I swear, I keep having to pinch myself, and it’s not because I added a new waistline roll from all the pizza, bagels, and cacio e pepe I’m eating out here… I just got home from a spectacular four-and-a-half-hour lunch (whoops) at Le Bernardin (finally got to go!), thanks to the generous invitation from my visiting friend, Foodie Chap Liam Mayclem (or as I affectionately call him, Mayhem). Yeah, it was a deadline day, but when Le Bernardin is a 10-minute walk from your place you’re moving out of in 10 days, you gotta do it.
This past weekend was also a dream: my friend of 25 years invited me out to his summer place in Amagansett. Tooling around in his tomato red ‘66 Duetto brought back all of my summertime Alfa Romeo love, and waking up from a nap on the beach to a snack of potato chips, lobster salad, and Pied à Terre sauvignon blanc is a fricking ridiculous thing. The evening beach snack to end all beach snacks. I guess it’s how they roll in the Hamptons—or at least my friend Aaron (nice work, friend!).
I made it back into the city on time on Sunday to meet my dear literary agent (a former New Yorker) for dinner at Minetta Tavern—I had to finally try that Black Label burger. It was cooked perfectly, and the flavor was on point, but I think we enjoyed the Belgian chocolate soufflé the most. I prefer juicier burgers—always like a couple of drips over my fries, you know?
Last night was another checklist item handled: seeing the Mingus Big Band perform at the Jazz Standard. Goddamn, such screaming talent in that crew. Caught the early show so I still had time to burn the midnight oil and finish writing this column. All in a day’s work, I tell ya.
This weekend will be my first Pride in New York after celebrating it for 22 years in San Francisco. Am thinking of all my gay friends in San Francisco and around the world—it’s especially a poignant one this year. But like everything else I have experienced in New York, I look forward to the adventure and warm welcome this weekend, and honoring the path and fight and journey everyone in the LGBTQ community has taken. Shine on.
With love, support, gratitude, and pride, Marcia Gagliardi
Kingfish and osetra caviar tartare with smoked crème fraîche emulsion and roe at Le Bernardin. Photo: © tablehopper.com.View tablehopper Newsletter from Tuesday, Jun 21 2016
