vip in the city

Let’s Get Comfortable launch

Another beautiful almost-Spring day. Union Square was filled with New Yorkers, and the musicians were out in full force, entertaining the crowds and making new fans in the park.

Passing through the dog run, I spied AC and M sitting on a bench, keeping watch over AC’s frolicking dogs, and exuding cozy contentment. What a sweet scene! I called out to her, and said a brief hello, before continuing on my way up Broadway.

Tonight, a launch party for Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams’ first book, Let’s Get Comfortable: How to Furnish and Decorate a Welcoming Home.

Gold and Williams founded the Taylorsville, North Carolina-based home furnishings design company Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams in 1989. The $100-million-a-year company supplies chains like the troubled Pottery Barn, Crate & Barrel, Williams Sonoma Home and Restoration Hardware, and has 13 and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Signature stores (with 5 more to come, including a New York City location at Andre Balazs’ undulating glass-and-brick Kenmare Square.)

The book, written with Mindy Drucker and published by Meredith Books, promotes the MG+BW “relaxed design” aesthetic, based on mixing, not matching – with comfort and livability as chief considerations. The design philosophy is reflected in the authors’ homes; photos of their residences are included in the 216-page book.

The duo was in New York City to kick off their book tour with an appearance on NBC’s “Today Show” that morning.

Inc. magazine named the team among their list of 26 most fascinating entrepreneurs. The openly gay business partners are well known for their active philanthropic efforts, on behalf of such organizations as the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the Empire State Pride Agenda, The National Black Justice Coalition, the Design Industries Foundation for AIDS (DIFFA), and Gold-founded Faith In America, which fights religion-based bigotry. Other causes include the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Related: Tips on charitable giving from the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

Righteous Urban Grilling

To celebrate the early start of Daylight Savings Time, Kingsford Charcoal hosted a “Spring Forward, Get Grilling” dawn-to-dusk cookout in Madison Square Park.

The public was invited to attend charcoal grilling and barbecue smoking demonstrations by four-time Memphis in May world titlist Chris Lilly, barbecue expert Rick Rodgers, and Latin grilling authority (and owner of Paladar) Aaron Sanchez. But most enticing of all: pitmasters would be firing the smokers and grills from 7AM until 7PM, dispensing free barbecue to all passerbys.

Hmm, barbecue for breakfast?

It was shaping up to be one of those wildly unpredictable weeks of early-March weather: freezing and overcast one day, warm and sunny the next. Today was one of the latter, so I decided to swing by the park after work. I was about a block away when SYB sent a text message informing me that the last of the brisket had been doled out. Alas.

Mark your calendars: The Fifth Annual Big Apple Barbecue Block Party — the Woodstock of New York barbecue — will take place here in Madison Square Park on June 9 and 10, 2007. Fast Passes go on sale beginning Sunday, April 1.

The waft of phantom barbecue still hung tantalizingly in the air as the crowds gradually dispersed. All this whetted SYB’s lately dormant taste for meat, so he suggested dinner at R.U.B. a couple of blocks west of the park.

Grrr. Still stinging from Sunday’s disappointments, I grudgingly agreed to give the place another shot. Once there, I ordered the pulled pork sandwich, which arrived in a moist, lukewarm heap on a wax paper-covered metal pie plate. Presentation (or lack thereof) aside, it actually was  very good (as yesterday’s server had promised)… but probably not 45-minutes  good, which unfortunately, is how long it took to be delivered to the table. (What sandwich is?) Good thing we had the hush puppies to tide us over.

Does R.U.B. serve the best barbecue on the city? New York  magazine declared this ‘cue joint supreme in 2006 and 2007; USA Today  listed it among the best in the nation. (The folks at AOL named Virgil’s Real BBQ New York City’s #1.) To be sure, the field of contenders has heated up considerably in the past couple of years — thanks to the likes of Daisy May’s BBQ U.S.A., Blue Smoke, and Dinosaur BBQ.

R.U.B.’s menu calls out for broad sampling: the popular “Taste of the Baron,” offers a tasting of smoked meats (turkey, ham, pastrami, beef brisket, pulled pork), chicken and sausage, piled on slices of fluffy white bread and topped with a quarter rack of dry-rub ribs, plus a choice of 2 large sides — all for $45.75. That’s a lotta meat! For those who’d like a little bubbly with their barbecue, there’s “The Empire,” i.e., the “Taste of the Baron,” and a bottle of Dom Perignon for $275. (Intriguing…!) If that seems a bit too precious, there’s always Abita or Blue Moon on draft.

Live laughs

I just wasn’t having good luck with the restaurants this weekend.

R.U.B. BBQ co-owner Paul Kirk, the Kansas City “Baron of Barbecue,” is something of a legend in smoking and grilling circles, with over 475 cooking awards to his name, including seven “World Championship of BBQ” titles. On Sunday, B and I had our hearts (and stomachs) set on some of that Righteous Urban Barbecue, conveniently located next door to the Gotham Comedy Club on West 23rd Street where we would be attending our television taping that evening.

After taking our seats in one of the backroom booths, we ordered a bourbon and coke, eagerly perusing the menu as the glorious scent of smoky barbecued meats wafted through the air. The troubles began early: right away, B was disappointed by the menu’s exclusion of mac n’ cheese. No matter: it was an irksome, but rather minor, infraction. But as we commiserated over which of the rib varieties to sample this afternoon, our server set down the drink and coolly informed us that R.U.B. was sold out of ribs. And not just one kind, but all: the Pork Spare Ribs St. Louis Style, the Short Ends, the Long Ends, the Rib Tips, and  the Baby Back/Loin Back Ribs(!) Also, the restaurant was clean out of Brisket(!!) And  Burnt Ends(!!!)

We sat speechless for a bit, taking in how such a thing could be possible, and then tried another tack.

Okay, what do you have?

“Uh… the pulled pork is very good.”

B asked for few minutes to consider that. In the meantime, could we get an order of the BBQ Chicken Wings?

No doubt sensing the mood, our server hesitated before delivering the bad news. Actually, they were sold out of Chicken Wings. And Chili — hence, no Chili Cheese Fries… and lest we even thought to ask, Fried Green Tomatoes, too.

That was the final straw. Check, please.

We decamped for nearby Monster Sushi, where nothing was sold out, and happily devoured a meal of sushi, sake and tempura green tea ice cream.

After a chilly wait outside the Gotham, we were ushered inside the comedy club. Tonight we were there to tape an installment of Comedy Central’s Live at Gotham, hosted by “America’s foremost commentator on everything,” Lewis Black. Black is a stand-up comedian, playwright, and author, but is probably best recognized for his regular “Back in Black” commentary segment on The Daily Show.  After delivering his own performance, Black introduced a slate of half a dozen solidly fine and fiercely funny stand-up acts. It was good to laugh, and laugh we did.

We were seated in the first row, right in front of the stage — the perfect vantage point for seeing and being seen. I’d like to attribute the optimal placement to our good looks, but more likely it was just good timing. We shared our table with a pair of young lovelies, and the ethnic/gender makeup of our fourtop did not escape the notice of the first comedian — an acid-tongued Buddy Holly lookalike — who seized upon it as fodder for his act. Ah, Mom will be so proud when this one airs on Comedy Central sometime this summer.