden, late breakfast through late dinner. Fast delivery.
Neptune 194 First Ave (212) 777-4163 Polish – American Home Cooking, hot & cold borscht, kielbasa , goulash and stuffer cabbage . All day, home delivery.
Brunetta’s Italian Restaurant 190 First Ave (212) 228-4030. Free range chicken, spinach & pesto lasagna, choice of pastas with salad and focaccia brad ($11.95). Dinner and brunch, takeout available.
Oyama Japanese Restaurant 188 First Ave 11/12 streets (212) 777-1989. A new menu, sushi, negimaki and filet mignon ($12.95), party room, free delivery.
Sahara East 184 First Ave (212) 353-9000. Tabouli, baba ghanouj, schwerma, kebab (halal). And… you can order a hookah pipe and smoke Oriental tobacco in 30 different flavors, watermelon, to Lebanese cedar, in their open-air garden ($13). Take-out.
Atomic Wings 184 First Ave (212) 505-7272 . Buckets of buffalo wings, fries - but you can also get salads. Free delivery.
# posted by Wally Dobelis @ 6:17 AM 
