vip in the city

Clams on the Cape

This weekend, we revived the Cape Cod tradition for what may be the last time for a long while.

J and J drove in to pick me up just as the sun was rising over Central Park this dreary, chilly morning. As we made our way north, we stopped just once, somewhere in Connecticut — all the excuse I needed to pick up an Egg McMuffin on the road. No matter how I feel about the rest of McDonald’s menu, the McMuffin retains a soft spot in my heart. Something about the synergy of warm, chewy English muffin, salty Canadian bacon, day-glo melted cheese and unnaturally round griddled egg.  It’s a classic breakfast combination I’ve come to associate with traveling, since I rarely indulge in these mini-sandwiches outside of rest stops and airports.  Now if the fast food chain would just bring back the deep-fried apple pie…

Over the Sagamore Bridge and onto the cloudy Cape:

At the Cove, we attended to the business of our weekend. Strange to think with how little fanfare two decades of tradition is dispatched.  (Hawaii, here we come!)

I was struck by how different Cape Cod is in the quiet season. The usually bustling Route 28 was half deserted. The seafood shacks, ice cream parlors, salt water taffy stands and mini-golf courses regularly teeming with families in the summer, were all closed for the season, leaving behind an eerie landscape of empty parking lots. Happily, our old standby Seafood Sam’s was still open for business.

We couldn’t bid adieu to the Cape without at least one more visit. Locals and visitors have been flocking to this place for some of the best fried seafood in the area since 1974, when the first Seafood Sam’s opened in a tiny, former laundromat with just six employees. Three decades later, three of those original six now own and operate the mini-chain of Sam’s restaurants. In the years since we’ve been going, we’ve seen the Yarmouth location evolve from a glorified shack with several open-air benches to a full casual-dining restaurant. There’s still no table service, but the airy main seating area is now enclosed within solid walls (vs. the former combination of sturdy canvas and clear plastic) and the bathroom was moved from outside and around the corner, to just down the hall from the dining room.  What hasn’t changed: food orders are still placed with the cashier, and arrive piping hot on disposable plates; the faux-wooden trays are scattered with clear plastic cups of tartar sauce and wedges of lemon.

Another advantage of visiting off-peak: no lines, no waiting.  Well, no waiting to place your order, anyway; the seafood is still fried fresh – sure they have broiled items on the menu, but why? — but now instead of hovering by the formica-topped counter as you wait for your food, the cashier hands you a red plastic lobster that flashes when the order is ready for pick-up.  Like this:

No lobsters were harmed in the making of these lollipops:

Fried clam strips. These decidedly aren’t the fancy, succulent whole bellies version, but more the shack-on-the-beach variety, best suited for serving in a paper boat (or here, on a paper plate, over fries).  I still love them.  J conjectured that it may be that perfect proportion of hot, crispy fried batter to chewy clam center that I find so appealing.  She may be right.

Tags: Cape Cod, clams, Cove at Yarmouth, Egg McMuffin, McDonald's, seafood, Seafood Sam's

Orlando Magic @ New York Knicks

A spontaneous afternoon offer from SC, and we found ourselves at the Knicks-Magic game at Madison Square Garden this chilly, rainy night. The Knicks may be the most valuable basketball franchise in the United States, valued at approximately $592 million, but after six straight losing seasons and an off-season plagued by scandal, all around expectations are low and their fan support has eroded steadily. Even the local press has gotten in on the bashing, reporting on the team’s embarrassments with seeming relish (though it seems they have their reasons.)

I hadn’t really followed the team since Patrick Ewing was traded to Seattle after the 1999–2000 season. The former center, who has been an assistant with the Magic since June, was at the game tonight; before the jumbo screens late in the game, Ewing rose to standing cheers in the arena that displays his retired #33 Knicks jersey. (Also in attendance: Carlos Beltrán who, by contrast, was booed.) The most recent team-related story I’d read had nothing to do with basketball at all, but with the immensely popular $15 sneakers in Stephon Marbury’s Starbury Collection at bargain sportswear chain Steve & Barry’s (which also sells Sarah Jessica Parker’s Bitten and Venus Williams’s EleVen budget fashion lines.)

