HUNGRY GERALD

These are HG’s favorite choices for restaurant meals. Breakfast: Chopped oyster congee and Chinese cruller at Congee Noodle House in the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood of Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Lunch: Shad and shad roe at Gage & Tollner in Brooklyn (the old restaurant before the reopening with super lofty prices). Dinner: Lobster cocktail; medium rare (on the rare side) rib steak, cognac and double espresso at end of meal and Scotch sour preceding it. This was dinner at Christ Cella on E.44 in Manhattan (world’s best steak house–alas, closed for many years). Best meals eaten at home.
Breakfast: BSK and daughter Lesley R.’s superb stone ground grits topped by poached or softly scrambled eggs. Lunch: Manischewitz jarred gefilte fish enlivened by Gold’s fiery horseradish. Dinner:   BSK’s seafood chowder or Mapo Tofu or Gumbo or any of BSK’s excellent fish dishes featuring Hake, Atlantic Cod, shrimp, scallops, lobster, etc. Tillamook French Vanilla Ice Cream for dessert. Note: For many years, HG’s favorite lunch was at Gallagher’s Steak House on W. 52nd (Manhattan) —-corned beef and cabbage. Every ingredient was state of the art. Sadness. Gallagher’s no longer serves it.The ultimate dinner was at Le Dome in Paris. It was always expensive but HG’s dinners there can now only be afforded by oligarchs. Here’s HG’s Le Dome order —Six Gillardeau oysters. Sauteed frog legs. Dover sole in lemon butter sauce (Pommes souffle as a side dish). Berthillon ice cream for dessert, Cognac and espresso. Wine was chilled white Sancerre. (Yes, HG/BSK have many joyous Paris memories).