neighborbee - New York City

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Fighting the Droop: An Irish Heart in Tóibín's 'Brooklyn'

February 15, 2010 Manhattan by Rose Gorman

As a small-town girl (I'm originally from Grenada, MS) who escaped to the big city ASAP, I can vouch for the beauty and color and sheer madness that such culturally cramped quarters have to offer. So can classics like To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye.

But the range of emotions and adventures had by our beloved Holden don't compare to those of Eilis Lacey, the heroine in Colm Tóibín's Brooklyn.

The small town here is Enniscorthy, in southeast Ireland, and it's the 1950s. When she cannot find work, Eilis heads for America and settles in a crowded, Brooklyn tenement house to live out the common American immigrant's nightmare of loneliness and poverty under the watchful eyes of nosy neighbors.

But happiness sprouts forth in odd pockets of this crazy city -- even in Brooklyn! -- and Eilis miraculously finds love and a strange resistance to the thought of returning to Ireland when she is called home. This week, at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House, Tóibín will paint us a picture of Eilis' conflict in his reading of Brooklyn, just in time for the novel's paperback release.

BOOK READING: Colm Tóibín reads Brooklyn at 7 p.m. on Thursday, February 18th at NYU's Glucksman Ireland House. Purchase advanced tickets ($10): 212-998-3950.

Tags: Colm Tóibín, NYU's Ireland House, 1950s, Ireland, immigrants

Off the Bee-ten track: Coffee, Booze and More at Café Amrita

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Off the Bee-ten track: Coffee, Booze and More at Café Amrita

January 31, 2010 Upper West Side by neighborbee

On the border of Harlem and Morningside Heights, next to the unending Fredrick Douglas circle redesign at 110th Street, you’ll find a unique neighborhood café that’s already gone through a name change in its five short years. I’d only visited its earlier incarnation as Saurin Parke, and so when I returned recently under the Café Amrita moniker I was afraid that what made the old place so great would be gone.

Even more than your average coffee shop, it was the perfect locale to spend a Saturday afternoon in front of a laptop. From browsing the stack of paperbacks to soaking up a Left Bank ambiance surrounded by a flutter of accents (Castilian? German?) and a varied playlist backed by clacking laptop keys, it had it all.

The look was light wood-paneled walls, dark pine tables in a large, light-filled space behind the French doors (open in nice weather) that front the facade. Vintage posters? Check. Mostly Monaco Grands Prix brought back from Paris, some others. They gave it the feel of a sports bar in a working class futbol-obsessed province of mitteleuropa.

What I found is that, with the exception of the new 60" flat screen hovering above the bar like Big Brother with a news crawl (must! watch! CNN!), my fears were unfounded. In fact, I was hard-pressed to notice any difference.

The atmosphere is the same. The menu is the same (standard café stuff, somewhat overpriced, and a surprisingly decent guac). About the only thing that changed for the worse is the wi-fi policy. Where before it was free seven days a week with purchase, now they don't even switch it on for the weekend. Huh? I understand they don't want people to stay all day on the weekend, but it works fine for Starbucks, and it worked fine for the old Saurin.

I also decided to try out a feature of the café that I hadn't yet availed myself of- namely booze. That's right. It's a little strange during the day to see all those pretty bottles lined up behind the bar, when all you want is an espresso, panino, or madeline, but there they are. Promising a tipple or two. But not exactly a debauch, unless it's of the post-post-structuralist tête-à-tête with your fellow colloquium member. That is to say, it gets a lot of Columbia grad students.

With candles on the immaculately worn-in tables, the lights dimmed low, and the blue glow of the Sam Adams sign flooding everything, I discovered Amrita presents another face weekend nights. On the Friday night I went there were about 14 people, split between the bar (some med students in scrubs) and the tables (business-y attire here). The TV was off, thankfully, and the vibe was divey (not even the candles overpowered the blue haze) yet neighborly. I could make this a regular night spot, I thought.

Saurin is dead. Long live Amrita!

Café Amrita

301 W 110th St. (at Fredrick Douglass Blvd)

212-222-0683

Tags: frederick douglas circle redesign, saurin cafe, morningside heights, cafe amrita, neighborbee, New York City, Harlem

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Dish Buzz - Nolita House

January 29, 2010 East Village by neighborbee

If I had not been planning on hitting Nolita House, I might have walked clear by the entrance. It's almost lost amidst some serious scaffolding. While not so attractive at the moment from the exterior, lurking inside is a cozy brunch spot you should not miss.

However, I will warn it was definitely one of the noisier brunch locales I have tried so if you have a pounding headache, need to have a deep conversation, or are bringing perhaps more audibly sensitive guests with you, I might recommend you hold off on this one.

All entrees come with a complimentary mimosa, glass of sangria, soda, or juice. Their sandwiches that passed by looked quite good, and the fries can't help but look good when opting for a 2pm brunch. Their salad portions were also quite generous.

Mac 'n Cheese, Nolita House Being so late, I even skipped my typical sweet faves (waffles, pancakes, or french toast) in favor of trying Nolita House's much-appropriately-hyped macaroni and cheese. It was made using gemelli pasta and came with a large helping of panko bread crumbs crowning the dish. And I can vouch, this one reheats nicely.

My sister's vanilla bourbon french toast (seriously?!?) was amazing. The summary on the menu on their website really says it all... "brioche soaked in vanilla bourbon custard, rolled in French crepes with nutella maple syrup". I was intriuged seeing as it was rolled in crepes. Would it be soggy? I've had cornflake crusted french toast, but never something as potentially soggy as crepes. Verdict? Definitely a keeper (albeit a bit on the sweeter side for those of you who are more savory brunch-goers).

Only thing I was not quite sold on was their biscuit. It was a very flat thing, quite wide in circumference. When I split into it with the knife to add in the butter and orange marmalade, it crumbled like crazy. I've still yet to find some amazing biscuits in the city, with Clinton Street Baking Company being the best I've had to date.

Nolita House Brunch runs both on Saturday and Sunday from 11am to 4pm. They claim it's a bluegrass brunch. However seeing as they were blaring Red Hot Chili Peppers while we were there, I am unsure if we just caught them on an off weekend or if that's more of a nod to their cuisine. Regardless, service is good and it's defintely one to try. It was quite crowded when we were there, so I would recommend reservations.