All Hyped-Out

I am over the hype. Done.

Jo, Kaitlin and I went to one of my favorites, the Momofuku Noodle Bar, tonight and it was a nightmare. We waited for over an hour for a table (on a Tuesday night!!), ordered immediately, waited another 15 minutes for our pork buns, then a whopping 45 minutes for our Ramen. Yes, 45 minutes for a fucking bowl of soup.

The service was shaky at best, the venue crowded and loud, but not with a positive energy. It was the frantic energy of annoyed, hungry people.

The pork buns were heaven, as always, but the ramen was mediocre. I guess I am just tired of the super-hyped restaurants with the painfully cool crowds waiting for hours to be honored with a slightly better than average plate of food.

This is not the first time I have been sorely disappointed by one of "the restaurants" in New York, and my disappointment's increasing frequency is distressing.

There are certain places that live-up to the hype, but most of them are out of my price range. For the medium-high priced dining, the cusp of what us mere mortals can afford, we are given flashy names and snotty hostesses, with a side of decent food.

I'm done. I crave authenticity, honest food that doesn't need the flash and glitz to cover it's inadequacies. I am so blessed to live in a city where good food is around every corner, where the good places to eat outnumber the bad. As for the hype and the new flavor-of-the-month hipster eatery, I will leave that to the Williamsburg and LES set. They work hard to maintain their perfectly coiffed aloofness, they deserve their just rewards at the end of a two hour wait.

The food snob in me is still alive and well, it has just gained perspective. I want to get back to the actual food and away from the sceney club of star restaurantures.

You will find me in the back of the bodega,eating authentic Puebla style tacos with the immigrant workers. You will find me in the dirty-looking, and amazing tasting, hand pulled noodle shop with no name. You will find me at the unglamorous, and deeply delicious Dim Sum palace in Chinatown. And you will find me at my favorite pizzeria,sans the truffle oil and Brussels sprout leaves, right here in my unglamorous neighborhood. Will I avoid all the major restaurant players in New York? Certainly not. I will however follow my palate and my stomach, not the crowd, to my own gastronomical New York.

Closing Doors and Open Horizons

Well, it was my last week at RRA. I had a mild case of the flu, I only worked-out once and I barely touched my stove! It was a good week though. As one chapter closes, the next is taking form. I am going to miss seeing M. and G at work everyday, but I am determined to keep them in my life. I am going to keep working for RRA a few hours a week to make some extra money, and because I am a sucker who can't let go! My crazy boss was gracious and her outpouring of support and appreciation really touched me. I feel my greatest success during my crazy time there was the fact that I was able to maintain positive relationships with everyone there. I did not let the crazy change me. Or maybe it did. I am able to see my oppressive and offensive boss for the woman behind the tyranny, and I have no ill will toward her at all. That's pretty cool. My last day was celebrated with a big salad lunch, wine at the end of the day and my special gift to them: a detailed (very sarcastic) "how-to" Manuel on my insane job!

The festivities continued at Momofuku Fried Chicken Dinner with DeShon, Gus and Hen, Kaitlin and her brother and Kyung. The food was ok, but the dinner was a blast! It was so wonderful to share a meal and celebrate with a few of my favorite people in New York. To me, that is what the good life is. Simple, yet sometimes so hard to attain.

Beard on Books on Wednesday gave me a renewed sense of excitement at the thought of joining the ranks at NYU's Food Studies Program. The book, Gastropolis, was written by a collection of professors there, and there were several current students in the audience. The girls told me that the program was phenomenal and that spring semester admissions decisions were being made this week! Hopefully I will hear something next week. These people speak my language; seeing food as more than caloric necessities for life, but as the most intimate picture of who we are as a culture. I still have my hesitations, but they are slowly fading away in the bright light of my excitement. We will see what the future holds for me.

I had a dream last night, likely spurred-on by my new job starting on Monday (and the fact I still don't know what I am going to be doing!) and my ponderings about the future. I had arrived at a large, crowded building for my first day of work and was searching for my supervisor. The head of marketing at Food Network stepped out of the crowd and excitedly said, "You must be Felicia! I am so glad to finally meet you in person." then she exclaimed, "You are so thin! Much thinner than most of the new arrivals!" She began to lead me through the offices, chatting with me about new cookbooks and recipes I had tried, and I could not stop smiling. I could not wait to see what came next. Then I woke-up. It was the sort of dream that makes you squeeze your eyes back shut, desperately trying to get back to it. How amazing if I could find a life that made me feel that way, that made me never want to shut my eyes again.

I feel like I am getting there, on my way to that place. Until then, I have bread baking in Brooklyn on Sunday, a Tapas party on Monday and a Post-Thanksgiving fete next Friday! All that and a new job next week! I may still want to curl-up and close my eyes from time to time, but I have a pretty great life, punctuated by a store of hopes and dreams.