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Here i was in Paris thinking they really need a good cocktail bar here...oh well
(see my March 16, 2007 entry)
August 24, 2007
Me in Maine
So,
my friend Jay and I stopped in Ogunquit on our way to Rockland to visit
my friends the Bobs, Robert and Bob. I sail and race with them a lot.
So, Robert called when we hit Ogunquit and suggested, since the town
was crowded, we stop at Perkins Cove for a bite. Jay doesn't do mayo
and wanted a lobster roll sans mayo and I ordered mine as they make it.
It was this place called Oakweed. Of course when our rolls came out
they were both plain and the server was trying to convince me that mine
wasn't the same as Jay's. It became the joke of my trip to
Maine..."let's go get a mayo-less lobster roll"...I wanted to call
Oakwood when I got back and say I was fact checking for the NY Times
Dining Out section and needed the recipe for their mayo-less lobster
roll...I was getting obsessed.....LOL...
Maine is great. The
sailing is fabulous and the boats are gorgeous. We had the best
scallops and seafood....and I even snuck in a real lobster roll though
Bob and I reminisced about the time we sailed to French Boro and the
mean lady who runs the post office and the lobster shack there yelled
us because we got there 5 minutes after 7pm and refused to feed us...
If
you haven't been up there you should....now driving through the "Live
Free or Die" state New Hampshire was funny. When you drive in they have
signs about the driving laws like "Persons under 18 must buckle up" now
what's that about? hehehe....and then Robert said you have to stop at
the rest stop on the Mass Turnpike at Charlton (I think or something
like that, just before you turn off for Hartford, Conn) for the best
coffee...imagine Lavazza coffee next to McDonalds...nice....
Well,
I only called Marion's once but got a few text messages. We ate,
sailed, raced, slept, bought a snow globe for my sister's collection
for her birthday, no seals, puffins or whales this time. Shame it was
cold and rainy here.....hehehehe
Hope to see you before Kahiki ends in a couple of weeks...
Happy Summer,
Richard
July 24, 2007
Shooting Stars and whales......
So,
I met my friends the Bobs in Newport Rhode Island and we set off for
Maine on their 40 ft sailboat...it was a nice sail to the Cape Cod
Canal and a quiet night in Sandwich before our overnighter across the
Gulf of Maine to Rockland. A few hours past Provincetown the whales
were surfacing and doing that "there she blows thing" and then diving
to the deep...they made me wonder how many were breaching the surface
around the world at that very moment...ahhh...and then the
sunset.....it was beautiful....but...but... you have never seen the
night sky so filled with stars and heavenly bodies until you have been
on the sea with no land in sight....you just can't imagine how huge the
Big Dipper is, it's gigantic....and when the shooting stars starting
crossing the sky it all became so awesome and humbling....sometimes
doing an overnight you are alone on deck keeping an eye on the water,
the wind, the sail trim, the possible crossing fishing boat or
tanker...thank god for auto pilot. I have steered for hours at night
and that's tough...just before the first light of dawn, the damp creeps
in and for me I have to stand behind the wheel or I'll nod off....and
you don't want that...it's like waking up when you closed your eyes
while driving down a highway....
I guess this is all a metaphor
for what I do in my life and at Marion's. Steering our little ship
through the shifts in the winds of expectations.....plotting a course
to the next destination that the restaurant is going...being careful
not to nod off from this particular and peculiar world of having a
restaurant and bar...I feel Marion's is a classic ship in a harbor of
mega boats with new designs and innovations. Then again from time to
time we refit her with all the new fibers and sails yet keeping her
true to her original design in perhaps a not so obvious way.
Marion's
course or mission statement if you will has always been to be a fun and
comfortable port in the storm of New York living. A place with great
cocktails and an eclectic menu that is both satisfying and yet
relatively inexpensive. I think we have done our part to stay the
course. People who haven't been in awhile come in from time to time and
we reminisce about the old days and the staff they remember...I end up
saying "Boy, you haven't been here in a long while".....as you know its
been 17 years for me. Actually 17 plus the four months Michael and i
spent building Marion's. Like the other night on the boat, there have
been times I have felt i have nodded off at the wheel and felt all
alone when I opened my eyes. When those times come there's really only
one thing for me to do and I go sailing to put it all back in
perspective.
Having returned from my recent journey and knowing
that Summer is a bit slower for us here, I begin to contemplate our
sail through the Summer doldrums and heat. Rested I begin to get my
creative juices flowing. Kahiki is coming, Fashion Brunch this weekend
and next weekend. Thinking out new menus and finding ways to get you to
come along this summer on our trip through the southwest breezes and
Polynesian islands....my only hope is that we are you home away from
home...and that you come home more often and not just for
holidays.....I guess I'm also asking you what we can do that might get
you dropping your anchor in our little cove on the Bowery more
often...let me know....
