I went to a wonderful event at the Union Square Cafe yesterday afternoon, a benefit for several organizations that train marginalized people to work in the food industry. I don’t go to a lot of benefits, because I don’t have the money, but this one was $105/pp, which seemed like a bargain to me. And a bargain it was. I can’t imagine a better ROI. For starters, unlimited oysters and caviar from Island Creek. The plates got smaller as the afternoon wore on, because they were on to me, but the joke’s on them - I can balance four oysters on a Ritz cracker if I have to.
Plus a DJ playing all your favorite 70s and 80s hits (Funkytown!). It will surprise no one that Union Square Hospitality can throw a well-organized, well-run party, with buffet stations as well as passed dishes, so you could eat pretty much constantly if you felt like it, as if you were a shark. I could complain a bit about the oyster line, but I was part of the problem!
This is only the second year for this benefit - I will be first in line at the third.
give a shout next year, I still have some clear-out moves from basketball, just need a day or two to sharpen up my elbows and we’ll have the oysters to ourselves.
Last time I heard anyone talk much about it was a few years ago. I know one of the owners (don’t know if he is still involved) who was an avid competition bbq guy. Around 2020 or so it was supposed to be good, if a little hit or miss.
I had me some at home tonight. (Fried rice seemed the best thing to eat while I watched what we’re all watching – The Golden Bachelorette.)
I agree that it’s solid – the rice, not the show – but it wasn’t as crabby as I’d like, and as I remember Uncle Boon’s as being. The crab is tender, however, and the overall balance of flavors is very good. Overall, I have to disagree with @small_h and say it’s better than solid. Excellent, I’d say. I’d say more, but the first-impression rose is being given out and I’m not crazy enough not to watch.
We? WE? I OBJECT! “We” are watching no such thing!
Rice also used to play a significant role in Survivor (yes, it’s still on), and I’m hesitant to admit I know this, but Survivor utterly trounced The Golden Bachelorette in their head-to-head matchup on Wednesday with an 0.73 in the advertiser-preferred demographic vs. 0.29, as well as 4.72 million vs. 2.81 million total viewers (a largely irrelevant measure because advertisers are ageist dirtbags… don’t shoot the messenger). It seems like ABC has finally gone a spinoff too far with The Bachelor.
But Survivor needs to bring back the gross food challenge and make people eat some balut again, as well as give the poor schmucks on the island some rice. Instead they’re reduced to scratching around for nuts (no idea what kind of nuts grow on Fiji), breadfruit, and taro.
After a vague hint from another Onioneer (?) that I should keep my eyes open for it, I notice that a tiny Burmese place, Burmese Harp, has opened in Bay Ridge at 8510 4th Ave. They’ve had food at one of the Burmese fests at St. James Episcopal in Elmhurst but AFAIK this is their first brick-and-mortar.
There are several reviews from Burmese folks on Google already, but no entry for it on Yelp yet. (Curiously enough, a couple of southern Brooklyn’s crankiest online cranks have also taken immediate notice… but I won’t get into southern Brooklyn politics here.) Unfortunately, I might not get a chance to get over there and try it until the week of Sept. 30…
Okay Eats NYC 2024. A photographer acquaintance needed an assistant to help with a shoot at Elias Corner in Astoria - no pay, but free food! - so obviously I was there. The restaurant operates like the places some of us have been that have no set menu, but rather ask you to choose from the offerings of the day. We were constrained, in that my acquaintance was shooting for a review and had to order the dishes the reviewer had eaten: octopus, Greek salad, fried sardines, branzino.
For starters, this shows a lack of imagination on the reviewer’s part (I won’t name the publication, because I’ve decided to be needlessly coy). Nothing was actively bad, but all the fish was under-seasoned and overcooked. The octopus was the best of the bunch, and the salad was fine, although I regretted not bringing my own oregano - I have a ton! My acquaintance was a bit self-conscious about using his flash lest it draw negative attention. He needn’t have worried. One devoted customer came over to share that she’d been coming to Elias Corner from Port Washington for decades, and to express her hope that the review would show the place in a good light.
It is a nice place. With a loyal customer base, and I hope they continue to enjoy and support it.
its been decades since we have been there but I remember the octopus and boiled greens most favorably along with the family atmosphere and the fish display.
Just to say I dont remember ever seeing fresh oregano on a greek salad in greece - all that they’ve served in my experienceis dried, grown in the mountains or on the arid maquis, exceptionally flavorful. Its hard to find this quaity here and Im sorry I did not stock up last spring in Athens.
Elias Corner was one of those “legends of Astoria” places in the early days of CH ('90s). It was the place to go to for impeccably fresh fish prepared perfectly. Then there were lots of “downhill” reports &, the last time I was there (around 2010), it was a shell of itself. The owner looked tired of doing it, the salads were not fresh (or freshly made) and the cooking was uneven at best. As we (& many others) had long since moved our Greek seafood dinners to Kyclades and a couple of other places, it didn’t surprise me, but it did sadden me, as that corner place had been a favorite of mine years past. Well, apparently what’s old is new again and here it is being reviewed (somewhere) again. I sincerely hope that current patrons are getting better than your fish but it sure looks like its better than my last foray there.
I’m going to remember Elias Corner for the way it was many years ago. It will take multiple new reports of it being the best seafood restaurant in Astoria to get me to risk that memory. So far, it sounds like little chance of that happening.
it looks like there is some oregano on top of the feta? that usually the case. The fresh dried product from the area is really fragrant and good (sicily too)
anyway at the greek stores in Brooklyn I am only seeing Fantis oregano, so I went out and bought some TURKISH oregano at a Penzey’s store in Columbus - they let you taste and it was good.
