Manhattan Special in Brooklyn

Posted on September 26, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

Brooklyn has a completely different atmosphere than Manhattan, it’s more laid back, suburban even, without the intensity and energetic evolution of the city. So last week when we explored the old Italian neighborhood around Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill we found original restaurants and businesses that had been in the same family for years. The scouts on all those classic Italian movies – Moonstruck, Saturday Night Fever, Goodfellas plus most of Scorsese’s other films, didn’t have to wander far from the bridge to find perfectly authentic locations. The decor hasn’t changed much, ( in some cases not even the menu ) and many of the stories were only second generation – like the one about ordering a coke without gas during the prohibition if you wanted a glass of red wine.

Ferdinando’s Focacceria has been serving the same ‘special’ for 50 years that we know of, a deep fried thinly moulded chick pea cake with whipped ricotta cheese inside a sesame bun. (The locals joke that it still tastes as good as it did in their childhood because the oil hasn’t been changed!) Then there’s Mazolla’s bakery that boasts the best lard bread in the city. The name was not a good sell for me, but the taste was. Light and morish, the bread had chunks of bacon and a glazed chewy crust. By then we really needed a coffee so went to Heath Ledger’s old local ( D’Amico’s ) where we not only had an exceptionally good expresso, but also discovered Manhattan Special. This is a carbonated coffee drink that is absolutely delicious and has been around for over 100 years, when the makers first came to America from Southern Italy. For some reason – and despite the name – you can’t buy it in Manhattan, only in Brooklyn. We drank it everywhere we went that day, but ‘on tap’ it didn’t taste as good.  The trick to maximise the taste I was told, is that you take off the top slowly so that only a small amount of gas escapes, and then drink enthusiastically straight from the bottle. When in Rome…

The best part of the day was being driven around in an immaculate 1971 Cadillac playing doo-wop classics and hearing stories about the ‘hood. It was a far cry from hooning around Adelaide in my 1954 Morris Minor Ute in the olden days, but the effect was the same. Everyone stops to talk and leaves with a smile. Some even ask to put their head inside the car for that unmistakable smell from their past – very special indeed!

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San Gennaro and Joey

Posted on September 26, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

The San Gennaro Festival is currently being celebrated in Little Italy, and after years of avoiding rather than indulging in the tourist packed festivities, this week I found the big heart of Little Italy still thrives with la dolce vita. Sean and I were filming our documentary with Joey so we had the privilege – and fun – of talking to long-time local characters behind the scenes. San Gennaro is a religious commemoration of faith surrounding the miracle of the Patron Saint of Naples, but above all it is a celebration of life and a special time when past & present residents get together. The area around Mulberry and Grand streets were pedestrian only, and with the opportunity of sunshine and serendipity, our cameras were working overtime. We ate cannoli’s and meatballs and drank expresso, and we heard fabulous stories from Baby John and Fat Ernie. Ernie even sang for us, playing his guitar while he sat in front of his shop, acknowledging friends as they walked past. An elderly woman who used to live in the neighborhood joined him for an aria, and at the end we all had tears in our eyes. There will be a lot more to tell when the movie is finished, but for now here’s a picture to share….

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All that Jazz

Posted on September 19, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

We are spoiled for choice in the Big Apple when it comes to jazz. There are so many artists and venues that most of the time the challenge is in actually knowing what is going on where – and of course if the music is your kind of jazz. I’ve been caught a couple of times with the very esoteric modern variety – feathered wind shakers and percussion shells that never seem to find their way to the end of the score. Then there’s the rich Wynton Marsalis kind that you wish never would. Of course once you have bought your tickets and are committed to a two drink minimum, the damage is already done. So I was very pleased when a Melbourne muso suggested I chase up the delightful Nicki Parrott and report on her blossoming career.

Nicki is an Australian bass player and singer who first came to NYC in the nineties to further her studies. She didn’t expect to stay, but as it happened she was in the Iridium Club one night, the original home of famed guitarist Les Paul, and took up his invitation to perform a number on stage with a couple of male friends. At the end of the song Les said the guys could go, ‘but leave the girl up here’. Twelve years later, she’s still there! Monday nights at the Iridium became a regular gig for Nicki, and it was here she also added vocals to her repertoire. Les Paul has since passed, but the Trio continues to set the standard with a formidable lineup of guests and last night this just happened to be Bucky Pizzarelli and Gene Bertoncini. The two men appeared quite frail and had to be helped on stage – Gene is 75, and Bucky is 94, with gnarled arthritic hands. They bent over their guitars, silver hair glistening against the neon background, but as they started to play, the physical turned to the ethereal. It was magic to hear them play. It turned out Bucky had flown in from Paraguay in time for the gig, and was about to go on the road with Nicki for the following week. He also just recorded an album with Paul McCartney – the Beatle flew him over to London – and being 94 was no more a deterrent to playing than was arthritis. I asked Nicki about how she felt performing with these master musicians, veterans of the industry. At first she quoted Les Paul likening it to a condemned building having a new flagpole. But she said her classical training and appreciation of the craft of jazz meant they had a special respect for her. On stage it was all like an extended family, with a comraderie that you could sense.

