Pulled Pork Showdown

As an avid Yankees fan dating a rabid Mets fan, I usually spend my summer evenings split evenly between Queens and the Bronx. I've already chowed on Danny Meyer's Blue Smoke Carolina pulled pork sandwich at Citi Field (left) but last night marked my first Yankee game so I ran around comparing all the various food options between the two. (You can read about our own comparison in the March/Arpil edition of Manhattan here.) Verdict: Citi Field definitely has the classier grub, but Yankee Stadium has Brother Jimmy's BBQ, offering a pretty competitive pulled pork sandwich to Blue Smoke's. The only difference is the sauce at Blue Smoke is a tad thicker and tangier, but Bro Jimmy's also sells sweet sides like mac 'n cheese, baked beans and fried pickles. As a baked beans lover, I declare this a tie. The only bummer? They post the damn calories. (800!)

Summer Reading

Memorial Day is here at last, so you know what that means! No, not sitting in traffic on the 405 or holding in derisive laughter as plastic-fantastic blondes perambulate around Bridgehampton. It's time to stack up on good books and get your read on. Here are mini-excerpts of ten blockbusters due out this month. All the usual genres are covered—top fiction, memoirs, gritty true crime and, of course, fluff. Take your pick and don't be afraid to hush those loud-talkers on the Jitney.

So scandalous..

After reading Sara Cardace's Q&A with Michael Gross in the current issue of Manhattan, I made a note to add Rogues' Gallery: The Secret History of the Moguls and the Money that Made the Metropolitan Museum to my summer reading list (scandal + gossip in the art world = excellent beach read). Now, having read this article on The Huffington Post, I'm committed to reading everything he's ever written. Starting with this. So juicy!

All that Jazz!

As we've noted: We love our new office. The commute, however, takes some getting used to. As the R train inched its way across Brooklyn this morning, I found this article in the New York Times which only made things worse. Apparently the JVC Jazz Festival in NYC is no longer. Turns out the company behind the festival (a summertime constant in the city since 1984) has run into some financial problems (big surprise). But then I remembered the Big Apple Barbecue Block Party is just three weeks away! If you haven't been, it's amazing: 14 of the nation's top pitmasters cook up their award-winning ribs, pulled pork, brisket and so on. And you get to sample everything—for just $8 per plate. Best of all, the two-day festival features music from six bluesy, soul singers like Howard Tate, The Dixons and SaRon Crenshaw. So while we're sad to see the JVC Festival go, we're sure the blues and soul emanating from Madison Square Park—coupled with a heaping order of baby back ribs—will help take the edge off.
For more info, check out #9 on Manhattan's Top Ten list.

Can you help me?

We’re loving the new neighborhood: Lower Manhattan is pretty amazing on a sunny day, and we’ve had a string of ’em. Yet as New Yorkers, we’re entitled to our pet peeves, and one remains the comically slow checkout line at most Duane Reade drugstores. This morning, a quick pre-work pop-in for a pack of Kleenex resulted in a 7-minute wait as one clerk struggled with a purchase, another had a snafu with an elderly customer (of course!) and another two attempted to unwrap tight rolls of change. The line grew a dozen strong before a cavalry-like clerk rescue occurred from some hidden back room. Oh, all of which reminded us of number 15 from Manhattan’s “25 Ways To Instantly Improve NYC.”

Mmm Mmm Good

Oooooh, big news in the dining scene: Frank Bruni’s New York Times review of Minetta Tavern comes out tomorrow (or tonight, if you’re an obsessive online reader). But why wait? You can read Manhattan’s ace review by dining critic Adeena Sussman right here, right now. So is Keith McNally’s latest McHotspot worth the hype? We’ll let the burger do the talking…
UPDATE: Bruni loves Minetta!
photo by Evan Sung

Get Out!

Okay, so this insanely nice weather has us wanting to ramp up the spring and summer plans, and first up might have to be Friday’s performance of On The Waterfront in Hoboken, on, where else? The waterfront! And when the rain comes back? We’ll be hitting the Met’s Costume Institute and the homage to the supermodel, à la this vintage flick by Peter Lindbergh. Just two of the selections from Manhattan’s May/June issue Top Ten. Check it out now!

Going Dutch

The International Contemporary Furniture Fair winds down today, but some design stores will continue to host exhibitions into next month. One that we checked out was Cite’s “400 Years Later—CITE Goes Dutch,” a showcase of 23 emerging designers from that little country that “discovered” our Manhattan isle four centuries back. The items included in the show range from quirky yet useful stuff like a gun-shaped handbag and a big wall mirror that contains a pop-out hand mirror, but we were most taken with photos by Lisa Klappe, including this one from her “Hair Basketry” series. The exhibit is up at CITE’s Soho showroom until June 14.
CITE, 131 Green St./Prince., 212.431.7272

RE-BRANDING NEW YORK

While we were putting together the May/June issue of Manhattan toward the end of this past miserable winter, the news about the city was getting pretty grim, what with all that Madoff scheming and Wall Street wishy-washiness. So we had an idea: We’d ask several up-and-coming graphic designers with NYC addresses to re-imagine Milton Glaser’s iconic logo. And they obliged. Oh sure, now the weather’s nicer and Wall Street has had a few triple-digit rallies recently—the Dow rose almost 250 points today, in our first full day as neighbors to the NYSE!—so everyone’s all chipper and upbeat again. But humor us if you will, or at least send the link to your graphic design nerd friends.

The New Manhattan

Manhattan’s May/June issue hit newsstands last week, and since we were a bit busy with our move, we didn’t get a chance to start hyping it. We’ll be posting links to specific stories from our digital edition in this space this week, but if you’re in the tri-state area, stop by a newsstand or Barnes & Noble and ask for Manhattan by name!