But sitting there in our fancy seats inside The Garden, I remembered what it was I enjoyed about pro basketball. The fast-pacing, the physicality… and watching the action unfold live was an entirely new experience. It’s a simple, but costly pleasure: the face value on our seats, one level up from the floor, approached $100 apiece, which made me wonder how it is that families can attend these types of sporting events together. My guess is that, for the most part, they can’t: even seats in the Mezzanine nosebleeds–five floors up–can run $45 apiece (not including Ticketmaster fees); courtside tops out around $3,000.

Tonight, though, we were there courtesy of SC’s connections, which meant that we still had money in our pockets for a full bag of pink and blue cotton candy, served up in an oversized Knicks felt top hat. Pure unadulterated sugar rush… and darn near irresistible.

The Knicks City Dancers:

A sea of Knicks fans waving thundersticks behind the Orlando basket; the Magic still shot 82% from the line to the Knicks’s 76%:

A dangerous-looking rifle-toss “wave” by the color guard on “Military Appreciation Night”–recruiting tables were set up just outside:

It was a tight game for the first three quarters… but early into the fourth, things quickly began unraveling for the home team. It came flooding back then, all the reasons I had stopped watching the Knicks those many years ago: it was just too demoralizing. As the Magic lead grew to double digits, the mood of the crowd shifted palpably. Exasperated grunts degenerated into increasingly louder boos… by the end buzzer, fewer than half the fans remained in their seats.

Tonight’s 112-102 loss kickstarted what would become an eight-game losing streak for the Knicks–the NBA’s longest this season.

Check out the rest of the flickr set for more of the Knicks dancers and a kiddie dunking contest.

Ice, ice baby

On the way to my party at The Sea Grill, I peeked in on the skaters at the Rockefeller Center rink. Autumn in New York was finally settling in, making it much more appropriate weather for skating than the last time I was here. Reminds me that I really want to try to get to The Pond at Bryant Park this year.

It’s not every day that one comes across a giant blue diamond on the street. Specifically, it was Jeff Koons’ eight by seven foot sculpture, “Blue Diamond” (2005) sitting outside of Christie’s Auction house. Part of the artist’s famed “Celebration” series, which he began in 1994, the blue “diamond” is in fact made of polished steel and chromium, and is one of a series of five; Koons’ red, pink and green diamonds are in private hands, while a yellow version is currently in production. The eye-catching sculpture was displayed in advance of Christie’s Post-War And Contemporary Art auction on November 13 where it was sold to Gagosian Gallery for $11.8 million. Despite more than doubling Koons’ previous sale record of $5.6 million, the amount still came in somewhat under pre-sale expectations, which had ranged from $12 million to $20 million. (To put this in perspective, last month an actual flawless 6.04 carat blue diamond became the most expensive gemstone in the world [per carat] when it was sold at a Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong for $8.3 million.)

The next day, the “Blue Diamond”’s record was obliterated by the sale of Koons’ stainless steel “Hanging Heart (Magenta/Gold)” for $23,561,000, including commission, at Christie’s uptown archrival, Sotheby’s.

It’s been a good season for Koons; his big silver “Rabbit” balloon debuted at this year’s Thanksgiving Day parade a couple of weeks later. He still has nothing on Damien Hirst, though, who in August 2007 sold his much publicized/mocked diamond-encrusted platinum skull for $100 million to an investment group (which included himself).

How appropriate that Andy Warhol’s iconic portrait of Elizabeth Taylor–a woman renowned for her love of fine gems, among them the 33.19 carat Krupp Diamond and the 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton Diamond–would overlook Koons’ giant jewel.

Tags: auction, Christie's, diamond, ice, Jeff Koons, rink, Rockefeller Center, skating, Sotheby's