In fact Nicki has a bigger reputation in Europe than in the States, and is so popular in Japan she was voted the world’s best jazz vocalist two years in a row. She will be touring there next month, appearing at the Cotton Club in Tokyo. For all the packed houses and famous connections Nicki seems totally non-plussed. She has accomplished everything without an agent, being happy that hard work and opportunity intersected just at the right time. She obviously loves to perform and has a good time when she does, smiling as she thumbs through those velvety bass beats.

For Nicki Australia is never far away. She considers herself a patriot rather than an ‘ex-pat’, there are koalas on her website intermingled with her publicity shots, and she has a great sense of humor. When I made the classic faux pax about her surname Parrott, saying it was a perfect name for a singer, Nicki very cheerfully explained her name is pronounced pah-rot! So when you are next in NYC looking for some easy listening jazz, you’ll find Nicki at the Iridium in Times Square on Monday nights. Be sure to say g’day!

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High Society

Posted on September 15, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

There was magic in the air yesterday. High up on the rooftop of the Waldorf Astoria, I had the delightful honour of joining master beekeeper Andrew Cote and the chefs of the hotel for the last honey harvest of the season. It was a spectacular day of blue skies and sunshine, our company was in chef whites and netted hoods, and I was giddy with the whole idea of beekeeping on top of one of the most famous hotels in the city.

The eastern terrace has a direct view to the Chrysler Building, with fake green grass underlying raised vegetable beds, and stylish hives looking very ‘Waldorf’. The happy residents were sourced and collected by Andrew from across America to ensure a mixed and healthy lineage. There is something very real about a man in his ute, picking up the queens in California, spotting the workers on the drive back, and then walking through the front door of the Waldorf Astoria with half a million bees! That was about a year ago, after chef David Garcelon, recently arrived from Toronto, decided the east rooftop was too perfect to pass on the installation of hives.  ( David had the bug from his previous post, and, married to an Australian, will no doubt soon be bringing his beekeeping and culinary skills Down Under, so bee prepared… )

On the roof we all donned masks for safe viewing while the hives were dismantled and inspected for honey. Andrew led the chefs – all trained beekeepers, as they smoked the bees and edged out the combs. The bees didn’t seem too fussed, I guess they are used to housekeeping coming along to service the suite. That Waldorf hospitality is famous, as is their guest list – but it is focussed forward. Beekeeping has only been legal in NYC since 2010, and the Waldorf has 6 of about 200 registered hives.

It was a glorious day up there on top of Manhattan and I recalled – no doubt with shared glee, seeing Park Avenue being transformed that morning with chrysanthemums, coloring a vibrant path all the way up to Central Park. Access to food and water is essential for the bees, so this corridor provides the next best thing to room service. They must be the best kept bees in Manhattan. Andrew is the only full-time professional beekeeper in NYC, training ‘beeks’, working with schools, and overseeing beehives on rooftops around the city. He is a fourth generation bee-keeper, with a farm in Connecticut and stalls at the Farmer’s Market in Union Square. Because bees are loyal by proximity to blooms, his Highline or Central Park honey will be true in flavor. Perhaps with a similar instinct he asked me to beeline a message to the South Pacific – ‘Kylie Michelle, where-ever you are, I think of you every day…’

My Waldorf experience did not end on the rooftop, as the harvesting of the honey was done in the kitchens. Treat after treat! The Waldorf kitchens are huge, historic, full of silver coffee pots, engraved plates and all the etiquette of elegant service.  While David demonstrated the extraction of the honey, his chefs worked on a magnificent morning tea. Fresh figs with foie gras, succulent lobster rolls, ripe brie drizzled with honey, and then the piece de resistance – honey icecream in perfectly polite little cones.

Money could not buy the experience I had in sharing the honey harvest at the Waldorf. It was extraordinary. Bees seem to have an effect on people, grounding them with a pooh bear camaraderie. I’m completely hooked, with even more reason to look up as I wander around New York and with greater respect for the golden nectar and the teamwork that make it possible. So don’t be surprised to find me planting swathes of blossoms with consecutive blooming patterns on my terrace, and humming past Cole Porter’s piano in the Waldorf mezzanine to join the hive of high society….

