A New York Sunday

Last Sunday we took a ride into New York - specifically Greenwich Village. We had tickets to an Off-Broadway play called "The Third Story" which starred Kathleen Turner. We also had a little brunch and later, after the show, dinner. Plus we did a little WA'ing (Wandering Aimlessly) in the always interesting area.

The play's start time was 3:00 P.M. but we got into the city about an hour and a half early. While wandering the vicinity of the theater, which is located on Christopher St. near the corner of Bedford, we decided we wanted something to eat before the show. We planned to have dinner later, but neither of us had eaten much of a breakfast, so we thought some brunch would be good. Fortunately, this being New York City, one can find brunch served pretty much all day Saturday and Sunday.

We wandered up nearby Bleecker Street and Michelle spotted a small, almost hole-in-the-wall little place called "August". It looked interesting, and they were serving brunch, so we went in.

We had about a 15-minute wait for a table but were eventually seated in their rear area - a narrow, greenhouse roofed space that took up what would have been the building's narrow back yard. I ordered a dish of house-cured gravlax - a kind of salt cured salmon- served over scrambled eggs and pumpernickel bread with raw onion and creme fraiche. It was delicious and not particularly pricey. Michelle had "Bavarian eggs en croque" which were baked in a small dish with ham and cabbage. This dish was also excellent and reasonable.

The place does much of their cooking in a wood-fired brick oven. Also, Monday to Friday evenings, they do Tapas.

August is located at 359 Bleecker St. Their web page is at: http://www.augustny.com/

August on Bleecker

After brunch, we took a leisurely stroll to the Lucille Lortel Theater where "The Third Story" was playing.

The Lucille Lortel

The play was written by a gentleman named Charles Busch who has been a fixture of the Village theater scene for many years and is famous for performing in drag. He also starred in the show with Kathleen Turner. True to Mr. Busch's typical creation the story was funny and deranged with the tale of a mother-son screenwriting team and their conflicts spinning off into a parody of 40's gangster movies with Busch as the queen of the mob. This premise then evolved into a sci-fi cloning/zombie tale which also was occasionally interrupted by the story of a Russian witch and a lovesick princess (Mr.Busch also played the witch).

The show was funny, if somewhat confusing, and everyone in the cast did a good job, although Ms. Turner could not, given the lighter vein of the material, reach the heights she did in "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolfe".

"The Third Story": On the left Charles Busch (with the lipstick) and Jonathan Walker, to the right Kathleen Turner and Mr. Walker who plays both the screenwriter's son and the "lady" gangster's son.

When the show ended (it was the last performance of a limited run) the cast were all given flowers and thundering applause.

At this point, we went in search of a place for dinner.

We found it in a restaurant which was recommended in the latest issue of "New York" magazine. The place is called "Commerce" appropriately located on Commerce Street not far from the theater.

The interior of "Commerce" located at 50 Commerce St. NYC

We looked over the menu and nothing jumped out at us, so we decided to follow the NY magazine recommendation all the way and order their roast chicken for two. It was a bit pricey and entailed a 40 minute wait (the chicken is roasted to order) which they did forewarn us about. While we waited we shared a salad made with herbs that I liked but which Michelle thought was too salty.

Finally, the chicken arrived, presented to us on its roasting pan, and then returned to the kitchen to be split and boned. It was without a doubt the best roasted chicken we have ever eaten. In fact, I would recommend this place just for the chicken. I would also advise calling ahead to ask them to start a chicken so as to avoid the wait (they'll probably want a credit card # - but that's to be expected). Did I mention that the chicken was stuffed with homemade bread stuffing with foie gras?

Speaking of bread, the bread basket served at dinner in this place was amazing - it's been rated the best bread serving in NYC.

At any rate, if you want amazing - but not cheap- roasted chicken, visit "Commerce". I can't vouch for any of their other food though.

Web site: http://www.commercerestaurant.com

All in all, another "Ernest Hemingway" day.

