Eats for Endorsement Archives - Page 2 of 3

Eats for Endorsement

An ongoing feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me dinner. Today’s entry: Ross Kiester!

I met Ross Kiester at the Platform Animation Festival in Portland, OR, where his two brilliant and charming teenage daughters impressed me with their impeccable taste (they’re fans of the Stork). Last week Ross was in New York doing…well, all kinds of things. For not only is he a mathematician into discreet global grids, but he’s also a turtle conservationist. The latter is how he knows Eric Goode of the Maritime Hotel – turns out he’s a turtle conservationist too. Those turtle conservationists form a tight community, which is why fellow turtle conservationist Maurice Rodrigues is the manager of the Maritime’s various enterprises, including Matsuri, where we enjoyed a lavish and delicious Japanese meal followed by French fusion pastries. My oh my that was tasty. Also joining were Ross’ niece and her husband, both accomplished graphic designers. Conversation focused on Basque cuisine, Japanese cuisine, alcohol (for once I wasn’t the only person at the table who just doesn’t like the taste), West vs. East Coasts, and of course, turtles. On that subject I was surely the most ignorant person there, but I did suggest a three-word name for their organization – the Global Turtle Initiative.

These cheesy flash photos don’t do anyone justice, alas.

Maurice: yes to turtles, no to booze.

Would YOU like to be featured in Eats for Endorsement? Then buy me dinner. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

Links for Lunch

An ongoing feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me lunch. Today’s entry: Stephen Hersh!

This is kind of late, as I last lunched with my old pal Stephen Hersh back in July. And Stephen doesn’t have his own web site, so finding related links was a challenge. But what a brilliant guy he is! Stephen wrote and drew Bliss, one of my favorite comic strips ever. We both left Universal Press Syndicate around the same time, after which the late, great Jay Kennedy of King Features recruited us to co-create The Hots. Steve wrote, I drew, and after a year I retired to pursue Sita Sings the Blues. Here’s an old King Features press release about a series of Hots Passover strips we did. And that’s it for Stephen Hersh links. You’re more likely to find his work on TeeVee: he writes commercials for Chunky Soup and V-8, among others. Anyway, our lunch was delicious – look at that tasty thali from Saravanaas he’s eating. Let’s do lunch again soon, and get web sites, people!

Would YOU like to be featured in Links for Lunch? Then buy me lunch. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

Eats For Endorsement

An ongoing feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me dinner. Today’s entry: Ken Levis!

This is a blurry picture of my dear friend Ken Levis (bonus photo: Ken & Bubba). Ken is a documentary producer, and a damn good one. He’s also a writer, editor and director, not to mention a total mensch. Ken has won a ton of awards, and his friends love him so much we even forgive him for working as the official court documentarian of Thomas Friedman. Ken’s most recent film, Struggle for the Soul of Islam: Inside Indonesia, has been widely praised. Yet in spite of all his achievements, Ken still doesn’t have his own web site. Get on it, Ken! And thanks for dinner (look at that swanky restaurant he took me to)!

Links for Lunch

A new feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me lunch. Today’s entry: Scott Jonas!

Today we have a virtual lunch: Scott Jonas sent me a picture, a link, a donation, and instructions to enjoy some “killer spanikopita” and “minty tabouleh”. Simple, right? Ah, but where to get good spanikopita and tabouleh together in New York? I went as far as joining and querying Chowhound, which wasn’t of much use. In our fair City, Greek is Greek and Lebanese is Lebanese and never the twain shall met (unlike San Francisco – Oh La Mediterranee, how I miss thee!). In the face of such a challenge I opted to go for the killer spanikopita alone – from Poseidon Greek Bakery, right in my ‘hood. I figured Scott wouldn’t mind takeout for lunch, eaten on the fold-out table between the postage-stamp-sized “kitchen” and the bed in my one-person studio, since he wasn’t there. As for the link, Scott writes:

I’m afraid that the planet is going to hell and the best we can do is to slow the descent. But because I don’t believe in giving up without a fight I’d like to put in a plug for Wildlands Restoration Volunteers (www.wlrv.org) in Boulder, CO. They do good work, and â€” this is key â€” they feed their volunteers well.

The remainder of his donation will pay for even more spanikopita as I continue work on Sita Sings the Blues. Thanks, Scott!

Would YOU like to be featured in Links for Lunch? Then buy me lunch. My email address is at the bottom of the middle column, the one with the pictures linking to my movies and cartoons and stuff.

Virtual Lunch

I recently heard from Stephen Wells, the Executive Director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund. Being on opposite coasts we can’t have lunch, but I want to endorse the ALDF anyway. Go ALDF!

Although I don’t eat meat, I’m exasperated by the suggestion that vegetarianism is effective action against animal abuse. It isn’t. Just like human abuse, the only way animal abuse is going to get curbed is by passing and enforcing laws against it. That’s what the Animal Legal Defense Fund is working toward. Something else Mike Caprio and I briefly discussed at our Eats for Endorsement, is that carnivores and omnivores can support legal reform against animal abuse too! In fact most carnivores I know are opposed to factory farming; they likes their meat, but they don’t want it to be low-quality crap flooding the markets here and abroad. Veganism is great, but not eating animals doesn’t save an animal’s life; it just means more cheap meat gets exported as domestic “farming” subsidies create “surplus.” That’s not just bad for animals, it’s bad for the humans whose markets our cheap meat floods into. So come on, everyone: carnivores, vegans, omnivores, pescatarians, vegetarians, flexitarians, live-food fruitarians, breatharians, aryans and barbarians: support the Animal Legal Defense Fund!

Eats for Endoresement

A new feature in which I recommend the work and websites of people who buy me dinner. Today’s entry: Mike Caprio!

Mike Caprio is the Bon Vivant of Brooklyn. But he’s no slouch in Manhattan either, since he suggested our Eats take place at Casellula. There we discussed the importance of combining the flavors of the accouterements plated with the cheese, whether my dislike of booze and grapefruit could be due to supertasting, geeks we know in common, why Denmark is cool, and of course my favorite subject, how the world is going to Hell in a handbasket. Clearly, the man is an expert on food, entertainment, and enjoying life’s pleasures before we’re all plunged into an apocalyptic dystopia. Be sure to check out his blog!