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The King and I

Posted on September 13, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

While conversation comes easy to me, and I enjoy talking to people and sharing their stories, formal interviews are another world – and that’s the world I stepped into this morning. Larry King had agreed to be interviewed for the documentary Sean and I are making about Joey, driver extraordinaire, but pinning him down to a time when he was available and in NYC was a challenge. Every day this week we were on standby, and then yesterday we received confirmation that 10am this morning was the time, The Regency Hotel was the place, and Mr King would be available for 30 minutes. By the time we arrived at the hotel ( we were early ) the appointment had been brought forward to 9.30 and we had 20 minutes. But then Mr King wanted to get his hair done, so our window was 9.40 and we had 10 minutes max. Sean did his magic with the visuals and sound, and there I suddenly found myself, interviewing a man who has at least 60,000 interviews to his credit…

It went extremely well.  Mr King turned on the charm, said all the right things, and gave us 10 devoted minutes that will make a great contribution to the film. The hotel staff were completely cool, and the number of secret service suits loitering in the lobby indicated that high profile people are just par for the course. So now that we are in the swing of it, I wonder if I should go out and buy myself a pair of red suspenders….?

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On the Waterfront

Posted on September 13, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

While there is no sign of Marlon Brando, there is plenty of action these days on the waterfront to the east of Manhattan. Much of this stretch was left to decay after being a historical hive of activity for industry and shipping. The Pepsi Cola sign remains as a retro reminder of the past, along with the Domino sugar plant and empty warehouses all the way from Long Island City to the Brooklyn Bridge. Lack of public transport and industrial toxic residue has been a deterrent to development, but times have changed. Now there is a splurge of new buildings mushrooming on the waterfront, the shore is being developed for recreation, and the east river boasts a fast and efficient ferry service that zigzags all the way from East 35th Street down to Wall Street. I’ve taken the ferry a couple of times for the scenic route downtown, or to go to the Williamsburg weekend food markets, but on Sunday Sean & I crossed the river to Long Island City and found a lot more than just the filming opportunity we expected.

The Hunter’s Point ferry stop is actually still a construction site. On landing you weave through a fenced-in pathway that eventually takes you through a carpark and then around past an authentic looking Crab House to the newly renovated space. Apartment blocks and icecreameries are sprouting up in front of the renovated barge landing, and new piers are attracting people, puppies and parties, all with an amazing view back to Manhattan. In the midst of this gentrification – and the yoga class appearing to be in adoration of the Empire State, there was one pier reserved for exclusively for fishing, and that’s where all the action was….

Jack Ruffino, regular winner of the Brooklyn Fishing Derby ( last year with a 40 pound striped bass caught from the pier ) was on hand to show us his famous run-and-cast motion. While the line flew in the direction of the Chrysler, he talked about life on the waterfront, exchanging the ‘tripwires’ that could – and did – take him to jail, for the fishing lines that gave him an angler’s patience and put him in the company of bait-running Jane. He also picked up an Alien tattoo along the way of the famous girlfriend of H. R. Giger. What an interesting character! John talked with great admiration about Steve Irwin and the rugged wilderness of Australia – the whole conversation seemed strange with the city skyline right there in front of us…

Two days later Sean and I were back on the ferry – with our bikes – heading southbound to Brooklyn to get ringside viewing of the September 11 beams of light. It was a spectacular evening and the jostling of tripods continued well beyond darkness. By then Sean and I decided that it was time for home, so wound our way onto the Brooklyn Bridge and rode home via Little Italy, where preparations for the feast of San Gennaro were well underway. That will be next week’s adventure, but for now, put the east side waterfront on your list, it’s a ride you can’t refuse….


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Don’t mention Little Brown

Posted on September 8, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

On our way back from the German butcher this morning ( their double smoked bacon alone is worth the ride ) we called into Little Brown for a coffee. Whoops, can’t say that any more, and can’t say the Bald Man either. Whoops again. This cafe/bakery was created by the same hairless male that created the Max Brenner brand of chocolate destinations 12 years ago, and by luck he was at the cafe today.  It seems there has been an epic legal situation in which the new owners of the Max Brenner brand have recently commandeered the naming rights of the cafe. So when you go looking for this delightful coffee spot on the corner of Lexington and 85th that I wrote about previously, you’ll find it’s called something else….

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Honey and Horticulture

Posted on September 6, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

My inaugural attendance at the NYC Beekeepers Association was a treat, not just because of the invitation to attend – ‘hello lovers of sweetness and light’, but because of the energy and enthusiasm of everyone there. The room was packed with all sorts of people, young & older, men and women, gardeners, chook owners, beekeepers and proud displayers of recent honey harvests. They inspired a warm and fuzzy feeling, not just because of all the honey associations, but because these people were a group of ‘carers’, passionate about bees and therefore by connection, the environment.

