HUNGRY GERALD

HG is so proud and delighted. Restaurateur Daughter Victoria Freeman (Cookshop, Hundred Acres, soon to open Rosies’s) has a big hit on her hands. The first review of her new restaurant, Vic’s, just appeared…New York Magazine gave Vic’s four stars calling the food “Big, Bold and Batali-esque.” Read about chef Hillary Sterling’s flavorful dishes and you’ll get ravenously hungry. Make your reservation now before the wait becomes interminable. Vic’s (31 Great Jones Street near Lafayette) replaces Five Points, the pioneering restaurant Vicki and husband/chef Marc Meyer opened 15 years ago. Five Points was one of the first farm-to-table restaurants in New York and its Sunday brunch quickly became a New York legend. Vicki and Marc thought it was time for a change. A redo of the decor, new name, new chef, new menu. Obviously, a very good idea. The name “Vic’s” is a bow to the past. “Vix” was Vicki’s first restaurant. She hired Marc Meyer as the chef. The rest is New York culinary history. HG/BSK will be in New York for pre-Christmas visit. Will dine at Vic’s. Looking forward.

When HG is not wallowing in old fogey nostalgia about New York food way back when, he happens to be a guy on the culinary cutting edge. This fact was borne out this week when New York Magazine did an article about the Reuben sandwich just days after HG reported on this much-mishandled treat. New York reported a Reuben now costs $15-18. Wow, that is a meaty escalation. The article was illustrated with photos of some fairly traditional Reubens. But, there were some aberrations: a turkey Reuben and a short ribs Reuben. Pleasant sandwiches indeed — but not, as HG has emphatically stated, Reubens.