Looking Ahead

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


Blessed with the finest of weathers, the 12th Annual Union Square Harvest In The Square festival brought some 1200 paying guests to taste the best farm-fresh ingredients in the best imaginative dishes assembled the word’s finest chefs. Or so we’d like to think, with some justification, when we call this “Manhattan’s best-tasting community,” in the words of Eugene McGrath, Con Edison’s long-time CEO and 14th Street-Union Square BID’s chair. He is now retired, and the BID is now Union Square Partnership, committed to use the funds raised by such events as this to the beautification of the Park and making it a city Commons. Although good many people of the neighborhood mistrust the Partnership’s objectives, since they include expanding an upscale restaurant in the public Pavilion, nevertheless the Festival is a cheerful and well received event, a joy in these severe days.

The joys began at the entrance, with a festive round bar dispensing Mionetto Prosecco, white and rose, the nearest thing to champagne. A cheerful display of Robert Mondavi vines, with serving maidens pouring them, lead to a neat bar and grill with tables, good for resting between bouts with the crowds at the displays where 45 restaurants and their wine bar companions from some 15 wineries served free samples of their finest products to help raise the $300,000 this event was expected to net. If you were just promenading or chatting, cruising servitors would bring you varieties of hors d’oeuvres, rock shrimp cocktail shooters from Knickerbocker Bar, falafel balls from Maoz and mini-Brownies from Tisserie.

Serious sybarites would soon fill their paper plates and take them outside on the deck, to tables set next to the 17th Street traffic, and enjoy the food and the Barnes and Noble and AT&T skyline, while cabs and trucks pass, playing Manhattan music.

The more down-to-earth headed for mini-Mac Daddy burgers at Big Daddy’s and Kalbassa Reubens from Borough Food and Drink, Barbecue Spare Pork Ribs at Hill Country, prime bites at Primehouse. Havana Central’s Arroz con Pollo was accompanied by Savanna Sogno Due Falanghina white wine, served by a blonde European-accented dreamboat who called herself Savanna (detective work established that she was born in Rochester). Angelo and Maxie’s Steakhouse served delicate Filet Mignon sandwiches, with Macari Vineyards Merlot nearby. Tamarind offered Lamb Chettinad with Basmati Rice and Cumin Seeds, and Todd English’s Olives NY had Crispy Duck Schwarma with Pomegranate Yogurt over pita.

Seafood was plentiful, although Blue Water Grill’s Hamachi Crudo came in wonton soup spoons, and this gourmet had to ask for seconds to establish the taste (not bad!). City Crab’s Maryland Lump Crab Cakes and Dos Caminos Gulf Red Snapper were popular, while Whole Foods Market, with Ginger Plum-glazed Salmon Skewers and Stir-Fried Bok Choy came roaring in like a champion, right in line with the top restaurants. The Coffee Shop teased us with Traditional Moquesqua Stew in Mini Gourds, while Sushi Samba offered a well-liked King Crab with Heirloom Tomato Seviche.

In the vegetable department, Union Square Café offered the patriotic Greenmarket Vegetable Caponata Bruschetta with Coach Farm Goat Cheeses, no mistaking the state where these goodies originate. Pure Food and Wine put Marinated Oyster Mushrooms and Aged Cashew Cheese on a Pepper pecan cracker, Rosa Mexicana served Guacamole en Malacajette, Bar Stuzzichini featured Involtini, and the reliable Galaxy Global Eatery gave us Roasted Beet, Radish and Chive Relish over Hempnut Focaccia. In the pasta department, Republic boxed their Noodle Salad for the take-home crowd (I took it, along with two bottles of Fiji Water, which everyone was drinking, exhibitors and visitors.)

In deserts, City Bakery was a major player, with Bear-Claw tarts and Apple-Miso Muffins. Max Brenner had everyone squirting chocolate syrup in their mouths, using giant pastry syringes, a novelty, while Strip House offered more conventional Chocolate Mini- Cakes. Drinkers had their pleasure at the crowded Brooklyn Brewery. Tavalon Tea Bar, Dallis Coffee and Heartland Brewery, picking up some take-home bags of coffee at the Irving Farm.

In wine country, Union Square Wines and Spirits offered a dozen tastes. Long Island, Finger Lakes and upstate wineries were present, with Peconic Bay, Raphael, Lenz, Wolffer and Shinn Estates and the venerable Dr. Konstantin Frank Vinifera pouring winners.

The event was chaired by Jo-Ann Makovitzky and Marco Moreira of Tocqueville and 15 East restaurants and Gary Tornberg of Southern Wines and Spirits of New York. Honorary co-chairs were founders Danny Meyer of Union Square Hospitality Group and Eric Peterson of Gotham City Restaurant Group. The sponsorship of the festival was grouped in six categories, with the Union Square Partnership (Jennifer Falk, Director), NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (Adrian Benepe, Commissioner), Con Edison and the Union Square Greenmarket as the Presenting Sponsors. The newsprint program and restaurant map was produced by the free daily, Metro, and the event was covered by NYC TV’s “Eat Out New York” and WQXR FM, media sponsors. The excellent country-based music was provided by the Nashville Attitude, a group that made one wish for New Orleans and for walking the line with Johnny Cash.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

A reader reports that MTA, in closingticket booths. have also closed some access to the trains via the Metro Card. That is total inaccessibility, not just an insult to the seniors but to the whole city.