Happy sailing,
Richard
July 19, 2007
So they say that by the end of the century summers will be 90 degrees everyday.....hmmmm...and that I'll be able to dock my sailboat right in front of Marion's...now that will be convenient.....When we hit the midpoint of summer at Marion's I begin thinking of the fall and what will our world be like, I mean the restaurant and bar world that is. The Bowery has exploded the last few years. There's the new Bowery Hotel across the street and the 20 story hotel they are building on Cooper Square up the street. The 16 story condos right across from us going up and then there are the mega lofts on bond street. Here at Marion's we were pioneers in the wilderness 17 years ago when we opened on July 5th in 1990. People thought we were crazy to open up on the Bowery. They said the same when we opened M&R on the then desolate Elizabeth St and look what happened there. So much so that when our lease was up we couldn't see paying five times our rent to stay. Luckily we had the foresight to condo the Marion's building here on the Bowery. In my opinion every year it gets tougher and tougher to be a small business on this island....and then there is the fact that Marion's is a grandmother to the current generation of trendy spots....I'm telling you it takes a lot of creativity and perserverance to keep going...you got to love it is what I say to people who say they always wanted to open a restaurant....
I joke with the regulars that I'm in the Happy Business...what we do is make people happy and to "do" that you have to "be" happy at what you do....Sometimes I feel we are unappreciated and then someone says something really sweet and I feel that they get what we are being....From the inside we are in a constant conversation on how to keep the old gal alive and vibrant....bringing our creativity into play without losing what we "be".....the Happy Biz is a doing biz...and its not a showing stress or sadness biz.....
(Update) You know we have been getting the staff from The Bowery Hotel taking out burgers....they can't get enough. Last the night, Tuesday, July 24, Don and Gage concierges from there stopped by because their co-workers raved about the burgers....they were really sweet guys and we wish them well over there on the Eastside of the Bowery.
April 30, 2007
Funny how Spring finally kicks in and things start moving and shaking. We have 3 Fashion Brunches coming up on Sundays. Saturday brunches aren't happening so after great deliberation I had to make the call to scale back to only Sunday Brunch which seem to be getting better and better. Sorry, I hate to have to end things but with the warm weather its going to be tougher to get people to hang inside....Sundays are easier and more of Brunch mentality plus do we ever really want full sunlight on the day after Saturday night? I don't think so, hehehe.
Now we are beginning to plan thru the Summer. So many events to consider...our Anniversary on July 5th when we lower the food prices to 1950 and when to do Kahiki our annual summer celebration of all things Polynesian which we do sometime in August through Labor Day weekend. Then there is the Summer menu...boy I'm exhausted allready, LOL...oh my here i am writing this on my day off, hah...I always say i work 32/7...last night my godson was filming part of his thesis film at our bar and of course an actor didn't show and what else to do ask Uncle Ricky to play the drunken guy picking up the bartender...type casting no doubt....and i looked it since it was like being filmed at 4am....oh boi!!!!!!
Ok, since its my night off, I'm out of here...
All the best,
Richard
April 12, 2007
I had to ask a woman to leave the other night. I'm not one for taking extreme actions like that. Usually you can get people to get that they have gone over to the dark side. This woman went to her own dark side and I had to show her the light. She got so mad at me because I wasn't responding to her nonsensical tirade. Finally she said she wanted the general manager's card to call him. I said well, I'm the GM, the owner and Pope and handyman...and I command you to leave. Its fun to be the king sometimes. I luv when people like that say they are never coming back and I have to respond "Please, please, I beg you.... don't come back and please tell your friends not to come either, " That usually ends the conversation....hehehe
My partner here, Michael, taught me the ultimate diffusing technique. He would just stand there and not say a word. The person might go on but Michael wouldn't utter a sound. Finally the belligerent offender would just walk away frustrated. It's one of my favorites. Try it. The other thing I learned is to say to the customer "You're right". I mean what can you say after that?
March 16, 2007
Somehow my Blog disappeared...have no idea where it went.....personally I think the City of New York knew I was going to rant about them in todays's entry and they confiscated it in the name of national city security issues or something...but I have no proof. Or maybe they got wind of my "Fictional" expose called "The Devil is the Building Department"
"How a once great metropolis turned suburban and killed off small business."
Every word is totally fabricated and made up, I swear!!!!s
Oprah doesn't want anything to do with it....now, I think Martha would get a chuckle. I can't give any details until I disappear or retire and then you can buy the book. I promise it will be full of "fictional" stories that you will never believe could actually be real....I think you get me drift here. If anyone knows Mayor Bloomberg personally let me know, because he and I need to talk. Like ASAP!
Anyway, I was going to write today about some viscious rumors that came back to me that we were closing....liars!!!!...The truth is we condoed this building 5 years ago and ever since it was recorded with the city brokers have been calling saying they could get us big bucks...So, I was like okay to them and said "Show me the money!" You see if I retire, I can disappear and release my tell all "Fictional" expose. But its not in the stars here at Marion's. No one has made us an offer we can't refuse. We like doing what we do and I'm hosting and cooking and happy as a pig in...ooops. Besides my brother Arthur is probably going to run for City Council and he is a big advocate for small business and the little guy. (or gal) Until he gets in office or I retire I can't vent too loudly because.....well, its like opening a can of worms....ok, I have to go back to work, which I totally enjoy...have a great weekend...stop by for some of our Guiness braised Lamb Shanks on St. Pat's Day.
Richard
me celebrating Kahiki last summer
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