The guest speaker was the Director of Horticulture and Public Programs at the Horticultural Society of New York, and he danced from latin to statistics to politics with ease. The latin was fortunately accompanied by pictures, making the bee-friendly plants more memorable. Statistics were educational – 97% of everything you put in your mouth is in some way connected to honey bees, and the politics were scary. Apparently Mayor Bloomberg is the ‘greenest’ mayor we have had for 50 years, and still trees are dying in the city because their aren’t enough Parks employees to water them.

So it was an enlightening and inspiring evening, with a good dose of Manhattan magic.  I came away knowing how to ‘winter’ bees for the coming season and that next Spring I should plant swathes of particular plants, not just pots. I have an invitation to the honey festival in Brooklyn and to the Queens County Fair. But best of all, I have a bee-pending appointment to visit a roof top hive, where I hope to catch the buzz on the sweetest views in the city…

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accommodation mission

Posted on September 6, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

While on a mission to find inexpensive but safe and central lodgings for friends coming to NYC next Spring, I inadvertently found some excellent accommodation that just happens to be a mission. Inadvertently because I was on my way to a beekeepers meeting, and the mission being a Lutheran Mission for seafarers and sojourners. With such a wonderful name, inspiring thoughts of wind-in-the-hair adventurers on the sea of discovery, the House had to be good. It was. The receptionist cheerfully gave me a tag to access one of their 11th floor double rooms with a private bath. It was immaculately clean, and my boarding school eye could not but admire the perfectly made bed. Tight as a drum, it not only would be impossible for a bedbug to take up residence, but a quarter bounced clear and high without any encouragement. While the room is not sexy, at $136 for a weekday ( $145 on Friday & Saturday nights ) it doesn’t need to be, and the location on east 15th street easily makes up the points. So if you are setting sail for the Big Apple, and are looking for some cheerful accommodation, consider the Mission accomplished.

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Coney Island

Posted on September 3, 2012 by TheFitzyreport

Who would have thought Coney Island could be so much fun?! I have only been there once before – for the ‘Polar Bear’ event on New Year’s Day, when crazy, thick skinned or newly resolute dare-devils plunge into the freezing surf. But that was years ago, and there has been so much talk since then about the whole area being sold off and redeveloped that I didn’t realise the place was still alive and pumping. Coney Island has all the fun of the fair and for most of the year round. There are rides and fairy floss, toffee apples and dodgem cars. And while summer is the prime time, since I heard about the ferris wheel having special candle lit spins during snow season, I’m going to keep my skates on, just in case. Imagine how beautiful that would be?

On Friday afternoon, at the beginning of the Labor day weekend and with the temperature topping 33*C, there were thousands of people on the beach and a few thousand more whooping it up in the amusement park. Sean was rather keen to join the whoopers on the wooden roller coaster, but the sound of the structure creaking as the cars lurched around the ancient bends was enough to drive us ( me ) toward the more senior but somehow safer, Wonder Wheel. The wheel was built in 1920, and is maintained so well that it looks exactly the same as it did in all those movies – or in your memories of visits past. The stationary cars ( rather than those than swing around ) went the full 150 feet off the ground, and this proved to be a huge bonus when we caught the breeze at the top. It was as refreshing as the view was magnificent. Joey, who we would be filming at Nathan’s later in the day, explained that the mechanism of the old wheel was so simple that the only running cost was the $20 of grease needed each day to keep the cogs turning. Solar power kept everything else on the move.

Lunch meant Nathan’s, the most famous hot dog destination in the world, whether you want one or have the stomach to break the record. It had been 18 years since I had doggedly indulged and that was on a snowy Christmas Eve and my first night ever in NYC. So the memory bar was high, but, I am happy to report, it was well met. Of course the atmosphere helped, as it was the tips from Al Capone’s bar over the road that provided the seed money for Nathan to open his doors in the first place. Unfortunately Shore’s Hotel is closed for business these days. The building is still there, and the neon sign has been restored, but who could run the floor now like Jimmy Durante anyway? One thing that hasn’t changed – by popular demand – are the fries at Nathan’s. It seems they are just as famous as the hot dogs. Apparently a particular potato, and family of suppliers, has been used consistently for nearly 100 years to provide the signature chip. When the drought this year meant there were none of the regular potatoes and a substitute created an outcry from patrons, the vendor had to buy more farm land in another agricultural zone to ensure continuity in the face of climate change. I guess if you have a 24 hour business and sell over 425 million hot dogs in one year, your bark has to be as good as your bite.



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