His complaint was about the BMT 7th Ave/55th Street entrance, accessed my many Broadway theatre goers at night. Its uptown access is the busy 57th Street/ Carnegie Hall BMT entrance, with a regular blue booth selling Metro cards.

MTA, who will raise fares, while billions are being spent in slow reconstructio of the downtown headquarters and hub - I see daily the hundreds of engineers and architects they have employed for years. Robert Moses, or reasonable facsimile, wher are you when we need you!
You cannot even provide decent train accessd facilities; this last example is not just pinchpenny, it is mismanagement. .

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis


Horse –playing seems to be a lost form of art in East Midtown. There is no longer an OTB parlor on Third Avenue, and one does not hear of adventures at Yonkers and Meadowlands, on a daily basis. Saratoga Springs, the earliest Thoroughbred course and the one- time racing capital built by New York’s mercantile aristocracy, is not a destination of the current generation. I only recall one neighbor, a labor lawyer and fellow parent at Friends Seminary on East 16th Street, who built their family vacations around the Saratoga racing season, with his family deposited at one of the local lake resorts while he spent his days at the clubhouse.

Saratoga Springs is a small Victorian town halfways between Albany and Lake George. in the vacationeers’ paradise part of New York. It is a three-four hour each way day trip for the hardy, with gate time at 1 PM and the last race around 6 PM. From the city, take the Deegan into the NY Thruway I-87N, continuing straight north, to Exit 13N, then follow Broadway (Rte 9), turn half-right at Circular Road, then a right at Union Ave. The Saratoga Racetrack will come up on your right, with opportunistic private parking lots ($10) and t-shirt shops on the left – the inside NY Racing Association’s parking lot (same price) tends to get filled up.

We followed an east-of-the –Hudson River route, along picturesque Taconic Parkway, turning left when it ends, into I-90W (a right will take you to Boston), then a right into I-87N, arriving some three hours late for the starting bell. The sunbathing parking attendant with a sea-shell necklace, seeing our hesitation, voluntarily reduced the price to $5, then directed us into a nice spot, half a block to the entrance. The crossing guide carefully held up the traffic, explaining with a smile that half of the drivers were on their cell-phones, not watching the lights. Another smiling man near the ticket booth gave us two-dollar discount tickets, reducing the entrance fee to a single dollar, and explained how to get to the clubhouse escalator (I had promised us the luxury of $15 shaded clubhouse seats).

Off the entrance, the back of the track tree-shaded picnic area is huge, with food tents, families and children playing games and eating Nathan’s hotdogs, while serious pater-fanilias study scratch sheets at picnic tables and watch the assembling race horses on giant TV screens, above rows of betting machines.

Once we escalated to the Clubhouse floor, a motherly ticket clerk sold us $2 admissions, then called us back, to stamp our wrists. The area in back of the seats had more Coke and beer stands, with betting machines and clerk windows lining the walls, front and back. A sweet lady watching the seat holders advised us to skip the additional expense of $10 and walk down to the free grandstand benches to enjoy the remaining three races. As we thought it over , I took my nearest-and-dearest’s picture against the track background. Suddenly, a feisty little woman passing by decided to photograph us together, and that done, declared she was leaving and would give us her red seat sticker. She actually took us there, past the guard.

That was nice, and sitting down, we explored the day’s race card, picking a couple of appealing names to bet on. Red sticker on, I walked up to the machines and asked a bettor where to insert my money. He told me to buy a voucher at the betting window, put it in the machine’s left-side slot, and follow instructions. The machine would spit out bet tickets from the slot on the right, along with a new voucher of my remaining balance.

That was not too hard, I bought a $10 voucher, fed it into the technological wonder, and informed it as how I was putting two bucks, to win, on Number Two. It worked, and, emboldened, I tried to experiment with another $2 to win, place and show on Number Seven. Ouch, it took $6, leaving me with a balance of $2. Slightly set aback, I came back to watch the horses assembling for the race, walked by horseback grooms to the starting gate, which was placed on the inside grass track, rather than the outside hard track. Number Two was there, showing odds of 9/5 to 1, with $35K bet on it, of a total handle of $150K for the race. They took off, to the modest cheers of the crowd around us, and guess what, Number Seven won, paying $11.20 for the lot. The two ladies sitting next to us congratulated me and explained that we were lucky to get to see the next race, a steeplechase, run only on Thursdays. It was a long race, twice around and more, and the early leader was chased down at the end.

A very gentile event, and a satisfying day.

