Friday, March 30, 2018

El Quijote: Fabled NYC Restaurant closes during Holy Week

Today, on the day that many Christians commemorate the death of Jesus Christ, many New York food lovers will witness the death of an institution. El Quijote, the fabled restaurant on 23rd street, under the famous/infamous Chelsea Hotel, will close its doors after being in operation since 1930. How many restaurants in New York City today can claim that they were open during the height of the Great Depression, and have remained opened ever since.

To dine at El Quijote is to step back in time almost 90 years, which is to say almost a century. The decor has remained the same: a combination of Spanish kitsch and a literature lesson in pictures, figures and statues of Miguel de Cervantes's novel. I'm sure that a list of its patrons would read like a cross section of America's notables. Once I saw actor Fyvush Finkel, one of the last remaining pillars of the Yiddish theater dining there. He was sitting at a large table with family and friends. Fyvush, who died at the age of 96 in 2016 was only eight years old when El Quijote first opened its doors to the public.

For me, El Quijote was all about the shrimp ajillo (shrimp with garlic sauce) a potent mixture that stayed on your breath for hours and was sure to repel potential amorous encounters as well as your common urban vampire. It was always served with yellow rice. Whether or not they used real saffron to make it yellow was irrelevant. Shrimp ajillo with yellow rice was my meal of choice, preceded by a hot bowl of "caldo gallego," the earthy soup from the Northwest of Spain. On a cold wintry day, when the wind blew up and down 23rd street, there was nothing better.

The other drawing card was the sangría, although here one must acquiesce to the way this libation is prepared at that other venerable Spanish restaurant, Sevilla, in the village.  In Sevilla, the sangría has maintained its delicious taste since I first visited this joint in the late 1970s. At El Quijote, the sangría was a movable feast: sometimes too strong, other times too fruity. One time, it was even murky and dark. At Sevilla, the sangría is always clear. El Quijote featured the second best sangría in New York City, let's leave it at that.

The only question left now is will El Quijote open its doors again, and if it does, what will it look like, and what will the food be like? I for one am asking the gods for a speedy resurrection.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

James Levine is suing the MET

Will this be the straw that finally breaks Peter Gelb's back? James Levine is suing the Metropolitan Opera over the fact that he was fired after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced.  According to the Hollywood Reporter, the conductor filed a lawsuit on Thursday claiming that the opera company used baseless allegations to tarnish his fabled career. The company went on to fire him without even a telephone call. The suit asks for at least 5.8 million dollars. The MET has not seen the suit as of this writing, and has made no comments. The MET suspended Levine back in December, and started an investigation after the New York Post and the New York Times published allegations of sexual misconduct involving three boys. These events go back decades ago, and Levine said that the accusations were unfounded, and that he had not been charged with any crime.

When all this blows over, and I believe it will, like any witch hunt, I believe there is a good chance that James Levine will come back to the MET. And I also believe that the audience will welcome him with great acclaim. The reason why the MET orchestra is the polished ensemble it is is all due to Maestro Levine. When he returns it will be a very uncomfortable place for Gelb, I'm sure. That might be the moment when the board will finally fire him, and search for somebody who understand the likes and tastes of the New York opera-going public.

Sunday, March 04, 2018

Oscars Predictions

The Oscars are tonight, of course.  Here are some last minute predictions:

Actor in a leading role: Gary Oldman
Actor in a supporting role: Sam Rockwell
Actress in a leading role: Frances McDormand 
Actress in a supporting role: Laurie Metcalf
Best Director: Guillermo Del Toro (The Shape of Water)
Best Cinematography: Roger Deakins (Blade Runner 2049)
Best Picture: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri

Saturday, March 03, 2018

WACO on the new Paramount Network

Waco, a six part miniseries based on the 1993 siege of the Waco, Texas compound of the Branch Dividians, a millenarian cult led by David Koresh, brings to mind President Trump's recent tweets on the failure of the FBI to get anything right. After a standoff of more than 50 days, the Bureau chose to use might against the cult, which produced a raging fire which brought the ordeal to a tragic end. At the end Koresh, and many women and children Branch Dividians, seventy-six in all, laid dead in the ashes of the inferno. It was one of the most tragic uses of lethal force used by Americans against Americans.

The series began as a project of the Weinstein Company, but soon after reports of sexual allegation surfaced, Harvey Weinstein's name as well as the name of his company was removed from the series. Spike, which was supposed to air the series became Paramount, and the first episode aired on January of this year.

The screenplay by John Eric Dowdle, Drew Dowdle, Salvatore Stabile and Sarah Nicole Jones presents us with a linear account of the events, title cards telling us the number of days of the standoff. What is missing from their script is a serious backward glance at the man who brought all these people to Mount Carmel and convinced them that he was the Second Coming. Koresh's journey as a Seventh Day Adventist, his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and his memorization of the Bible before he was twenty years old adds much to his character. What is also missing from their script is the very fact that Koresh was a monster: a self-proclaimed messiah who bullied and mistreated his followers all in the name of dogma together with his preoccupation with the book of Revelation and the End of Days. You wouldn't know this Koresh from the character that actor Taylor Kitsch creates, however. In Mr. Kitsch's sensitive portrayal, Koresh is a well-meaning hippie, who probably took some acid, did some mushrooms and expanded his mind into a Bible-thumping rocker, with a gift of the gab, all tied up with a neat Texan drawl. The screenplay misses the deep allegiance to belief and Scripture that made Koresh so believable to his followers.

Despite some of the lapses in the screenplay, if Mr. Kitsch's Koresh grabs us, so does Michael Shannon's performance as Gary Noesner, the FBI agent who tries against all odds, including his boss's orders, to end the stalemate. Their phone conversations are at the heart of this story, as they show us two determined men in brutally honest conversation. Both Mr. Shannon and Mr. Kitsch through their acting abilities also manage to convey to us that the characters they play know very well in their heart of hearts that their efforts will end badly.

In supporting, but key roles John Leguizamo is excellent in the opening episodes as an ATF agent who infiltrates the Mount Carmel compound and befriends Koresh. Likewise, Rory Culkin, as one of Koresh's disciples gives a captivating, heartfelt performance. Also, Shannon's boss Tony Prince, played by Glenn Fleshler and FBI agent Mitch Decker (Shea Whigham) give credible performances as the villains of the piece. Julia Garner's heartbreaking performance as Michelle Jones, forced to marry Culkin's character, and forced to watch her father's body be buried in a ditch, offers a great contribution to this miniseries.

Waco may not be a revelation, but it expertly handles a very dark page in American history. It is definitely worth your while to watch this excellent miniseries.