The Colbert Report

Last Tuesday was Michelle's birthday so by way of celebration we went in to New York City to be in the studio audience of the Stephen Colbert show: "The Colbert Report" which airs on Comedy Central. Last year we were able to get tickets to be in the studio audience of "The Daily Show" with Jon Stewart and we had a really good time, so we were looking forward to this trip. We had gotten tickets a few months ago to see Stephen Colbert, but due to their overbooking, we were unable to get in at that time, so they gave us VIP tickets for this date which guaranteed we would get in.

We got four tickets total so we went in with Michelle's sister and her friend. True to their word, the show ushers let us right in without having to wait in line. We did have to spend about an hour in a waiting room, but at least there were places to sit, a water fountain, and restrooms.

Finally, we were ushered into the studio. I was surprised that the studio audience for "The Colbert Report" is only about half the size of that for the "Daily Show". They seated us and then announced that before the taping of the show, they were going to do a skit making fun of an incident a couple of months ago when Stephen fell and broke his wrist and they needed us for audience reaction shots.

The skit involved some muscle builder guy with no shirt, just a tie, taking the part of Stephen Colbert and running around the studio like a maniac. He also threw (fake) $100 bills to the audience and autographed some woman's baby (naturally she was a plant and the "baby" was a doll). Eventually, Stephen's stand-in flexed his muscles and took a swan dive onto a load of padding on the floor. As for the rest of the audience, we were told to cheer and clap hysterically at the appropriate times and to show shock and horror when "Stephen" took his fall. The stage manager and others that were there running the skit were pretty nice and the whole thing was a lot of fun. After it was over, they told us that the skit would used on a future show. Also, I got a fake $ 100 bill to keep as a souvenir. Then it was time for the regular show to start.


Stephen Colbert came running out to real cheers and applause this time and did run around the stage like a maniac. I can see why he did fall since the stage includes a raised platform where his desk is. He answered a few questions from the audience and greeted us warmly. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. He made a point to say that he was out of character at this point before the start of the actual show. I should point out that his "shtick" is to take the part of a right-wing blowhard ala Hannity/O'Reilly/Limbaugh. Of course he takes it to clueless extremes that are hilarious. It's a real send-up of the Fox News and right-wing talk radio universe.

His show that night was funny, as usual, one bit Stephen did was a feature called "Worthy Opponent" in which he debates himself and made fun of "War on Terror" paranoia.

His guest that evening was Michael Shermer founder of the Skeptics Society and the author of a book which he was there to plug called "Why Darwin Matters". True to form Stephen Colbert took the part of a right-wing intelligent design supporter and hilarity ensued.

The show was in a building on West 54th Street between Tenth and Eleventh. Afterward we walked to a restaurant on the corner of Ninth and 50th called "Roberto Passon". It was an Italian place recommended by friends of Michelle's sister. The food was very good and reasonably priced for a restaurant in New York City. Here is a link to the restaurant web page: http://www.robertopasson.com/

After dinner, I got the car and we headed home.

One really strange thing was that both in our trip into the city, and our return to New Jersey, traffic was extremely light. It may have been the combination of a Tuesday night, rainy weather, and summer when people are away, but it was still weird.

Anyone who is interested in tickets to either the Daily Show or Colbert should check on the Comedy Central web site. But when you go, get there early and be prepared to wait a couple of hours. Otherwise, you may get cut off the way we did the first time. You will then be guaranteed entrance the next time they give you tickets, but you will then have made two trips into the city. Although, I must say that the first trip we made was not a total waste even though we did not see the Colbert Report that time, as we went in very early to New York and spent some time in the Metropolitan Museum of art.

Also, we finally did get to see ourselves on TV. On a later show The Colbert Report featured Stephen getting his cast removed. As part of that whole bit, they showed some parts of what they had taped with us before the show that day. Sure enough, as the stand-in guy took his pratfall, there were the four of us in the audience looking "shocked and concerned". They actually used very little of what they taped that day, but at least we didn't end up on the cutting room floor so to speak. I think the segment, which aired on August 23rd can still be seen on the Comedy Central web site. The Colbert Report (also for tickets) site is here: http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/index.jhtml