Saratoga itself is an interesting old town, with more than 1000 columnated white Victorian buildings lining the side streets. The 100 local springs created an early European style health resort, and horse racing followed, inaugurated by legendary John “Old Smoke” Morrissey, a boxing champion, gambler and politician, in 1863, with the aid of such worthies as William P. Travers and Leonard P. Jerome (1817-91), grandfather of Winston Churchill (his daughter Jenny, born on Amity Street - or was it on Henry Street - in Brooklyn, married Sir Randolph Churchill, the Queen's sometime Chancellor of the Exchequer). Thoroughbreds race in August, with a harness race track, polo matches and other equestrian events throughout the year Along the wide center-malled Broadway are opulent parks, particularly the huge Saratoga Spa State Park, with golf courses, bathing houses, mineral springs and the SPAC (Saratoga Performing Arts Center). There is also the National Museum of Dance, and the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, on Union Ave., the Lake George Opera festival in the State Park. The old Casino with sculptures by Daniel Chester French is in the Congress Park. Get a self-guiding tour book from the Chamber of Commerce, or buy a guide map (less expanatory) in a gas station.

LOOKING AHEAD by Wally Dobelis

One cannot help feeling intermittently sorry for the President, as he speaks those same words of hope and victory when everything crashes. Yes, he and his arrogant advisers dragged us into a deadly war, they mismanaged an easy conquest by not making common cause with the Iraqi Army and the Baathists, they mangled our relations with the Islamic East, and turned away a hater of the Taliban, Iraq, by destroying a possible reconciliation for the sake of a facile PR phrase, the Axis of Evil. Earlier, by being cheapskate with our power, they threw away a victory over al-Qaeda at Tora Bora, All this because an insecure party, marginally elected , wanted to pull the country together behind it in a patriotic war against terror, The results have been abysmal and the Republicans are paying for it in reputation and in elections to come. But no matter how bad the war, the idea of a total early pulling out of our troops fills one’s heart with forebodings. Even though the mad-dog wing of the GOP is the culprit, the American people will be charged with the damages that will ensue. Left to themselves, the Iraqi parties will enter a civil war that might engage Iran and Syria on one side and the Saudis, Jordanians and Egyptians and some more members of the Arab League on the other. There are already 2 to 3 million Sunni refuges in Syria, Jordan and Egypt . Beyond that, after the Americans leave, a retaliation effort against collaborators will threaten the lives of some 2 milion people – police, army, their wives and children – people of good faith, not Quislings, deemed traitors by the Islamist extremists. Don’t expect any South African style Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the Islamist world. The best these people can hope for is a refuge in the US, and the Washington executive branch has made no provisions, beyond accepting less than a thousand threatened people. Cheapskate in resource commitment and in mercy, bighearted in tax relief for the unneeding, that’s our Washington leadership. With nothing but misery in sight one grasps at straws, in this case a hopeful diatribe by Amir Yaheri in the Post, ex-editor in chief of a big Teheran daily and an Iranian refugee who escaped the 1979 Revolution. Author of books and lecturers on the Benador neocon lecture circuit, sometimes accused of passing conjectures as facts, he sees some hope. His thesis is that al-Qaeda had accurately analyzed the inability of the Western democracies to take united action against terror, and has exploited it. France’s Chirac and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder were the main divisors. Now, with Nicolas Sarkozy and Angela Merkel reaching an understanding of the disunity as a prolonging factor in the Iraqi conflict, the EU may get together and be persuasive enough to get the Baathist and al-Qaeda terrorists lose their incentive. To that point, the respected French new foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, a founder of the Medecins sans Frontiers, has been meeting with the Iraqi Shia and Kurd leaders, with expectations of gaining acceptance of the Iraqi government in the EU, a resumption of NATO’s training of the Iraqi army, and the opening of an EU Embassy in Baghdad.
Surprisingly, the Saudis also have decided to reopen their Baghdad embassy, giving acceptance to the Shia government, with Jordan and Egypt to follow suit. The potential of expanded civil wars following an American withdrawal may be forcing some clashing powers to act rationally. There is also a report from an American commanding officer that more tribal Iraqis have started active resistance against the foreign terrorists, with an incident of the latter counterstriking en masse, killing villagers, and executing their Mullah. The Saudis have also received threats against their embassy, if and when it reopens. This is the al-Qaeda vs. the Saudi ruling family clash, but it may be more wide-spread.

As to the current disastrously ineffective Shia leadership in Iraq, Kouchner has hinted that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki should resign, apologizing later, but the point has been made. The Iraqi coalition government needs restoring. Changing gears, in the Spitzer-Bruno controversy, there were some strange facts revealed in the firing of the Senate Republican Campaign Committee’s consultant Roger Stone by Majority Leader Bruno, for making a dirty call to Spitzer’s aged father. The call was strange, an act that a drunken person might commit, and the denial was the most abject revelation of pyramiding lies. What fascinated me was the $20,000 a month fee that the Campaign Committee was paying Stone. In the business environment we are used to huge charges by technology consultants, but what in the world could a campaign consultant provide of that value? Technological spy works? Dirty tricks? Listening devices? Straight research into opponents’ pasts does not pay huge remunerations.. Looking deeper, published sources show that Stone was the leader of the group that shut down the Miami-Dade 2000 vote recount effort, and was rewarded with a role in the Bush transition team, staffing the Bureau of Indian Affairs . Subsequently he earned multi-million dollar fees from Indian casino sources. Expect more revelations.