I’m sure just about anyone who attended Columbia is aware that Barack Obama (CC '83) attended the university. Most also probably know that he called himself Barry at one point in his life, but I’m unclear what is the point in referring to him that way now.
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Maybe he counts 'cause he had Vietnamese food with Anthony Bourdain once? And coffee with Jerry Seinfeld?
Good point. He’s also known for visits to Five Guys and Ben’s Chili Bowl, so some culinary chops there, sort of.
Alas Seinfeld graduated from Queens College, and Bourdain graduated from CIA after having attended Vassar. Oddly, Zimmern graduated from Vassar. What its it about Vassar and TV celebrity chefs? No Morningside Heights connections there though.
Seinfeld of course made Tom’s famous, sort of. FWIW he has gotten into espresso in a big way in recent times.
As long as we are straying into famous Columbia Grads without a culinary connection, don’t forget Art Garfunkel (CC '65, TC '67); of course he did sing about parsley, sage, etc.
Condescension is the reason I can think of.
Now that you mention CIA, when I was a young associate I worked on the first bond deal for the CIA. I recall going up to the school for a due diligence meeting and afterwards the president took me to the dining room for lunch. Much better than John Jay.
july-aug, I’m at the hungarian bakery about 3 times per week. The first day there’s a line out the door with kids wearing name tags, I know I’m done until the following summer. For some reason the kids are younger every year 
really no reason to eat at v&t with so many better options around, not sure how they stay in business. The real benefit to living so close to the university are the authentic chinese restaurants that have cropped up to serve the asian student community.
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I lived on W. 107th between W. End & Riverside in ‘74. I fondly remember many of the places named in this thread. The West End had great music, the Cuban-Chinese place on Bdway & 108th had great hangover food & the Chinese place on Bdway just off 107th was better than expected. Just sayin’.
I feel like that was called Szechuan Dynasty. It was on the 2nd floor, between 109th and 110th, it wasn’t there for more than a few years, and my parents and I loved it.
I grew up on 97th and West End and my mother went to grad school at Columbia in the early and mid 70s, so I’ve been to many of the restaurants mentioned in this thread. We often went to the Green Tree and had cold cherry soup and dishes like goulash or chicken paprikash with nokedli. I remember their vegetable sides were frozen (string beans and the like).
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First floor, neon sign, possibly spelled Dinasty. It opened around 1984.
Oh yeah, that was on the corner of 110th and Broadway where there was an independent donut shop earlier in the 70s where I used to get a cruller or donut after school at Cathedral School (which I went to for 3rd, 4th and 7th grades, 1973-75 and 1977-78).
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Yes, I don’t know what it was before. I do remember the walnut shrimp, though.
I think the reason V&T stays in business is pretty simply: they are dependable and good and a place where you can be convivial. I don’t eat there frequently, but the last time I went there a few years ago, they seemed absolutely identical to the first time I got pizza there in 1973 or '74. How many places are around that long and keep putting out food of the same quality? I used to like Sal & Carmine’s Pizzeria (I feel like maybe it used to be just Sal’s?) when it was at 95th St., before it moved to its current location north of 101st, but at a certain point, they seemed to decide that huge quantities of salt should be their main ingredient. Even their crust was saltier than brine.
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I don’t know if I ever ate there.
There was a donut shop on the NW corner of 111th and B’way where I first encountered crullers - the best! A friend would often appear at around dinner time with a bag of rainbow sprinkle cookies from Party Cake Bakery on the SW corner of B’way and 110th….couldn’t say no to that!
I wonder if they moved at some point. I think the place on 110th St. was called Twin Donut. They had maybe 25 flavors of donuts and a few flavors of crullers. The combinations were quite interesting for me as a budding 9- or 12-year-old gourmet, whatever age I was at that point (probably 12-13).
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Now, that sounds very familiar.
My friends and I used to watch Dynasty every Wednesday night, and we would get takeout from Dynasty (or Dinasty) to go with.
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Yes! Twin Donuts!
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There was a dive bar called the Third Phase, downstairs, but SE corner (?) below 110th…?
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The Third Phase (sawdust on the floor!) was at 545 West 111th, near the northeast corner with Broadway.
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Your friend was probably making a backhanded reference to La Bella China, at 2816 Broadway, near the southwest corner with 109th.
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